The Presenters: Jenelle Hamilton, Jonathon Woods, Cheryl Overton [Photo Credit: Gerald Peart]

On Tuesday, January 29, 2013, individuals throughout New York City gathered for the Black Public Relations Society-New York (BPRSNY) PR Bootcamp “Getting Down with the Nitty-Gritty of PR”. Guest speakers included: Jonathon Woods, Senior Account Executive of Edelman; Cheryl Overton, Senior Communications Strategist of Cheryl Overton Communications; and Jenelle Hamilton, International PR Consultant.

They all spoke about different strategies and techniques to get ahead of the game in PR and what it really takes to master your craft.Cheryl outlined ten simple rules to “mastering public relations”. The communications firm owner advised audience members to “be a problem solver”, “always operate ethically”, and “draw inspiration from outside of the PR industry.”

Photo Credit: Gerald Peart

Jonathon “got down to the nitty-gritty” of the fundamentals of crafting a strategic message, the perfect media campaign, and press release. He said that strategic messaging should be your foundation. PR practitioners can get so caught up in the ‘sexy’ headline that they forget the most important part – the mission. He stated, “organizations always have a central mission so you should always ladder up to their core mission; always ladder up to the client’s objective.”

Photo Credit: Darius Bradley

Jonathan went on to describe the key components in developing a media campaign: develop objectives; identify key stakeholder targets; outline story angles and key messages; develop PR tactics; conduct outreach and launch the media campaign; follow-up; and of course evaluate the success of the campaign once its completed. He then dived into constructing the press release and he noted to keep it “simple and short”. People with lives won’t have the time to read six-page press releases filled with jargon – one page will do.

The last presenter of the evening was London native and International PR consultant, Jenelle Hamilton. Jenelle discussed becoming your own personal brand. She stressed that, “you have to find your niche, find what makes you different. You should want to be an individual and live outside of the box.” Jenelle closed the evening with the most important tip of all: be yourself, know who you are, and promote yourself as you would promote your clients.

Photo Credit: Keisha McCotry

If anyone came into the event confused on how to get ahead of the game, they definitely know now.

Published on the Black Pubic Relations Society – NY websitehttp://bprsny.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/getting-down-to-the-nitty-gritty-of-pr/