Contact! August 2013
Vol 11 No 8
August 2013
In this issue:
Boy Scout Jamboree - Ham Radio & PR
Basic Writing Tips for PR Professionals
How To Make Yourself Look Good On Your Webcam
Use Soundcloud to Tweet High-Quality Audio
In last month’s CONTACT!, we included an item about issues surrounding the use of music that has a copyright. This is a Big Deal; YouTube will yank or mute videos that include music where royalties to the artist have not been paid. Unfortunately, we ran into this issue yet again.
Please, folks, don’t use music that you don’t have the rights to. There are plenty of places you can get royalty-free music for your video productions; use your favorite search engine and type in “royalty free music” and you’ll be amazed at the number of possibilities out there for you.
Once again, here’s the link to ARRL’s “fair use” info page. If you have not read it, please take the time to do so; a couple minutes of your time now can save you big headaches later.
http://www.arrl.org/fair-use-information
Boy Scout Jamboree - Ham Radio & PR
Gary Wilson, K2GW, is the Assistant Section Manager for Southern New Jersey and a member of the Boy Scouts of America’s National Radio Scouting Committee. He provided some fantastic info on how Amateur Radio was getting play during the 2013 National Jamboree in West Virginia:
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It’s probably safe to say that Scouting introduces Amateur Radio to more young people than any other single youth organization. To that the end, the K2BSA team is doing outstanding service in attempting to get 4,000 Scouts on the air during the current BSA National Jamboree. In addition, they’re taking advantage of the event to educate even more Scouts and Scouters across the country about Amateur Radio.
They got the editor of Scouting Magazine ( which goes to all 900,000 registered Scout Leaders across the country ) to blog about his fun doing Foxhunting:
http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2013/07/16/at-the-k2bsa-tent-i-go-fox-hunting-with-scouts-from-n-c/
And the K2BSA station was the lead story yesterday [July 16] in Jamboree Newspaper which went to all 40,000 Jamboree participants:
http://jamboreetoday.org/talk-to-astronauts-in-space-only-part-of-k2bsa-offerings/
For more information as to how to engage your local Scouting community in Amateur Radio, see the K2BSA Facebook page for lots of resources:
https://www.facebook.com/K2BSA.Scouting
Thanks & 73
Gary Wilson, K2GW
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Alabama Section PIC Ed Tyler, N4EDT, wants to make sure his PIOs get credit where credit is due. He has created the Pen and Key Award, to be given to the PIO in the Alabama Section who uses print, TV and “new media” most effectively. The 2013 winner will be announced this month at the Huntsville hamfest. Maybe some other PICs would like to follow suit?
It is always a pleasure to welcome new PIOs into our group. Last month, ARRL upped our PIO numbers by two! Please welcome Don Curtis, N1ZIH (NH) and Bill Massie, AA8KY (OH) to our ranks. Thanks, gents!
Basic Writing Tips For PR Professionals
We can all use refresher tips on writing better. On Mark Sherbin’s blog, copywritingisdead.com, he provides some real gems on proper press release authoring. Do you know what the top 3 Cardinal Sins of writing a press release are? Find out here:
http://copywritingisdead.com/2012/11/14/basic-writing-tips-for-pr-professionals/
How To Make Yourself Look Good On Your Webcam
More and more interviews and teleconferences are taking place via the internet. ARRL PR Committee member Steven Polunsky, W5SMP, found this great video from ReelSEO on how to improve your appearance on your webcam, which ultimately improves your credibility and your message. Plastic surgery not required!
Use SoundCloud to Tweet High-Quality Audio
Good quality audio can make the difference between getting an interview or not. Most folks know how to record audio with their smart phone, but how do you make the audio available to your media contacts easily? Here’s a blog from iPhonereporting.com that shows you how to use Soundcloud.com as part of your PIO kit.
http://iphonereporting.com/2013/06/01/guide-to-tweeting-audio-for-pios/
We’re two months into the 2013 Hurricane Season, and we’ve had four named storms in the Atlantic so far, plus some action in the Pacific, too. I was pleased to see record attendance for the 2013 ARRL Hurricane Webinar; over 400 people registered (If you missed it, you can download it here)! While the scientific and meteorological data was fascinating, I hope the message of the importance and responsibility of PICs and PIOs wasn’t lost.
The odds are very high we’re going to see a major storm this season. Are you prepared to assist your team by getting their efforts publicized to the outside world? I’m sure we’d all prefer that we didn’t get any hurricanes at all, but we do and we will, and it is during these times that a golden opportunity exists to show what Amateur Radio’s capabilities are when needed.
If you are a PIC or PIO and live in an area susceptible to hurricanes (or anywhere else, for that matter), the time for pre-planning your response to an event has already begun. Don’t be caught unprepared; work with your ECs and other planning bodies NOW to make sure you can help highlight how Amateur Radio serves your community when Bad Stuff happens.
Until next month.
73,
Sean Kutzko, KX9X
Media and Public Relations Manager
