Media Connect

MediaConnect’s annual Media Insights session will be held on September 28 in Milsons Point with a line-up of the country’s most influential technology journalists.

SMH’s Asher Moses and Stuart Kennedy of The Australian will present this year’s keynotes as part of a line-up of 23 speakers.

The event is aimed at PR professionals wanting to get deeper insights into working with Australia’s technology community. This might include new to intermediate tech PR professionals, PR professionals who have recently moved across to the technology sector, tech PR professionals who are new to the country and want to familiarise themselves with the local environment or marketing communications pros who want to better understand how to work with technology media.

The Tech Media Today: Moderator and MediaConnect CEO Phil Sim will give a general overview of the technology media and what factors are changing the landscape at present.

Keynote 1: Stuart Kennedy, technology editor of The Australian will discuss what makes news at The Australian and how PR pros can best work with the title.

Product Reviews: PC World’s Campbell Simpson, John Gillooly from PC & Tech Authority and freelancer Alex Kidman will talk about the product review process.

Social Media Relations: Tony Hollingworth and Geoff Quattromani will cover how you can best work with the growing band of non-journalists influencers who are developing significant reach via social media channels.

Consumer Pitching Workshop: CNET’s Seamus Byrne, Nic Healey from PC & Tech Authority, freelancer Jason Mountney and Gizmodo’s Danny Allen will discuss how best to pitch a consumer technology story and give feedback on pitches delivered to each journalist.

Keynote 2: Asher Moses, technology editor of SMH.com.au will discuss what makes news at the SMH and how PR pros can best work with the title.

Tech Media Events: ABC’s Nick Ross, Angus Kidman from Lifehacker and Gadget Guy’s Leigh Stark will talk about press conferences and media events: the do’s and dont’s of arranging media-friendly events.

Understanding the Channel: ARN’s Mike Gee and David Binning from CRN will explain channel IT media and discuss how you can better tailor stories for channel publications.

PR Insights: Bass PR founder David Bass, Clare Gill from Optus and Symantec’s Debbie Sassine will pass on their experiences working with technology media

Business Pitching Workshop: ZDNet’s Josh Taylor, CIO editor Georgina Swan, freelancer Beverley Head and My Business and Government Technology Review editor Simon Sharwood talk about what makes a good pitch for them and offer practical feedback for pitches.

Media Insight’s unique pitching workshops are possibly the only opportunities that PR pros will get to pitch stories to journalist and then get real, constructive feedback on how they might be better delivered or angled.

Media Insights will be held on Wednesday, September 28 between 9am and 5pm at the Vibe Hotel in North Sydney. Cost is $595 per person (ex GST), inclusive of lunch, refreshments and training materials. Please note the class size is capped and this event sells very quickly.

To register for the event please go to the online registration form.

Add Your Comment

MediaConnect will strengthen Australia’s only dedicated, daily coverage of the public relations industry with the appointment of Maha Obeid, a 20-year communications industry veteran, to the role of public relations reporter.

Originally trained as a cadet reporter at the Herald Sun, Obeid’s career has seen her work at The Daily Telegraph, as a stringer in Beirut for The Australian and as a freelance journalist whose work appeared in variety of major titles including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, marie claire, That’s Life and Australian Good Taste. She has also worked in local and B2B media, giving her a strong grounding in press dynamics across a range of media.

Her most recent work has been in the public relations industry, as a contractor in Sydney and previously as an account manager for Dubai-based agency The Portsmouth Group where she worked on a range of accounts including Qtel’s Virgin Mobile Service, Christie’s Middle East, the inaugural Doha Tribeca Film Festival and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.

“Maha is a perfect fit for this role, with her experience spanning both the media and PR industries, and we’re delighted to have such an experienced journalist covering the PR beat for us, who has also come directly from that industry,” said MediaConnect chief executive officer Phil Sim.

Writing primarily for MediaConnect’s Influencing website, Obeid will report on PR industry news and trends at both an agency and corporate communications level. Soft-launched earlier this year, Influencing will launch formally later this month with the goal of providing in-depth and comprehensive editorial for PR professionals and reputation managers.

Obeid said she was attracted to the opportunity to combine her experience in the PR industry with her love of reporting.

“I have worked in the media industry since I was 18 and I am fascinated by the whole communications process,” Obeid said. “Public relations plays an increasingly important role in linking journalists, and the wider community, with the pressing and important issues of the day”.

Obeid said that her experience using MediaConnect’s tools and services encouraged her to actively seek opportunities with the company, as she felt the company’s ambitions were very much aligned with her own interests and career objectives.

“I see the media and public relations industries moving into a new and exciting phase with the rapid uptake of digital and now, more than ever, accurate and up-to-date resources are essential for both journalists and PR professionals. In my role at MediaConnect, I continue my lifelong aim to provide objective information, as well as reporting on topical and thought-provoking issues”.

The new appointment follows the recent departure of MediaConnect’s Claire Brinkley, who has returned to her home town of Newcastle for personal reasons.

Maha can be contacted at maha@mediaconnect.com.au or on (02) 9894 6277. She is interested in receiving announcements or tips related to any news or events related to the public relations and corporate communications industries. PR releases and announcements can also be sent to pr@mediaconnect.com.au.

Add Your Comment

Today marks the first day in the next chapter of MediaConnect, with the launch of Influencing.com.au and our official expansion beyond our tech roots.

Influencing is now the brand for our PR portal. At one level, Influencing is a news and community site about the PR industry in Australia. It is free for all Australian PR pros and we look forward to the Influencing brand becoming as in-grained in the PR sector as ITJourno has become in the tech media and comms sector.

However, Influencing is also the gateway to our paid media intelligence services. Our initial focus will be on our media and influencer database. We set ourselves incredibly high-standards when it comes to database accuracy and depth and it’s going to take us a little while to get to replicate the standards we’ve set in the tech sector, but suffice to say we’re already very competitive with the other offerings in the market.

We think our entry into the market is exciting for all PR professionals, regardless of whether you end up subscribing to our services or not, because I can guarantee we will raise the bar for media intelligence services in Australia.

Right now, we’re in ’soft launch’ mode as I’m sure we’ll find a few kinks that need ironing out over the next week, with our proper launch campaign planned for Monday week.

Add Your Comment

So MediaConnect wrapped up another Kickstart this week. It was the biggest we’ve held with over 150 delegates across the three days. And while we’re yet to tally all the surveys, early indications are that it might rate as our best event yet.

We certainly started with a bang. Optus CEO Paul O’Sullivan gave a highly newsworthy keynote address that generated a multitude of stories across the technology and business media on Sunday and Monday.

For me, however, the real crowning achievement of the event was our Monday one-on-one interviews. At 35 tables, we facilitated 210 one-on-one interviews over a 90 minute period. All of those interviews were hand-picked balancing journalist requests with client requests.

Add Your Comment

“So do you want to hear the good news – or do you want to hear the good news?”

Yes, yes, I know there’s supposed to be some bad news in there, but we’ve had such a wonderful start to 2011 that it really is all smiles at MediaConnect HQ right now.

In some ways, the year started as it finished with an amazing response to our Kickstart Forum, which is very close to being sold-out.

We then announced that we had secured Microsoft as the sponsor for our 9th Annual IT Journalism Awards which will be held in April. Obviously we could not have hoped for a more prestigious sponsor and we’re really looking forward to working with the Microsoft team. Last week we also revealed that we had secured Optus CEO Paul O’Sullivan to deliver the keynote at Kickstart 2011. Paul is obviously one of the industry’s most influential technology executives, and the opportunities for the media to hear or speak to him are few and far between, so we consider it a real coup for that event.

And to top it all of, MediaConnect has been profiled in the Emerging Companies section of this week’s edition of BRW.

However, I honestly believe it’s the next stage of our story that is going to make for the most interesting reading. Last October we racked up ten years of business. We considered having a bash to celebrate the occasion but right now, there is a very single-minded focus within the company on hitting our objectives and moving forward at a rate of knots. It doesn’t feel like the right time to be looking in the rearview mirror or slapping ourselves on the back for what’s been achieved so far when there is so much left for us to do.

Next month, you’ll see us launch the first of our services that moves our business well beyond our traditional heritage in the technology sector. There’s a huge amount of anticipation within the team as we close in on that launch as from where we’re standing our timing is perfect.

In 2011, our rate of unsolicited inquiries about our MediaConnect portal has jumped by some 300 per cent. I think, finally, there is a growing understanding within the PR community that the tools they have been using, just won’t cut it as they attempt to take advantage of the many opportunities that lay ahead of them this decade like social media and corporate content creation.

For most of our history, I think we’ve been ahead of the game somewhat. Working primarily within the technology media sector, we’ve been on the bleeding edge of how technology has been used in the communication business and so our solutions have tended to be beyond where the general market has been at. However, I don’t think that’s the case any more.

PR companies and departments know they need to increase the pace at which they work and are looking for tools to help them do that.  As such, we finally feel like we’re in that zone of having perfect market/product fit.

Given we’ve got so much to announce in the coming months and also based on the fact that we’re going to be communicating with a lot of companies we haven’t dealt with in the past, we’re going to start posting a lot more frequently to this blog.  So I hope you’re all having a great start to 2011 as well and I look forward to continuing this conversation.

Add Your Comment

I was interested to read a report on TechCrunch related to a survey that “social software” firm Jive commissioned on the benefits of this kind of software to enterprises.

Wrote TechCrunch: “The results were pretty staggering. Internally, companies reported a 37% increase in project collaboration and productivity, 30% higher employee satisfaction and a 32% reduction in time to find answer. The most welcomed result might be a 27% reduction in email”.

The findings are of interest to MediaConnect given that we launched our Activity Stream module towards the end of last year. It’s a module we use very heavily inside of our organisation, sharing emails, phone conversations and our daily activities with each other via the Facebook-style stream interface. All I can say is the results described in the TechCrunch article don’t surprise me in the least – the Activity Stream has already transformed the way that we work and it’s still a process we’re getting used to.

We’re absolutely committed to this style of interface going forward, because I believe it can result in even greater benefits to PR businesses. Why? PR pros are generally very social-savvy so they take to this style of working very quickly and unfortunately so many PR agencies have such out-dated processes, typically based around spreadsheets and extensive use of the CC: field in their email, that there is ALOT of room for improvement.

We’ll be having a number of rapid iterations of the Activity Stream, as we take head of the lessons we have learnt as a user and also based on the feedback we get from our client base. Whiel moving to this kind of social-enterprise model takes a bit of time and a commitment to the cause, it is just so powerful that I think we’ll see companies move that way very quickly in the next little while.

Add Your Comment

Optus Chief Executive Paul O’Sullivan will deliver the keynote address at Kickstart 2011, presenting his view of the competitive telecommunications landscape in a NBN-enabled world.

As one of the industry’s most influential technology bosses and as a vocal proponent of telecommunications industry reform, the keynote represents a rare opportunity to hear from O’Sullivan, who will also conduct a 20 minute question & answer session with journalists. With the NBN continuing to be a point of controversy, as well as the imminent separation of Telstra, O’Sullivan’s presentation could not be more timely, or relevant.

O’Sullivan will focus on how he believes the Australian telecommunications market will evolve, from network design and the type of competitors the market will host to the types of services that will available to enterprise and consumer customers. He will also outline the final regulatory building blocks that are essential in ensuring a truly level playing field in the Australian telecommunications sector and what is needed to avoid building another anti-competitive telecommunications monopoly.

Kickstart will see more than 30 technology vendors come together to present and network with more than 50 of Australia’s most influential technology journalists. Other vendors represented include Microsoft, Symantec, HP, Samsung, Research-in-Motion, D-Link, eBay, iiNet, Motorola, AVG, VMWare, Fujitsu, Netcomm and many more. A major product launch from Samsung will be another highlight of the event, which will also feature a gala dinner at Movie World.

O’Sullivan’s keynote continues Kickstart proud tradition of attracting the industry’s highest profile speakers to open the event, with presentations or debates on the industry’s most debated topics and issues.

Add Your Comment

MediaConnect is delighted to announce that Microsoft is the new naming rights sponsor of this year’s IT Journalism Awards, and nominations are now open.

The 9th Annual Microsoft IT Journalism Awards will be held at Doltone House on Friday, April 8th.

Founding sponsor Watterson Marketing Communications has also confirmed its ninth consecutive year of support for the IT Journalism Awards.

MediaConnect CEO Phil Sim said that having one of the world’s largest and most influential technology companies as the major sponsor was a great reflection of the prestige and importance of the IT Journalism Awards.

“We have enjoyed working with the fabulous team at Microsoft at many of our past events, and I believe they really get what these awards are about and why they’re important,” Sim said.

Cathy Jamieson, Head of Corporate Communications at Microsoft Australia said that having attended the awards for many years, she was excited at the opportunity to take up the naming rights sponsorship.

“I love to see people getting recognised for their work,” Jamieson said. “The Awards are one of the high points on the industry calendar, so we’re proud to be the major sponsor and hope to really become a part of, and contribute to the event.”

Jamieson said the sponsorship was a great way of demonstrating Microsoft’s respect for the Australian technology media community.

“Respect is really central to how we approach all of our relationships and interactions with the media,” Jamieson said. “Having observed how the technology media works in other parts of the world, you cannot help but respect Australian journalists and the robust and frank manner in which they report on our industry.”

Sim said he was also delighted to welcome Watterson Marketing Communications back as a sponsor.

“I truly appreciate the unwavering support that Hannah Watterson and her team have given these awards since the very first event back in 1993,” Sim said.

Nominations for the 9th Annual Microsoft IT Journalism Awards are now open. We will be posting further details about changes to this year’s awards and the entry process later today.

For more information please visit http://www.thelizzies.com

Add Your Comment

If I had to pick the single biggest challenge facing public relations professionals today, it’s transforming their organisations or departments to work in real time.

As such, MediaConnect is partnering with Lewis PR to host a function at the Telstra Experience Centre which will examine the move to real-time communications and the ability, or lack there-of, of public relations pros to keep up with the pace that media today operates in.

The panel will feature The Australian’s media and marketing reporter Lara Sinclair, technology independent publisher and editor Renai LeMay, Telstra group manager of media relations Craig Middleton and Lewis PR managing director Scott Pettet. I’ll be moderating the event.

The concept of real-time PR is one that MediaConnect has been structuring our platform around for some time. I would say for the last two years, the most common refrain we have heard from the journalist community is that the majority of PR & corporate comms professionals just don’t move quickly enough.

PR professionals that fail to turbo-charge their processes and response times face just not irrelevance, but put the brands of the companies they manage or represent at risk as well.

Let’s look at two typical scenarios. The first is a genuine example from this week. A journalist representing a tier one title posted a Request for Information looking for a CEO to speak on a podcast. Within half an hour, he’d filled the slot and regardless of how suitable any other spokesperson was, anyone who responded to that request in more than half an hour had missed the opportunity.

Missing an opportunity is one thing. But now let’s consider brand reputation. Journalist calls or emails your organisation seeking comment on a potentially damaging story. I know a lot of online journalists who consider between 15 minutes and half an hour ample time to respond to an accusation or issue. Failure to get a response results in an inaccurate story being published and tweeted. Within 5 minutes, it receives hundreds of retweets which spawns follow-up blogs and social media commentary. As the organisation struggles to pull together a statement, bouncing back between lawyers and corporate comms professionals, the perceived silence gives the story more legs and it hits mainstream media.

The media has been forced into the real-time age. Those that sat back and tried to work to traditional publishing and news cycles found themselves quickly becoming irrelevant and were dragged into the real-time age whether they liked or not. PR professionals have not yet had that commercial imperative, but there’s only so long you can persist with outdated business practices before the industry begins to pass you by.

Everything we’ve been doing at MediaConnect is about helping our clients to make that transition because it’s easier said than done. You can’t go real-time if you’re bogged down in administration, you can’t go real-time if you’re not always listening, you can’t go real-time if you don’t have tools and processes that let you instantly react and respond.

It will be fascinating to hear the different points of view from our panel on Thursday. Lara brings the big media perspectives as well as being an industry observer; Renai is well-known as a journalist on the forefront of using tools like Twitter in his journalism; Telstra was identified by our journalist community as the organisation that has excelled in shifting to this real-time paradigm, so Craig’s insights will be invaluable, and I know Lewis PR has made going real-time a priority in its business, and I look forward to hearing about the challenge of getting clients to recognise and embrace this changed dynamic.

We still have some spots available, so if you would like to attend, please email Patricia Istiphan at patricia@mediaconnect.com.au

REAL-TIME PR BREAKFAST BRIEFING

7:30AM for 8:00AM START

LEVEL 4, 400 George Street Sydney

Theatre, Telstra Experience Centre

Panelists:
Lara Sinclair, Online Media editor and marketing writer for The Australian newspaper
Renai LeMay, Publisher and Editor, Delimiter
Craig Middleton, Group Manager, Media Relations, Telstra
Scott Pettet, Managing Director, Lewis PR.

Email Patricia@mediaconnect.com.au to RSVP

Add Your Comment

Today, MediaConnect announced our new Activity Stream module. It’s something we’re very excited about and going forward we believe it will become the primary interface for how our clients interact with our platform. The press release is here but also re-produced below.

MediaConnect launches Activity Stream PR workflow tool

MediaConnect has achieved a leap forward in helping PR professionals track their media interactions and manage their workflows, with the launch of its Activity Stream and Tasks modules.

“PR workflow processes that are rooted in spreadsheets and email folders, prevent PR professionals from achieving the productivity gains that free their time to venture into new activities like social media and content creation,” said MediaConnect Chief Executive Officer, Phil Sim.

“However, traditional CRM-style solutions, even if they are tailored for the PR community, are too difficult to use and have not been embraced by the PR community.”

MediaConnect’s Activity Stream is a free new module available to all MediaConnect subscribers, that is modelled on popular social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter, which are highly familiar to almost all PR professionals.

“Most PR pros have never, and will never master CRM-style tools. Now they don’t have to. If you can update your Facebook status, you’ve already mastered the MediaConnect Activity Stream,” Sim said.

MediaConnect will progressively integrate any component of a PR professional’s workflow into the Activity Stream, giving them real-time visibility of what their peers are doing, what the media is doing, what coverage they are receiving and what success their campaigns and press releases are having.

The Activity Stream is tightly integrated with another new MediaConnect module, Tasks, allowing teams to have full awareness and accountability of the tasks they have been assigned.

Email and Twitter have also been tightly integrated into the Activity Stream, making it simple to share emails and tweets with just the click of a button.

“Too many PR teams either do a really bad job of sharing information or they flood every body’s inbox with carbon copied emails. With the MediaConnect Activity Stream, PR professionals can at the same time reduce the load on their inboxes, while increasing the amount of information shared and collaborated on.”

The launch of MediaConnect Activity Stream comes as MediaConnect prepares to launch its first general media product to the Australian market. Traditionally, serving the PR professionals and journalists in the technology sector, MediaConnect’s general media offering will be targeted at all PR professionals in Australia.

“We’ve deliberately rolled this out to our existing customer base initially, so as to get the benefit of their feedback and advice, but this is exactly why we think we’re going to have a very compelling offering to all Australian PR professionals because our software and tools functionality is streets ahead of any competitive service sold from this country,” Sim said.

MediaConnect operates a dual-community model, offering versions of its service and software to both the PR and journalist communities. The Activity Stream module will also be integrated into the journalist portal over the next 3 months.

About MediaConnect Australia

MediaConnect Australia aims to be the world’s most innovative provider of solutions to the Public Relations and Journalist communities. It’s dual-community model has enabled it to successfully link the workflows of both the journalist and PR communities, making members of both communities more successful and productive. It’s Influencing suite of tools and service leads the world for ease-of-use, usability and value-for-money.

Add Your Comment