Disrupt: The science and art of media relations

By Edwin Yapp June 14, 2013

Disrupt session aims to highlight the science and art of communication
Yahoo! country editor joins the panel and will share his experiences

Periscope by Edwin Yapp

AS my colleague Gabey Goh announced on June 11, Disrupt #8 on June 19 will focus on the science and art of media relations, with the theme ‘Rules of Engagement: Media Relations 101.’

Now why do I say that this topic is both science and art?

It’s science because there are some guidelines that are based on general communication principles that any company, especially startups and their founders, would need to know. These include learning to be concise, communicating the big picture before expounding the details, and keeping jargon to the minimum when speaking to journalists.

It’s an art because there is no set way to convey an idea and to communicate the truths of a concept. This can be done by using a straight-laced bullet point format, a video presentation, a PowerPoint presentation, mindmaps, infographics or just good ol’ pen and paper.

In my years as a journalist, first with the now-defunct In.Tech technology pullout in The Star and later as a freelancer, I’ve unfortunately come across quite a few people who don’t quite understand the science of media communications and rely too much on the art -- or vice-versa, hiding behind the science and having little imagination or creativity in getting their ideas across.

Thus, the trick is to find the balance between the two – which is what we hope to discuss come June 19. Gabey will bring to us her experiences as a tech as well as advertising and marketing journalist, while I will give some perspective from my time as a freelance editorial consultant. The session will be moderated by BFM Radio's Freda Liu, herself a former public relations practitioner with tech giant IBM.

Joining us as a third panellist will be Marc Lourdes, country editor of news portal Yahoo! Malaysia.

Disrupt: The science and art of media relations I first met Marc (pic) when both of us were colleagues at The Star. He first cut his teeth writing maritime stories. He didn’t stop there and went on to report for general news and also the crime desk.

Since then, he’s had varied experiences, not just in the online space with Yahoo! but also with print (New Straits Times), and TV (Bernama).

He also has the distinction of being chosen to be part of the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship, spending the better part of a year working as a reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Missouri, and has completed professional journalism courses from Poynter University in Florida and the Missouri School of Journalism.

So do join us for what we believe will be an insightful session this June 19. To date, close to 70 have RSVPed, and just to note, we’re capping the guest list at 80.

Disrupt will be hosted at Fluent Space in Kelana Jaya and will kick off at the usual time of 5:30pm.

Admission is free but seats are limited so be sure to RSVP via this link.

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