Wyospace.com

Getting to know you, Part 2

By Tom Lacock

Now we have something we want to get covered. Here are some tips to think of before writing that press release or story pitch:

Media tips as well as tips working with radio and TV:

• If you are going to put out a press release make sure you will be in the office for the next couple days. Nothing is more frustrating to a reporter than getting excited about a story and then finding out the person you are supposed to be using as a source is in Hati for a week. If there is a board meeting where your division or program is presenting grant proposals, block off a time to talk with the media that day, whether it be in person of over the phone.
• If you are going to put out a press release make sure you will be in the office for the next couple days. Not a misprint or mistake, just a pet peeve.
  
• Bring as many other sources to the table as you can get. Any everyday examples of your program or service helping people you can bring please do. People don’t respond to program descriptions, but do respond when you point out how you helped their neighbor. It also gives the reporter fewer reasons to not do your story.
  
• Use a tape recorder: The WBC sends out an mp3 quote with each press release we send out. This is a 30-second sound bite which is in a format radio stations can immediately cut down to something they can use. That means one less call in order to get a story on an otherwise busy day.
  
• Don’t live in fear of the media. They can be our best friends in terms of educating the public
  
• Aim your press release for a reasonable time. Newspapers and TV stations with news crews generally have morning staff meetings to decide what stories they will chase that day. At K2TV and Channel 5, those meetings happen at 9 a.m. At The Star-Tribune it is 11 a.m. and then the final meeting happens at 4 p.m. It is easy to see a press release sent at 3:30 or 4 p.m. won’t get any real play in the craziness of a deadline rush. Things sent on Friday afternoons die on the fax machine over the weekend because news outlets run skeleton crews on the weekend. Shoot for a morning release if possible for best chances of something getting picked up.
  
• If it is a larger media outlet, or a niche publication you are shooting for, remember they schedule their media calendars out months in advance. Even the local news channels need things in advance if you can give them leadtime. Especially if there is travel involved for the news outlet.
  
• Offer times you are available and remember that the skeleton crews on weekends are often looking for story ideas. Making yourself available on weekends is a pretty good way to get on TV or in the newspaper. There is often very little going on during the weekends and presenting yourself as an option can be helpful.

Tomorrow:  So now that the media is interested, what do we do once they say they want to do a story?

Getting to know you

By Tom Lacock

Prior to my days of blog postings and wearing ties on days I wasn’t attending funerals, I ran around Casper and parts of Iowa as a newspaper reporter. The one thing that I found was almost universal amongst those who read or watched the news as opposed to report on it was a fear of the media. The old joke goes, “never let the truth get in the way of a good story,” and some reporters don’t, but the good ones (and we have almost exclusively good ones in Wyoming) are just trying to help you tell your story.

In the name of making my job obsolete, I’ll tell you what I know about working with the media in this three-part series.

First, let’s take a closer look at the people in the business.
Let’s use television reporters as an example, a medium which seems to have the highest turnover in the area, which is expected when you realize reporters like to be able to pay rent and eat at least twice-a-day. Television personalities in this market work on one and two-year contracts and spend their time working harder than they ever will in the business and trying to find a way to live cheap. Those who work in television generally get paid according to their market size. In other words, New York is a market number one, L.A. number two and those folks can make six figures a year but the pay goes down as the market number gets higher. There are 210 markets in the United States and Cheyenne is number 195 with Casper being 198. Suffice it to say many of the local television reporters’ salaries hover somewhere between $15,000-24,000, meaning while the job may seem glamorous, but these are hard-working people punching the time clock.

Why would a station pay so little? Because they can. Even for a job advertised at $18,000 a year it isn’t unusual to get 20 resume tapes of reporters hungry to get their feet wet and are willing to work for the money. Supply and demand of people works against businesses in Gillette who are forced to pay someone $15 an hour to make sandwiches, but for companies when there is a glut of available labor as there is in media.

Reporters come to Wyoming because they can learn a lot in a short period of time – a real trial by fire – and hope to catch the eye of a larger market. In a top-10 market a reporting team may have a photographer, a sound tech, a reporter and even a field producer. In Wyoming, one person does all of that, which really expands their basis of knowledge. It really is terrific training and people who come out of this market tend to do pretty well. In the past two years two reporters have left Wyoming for jobs in Tampa and Denver (markets 12 and 18 respectively), a 150-market jump which is nearly unheard of.

Working in Wyoming also expands a basis of knowledge for a reporter. Instead of just having one beat (subject to cover), a Wyoming reporter may go to a City Council meeting, then the next day cover a carnival and meet a rancher the day after. The really thrilling part of it all is you get to learn a little about a lot. The bad news is you never quite get to dig as deep into a subject as you may want to, so you are constantly working to simplify the subjects. Add to that the fact you are generally doing two stories a day and things get pretty wild, but are truly a lot of fun. There is a high in trying to gather a good story that is tough to define in those who love what they do.

Tomorrow we’ll get a little more in-depth about how to get the media’s attention. Until then, Ciao.

Are you looking for the right workers?

By Brandon Marshall

We've all heard it seemingly endlessly lately in Wyoming, "I can't find workers!"  While it's nearly universally accepted that there is a shortage of workers in Wyoming, I wonder if we're really doing all we can to find the best workers for our jobs?

So, here's what I mean by that. There is a workforce out there.  A highly professional, knowledgeable, reliable and loyal workforce at that. One that wouldn't have the first idea of how to boil up and distribute/use a batch of meth.  (I'm nuts right? These people don't exist any more!)  These people are there, and they're just waiting for you to pick their resume out of the "over qualified" pile. 

These workers, of course, are "older workers;" people who aren't  ready to retire, but are looking for some flexibility in their work schedule.  Looking for time for other activities that are beginning to feel more important to them.  Simply looking for opportunities to stay engaged and useful.

What it will take to find this workforce is for your company to become know as a place that is willing to run on the premise of flexibility and friendliness for and to the older worker.  One step is to realize that a hard and fast schedule is secondary to productivity.  Meaning, if you get the job done, who really cares how much time you spent at the office?   Another important step is to change your thinking on who is and isn't "over-qualified."  Assume that if someone applied for the job, they're willing take it, and to accept the pay that it is offering.  Many older workers are simply looking for something to do to use their skills and stay productive, and aren't necessarily looking for a step up on the ladder. 

Anyway,  before this turns into an exhaustive essay................  I would encourage you to take another look at the older workforce in Wyoming.  You may find that your workforce crisis can be taken down a couple of notches on the panic scale.  You can find more information on finding your workforce at www.boomersandbusiness.com.

   

SBIR Program Offers Opportunity for Wyoming Entrepreneurs

By Brandon Marshall

So, it's been forever since we've posted anything on wyospace.com.  Sorry about that.  I guess I'm spending most of my time these days preparing for the Idea Expo, coming up Sept. 26-28 in Casper.  On that, we've put together a great program of keynote speakers, as well as break out session presentations from various outside experts and a whole host of Wyoming companies that have "been there and done that."  I would encourage you to visit www.wyomingideaexpo.com today to sign up.  Your bottom line will thank you. 

On to what I need to write about today......

Many people call the Wyoming Business Council every week asking where they can get their grant to start a small business.  We then politely tell them that there really aren't any free lunches in Wyoming, and to stop watching those 2:00 a.m. infomercials saying otherwise.  (There will be a session at the Idea Expo talking about what it really takes to get grant funding.  CLICK HERE)

There is some saving grace for innovative companies in Wyoming though, and it's through the Small Business Innovative Research & Small Business Tech Transfer program administered through the University of Wyoming's WSSI office. (it's an acronym made of acronyms, so I'm not about to type it out.)   

Every year the federal government contracts with small businesses to perform research and development for projects through the Department of Defense and other agencies.  Their mechanism for doing this is called and SBIR "grant".  The "grants" can be for R&D in various fields, not just defense technologies.  Medical, IT, and various other types of R&D are needed. 

These two programs (SBIR & STTR) are comprised of three phases. Phase I, the feasibility phase, and Phase II, the prototype phase provide up to $100,000 and $750,000 respectively. Phase III, the commercialization phase is not funded by the federal agencies - other sources of capital are expected to carry the prototyped innovation into the marketplace

Your point of contact for getting in on these opportunities is through the WSSI office.  When Gene Watson and the boys (or girls) get notice from the Federal Government of an SBIR request for proposal, an email notice is sent out to Wyoming's companies alerting them of the request.

Contact Gene or Kelly at the WSSI Office for more information.

Pandemic Flu: It IS your business

If an influenza pandemic strikes Wyoming, who will ship coal to power plants in Wyoming and elsewhere? Who will run the ski lifts in Jackson Hole or serve coffee to visitors in Sheridan? Who will supply equipment and services to the state’s natural gas fields? Who will process pay checks for state workers?

Those questions will be considered at “Pandemic Flu: It IS your business,” a daylong conference co-sponsored by the University of Wyoming College of Health Sciences beginning at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, at the Parkway Plaza in Casper. Other sponsors are the Wyoming Department of Health, the Wyoming Business Alliance, the Wyoming Business Council, and the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security.

The cost of the conference is $50, which includes meals and conference materials. To register, go to www.uwo.edu/outreach/conferences/calendar and scroll down Pandemic Flu Preparedness and click to register. Or call 877-733-3618, ext. 1.

“We hope to present a strong and unified voice from health care, public health, state and local governments, and the business community that pandemic flu preparedness by all sectors of society is vital to the well-being and sustainability of communities,” says Mary Burman, interim dean of the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing.
A pandemic infection takes place over a wide geographic area and affects a high proportion of the population.

The goal of the conference is to increase awareness about the impact that a pandemic flu outbreak could have in Wyoming and to motivate businesses across the state to have a plan.

The keynote speaker will be Steve Aldrich, founder and president of Bio Economic Research Associates (bio-era), an independent research and advisory firm focused on the economic and business implications of human-induced change to biological systems.

The conference will also include panel discussions and question and answer sessions.

The world is closer to an influenza pandemic now than it has been at any time since the last outbreak in 1968, the World Health Organization and international experts believe. The culprit is expected to be H5N1 bird flu virus. While it exists mainly in bird populations in Asia, it could develop the ability to spread efficiently and sustainably among humans, triggering a pandemic.

Interview with WBC CEO Bob Jensen

Thw Wyoming Technology Organization did an in-depth interview with the Wyoming Business Council CEO, Bob Jensen. In this podcast, Bob Jensen discusses his ideas for the future of the Business Council, where he sees new opportunities and some of the programs that are available to technology companies from various state agencies. To learn more about the Wyoming Technology Organization, visit www.wyomingtechnology.org

Take a listen now!