Keep the community up to date with your project by holding open meetings every three to four months. If possible, the day of the month and the venue should always be the same so people can remember when the meetings happen. These meetings will give the community the chance to air their views, comment and make suggestions. It will also give you the opportunity to publicise events and listen to opinions. Try to get a mailing list together of people who regularly attend the meetings and send them minutes and an agenda for the next meeting, which they can comment on in advance.
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Giving talks to schools, local businesses, community groups and other appropriate organisations helps to spread awareness about your project and educate people about the importance of a healthy natural environment and the quality of local green space. Talking to local children about the area will help them to respect their local area and help reduce the amount of litter, vandalism, etc. on site. |
Decide what type of talk you would like to give. It could be a general talk on the state of the environment, using your green space as an example of how to take action; it could be a presentation on your project, how you began, where you’re going and where you’re at, or it could be on a specific aspect of project such as how you planted your wildflower meadow. Which type of approach you take depends on what you want to get out of the talk. If it is to gain funding, then a talk on you project would be useful. If your talk is intended to be attract local support and provide information, then a general talk may be more appropriate. If it is a group of environmentalists who are already aware of the issues and your project, they may be interested in something more specific.
Don’t simply turn up and waffle at your audience. Break up your talk into simple, easy to swallow sections. Liven it up by using visual aids like overhead projections, slides and flip chart diagrams.
It’s really important to get good quality photographs of your green space, its wildlife and the people who use it. Always take a camera to any events and be ready to jump in at any photo opportunity.
Photographs can be used for the press, on printed materials such as leaflets and posters and transferred to slide format for talks.
Send regular press releases to local or even national newspapers to keep your project in the public eye. Appoint a good public relations officer who will feed reporters a regular flow of information. If a journalist tries to get in touch with you about your project and you are not available, always remember to get back in contact as quickly as possible. Make certain you don’t miss copy deadlines. No one will hold up the printing presses waiting for you to get your story in. So be prompt, be punctual and be reliable. Remember, a good working relationship with
the press is of paramount importance. Don’t destroy it by being untrustworthy or unable to get your news in on time.
Any photographs to accompany your contribution should be enclosed. But make them people oriented and ensure those being photographed are facing the camera, preferably with happy smiles on their faces. Enclose details of the event, along with lists of names. Photographs and names sell newspapers and that is the job of an editor.
Remember the following points:-
•Print your news release on only one side of the paper so that the whole story will be visible when the sheet(s) are laid out on the journalist/ editors desk.
•Make it perfectly clear who the news release is from. Creating a special heading for your group’s news releases can be helpful.
•Always use a word processor or typewriter (handwritten press releases rarely get read). Try to lay the press release out early with no unnecessary graphics or information and double-space the lines of text if possible.
• You should answer the questions, who?, what?, where? and when? in the first paragraph. The rest of the news release should deal with the questions, how? And why? Include as much information as possible but be brief.
• Include an attention-grabbing headline but never lie or exaggerate. Try to include some sense of mystery which will make journalists want to read on or a joke / pun which will make them laugh. On the other hand, don’t spend too long dreaming up the perfect headline. A simple one will often be as useful.
• Try to limit your introductory paragraph to one sentence which clearly conveys the essence of the story. Make it as interesting as possible, you need to catch the journalist’s attention.
• Try to write the press release so that the journalist can lift it verbatim from the page and use it as it is - the easier you make it for the journalist to write his/her copy the better. Each relevant point should be made in
order of importance to the story. The press release will be cut from the bottom up so the final paragraphs will be lost first.
• Include quotes from relevant, named individuals in the press release. Try to make the quotes sound as if they are being spoken directly to the journalist. Always check with the named individual that they are happy to put their name to the quote.
• Always include at least two contact telephone numbers at the end of the press release and make sure that somebody will be at these numbers to answer any enquiries or questions from the press.
• Always make sure your press release is factually correct and free of spelling mistakes and typos. Get your press release proofread and spell checked.
• Try not to embargo press releases if you don’t have to, but don’t be afraid to use them when necessary. Journalists are always scared of being ‘scooped’ and love to use information as soon as they have it on their desks.
• An embargo can be useful, however, if your want to make sure that a special announcement or event is covered by all the media at the same time – without them letting out key details in advance. It can also generate an air of expectation.
