In this interactive workshop, attendees will have the opportunity to be critiqued on their media presentation skills. Our speakers will highlight their top pointers for mastering media training and explain what makes executives media-friendly and what makes them keen to avoid the spotlight.

In this interactive workshop, attendees will join a PR pro and a journalist as they engage in a real-time pitch and critique. Learn best practices for pitching across a variety of channels (email, phone and social).

In this keynote conversation, Aba Ghanba Blankson, senior vice president of marketing and communications at the NAACP, shares key takeaways from the organization’s social media and PR initiatives amid a crisis year that has disproportionately impacted Black and brown communities. Blankson will offer insights on the language of protests and uprisings woven throughout the organization’s messaging, drawing on key media moments including the unforgettable “We are Dying” campaign. Also to be discussed: the challenges and opportunities of virtual events and press conferences in 2020.

Leaner newsrooms, journalists with shifting beats and budget cuts across the board have resulted in a new emphasis on creating meaningful relationships between communications professionals and the reporters to whom they pitch. Attendees will discover best practices for establishing contact with journalists, as well as ensuring the relationships remain intact in this volatile environment.

Can’t live with it; can’t live without it. In many ways, technology can help the work of communications, delivering real-time assistance in the form of data for media monitoring and reputation management, or simply by helping practitioners ensure their media contact lists are up to date. On the other hand, too many dashboards and tools can create a headache for the PR pro. This session will explore how technology can both help and hinder media relations efforts.

In today’s frenetic news cycle, pitching a local or regional story to broad targets can be a losing battle. Attendees will learn the importance of localizing their stories to focus their relevance and increase the likelihood they get picked up, as well as tactics for laddering up from local to national media coverage.

Packaging the pitch, and ensuring it reaches the right target, is as, if not more, important than writing the story itself. Session attendees will learn best practices for targeting their pitches to the right journalists to ensure they are maximizing their coverage.

With most organizations continuing to face budget cuts, it’s never been more important for PR pros to prove their value. Attendees will learn how to better align KPIs with executive expectations of your media coverage and ensure you’re measuring what matters most.

It can be easy to think that using social media is the key to breaking through when a call or email goes unanswered. But that might not always be the case. Understanding which social platforms are appropriate to use, and when, is crucial. Speakers will provide their top tips for how to use the various platforms at communicators’ disposal most effectively.

Supporting materials can be the make or break moment of your pitch. Learn not only what to include—and what to skip—in pitches and press releases, but also how and when to make those determinations.

While some organizations are lucky enough to have media-friendly executives across the board, part of the job of the media relations professional is to ensure that the C-suite is properly prepared for any and all types of media interviews. Unfortunately, it may be the area where media pros have the least amount of control. In this session, attendees will learn best practices for training their executives, as well as what to do if they go rogue.

How do you make sure your pitch doesn’t end up in the trash? In the concluding session of the conference, attendees will hear from a journalist on her pitching pet peeves.