PRSA Silicon Valley Chapter Media Predicts event in San Mateo, California, Thursday, December 7 2017. (Photography by Paul Sakuma Photography) www.PaulSakuma.com
As the founder of BOCA Communications – I would like to provide a personal thank you to the amazing team at PRSA that pulled off this year’s PRSA Media Predicts Gala.
Kudos to Ellie Javadi, Katie Moazed and Scott Thornburg – you rocked it.
We also want to do a shout out to the moderator and panelists:
- Connie Guglielmo, CNET
- Alexis Madrigal, The Atlantic
- Candy Cheng, Bloomberg
- Alex Kantrowitz, BuzzFeed
- Hayley Tsukayama, Washington Post
- David Pierce, Wired
BOCA is also proud to be in such great company with our other PR agency sponsors like Fleishman and Highwire to notable VC firms such as Norwest plus 800 pound gorilla brands like Intel and VMWare. We like to keep good company.
As part of our thank you, our tabletop attendees would like to share what we enjoyed and / or learned during PRSA’s 2017 Media Predicts Gala.
Here is what a few BOCAteers had to say:
Anthony | Account Coordinator
“It was a great atmosphere for fellow PR professionals to connect and to hear industry insights from top reporters. It is amazing to learn what these reporters are looking for in 2018 in terms of breakthrough tech. Beyond reporter Insights, the networking and relationship building with other PR professionals was impressive. I look forward to BOCA sponsoring in 2018 and attending my second ever PRSA Media Predicts.”
Brittney | Account Supervisor & Sr. Media Strategist
“During this year’s PRSA media predicts panel, I kept coming back to one of my favorite pitching strategies: know the reporters you’re pitching. Not just their beats, but what interests them outside of work as well. Reporters will be much more responsive if you can tie back to a topic or trend that they’re already excited about. For example, BuzzFeed’s Alex Kantrowitz loves his Alexa, so a conversation with a client that has something to say about AI could be a great foot in the door.”
Kimberly | Sr. Content and Media Strategist
“Authenticity was a big theme for the night. 2017 showed us what happens when companies do not conduct business in an authentic way (e.g. Uber). Be transparent and authentic — both when you represent your company/client or yourself. Your reputation is essential to your success.”
Shauna | Account Supervisor
“The PRSA media predicts panel provided interesting insight into not only the topics reporters are planning to cover in 2018, but also what they are looking for in a story that they would cover. This kind of information helps PR people do our jobs better so we can help reporters build a story vs. bombarding them with irrelevant information.”
In case you still have FOMO, @PRSASV shared some photos from the event, here by Paul Sakuma Photography.