Like Shift Communications and Edelman, I’m attempting to change the way a Press Release is developed. Yes, it may end up looking conceptually the same as Shift’s Social Media News Release (SMNR) or Edelman’s StoryCrafter, but the approach is entirely different.

Enter the Community Press Release.

I’m testing this on a technology conference that’s taking place tomorrow – Nexus 2007 – organized by The Digital Movement, a non-profit organization that I am a part of.

In the actual implementation, I’ve labeled it The Committeeunity Press Release. Because that’s what it is… I’m scratching out the “Committee-dictated”, top-down approach to writing the event press release, and instead, handing the task over to the Community of conference participants.

They can write the release, link their blog posts (about the event) to it, share their best photos and Podcasts of the conference, and do just about anything that they feel will best present the conference to reporters and the rest of the world. In fact, they’ll probably be more thorough in reporting on the incidental (but significant) news that my team may have missed out in the process of running the event! PLUS, there is an added layer of authenticity in a piece that’s written and checked by a Community of participants. (Think Wikipedia.)

Here’s a step-by-step guide I developed along the way (note that all this is still work in progress):

A. Set it up

1. Start the Community Press Release on a public wiki
2. Ensure that it has a short and intuitive URL (domain forwarding helps)
3. Consider password and registration requirements for participants

B. Create a framework

4. Provide a structure for the press release (because not all bloggers know what a press release looks like); and include sections like:
1. Headline/s
2. Facts (5W1H)
3. Quotes
4. Interesting events
5. Provide links to:

1. Official website/s
2. Blog posts on conference segments (consider categorizing the blog posts according to day/session/theme)
3. Photo-sharing sites where participants upload their best photos
4. Podcasts
5. Conference coverage in mainstream media (perhaps more relevant after the event)
5. Appoint a facilitator to ensure that participants are making meaningful contributions, and that technical issues are quickly resolved

C. Provide guidance

7. Provide background and essential information to start with
8. Give clear instructions on how conference attendees can participate in the Community Press Release, and how to get help/further guidance (Give them the phone number or an the IM details of the facilitator)
9. Under each section header, provide annotations

D. Call to action

10. Announce it at the start of the event and/or place signboards of the announcement
11. Encourage each attendee to be a participant in sharing their experience with the “Invisible Crowd”.
12. Some people learn more when they participate, and this will be a good incentive for participants wanting to get more out of an event!
13. Offer prizes?

E. Putting the results to use

14. Send it to reporters who ask for a press release
15. Make the URL available to everyone

Note: The Community Press Release is probably only suitable for conferences at this point of time.

What are your thoughts on the concept of a Community Press Release? Apart from events, how else do you think a Community Press Release can work?

Nexus 2007 will start in about five hours; and by the end of the day, I hope to have a Community Press Release that is succinct enough to hold a reporter’s attention at first glance. Yet it should also be comprehensive enough – with links to other sources of information and rich media – for reporters and the rest of the world out there!

Look out for the Nexus 2007 Community Press Release

Wish me luck!

Back after three busy weeks crammed with a business expedition to Saigon (Vietnam), ‘New Media’ training sessions for clients and colleagues, and church projects. And on every one of those 21 days, I’ve been bugged with a typical Blogger’s dilemma – I’m too busy to blog, but should I still do it? Should I keep my (online) world in the know? Should I chronicle this part of life’s journey?

My silence over the past weeks has more than answered this question for myself, but here’s an excellent insight by wallydownundy into one of the most common (and comical) pickles that we bloggers sometimes find ourselves in.

Vietnam Venture
The natives prefer the tradition name, “Saigon”, to the modern “Ho Chi Minh City”. And do so I. Behind the two names you’ll find a city that is rich with tradition, yet not lacking for modern economic growth opportunities. Vietnam is drawing FDIs at quite an unmatched pace today, and I see great opportunities in Saigon because it has a winning compromise of China’s characteristic massive size, Singapore’s manageability and a disproportionately large young and literate population. Like all emerging markets, the marketing communications industry is still in its infancy, but business is flowing in, and it’s certainly primed for growth. Just recently, Grey Global Group announced its joint venture in Vietnam and I expect many more communications companies to follow in 2007.

‘New Media’ Training
Most encouragingly, after ‘New Media’ training sessions and discussions these days, there are fewer occurrences of the classic questions – the almost inevitable, “So… how do we ‘target’ the bloggers?” or “Can we start uploading our TV ads on YouTube?”

I think we’re getting somewhere.

Web 2.0 Highlights
The Digital Ethnography workgroup at Kansas State University posted an absolutely fantastic video that summarises the entire Web 2.0 phenomenon in less than 5 minutes. It’s titled “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us” and the clip has already been doing its rounds in Cyberspace, but certainly still worth bookmarking.

The launch of Yahoo Pipes brings us one step closer to automating the arduous process of monitoring news online. On the back of this announcement, Ben, my Scoopasia.com partner-in-crime, wrote a pretty useful piece on something that we’ve always been lamenting – the lack of automation in (PR) Work.

In its now-trademark SMNR style, Shift Communications has launched a Social Media Newsroom template. To rival this, one can almost expect Edelman to come up with an ‘Omnibus’ to complement its StoryCrafter tool!

It’s good to be back in the world of 2.0.

Business 2.0 writer Owen Thomas interviewed Josh Pickus, CEO of SupportSoft via Instant Messenger yesterday. And the (edited) transcript became the form and substance of his post on the Business 2.0 Blog.

Nice. I love it.

No elaborate set-up; no need for travel; no band of message-crafters hunched over the computer churning out the CEO’s message.

Just a simple, compelling conversation between journalist and CEO; shared with the rest of the world.

Quick, honest and engaging.

Now THAT is the ‘2.0′ way.

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