2300-Attorney General at Utah State

Utah's Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, came to Utah State University last week, but almost no one knows it. He came to the TSC looking for a crowd, and found an empty ballroom.

The public relations class in the journalism department has taken the initiative to invite him back, do the correct media and awarness work to get people to his speech, and make sure all those in attendance know that Utah State students did the work.

Shurtleff's pr assistants did numerous things wrong in getting the word out that he would be here, and I would like to name a couple.

First, the timing was off. The pr guy sent a few emails to the university and the Herald Journal, but all were too late. Some received emails even as late as the morning of the speech. For good pr, people need to be given consistent reminders as to why it's important for them to know about your pitch. When emailing, calling, or mailing anything for pr, it needs to be in their hands early enough for them to assess the situation, and get it properly announced and advertised.

Secondly, the emails that did get to the university weren't read anyway. The subect line of the emails made them look and sound just like a spam email. When sending media pitches, press releases, or any professional document via email, always put the real reason for the email in the subject line. Do not try to be catchy, and do not try to be smart. Just be clear, concise, and professional. I think a perfect subject line would have read "Attorney General Mark Shurtleff will be on Utah State's campus September 25." That would have grabbed anyone at the Herald Journal or the university's attention.

Lastly, I would like to recognize one thing they did kind of right. The pr guys have acknowledged that students at Utah State would like to give it a try, organizing a pr event such as. They have been in contact with a public relations professor, they are pretending to really appreciate the help, and they are bring the attorney general back to Logan.

I have learned from all of this that when doing pr work, just be honest, be on time, and don't try to get smart. Let people know what's happening, why it's happening, check back to make sure people know what's going on, and then feel good about you've done.