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Mark your calendar for the Spring Conference

Hosted by Division I, Friday and Saturday, May 30 + 31, 2008 in San Antonio.

How to Write a Press Release that Wows your Editor

Kathy Moore, AC-S, Public Relations Officer

One of the more complicated steps in the PR Game is writing a Press Release. Following is a great example of one that came from the Austin Toastmaster's VP-PR, Tony Geishauser. This press release was written for internal use (i.e., District 55), so the "TM jargon" is understood by most. However, when you are writing one for submission to the general press, keep in mind that Toastmasters lingo should be explained.

The most important point to understand about press releases is that they are written from top down so that newspapers can easily cut from the bottom to fit the space they have available. The "meat" of the press release should be in the first 2-3 paragraphs, and the lead (opening sentence) should draw the reader in, as should the headline. Be sure to put the who-what-when-where-how-and-why in the lead or as close to it as possible.

Put your contact info at the top of the page and ### at the bottom to let the editor know the entire press release was received. Be sure to get your information onto one page and have it edited before you submit it. Nothing will blow your chances like bad grammar, a boring story line and spelling mistakes. And, it really is true that a picture is worth a thousand words, so a sharp, interesting photo with tagline will help your odds of getting your press release published.

In future commentary, I'll explain how to get your press releases submitted and accepted. Or, for you who are ready to charge boldly ahead, visit www.jeffcrilley.com. We have more resources to help you write press releases on the district website at http://tmd55.org/pr-handbook.shtml. Then scroll down to the "handbook" link.

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Contact Info: Tony Geishauser,
VP-Public Relations,
Austin Toastmasters
(include email and phone number here.)

Austin Toastmasters Raid TODAY Toastmasters, Capture Club Banner

North Austin, Texas - (July 19, 2007) Thursday night, Area L40 Governor and President of The Austin Toastmasters Club, Trey Gramann, lead a small band of Austin Toastmasters under the church arch of the TODAY Toastmasters meeting place in north Austin and "captured" the visited club's coveted Toastmasters' banner.

The gang of five who accompanied Trey on the raid known only as Erhan, Maria, Susan (Young), Tony and a lookout - cagey 80+ year-old Margaret - came in under the guise of being guests of the club. As it turned out, they came not only to take part in the club's weekly meeting, but to capture the club's banner for a month as well.

This "raid" was part of a new program designed to encourage area Toastmasters clubs to visit each other's clubs and share best practices. Coordination was made between the two club presidents for the "raid," but it was more of a surprise than expected when the Today club's president was absent from the meeting.

The requirement to "capture" another club's banner for a month is to have five club members of a "raiding" club attend another's club meeting. The club losing its banner can regain it back before the month is over if five of its members come to visit and take part in the raiding club's meeting.

"The Today Toastmasters is an excellent club and we were happy to be able to come here to help demonstrate what we are trying to do in the area," said Area L40 Governor and Austin Toastmasters President Gramann. "The Austin Toastmasters visitors learned new things from our hosts and I think our hosts learned some things from us as well. That's the whole point of the exercise."

The Today Toastmasters were gracious to vote visiting Austin Toastmasters Maria Rivera best Table Topics and Susan Young as best Evaluator. Perhaps we can return the favor when they visit the Austin Toastmasters Club.

Area Toastmaster legends Lark Doley and Roger Storer are members of the Today club. Both were in attendance at Thursdays "raid."

The question is who will be the next club to be raided and learn from the experience?

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