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Promoting the K-12 Business Connection

Obviously, the K-12 Business Connection is a positive public relations program from a number of standpoints, and you should attempt to capitalize on every PR opportunity it presents. This requires a certain amount of advance planning, but it will pay off in numerous ways.

Your first communication should always be with your internal audience. Once you have developed a plan for the K-12 Business Connection in your community, and finalized the program with school administration, those details should be communicated to all your members.

Inform members through an individual memo or your local monthly newsletter. Generate an explanatory letter from your local president to all employees.

Public relations functions
Once your members have been informed, your local union (through a communications or PR committee, if your local has one) should perform the following functions. Contact your Education Minnesota field representative for additional help with PR efforts.

• Send an initial news release announcing the scheduling of your K-12 Business Connection program and what it hopes to achieve at least two days before the program.

• Invite a reporter, editor or other media representative to participate in the K-12 Business Connection, who would be able to then “double” his or her experience by reporting on it. The entire K-12 Business Connection concept is a natural media event; whether a reporter participates or simply covers it, there are numerous story angles.

• Ask the newspaper to send a photographer as well as a reporter. Have a camera ready to take pictures anyway to use in any follow-up correspondence.

• Once the Cooperating Educators have been paired with their Guest Educators, develop a fact sheet on participants and send copies to the media. Be sure this sheet details the specific times during which reporters and photographers will be permitted to enter classrooms. Disruption of the educational process must be held to a minimum.

• Designate a member of your local as a media contact, to whom any questions can be directed. This is most likely your local president. If your program encompasses more than one school building, have a contact in each building.

• Provide all guests with a map, if necessary, showing how to get to their respective classrooms in the participating schools.

• Provide a detailed schedule of all K-12 Business Connection participants for media distribution, particularly those who may not be available for an entire day’s visit.

• Shortly before the actual day of the event, e-mail or fax a follow-up release to all media. Follow up with a phone call to ask if they received the notice and provide the necessary details regarding time and place.

• Develop a “tip sheet” for media. This can be a separate element or part of one of the above elements, indicating potential news/photo opportunities, as well as re-emphasizing specific items for entering classrooms (e.g., reporting to the school office to sign in, obtaining visitor badges, etc.).

• You will probably want to discuss the details of the media’s presence in your school(s) on the day of the event with school principal(s), your school superintendent and, if there is one, your district’s public relations director. In any event, you will want to ensure a smooth flow of events and limit the disruption of the educational process to the maximum extent possible.

• Fill out certificates of appreciation for the Guest Educators.

• Plan a reception in a central location immediately after school and/or a news conference or a series of interviews with the Guest Educator to allow reporters to speak with participants to gain their impressions of the day’s events. Take lots of pictures and notes on the reception to use for your local’s next member memo or monthly newsletter.

• Use this time to solicit feedback on the day. Find out what went well and what didn’t.

• Be sure to gather all clippings and photos that appear in newspapers. Send a copy to Education Minnesota’s Public Affairs Department and keep a copy for your local’s records. These clippings and photos can also make a positive display for bulletin boards in your local’s office and educators’ rooms in addition to serving as a valuable internal PR function by reprinting or excerpting them in your local’s newsletter.

Don’t forget the follow-up

There are a number of important things to do after you hold your K-12 Business Connection event. If, for some reason, there is a lack of media coverage during the actual day despite your best efforts, you should use the photos and testimonials from the reception and put out an appropriate news release/story detailing the day and Guest Educators’ reactions.

Don’t forget thank-you letters to all the people who contributed to the success of the K-12 Business Connection, including your school superintendent, school committee members, media people, Cooperating Educators and Guest Educators.

May 17, 2010