Do My Favorite News Wires Match Yours? Expert Tips on Issuing News Releases

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Michelle McIntyre

When you make a news announcement, do you use a news wire? Here’s how it works. You write a news release, pick a photo and upload it to a newswire distribution service that will shoot it out to the internet for you.

Then you see a report of where it ran and, wallah, your news is out.

Any traditional PR pro who is skilled at media relations will tell you that you can also skip the wire and pitch it to a few key journalists directly. For B2B news, it might be ten to 20 contacts. For consumer mainstream news it might be more like 500 news outlets. As an aside, the best stories are features. Reporters writing these stories love scoops. Wire releases are the opposite of scoops so use them wisely.

I like a combo of sharing the news using a news wire service and pitching journalists directly.

The four news wire services I like are PR Newswire, BusinessWire, EIN Newswire and PRWeb. This is from recent experience. No one is sponsoring my endorsements.

PR Newswire and Business Wire are pricey, roughly $1,500-$2,000 for a news release and image or other media like a video: These two carry the big brand names and make your organization look richer. I like both equally, e.g. service provided.

My PR friend Laura Desmarais adds: “News wires are essential for distributing news to a wide audience and ensuring timely updates. My corporate clients need to work with a trusted source, and they like either Business Wire or PR Newswire. They typically stay with one rather than switching resources for a difference in service.”

As a heads up, when you talk to a salesperson from these services, they will attempt to upsell you to four or five releases to save money. With EIN, it’s approximately $399 for four or five releases last I checked. Business Wire will offer you five press releases for around $4,000-$5,000. Prices depend on how long your press release is; What is the number of words? You save money if you buy a bunch at once. I typically buy one at a time.

5 quick tips when considering a news wire service:

Although you can post your news to your own website easily enough these days, with wires like EIN and PRWeb, any company or nonprofit can afford a newswire. Hire a PR consultant to guide you through the process the first time.
Always post an image or better yet, a newsy video. I advised a client just this month to make and post a talking head video with their newswire release and KRON 4 ran it on their website. On the other hand, another PR friend, Mark Lewis, says if you’re in a budget crunch, just use a photo or video link in the wire release.
When you call the newswire service, tell them the number of words so you can get an accurate price. Long releases cost more. They can’t get you a proper quote without length.
Contact the news wire service about your news a couple of days in advance so you can troubleshoot any problems.
Allow a few hours to work with the news wire editor to get the details correct, such as proper photo captions and to correct errors they may catch. They typically proofread and will alert you to mistakes. I find editors very helpful.

Try a news wire if you haven’t already. There are price options for all budgets these days. Combined with some direct pitching, your news exposure should be pretty decent.

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Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley-based PR consultant and PR agency and IBM veteran. Her website is here.

Do Super Bowl Ads Really Work? Yes, and I’m Now Craving Dunkin Coffee and Nestlé Drumsticks

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Michelle McIntyre

Do SuperBowl commercials work? This year’s ads were expensive at $7 million each. They are designed to create a buzz. That means they get people talking, just like powerful public relations campaigns.

A 2015 McKinsey & Company study says that word of mouth accounts for 20-50% of purchases. I’ll comment on three that worked on me, a Gen Xer:

1. Dunkings boy band with Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Matt Damon, and Tom Brady — I like this one the best and it’s one that my friends are mentioning the most. I like math and Matt starred in a popular math movie. He also does a good deadpan look and eye roll line in the ad. Matt and Ben are super likable. Bennifer is a thing again. It reminded me that I love Dunkin coffee and now I want to go to Dunkin. I wasn’t thinking about it before. I am already a huge Dunkin Donuts fan and always go back to Dunkin Donuts in Euclid, OH, where I grew up, for a cup of the best coffee in the world and sometimes a donut. Dunkin came late to San Jose, California, where I live so it became a more beloved brand when it was very hard to get.

2. Mayo Cat with Kate McKinnon — Cat mom is searching in the fridge for a snack. The cat says, “Meow” or “mayo” depending on how you hear it. Kate represents the LGBQT community so it’s a politically correct and modern ad: She’s the first openly gay SNL cast member. A+ on the diversity front. The cat gets on a popular morning show due to its gift of gab. The concept is clever and people love animals in ads: Think Clydesdale horses and the puppy. I added it here because my brother-in-law in New Jersey mentioned it to me as his number one. It’s cute but two things turn me off so it’s not my winner. First I don’t like the concept of Pete Davidson dating a cat: It’s gross weird. By the way, when he was on SNL he was by far my favorite cast member. He’s hilarious like Adam Sandler. The second reason this did not win first place is that they took the ad premise too far. I would have added a dog that said, “Woof” but meaning “roof” instead of acting like a meow is a big deal.

3. Dr. Umstick. I watched this once and it took me a minute to realize that it’s Drumstick ice cream treats. Get it? Dr. Umstick = drumstick. The fact that it was not obvious made it clever. Now I’m craving Drumsticks as a result and I have mentioned the ad as funny and clever to friends and family. Will I buy more Drumstick ice cream treats? Time will tell. I try to buy more leafy greens than any ice cream at this time of year. See the Nestlé Drumstick photo above.

By the way I did not like the Bud Light ad with Peyton Manning. I did not understand it, for one. Secondly, I’m tired of seeing Manning’s face everywhere. Third, Coors Light tastes better than Bud Light. I don’t think an ad can make something taste good. I was tired of Tom Brady too but putting him in an ad with Affleck and Damon made sense because they are associated with Boston. He’s most associated with the N.E. Patriots.

Nestlé Drumstick Photo Credit: Wikipedia Thomson200

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Michelle McIntyre is a tech public relations consultant based in the Silicon Valley who has represented a variety of b2b and b2c startups from fintech and AI to martech and data analytics. A ranked future of work influencer with 1.8 million impressions on Quora, she has also represented unicorns and big brands such as IBM (HW, SW, services, research breakthroughs), Microsoft (PR and content marketing), Bill, Moloco, and Alation. She’s on the PRSA Silicon Valley board and was 2017 VLAB volunteer of the year. Please contact her if you have news to share. michelle@michellemcintyrecommunications.com

Inspired by a Speech on Kindness and a Decal Application Task, I Raised My Hand for a Bigger 2024 PRSA Management Role

Posted on January 14, 2024 by Michelle McIntyre

I enjoyed being a part of the PRSA Silicon Valley team in 2023 and that was especially true the night of the annual Media Predicts event Dec. 6th at The Grand Bay Hotel on Redwood Shores.

I had so much fun I raised my hand to be vice president of marketing for the chapter this year. In other news, Tara Thomas stepped up and will continue in the programs executive role. Yay team and I’m already looking forward to Media Predicts 2024. In other big news my South Bay buddy Mike Sanchez took on the PRSA SV Secretary role.

Part of the reason I like volunteering is that I’m a freelancer: PRSA SV gives me teammates and dare I say, friends. Face it. We do develop friendships at work. You spend 30 to 60 hours a week working so this is goodness.

I have partnered with other freelancers to serve clients and pitch prospects. I recommend it; the slight downside is you DM a lot which is time consuming. This could be an upside if you are friends. Having a bad day? Message your freelancer partner for a few kind words of support.

Truth be told, I also made friends working with my 2023 robotics software client. Our interviews were in person (TechCrunch’s Brian Heater, Mercury News’s Sal Pizarro, several broadcast. Shameless plug, i know.) and it gave me a chance to better get to know them.

Anyhoo… back to Media Predicts. Head of programs Tara noticed my early arrival to the hotel and relaxed stance. Someone had plopped a glass of wine in my hand so I looked pretty ‘cushy.’

Everyone else is running around setting up with serious looks on their faces. Meghan Fintland was on stage practicing her welcome. Jeannie Entin was helping the 11 student volunteers get situated.

My typical volunteer roles are writing and editing: I’m an extrovert and it’s hard for me to ‘focus’ during events. Give me a great meal and a dance floor. The food was surprisingly good and we did leverage the dance floor and DJ at Media Predicts.

Flashback memory of another volunteer gig: I tried to staff the welcome table at a TEDxSanJoseCA event but was quickly pulled off because an attendee wanted to have a deeper conversation. I did better handling the publicity. At Santana Row, KTVU interviewed Gold Medalist Swimmer and Speaker Dana Vollmer. Dana who held the Gold Medal in the butterfly overcame a heart defect. The same reporter interviewed a scout leader when I volunteered at council. I enjoy working with broadcast. (Shout out to Sharon Chin, Scott Budman; the list of on-air friends whom I greatly respect goes on and on.)

Back to MP23. Tara quickly assigned me to window decal application. That went fine and the space looked captivating with the next level decor including the lit-up letters spelling PRSA. (Tara: The S is in my garage. Readers please see the S photo below.)

I finally felt useful on event night and the decals were not crooked. Yessss.

5 Honorees

Who got awards that night? PRSA Silicon Valley Chapter President Meghan Fintland and President-elect Jeannie Entin presented awards to three PR professionals, Camille Clark and Alannah McDermott co-honorees for Board Member of the Year and Jeremiah Lineberger who achieved the Young Professionals Award. An older person can win because the point is to be new to PR. In fact to this day I have no idea how old Jeremiah is.

Former National PRSA President Gerry Corbett presented David Vossbrink with his PRSA Fellows Medallion. I was honored to be at Gerry and David’s MP23 table. (Some of my awesome table mates are below.)

Kindness Counts, According to Honoree

Global PR Powerhouse Yvette Noel-Schure was presented the chapter President’s Unity and Purpose Award by Rochelle Nadhiri.

Noel-Schure’s award acceptance comments brought audience members to tears. The comment that stuck with me the most is, “The secret sauce is to continue to operate in kindness.”

She mentioned several entertainers that she represents including Chloe X Halle, John Legend, and Jessica Simpson. Yvette Noel-Schure spent most of 2023 as the publicist for Beyoncé’s record-breaking Renaissance World Tour. To my friends who like Prince: She represented him too!

The 2023 Media Predicts panel included Moderator Rochelle Nadhiri, Shawn Chitnis, Connie Guglielmo, Kayli Hays and Eric Savitz. That story with their comments is here.

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Who am I? I’m Michelle McIntyre, the new PRSA SV VP of marketing, a PR freelancer, IBM vet, and author of this story. I’m accepting new clients in 2024. Please hit me up for a breakfast meeting to discuss how to get your business attention. I like Bell Tower cafe in Saratoga. If you don’t want to talk about work, the drinks at night option works too. I love going up to Berkeley!

Be aware that PRSA Silicon Valley is devoted to diversity and mentoring. We invite you to get involved and check the website for new scholarship opportunities. Proceeds from MP23 went to diversity programs.

Photo credit: I took them with my iPhone 14 Pro. Camile Clark took the first photo selfie-style. I can’t remember who took the one of the group of us but it was taken with my iPhone.

MIT Technology Review’s Top 10 Breakthroughs of 2024 include ‘Twitter Killers’, Gene Editing Tools based on CRISPR and Mixed Reality Headsets

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Michelle McIntyre

Controversial robo taxis did not make the ‘first cut’

Three MIT Technology Review representatives held an event today to unveil their breakthrough list of technology for 2024. The items are timely now, more consumer-y than in years past, and according to the editors are “big meaty technologies poised to change the world.”

The surprising thing to me is that the first thing I saw when entering the LinkedIn live virtual event was a message in comment saying something like, check out our list of breakthroughs that did not make the list here.

My message to industry folks reading this is, if your technology was not included, feel free to write to them and give your feedback. Hire or contact your PR pro to help you say it in an interesting way.

During the event, a communications engagement representative interviewed Amy Nordrum, executive editor of operations, and Mat Honan, the editor in chief who is based in San Francisco. I liked the Bear decoration on the wall behind him. I thought he might be a UC Berkeley grad but his LinkedIn says he went to University of Georgia and Emory.

How do they decide on the list? PR people, university researchers and company folks pitch them solutions throughout the year, and they are considered. Journalists need interesting pitches so that their editors okay their ideas so they don’t just toss out ideas to be nice to someone they may have met with.

My experience is that they are open to in-person meetings. You need to be able to clearly articulate why your offering matters. A quality PR consultant can help figure out how to phrase something to get a response from MIT Tech Review.

I’ve taken many technologists to meet their editors: Typically the true breakthrough news gets coverage in a feature.

Relationship building is beneficial too. They might meet for a few minutes to shake your hand and make a new contact for future projects. If you are pitching a conference meeting, try to get in touch at least six weeks in advance and ditch the industry jargon when doing so.

MIT Technology Review editors mentioned weight loss drugs, AI for Everything, the Twitter Killers List, the first gene editing treatments based on CRISPR, Super-Efficient Solar Cells, Mixed Reality Headsets, and Solar Geo-Engineering technologies. Please visit the outlet’s website for the full list here.

Examples of Twitter Killers mentioned were Mastodon, Threads and Blue Sky. Threads is up to 100 million users: I find engagement hard though due to lack of hashtag capabilities. Discord and Slack were smartly brought up. Slack is universally used by all people I do business with. Discord is popular with Gen Zs but I don’t like the way you can make your identity secret there.

Apple’s Vision Pro Headset which will be out in February was mentioned. (See the photo that goes with this story. Photo credit goes to Wikipedia.)

The editors said to keep in mind that mixed reality headsets have not done well in the past with consumers. They added they were more impressed with the underlying technology because of how you can be present where you are and also be in or near something that’s virtual. Apparently, it’s wicked awesome, as they say in ‘Bahston.’ (I used to live in Salem, MA.)

They mentioned that Mexico has banned some solar geoengineered experiments.

They deeply and passionately stressed what did not make the list. Honan said that he’s been testing robo taxis in San Francisco and because of Cruz running over and dragging a pedestrian, they took it off the list. They mentioned Waymo expanding its robo taxi program. As an aside, I never heard anyone say anything bad about Waymo so they must be the darling of the autonomous vehicles industry.

They added that some new Alzheimer’s drugs had major side effects and there was an experiment in Asia that showcased male to male reproduction. Wow!

They invited the audience and readers to vote on what the last item should be. The options are thermal batteries, lab grown meat and robo taxis.

The purpose of this story is to help clients and prospective clients understand what makes journalists tick. If you understand media outlets, it’s easier to get their attention and coverage. Hire a PR consultant if you need help with media relations.

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Michelle McIntyre is a global tech PR consultant who lives in the Silicon Valley, IBM PR vet and VP of Marketing for PRSA Silicon Valley.

3 PR TRENDS SHAPING 2024 from LATIN AMERICA, MALAYSIA AND NIGERIA

Posted on December 19, 2023 by Michelle McIntyre

I enjoyed hearing journalists and PR professionals speak here in the San Francisco Bay Area recently, from the San Francisco Press Club interview with the NY Times SF bureau chief to the Public Relations Society of America Silicon Valley Media Predicts panel featuring Barron’s, Business Insider, CNET, and CBS News Bay Area.

Changes brought about by artificial intelligence overshadowed both of those conversations. These were all locals albeit with global perspectives.

I wanted to know what folks beyond Northern California thought about 2024 so I did some digging. Here is insight from Latin America, Malaysia, and Nigeria’s PR leaders:

AI continues to shape industries including PR agency billing. – Andy See Teong Leng, President of PRGN and former president of PRCA of Malaysia:

“Looking ahead to 2024, Andy (See) predicts that AI will continue to shape the industry, and he emphasizes the importance of humanizing communications in the face of technological advancements. He highlights the growing significance of sustainability and ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) communications, urging PR and communications professionals to advise their clients on genuine and authentic approaches to social responsibility.” Link to more input from and a podcast with Mr. See here

In his podcast segment with Abbie Fink and Adrian McIntyre, he said that GenAI may impact how agencies charge clients. Why? Because AI has sped up work.

Authenticity rules communications. – Olanrewaju Alaka, executive, Laerryblue Media, Nigeria

“In a world saturated with information, authenticity emerges as the linchpin of effective communication. I foresee a PR landscape where brands will strive to be more genuine, embracing transparency as a cornerstone of their narratives. The human touch, I believe, will be the catalyst for building lasting connections with audiences.” For more details from Mr. Alaka, visit this link. His further comments discuss the importance of visual storytelling and PR campaigns with a higher purpose.

DEI-related actions reinforce stakeholder trust. -Institute for Public Relations, Latin American Communication Monitor (LACM)

The LACM analyzed trends in Latin America’s PR field and what professionals predict for 2024. A survey of 1,134 communications professionals from 20 countries was conducted from May to June 2022. There were multiple key findings. One is that “actions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) reinforced stakeholder trust.”

The survey went on to reveal that “empathetic leadership increased engagement, improved mental health, and reduced turnover.” For more information from the LACM look here.

In addition to attending the local PR dinners, panels, and fun networking mixers be sure to take the pulse of what international leaders are saying to have a fuller understanding of our diverse and spread-out world. Because one of the major 2024 PR trends is the human touch, continue to attend events in person in 2024 to deepen relationships and forge new ones.

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Michelle McIntyre is a PR Consultant and IBM Veteran based in Saratoga, California, a suburb of Silicon Valley.

Speaking Opportunity? No Problemo. How to Slay Your Next Panel

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Michelle McIntyre

If you want news coverage, either do something or say something interesting. A panel allows you to say something that could make headlines even if it’s just a headline in a LinkedIn post.

Panel events have exploded in popularity since things opened up after the pandemic. They offer huge benefits. Things participants say can be quite newsworthy and this garners attention.

On any given day I have the opportunity to attend at least one panel. On some days, I can pick from five or more. Right now Open Compute OCP in San Jose is happening and I was offered a free pass. I’m thinking about it. A conference like that offers one panel after the next with the biggest name in B2B tech and the consumer industry. OCP focuses on sustainability.

Now panels are mostly in-person. By the way, if you want to be a speaker at an upcoming conference, take a look at the schedule six months in advance and look for the speaker forms online. Hire a PR pro to help keep track of it all and say something catchy and timely in the form.

I once did a freelance gig that was literally all speaker opportunities and award nominations.

My Panel at Northeastern U.

I was a panelist at Northeastern University in San Jose recently and it was fun. You’re inviting me to talk with a microphone? Yes, please. Flashback to Mr. Microphone commercials, “I’m on the radio, I love it!” The topic was the impact of generative AI on journalism and PR. I typically say, “No” to panel invitations which I’ve been getting regularly for more than a decade but the recent one was on a Saturday, so I finally said, “Yes.” When you do PR you have to drop everything when news needs to go out. Saturday works better for me.

Here are tips that worked for me that will help you slay your next panel:

Be Yourself – I was nervous early on preparing with a bit of imposter syndrome. They would ask me about artificial intelligence, a technical topic. Shouldn’t a scientist or engineer do this? But then I thought, they are asking about my area of expertise. AI in public relations specifically. Once I had that epiphany I felt better moving forward. AI is used widely in public relations, e.g. by companies like Meltwater, MuckRack and Cision. Startups are using it to write press releases. That and I attend a lot of talks and lectures by STEM PhDs, ask a lot of questions and take copious notes. Go ahead and ask me when machines will be as smart as humans. I can answer that based on something a neural network scientist said to me. I can also drone on about the topic. I said “drone’” That’s AI humor.
Do Your Homework on the Other Panelists – Look at the panelists LinkedIn profiles or university scholar pages. Read one story or online comment by each of them. Study their organizations a bit and learn their biases. This will help you better converse with them and not say something you regret later. Realize that one will be swapped out a day prior due to illness or whatever. Arrive at the event early and research the newly added folks. Introduce yourself. My newly added panelist moderator had three degrees from MIT. I asked him a bunch of questions and learned we both worked at IBM.
Add Value – I needed an interesting point to make, one that I invented. I came up with a zinger while researching the other panelists which included Fast Company’s Harry McKracken and the founder of the Redwood City Pulse, Michelle Iracheta. I mentioned to her that ChatGPT doesn’t recognize information newer than Sept. 2021. And this is a huge shortcoming! I confirmed that her news site was founded in October 2021. We had an epiphany that ChatGPT’s huge limitation wouldn’t even recognize her media outlet that was a full two years old. We said that during the panel. That added value.

Here’s a tip for women. Say, “yes” to a panel invitation even if you think you are too junior or shy. The trend is that more men are readily saying, “Yes.” And yes, I regret saying, no, all of these years. We need more women panels. Better yet, how about an all-women panel? I heard only women speakers the other day at Hacker Dojo. They were all female roboticists.

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Michelle McIntyre is an award-winning Silicon Valley tech PR consultant. She is the head of editorial content for PRSA Silicon Valley. Sign up for the PRSA SV 2023 Media Predicts panel event on Dec. 6, 2023, at this link. Photos: Me and Northeastern GenAI panel audience members and event coordinators in photo 1. Me and Harry McCracken in photo 2.

Journalists Caution When Using GenAI to Write, Beware of Dullness

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Michelle McIntyre

By Michelle McIntyre

A panel of business journalists gathered at Microsoft in Mountain View, Calif., last night as part of a San Francisco Press Club event to discuss how generative AI has affected their jobs.

One participant, Michael Nuñez of VentureBeat made bold predictions. He’s an advocate of using GenAI regularly at work. The other participants seemed to have more of a ‘proceed with caution’ attitude.

Nuñez predicted that Generative AI will be bigger than Google.

He went even bolder saying that GenAI is as big as the smartphone.

On top of that he quipped, “In one year AI will have touched every aspect of the journalism process.” Yes, he used the word, “every.”

Nuñez went into detail about how he uses AI as sort of a smart intern to do some research and writing to save him and his team time. He and the others agreed that it’s important to edit and fact check all AI work.

They also agreed that prose could be biased.

Although most of their newsroom teams were using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in some way and already had guidelines for its use, none thought that AI would replace them in their jobs in the next five years.

In addition to Nuñez, the journalist panelists were Mr. Boone Ashworth of WIRED, Krystal Hu of Reuters, Julie Jammot of Agence Free Press, Mr. Chris Matyszczyk contributor to CNET and ZDNet, Ben Pimentel of San Francisco Examiner, and Jon Swartz of Marketwatch. Rachel Metz, now with Bloomberg, moderated.

100 Million Downloads in Two Months

It was nice to walk into the event with the Reuters group, by chance, since we arrived at the same time. What a beautiful campus by the way. I was happy to get to know Krystal Hu a bit since I had been frequently quoting data from her GenAI story several times recently in business conversations.

Hu had written that ChatGPT, the most popular flavor of GenAI, had the fastest growing user base of any consumer app. It achieved 100 million downloads in two months. This is faster than both Netflix and TikTok.

Have a ‘Wild West’ mentality when using GenAI

Panelists advised the audience to keep in mind that AI could produce misinformation, and it is helpful to have an AI-use company guidelines.

Jon Swartz said you have to deal with GenAI with a ‘Wild West’ mentality because it’s something new.

He added that he likes talking to other humans in the newsroom to brainstorm clever phrases. He said, AI can’t do this.

AI Needs to Lighten Up

My thoughts mirror Swartz’s. We’re in Wild West territory. I asked Bing chat to write me a biography and it was good but not special. It referenced five sources, but it didn’t have that special pizazz or flare.

Like I might write, “Michelle likes tossing tennis balls to her big dog, Ringo.” If Bing were clever and funny, it would have added that to my bio. However, I was impressed that Bing spelled out the word “veteran.” It said, “McIntyre is an IBM veteran.” That’s more proper than “vet.” I always write, “vet.”

Why Delegate Something that’s Fun to Do?

AFP’s Julie Jammot said that she’d never want AI to replace the main writing that she does, calling that task fun. She said that the problem with AI writing is that the language is too uniform.

Got Misinformation?

Columnist Chris Matyszczyk offered clever quips summarizing his attitude which was that AI is sort of badly useful. He mentioned misinformation a few times, and others readily agreed with his points.

Boone Ashworth said that WIRED did a good job at laying out their use of AI guidelines. Most of the others on the panel said their newsrooms have guidelines as well. Ashworth seemed the most chill about using AI. For example, he said, it can be useful if you need to ask AI for a recipe of what dish to make as a meal.

Attribute or Don’t Attribute? That is the Question.

There was disagreement about whether or not a story needs to have AI attribution. That means putting, “Written by AI.” Most said it’s essential that AI be mentioned in attribution for many reasons. Nunez disagreed saying, it is just a tool. You wouldn’t note that Adobe Photoshop was used to make an image.

Krystal Hu from Reuters smartly brought up the infamous “stop progress letter.” She said, “The smartest minds are ringing the alarm on AI.” Ben Pimentel added that a pause in advancement is not practical, but it is good that the letter generated conversation.

The president of San Francisco Press Club, Curtis Sparrer of Bospar, introduced the panelists and Microsoft executives served as gracious hosts with warm welcomes, intelligent remarks and a nice food and beverage spread.

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Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley public relations consultant, IBM veteran, and head of editorial content for PRSA SV. She’s a ranked future of work influencer who likes to play fetch with her big dog Ringo. Photo descriptions: 1) Entire panel with ‘AI’ on the screen in the back. Credit: San Francisco Press Club 2) Curtis of Bospar with a microphone 3) Jon of Marketwatch and Julie of AFP, the side of Rachel’s face 4) Boone of WIRED with the navy shirt 5) Chris with a gray t-shirt 6) Ben of SF Examiner with the green shirt
Photos 2-6 were taken by Michelle McIntyre with her new iPhone 14 Pro. Watch the entire panel discussion by visiting this link.

Moore’s Law Sprung from a PR Opportunity

Posted on March 27, 2023 by Michelle McIntyre

Gordon Moore’s ‘Guest Post’ was Published in Electronics on April 19, 1965

“Integrated circuits will lead to wonders such as home computers, or at least terminals connected to a central computer, automatic controls for automobiles and personal portable communications equipment,” Gordon Moore said in a story for Electronics Magazine that was published on April 19, 1965.

Georgia Tech made this paper available via this PDF. It’s a nice reprint because it has key sections highlighted and is easily accessible.

On March 24, 2023, the co-founder of Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor Gordon Moore passed. He was 94. Many of us in tech had the pleasure of meeting him. He could often be found shaking hands at major Silicon Valley tech events. He started his undergrad degree at San Jose State University, finished at UC Berkeley and went on to earn a PhD in physical sciences from Caltech. The photo of Moore below was published in IEEE Spectrum and taken by Oliver Koning. I like it because it shows his California roots. He was born in San Francisco.

I met Moore at the Computer History Museum: My IBM VC Group colleague introduced me to him. He was pleasant and low key: We posed for a photo together. He is known as the technologist who came up with the concept of Moore’s law in 1965.

The reason the ‘law’ is much talked about is that it has to also do with cost effectiveness and the miniaturization of electronics. Some call it the basis of the digital revolution. This has driven many facets of the tech industry over the past 55+ years.

Did you know that the concept resulted from a PR ‘guest post’ opportunity? Okay, it wasn’t technically a post because it was printed in a hard copy magazine but that’s what we call them today. A ‘post’ refers to something published online usually on a media outlet’s website. Byliner is another name for it.

In the early 1960s, an Electronics journalist asked Moore to write an expert paper for the magazine and make a prediction. It became Moore’s law. It wasn’t called a law yet. In 1975, a decade after the paper was published, a professor at Caltech started popularizing the term “Moore’s law.” That stuck. That was good PR for Caltech because Moore received his PhD there.

Moore’s law is simply that the number of integrated circuit transistors doubles every two years. It’s an observation and projection of a historical trend.

It’s not actually a law of physics despite the label. It’s, according to Wikipedia, “an empirical relationship linked to gains from experience in production.”

Does Moore’s Law hold true today? Some argue it does but my husband, David McIntyre, a director of product planning for a multi-billion dollar tech company says it really depends because not all semiconductors have remained monolithic.

Here is a graph that explains the relationship between ICs and semiconductors:

Semiconductors, sometimes referred to as integrated circuits (ICs) or microchips, are made from pure elements, typically silicon or germanium, or compounds such as gallium arsenide…Due to their role in the fabrication of electronic devices, semiconductors are an important part of our lives. Imagine life without electronic devices. There would be no smartphones, radios, TVs, computers, video games, or advanced medical diagnostic equipment.” – Semiconductor(dot)org website

If you want to learn more about Moore’s law, I recommend reading John Markoff‘s NYTimes stories like this one. By the way, a note for my PR friends — check out the photo in the Markoff story. It’s by Paul Sakuma formerly Associated Press. He’s a fantastic photographer for hire and a friend of the PR folks in Silicon Valley.

The Passing of a Tech Legend:

Rest in peace Gordon Moore who died a few days ago. Thanks for writing that ‘guest post.’ Your words had a huge impact on the way people described technology for many years and is still referenced in stories, speeches, technical papers, PhD dissertations, and books today.

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Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley-based PR consultant and IBM vet celebrating 10 years in business, working for herself, this year. She recently joined the PRSA Silicon Valley board of directors. Her favorite clients have been in AI, robotics, martech, collaboration, data analytics, and venture capital. She lives in Saratoga, Calif., with her husband and big dog. Her son, a UC Berkeley student, has done math research at Georgia Tech and UConn.

5 Tips to Help You Get Paid On-Time as a PR Freelancer by Michelle McIntyre

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Michelle McIntyre

Here are five unique tips on how to get your freelance PR work bills paid on time.

After 10 years in business, I have never had a client not pay me and only one payment was late.

I noticed many PR and media changes over the past decade. Paid content like the infamous Forbes Council has become more acceptable in PR plans. More ‘non journalist’ contributors are being viewed as serious reporters. The line has blurred between analyst and writer. Podcasts were popular, then unpopular and now they are back in style again, or “fire” as Gen zs like to say. Tech reporters have too many assignments and seem way overpitched. One reporter told me he typically had to file five stories a day. That’s 25 a week and 100 per month.

The best idea to get some media attention for a company is to hire an experienced PR pro, one who has kept up with all of these changes.

Once you do PR for a client, what can you do to make sure you get paid at all, and on time? Here are five tips:

Tag on a late fee. Don’t be afraid to tell someone who just hired you or plans to hire you that if payment is significantly late, that you are going to charge a late fee. Notify them ahead of time, not after it’s late. Ten percent is fair. I had a data analytics client that ran out of funds while waiting on new VC funding. The CFO told me that because of my late fee, I was literally getting paid first among the list of vendors.
Assign a number to each invoice. If you assign each a number, accounts payable can quickly refer to each invoice later if there is a problem. I had a minor issue with a longtime European client. Assigning invoice numbers is a life saver time wise. Why? If you label it “February” you can’t tell if it’s for work performed that month or the one prior. And which year? I had sent them 60 invoices over five years so that is five Februarys. Once a European bank started tagging on big money transfer fees after three years. In order to get the client to reimburse me I had to articulate which invoice the fee related to.
Check the fees before agreeing to use a particular service for payments: I tried using PayPal with a Canadian client and the fees were outrageous. They were a percentage of the amount tagged on and it came right off the amount I was getting paid. I seem to recall the number being over $100! The client was so frustrated over Canada to U.S. PayPal business transactions that he opened a bank in the U.S. to pay me, and probably other vendors. I use Bill and Zelle now. That brings me to the next tip.
Automate. Use a service like Bill or Zelle. I use Bill sometimes and it works fine for freelance invoices: Its basic service has no fee. Bill tip: If you have trouble signing up, switch browsers. I love Zelle for paying service providers. I have not used it yet to receive client money, but that may be in my future. I paid my personal trainer via Zelle. I like that it’s fee free. There are a few limits: Zelle is only available in the U.S. A small business can use it as long as their bank offers it through their mobile banking app or online banking service. You can only send up to a certain amount via Zelle in a particular timeframe. Other tips are only pay people you trust with Zelle and treat it like cash.
Get creative to avoid spending hours problem solving. I comped an early-stage startup because solving the billing problem would have cost me a lot of time. A CEO from London asked me for a meeting. I gave him launch advice. He insisted on paying me for two hours. We disagreed on how I’d get paid because I didn’t want to give a stranger my bank account number for the transfer. We had no mutual friends, and he didn’t have a LinkedIn photo. Due to the low amount of dollars, I said, I waive the fee, and have a great day. Otherwise, it would have cost me 10 more hours and a lot of stress.

In summary, employ smart invoice and accounting practices from the start. Thinking that the worst can happen will help you get paid, and on time.

Good luck to all of the new PR freelancers out there.

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Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley PR consultant, IBM vet and the new head of editorial content at PRSA Silicon Valley. @fromMcIntyre

Full disclosure: The new PRSA SV president Meghan Fintland does PR for Early Warning, owner of Zelle.

This story was edited for brevity on March 7, 2023.

3 Reasons Why Queen Elizabeth’s Passing Matters to the World

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Michelle McIntyre

I have fond memories of seeing the Britain’s Royal Family including Queen Elizabeth on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile in July of 2012, a decade ago while on vacation with my husband. We happened to be there when Prince William was being inducted into the Order of the Thistle for his 30th birthday.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Queen Elizabeth II in 2015

As you may have seen from the BBC news report, the Queen, 96, passed today at Balmoral Castle near Aberdeen, Scotland. There were rumors that she may have suffered a stroke. May she rest in peace and yes, it does make me a bit sad. She ruled as the Queen literally my entire life.

As a publicist, I had to think hard about how this will affect my clients and publicity outreach during the next week or so. Instead of sending several notes, I decided to write this.

Several reporters will care about this a lot, and when it comes to the news airwaves and in particular broadcast and ‘major media’ this story and related news will take up a lot of space. Recall that 2.5 billion people watched Princess Diana’s funeral. That’s up there with World Cup soccer viewership which was around 3.5 billion in 2018.

Here are three ways the passing of the Queen of England will affect business dealings in the next few weeks:

The Monarchy, while admittedly a tad antiquated, has an influence over many world decisions and happenings. Whether you like it or not, the Queen’s viewpoint and charity choices mattered. Recall the time she used a Cisco WebEx (not a Zoom) to communicate to promote safe social distancing during Covid.
A change in power, whether it’s an elected government or ‘royal’ affects markets. Stocks may be affected by this. When Charles is declared ‘King Charles III’ which may have happened already, I’m curious how markets will react.
The Royal Family, especially Prince William and Princess Kate and their adorable children are ‘bellwethers of happiness’ to much of the world. Despite the cost of castle upkeep and governments budgets being tight, many eyes globally enjoy reading about the family regularly: When there is good news, it makes them happy. Royal weddings are some of the most watched and beloved events worldwide. Marriages and grandkids make people happy and give them hope for the world. A death of this magnitude may make many millions sad.

My public relations advice to you is to be aware of the Queen’s passing, be sensitive when reaching out to others, because it’s upsetting news to many, and expect it to have an effect on some business dealings and markets.

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Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley-based technology publicist and IBM vet. @FromMichelle on Twitter. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, Queen Elizabeth II in 2015.