Nancy Kramer wrote:
>
>There are 26 states represented on the satellite list. If you are
>interested in attending please contact me to determine if there is a
>satellite location convenient for you.
>
>Also, any suggestions on how to publicize this locally?
>

I am going to come out of lurk mode for a few paragraphs for something I
know something about...

Concerning "how to publicize..."....the best way to get local coverage of
this is to gather the most basic who, what, when, where and why in the form
of just a sentence for each of those things as well as a LOCAL contact or
two who can intelligently discuss the issues from a health care or child
development point of view and get that stuff in your local newspaper's hands
as soon as you can. Make it clear that these are local experts and available
to be interviewed.

The best way to get the info to the paper is to fax the information and then
follow-up with a phone call to the reporter who handles health care issues.
It helps to talk to the reporter personally and briefly try to sell them on
the idea of how cool a story this can be. Tell them that it's been getting
lots of national exposure and with local experts, it can be a great story
for their paper.

Follow-up with another phone call a couple of weeks later "to see if they
got everything they need and if they need any more help." That's a good way
to nudge without seeming like you're nudging. If you are a local LC, you
might offer your own voice to the story, which also is a little free
publicity for you.

I'd also let them know of the satellite locations and whether it's possible
for the reporter to cover the conference that way. You might provide a
national contact name who might also provide them some press materials.

Not to sound like reporters are totally lazy, because I think most aren't.
But there are a lot of people vying for their time and unfortunately,
sometimes the stories that seem like they'll fall into place easily are the
ones they go after.

Good luck on getting the word out on such an important issue.

Going back to lurk mode.

Kelly Griffith
Assistant City Editor
Bradenton (Fla.) Herald
http://www.bhip.com