From Allen

Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer <http://www.arrl.org/> ________________________________ From: Pitts, Allen W1AGP Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 12:22 PM To: Kramer, Harold, WJ1B Subject: PR Campaign preview for BoD and SM Directors and Section Managers: On Friday, May 16th the third major ARRL PR campaign will be released starting at Dayton. This email is for your information and a preview of things to come. Please DO NOT share it until Friday, but beginning then the information will be going out in many ways. I hope you are pleased and will encourage your section and regions to use the materials to their fullest potential. - Allen Pitts, Media & PR Manager -------------------------------------- There's something about hams that makes them want to open the plastic box and see what's inside every gizmo they encounter. What makes it work ? This inquisitive and creative streak that is the third component in the trilogy of the ARRL Public Relations campaigns. First came "Hello." Then came EmComm. For 2008 comes "We Do That!" To be unwrapped at the Dayton Hamvention(r) , the new coordinated PR effort shows the technological activities which Amateur Radio's people love. Once again, this is a campaign with several interlocking parts: Brochures An attractive brochure celebrating ham technology has been created will be available from www.arrl.org/brochures . It shows hams doing many exciting activities, from "Green Radio " to SETI, through time and space itself. WeDoThat-Radio.org <http://www.wedothat-radio.org/> A new, special Web site has been created just for this campaign. Maximizing the strong points of the Hello-Radio and Emergency-Radio Web sites before it, WeDoThat-Radio.org <http://www.wedothat-radio.org/> uses some of the newer technologies similar to the blog format which allows easy topic additions, changes and visitors to even ask questions. Talk on a Disk What began as an experiment in 2007 became a major success as the ARRL's "Talk on a Disk" was quickly snatched up and used by people making presentations to groups. This CD disk contains all the materials you need to make a good PowerPoint presentation before a non-ham group. It has the slides and also supportive audio and video. For 2008 a brand new "Talk on a Disk" has been created highlighting the technology campaign and coordinated with the brochures. It can make almost anyone look good in front of a group. Just follow the script! Or, you can modify it to meet local needs. If you have a presentation to make and want to talk to non-hams about the technology of ham radio, contact apitts@arrl.org about Talk on a Disk. Stickers Let's admit it, hams and kids like free things and stickers are fun. So we made up a bunch to share at Dayton and SeaPac. If you happen to have a conventions coming up, it's a nice touch. They are "free while the supply lasts." Public Service Announcements There are PSA's for radio station play on the www.arrl.org/pio Web page and more will be coming out as the year unfolds. These mp3 files are easily downloaded and can be taken to your local radio stations. Swiss Army Knife for PIOs The "Knife" is actually a computer CD with all the basic forms and information a PIO should need in one place for 2008. Last year over 1000 of these were made and requested. With audio and video files, documents in computer forms that you can modify to meet local needs, hundreds of pointers and ideas, the Swiss Army Knife for PIOs has become a mainstay for PR work and has been copied by other organizations for their people too. Disks are available for PIOs and others by writing to apitts@arrl.org Need help? There is a wealth of materials available for anyone to use on www.arrl.org/pio . This is the Public Information page with files to read, hear, see and freely download. Here you can find background information handouts for media as well as all sorts of helpful files and tips. In addition, each month ideas, information and timely materials are published for local PIOs to use in the special e-zine CONTACT! (look to the left side of this page) and you can find it at www.arrl.org/pio/contact . The ARRL Public Relations Committee is also able to aid groups and these PR veterans have a wealth of knowledge you can draw upon. There is a public relations email reflector where PIOs from around the country share their problems, ideas and successes with other PIOs, plus it is the source of public information if major events begin to unfold. Allen G Pitts, W1AGP Media & PR Manager ARRL - the national association for Amateur Radio 225 Main St. Newington CT 06111 (860) 594-0328 apitts@arrl.org <mailto:apitts@arrl.org>