• Only send press releases if you have real news for journalists.
• Trumpet your news in the headline or first sentence. Don’t bury it at the bottom.
• Craft quotes that voice strong opinions in vivid language.
• Axe all jargon, make your messages punchy and provide plenty of context.

THREE COURSE MENU

In addition to Perfecting Press Releases, we have a smorgasbord of other tasty courses coming up in November:

                          November 14              Crafting Messages

                          November 22-23         Shooting and Editing Videos

                          November 29              Presentation Skills

Pick one or go for the full three course menu and get 30% off. Contact us for more info.

NO MORE ALL MALE PANELS

We at Clear Europe are sick of the ingrained sexism in the media, politics and business – as the above graphic on male-dominated panels in Brussels shows. So from now on we will refuse to send moderators or speakers to sit on all male panels at conferences. We call on others to do the same and support @EUPanelWatch in their great work.

SUPER STEFFEN, WONDER WORTH!

Our social media coach Steffen Thejll-Moller has published a new e-book containing 10 great tips for using social media effectively in EU public affairs. Steffen will be leading our popular Mastering Social Media course on December 5.

Meanwhile, our other social media expert Jon Worth was named as the fifth most influential Twitter user in EU affairs in a recent survey by Euractiv and ZN Consulting.

TURNING IDEAS INTO PICTURES

What if we used a more creative approach to rethink European policy challenges? This was the central question posed by Cheryl Loh at the latest News and Booze event on how to use visual thinking to campaign better. If you missed her workshop, you can find the slides here.

AFP Brussels correspondent Alex Pigman will be the next News and Booze speaker on November 27. Save your spot or join the Facebook group for more info.

MAKING AN IMPACT

Our good friends at the European Journalism Centre are organising their last News Impact Summit of the year in Brussels on December 4. The free workshop will look at how this year’s crucial elections were covered by the media and how tools like verification, VR and 360 videos will change the way they’re covered in future.

THINGS WE’VE LIKED ON SOCIAL MEDIA

• The Independent offers three tips on how to avoid your speech ending up like Theresa May’s recent howler.
• More than half of newsrooms fail to secure their communications and most are failing to keep up with the digital revolution. This and a treasure trove of other media facts from the ICFJ’s global survey on technology in newsrooms.
• Objective journalism is a misleading and dangerous illusion, argues Rob Wijnberg.
• The 10 types of copywriters: a Novelist Manqué, a Prima Donna, a Night Owl… Which one are you?
• Read your work out loud, eliminate weasel words and focus on one big idea. Follow these and a bunch of other useful editing tips before hitting the publish button.
• Four times as many Americans get their news from Facebook as Twitter. However, only 5% say they trust news from social media ‘a lot’ according to a recent Pew survey.
• One of the most powerful speeches you will ever hear. Clear, direct and moving stuff from @AF_Academy.