6 key takeaways – Meet the Press! How can startups and scaleups tell winning stories?

Co-hosted with tech PR experts CEW Communications and Techspace, Meet the Press gave you a chance to hear from four journalists covering the ecosystem from different angles.

How can your startup get the attention of a journalist? What makes a good story? How do you get your message across in the right way and in the right place?

Co-hosted by startup PR experts CEW Communications and Techspace, Meet the Press gave those attending a chance to hear from three journalists covering technology and startups in a variety of ways.

Founders, senior leaders and marketers learned:

• ​What makes a good story
• ​How each journalist and publication differs, and why do you need to adapt the news you share
• ​How you can build a relationship
• ​What’s changing in the media landscape and what that means for journalism
• ​The biggest lessons you can take away to implement within your team
• ​Why your personal brand and your own communications channels are important

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🎤  Who's speaking?

Host: Cathy White, Founder & CEO of CEW Communications
Cathy has helped share the stories from some of Europe’s biggest scaleups and VCs for over a decade. From Index Ventures to BACKED and Wise to Monese, her experience spans startups from pre-seed to IPO and many sectors. Not to mention, she was recognized in The Drum's Top 30 Women Under 30 in Digital and as a PRWeek Rising Star.

Charlotte Jee, News Editor at  MIT Technology Review
Charlotte is MIT Technology Review's news editor. She has extensive experience as a writer, editor and journalist covering tech, and crops up regularly on broadcast media. Prior to joining MIT Tech Review, Charlotte was Editor of Techworld and a Senior Reporter for IDG, covering Computerworld and CIO UK.

Dan Taylor, Managing Editor at  Tech.eu
With his thoughtful, insightful, and punchy take on all things tech, Managing Editor Dan Taylor brings nearly 25 years of industry experience to the table. In combination with his decade long career as a photographer, Taylor packs the rare double punch of both journalist and photojournalist, and is never one to shy away from getting to the heart of the matter. For better or for worse. Dan has authored works for The Next Web, Fiat-Chrysler Automobile for Alfa-Romeo, Fujifilm, Nikon, and Sony. His photographic works have appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, and Vice, to name a few.

Jane Wakefield, Freelance Journalist, Podcaster, Media Consultant and Former Senior Tech Journalist at the BBC
With more than 20 years experience, Jane has broken stories about some of the biggest tech firms in the world and made documentaries for TV and radio. Jane previously edited the BBC’s technology online page and presented World Service radio programmes including Tech Tent. She has written on every subject from broadband to tech regulation, online harms, AI, tech in Africa, robotics (including the UK's first ever interview with a sex robot), health, data and online privacy. As a freelancer journalist Jane regularly writes for the BBC and creates podcasts for UKTN.

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🎯 6 key takeaways!

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1) Grab their attention

• Email subjects should have the category as a word (and in the title) so journalists can search their inbox and find your story (e.g. AI, Healthcare, Cyber).
• "Exclusive" in the title is likely to be opened - but make sure it’s a good one if you do - you'll be blacklisted if you blow it...
• Dirty word is “today” - don’t start or ask for anything today - it won’t happen today

2) Be concise!

Get to the point, quickly and keep it simple:

• Who
• What
• When
• Where
• Why
• How (and maybe how much)

3) Remain objective

Remember that you do have control over:

• Your Press Release
• What you say in an interview

But you don't have control over:

• The Finished article
• Tone of the article
• Where they take the article, i.e. Direction

4) What makes a good story?

Even though it might not seem like it, journalists are thirsty for your stories, founders!

Ask yourself: "is your story interesting enough that someone talk about it with their mates at the pub?"

Use the acronym TRUTH to make sure your story rocks:

• Topical
• Relevant
• Unusual
• Trouble (secret squirrel)
• Human

5) Pick the right publication

• There's a common perception that niche publications have a very limited audience, but your target investors.etc are probably reading those
• Ask your decision maker personas ‘what they read!?’

6) Finally, remember...

• Use professional photos! Get a photographer!
• Put all appropriate photos in google folder link
• PR is not SEO
• Use Google alerts for compiling keywords and working out what your competitors are doing - which, in turn, will help you read the right publications, journalists and gather contact details!‍‍