Category Archives: Uncategorized

2026 Predictions and Career Advice from Top Journalists 

Posted on by
Reply

PRSA SV Media Predicts Did Not Disappoint

PRSA Silicon Valley Media Predicts panel and gala event happened on December 11, 2025 at the Belmont Sports Complex just off of 101. They discussed Bay Area real estate, GenAI versus SEO, autonomous vehicles, robotics, Substack newsletters and a myriad of other topics. Parking was easy and the sunset views during set up were breathtaking since the event venue was up a flight of stairs and there were big windows.

Dr. Shaun Fletcher of San Jose State moderated a panel made up of Ms. Abrar Al-Heeti of CNET, Matt Rosoff of The Register, Scott Budman of NBC Bay Area, Asia Martin of Silicon Valley Business Journal and Harry McCracken of Fast Company. 

The food was an eye-fetching buffet set up of many different heavy appetizers and tasty sweets, and they offered both an open bar and really good coffee at the start. The theme was sports and attendees could shoot baskets or play tabletop games. (Yes, I shot baskets.) The giveaways were high top tennis shoe key chains and mini spirit foam hands, the ones you see at games. Board members Mark Lewis and Jennifer Yoder and San Jose State’s PRSSA president received President’s Awards from President and Emcee Jeannie Entin. 

This story focuses on three parts. Predictions, advice for people starting out in their careers and story pitching tips. 

What they said about 2026 predictions: 

Matt Rosoff: I look forward to a new type of device that’s not a phone that uses AI. I also see a resurgence of crypto. 

Asia Martin: I’ll be looking at how much of our lives will be infiltrated by AI. AI is doing this without proper regulation. There’s a ton of personal information in AI. AI needs to benefit humanity. 

Scott Budman: Privacy  and security as they relate to AI will be important. A lot of what is happening in AI is in the future. When will people demand payment for use of their data?

Harry McCracken: Harry brought up a Rivian event he attended earlier that day as well as seeing ebikes.

Advice on starting a new career:

Abrar Al-Heeti (pink suit): When people tell you to do something besides what you want to do, don’t listen to them. Do what you’re passionate about. 

Asia Martin: Stay abreast of what’s happening in the world. Research and read about the companies you are interviewing with.

Matt Rosoff: Figure out what you will be a specialist in. What can you become an expert on? What can you be known for? (So true. Most of my experienced friends in tech PR have a specialty like semiconductors, fintech, AI or security.)

How to pitch them:

Scott Budman: I receive around 80 pitches a day but I only cover one story per day. You don’t need to pitch me four or five times. If you pitch me a healthcare story I’m calling back. 

McCracken: I have my own set of experts. I don’t need more. Target your pitches, make them brief and personalized. Put the most important information at the top in news releases.

Abrar Al-Heeti: I cover phones for CNET. I don’t like when a small startup emails me five times and it’s not on my beat.

Asia Martin: I don’t like when I’m offered an out of area spokesperson who can comment on the Silicon Valley. I want someone local. 

Matt Rosoff: Realize that The Register is an international media outlet based in the U.K. Read it before you pitch. After the panel, Rosoff messaged me and added, “When I was talking about knowing The Register, it’s really more about our subject matter — B2B tech for IT pros, mostly, with the occasional offbeat science type story.”

Their most viewed stories:

Scott Budman said it was the Elizabeth Holmes story for a year and he had much international interest in this. Recall that one of the Holmes-Sunny Balwani tweets garnered 15 million views.

Abrar Al-Heeti: CNET’s tariff stories got the most clicks. As a reminder she covers phones.

The group also discussed SEO versus GenAI and brought up real estate a few times, especially Asia Martin who covers commercial real estate and Scott Budman who asked, “Can young people who grew up here afford to buy housing here?” Martin said that AI has impacted real estate because companies hiring for AI need office space. However a company lays off because of AI and that affects housing. 

It was interesting that Martin mentioned residential housing a lot even though her beat was commercial. A lot of news stories and thoughts often go back to how things affect citizens. 

Roles as company story tellers and relationship-builders are important. Please join a public relations group or network with colleagues to gain support for this career choice, and to share best practices. 

Thank you PRSA Silicon Valley for donating your time to run this event especially Tara Thomas as well as giving all proceeds to the diversity and multicultural college scholarships. 

Please check out my friend Gerard Corbett’s new book “Aspire to Hired: The Essential Guide to PR Career Success” here. Gerry is a public relations rock star in the PRSA National and local chapters. 

 ###

This story was written by Michelle McIntyre a PR consultant, IBM vet, and former VP of Marketing, PRSA SV. Michelle lives in Saratoga, Calif., with her husband and big dog, Ringo. Her son is half way through his mathematics PhD program at Duke. He’s studying probability and teaching math to undergrads.

And shout out to our small but mighty, Media Predicts Table 6! Deidre Wright, Scott Budman, Albert Hu and myself.

Photo credits: I took all of the photos here except for Gerry Corbett’s book cover which was borrowed from Amazon.

To Succeed in AI, Know and Use These 10 Terms Including “Token” and “Inference”

Posted on by
Reply

Today I attended day one of the AI Infra Summit at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Around 4,000 registered which is up from 1,500 last year. By the way, infra stands for infrastructure. Speakers addressed what you need for AI. 

 I noticed a trend. Speakers used a few AI-related terms over and over like “inference” and “token.” They liked to say, “AI factories” instead of or more than just “data centers.” The term math or AI math was tossed around a lot. Tensordyne booth had a digital sign that went so far as to say, “AI is math.” 

I decided to blog about the AI terms used by speakers that got my attention at AI Infra. 

I sat through the press conference (photo below) featuring five companies, including two very young startups, as well as mainstage key notes by Meta, NVIDIA, AWS, Kove (unique software-based memory) and Siemens.

Thank you Royal Huang, PhD and CTO of SuperTech FT – a 5013c that teaches young people a practicum of physical AI and robotics – for checking my list of terms and commenting. Full disclosure is that SuperTech FT sponsored my conference attendance. Huang is an AI consultant who has worked in automobile robotics, health tech, edtech and more. (Royal is pictured below under the tiger in the AI Infra exhibit hall.)

Here’s my list of Top 10 AI Infra conference terms:

  1. INFERENCE: I heard this dozens of times and on many slides from the start of the press conference at 8:15 am right through to the last mainstage keynote speaker hours later. AI inference is the process of using a trained artificial intelligence model to generate predictions, insights or outputs from new, unseen data. Dr. John Overton, Kove’s CEO and a PhD, showed a slide that said, “Unlocking AI inference.” Kove innovates by making unique software-based memory.
  2. TOKENS: NVIDIA’s website says, “Tokens are tiny units of data that come from breaking down bigger chunks of information.” It adds, “The language and currency of AI tokens are units of data processed by AI models during training and inference, enabling prediction generation and reasoning.” Speaking of tokens, NVIDIA’s VP of Hyperscale, Ian Buck, PhD, announced a new GPU today, called Rubin CPX. It will be online by the end of 2026 and it will be able to handle “one million tokens” which apparently is a big deal. It reminds me of that Austin Power movie line, “1 million dollars.”

3. AI FACTORIES: Speakers said “AI factories” much more than data centers on their slides. Not new news but still interesting are Meta’s plans to build a ginormous data center that can handle very advanced AI. Today, one gigawatt which can power all of San Francisco is considered big. Yee Jiun Song, VP of Engineering, Meta, and also a PhD, mentioned in the mainstage keynote one that a five-gigawatt data center is planned! This will be called Hyperion and be the size of Manhattan. 

Royal Huang commented on this topic, “Think of it this way. The data center is the soil and AI is the crop.” 

These next three are more commonly used by business people:

4. LLMs: A lot of speakers talked about training large language models or LLMs. 

5. AI Math: Today’s speakers said “math” several times. AI performs calculations. AI enables calculations. AI can save or cost a lot of money. There is a lot of math involved apparently. Recall that Tensordyne’s booth had a digital sign that said, “AI is math.”

I asked a person sitting next to me at lunch, Asif Batada, Sr. Product Marketing Manager of Alphawave Semi, if he thought math was important and used often in AI. He said, “Yes, math is like water,” and then switched the word to, “oil.” He elaborated, “Math is like oil; smart people are working on optimally using oil.” Interesting analogy.

6. GPUs and CPUs:  A GPU is defined as a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly process and render images, videos and animations as well as do scientific computing, AI and machine learning. NVIDIA Rubin CPX (a future product) is a GPU. Fun fact: NeuReality’s CEO said during the press conference that you don’t want to cram too many GPUs together because that could cause performance to suffer. I guess there’s an assumption that more GPUs are better. He says, not necessarily. And a CPU is a semiconductor chip that acts as the brain of a computer. 

These last words or terms are a bit overused but still valid:

7. OPEN SOURCE: Several mentioned that their product worked with many other brands of technology. Open computing is still a big deal. 

8. SCALE: AI Consultant Huang advised that, “Everyone says they scale. But scaling is the toughest thing to do.” I’m not a huge fan of this term for this reason. Almost everyone in tech claims they “scale.” It’s better to give the proof as opposed to just stating the claim. 

9. SAVING ENERGY and driving efficiency: Everyone mentioned this. A lot. Huang commented, “When you build a data center everyone is after being energy efficient.”

10. NVIDIA, the only proper noun on the list. And as a bonus number 10, Anthropic. Many companies said that their product is used by NVIDIA or they have been working with them. The AWS speaker name dropped working with both NVIDIA and Anthropic.

Royal Huang commented that he thought AI agents, agentic AI or multi-agents should have been included in my top 10. However, I didn’t hear many speakers mention them today. I do recall AWS mentioning it. Huang added that edge AI was also important. He had planned to see many agentic AI talks at the AI Infra conference which goes through September 11th. 

###

Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley-based PR consultant and IBM vet. As a social media influencer and blogger, she’s sometimes invited to press conferences. She is attending AI Infra on behalf of SuperTech FT, a robotics non-profit that trains (mostly) young people to do ‘physical AI.’

Photos: Michelle McIntyre took all of the photos here. The stuffed animal booth give away is from a company called Xage Security.

UC Berkeley Panelists & Audience Split: Was Math Created or Discovered?

Posted on by
Reply

On Tuesday, I attended a UC Berkeley math and physics panel event called “Math: The Universe’s Language or Human Creation?” at the Lawrence Hall of Science Auditorium, not far from Cal Bears’ Memorial Stadium and the Botanical Garden. 

Why did I go? I’m in tech. Success in understanding tech means knowing something about math. Math is the basis for technology innovation, e.g. it takes probability mathematics at the base to ‘guide’ a robot in choosing its next move. Most people think everything tech revolves around computer science and engineering. The best physicists, programmers, and chemists are decent mathematicians. 

Mathematics underpins various technological advancements across AI, data analysis and healthcare. According to the media outlet FinTech Weekly, machine learning and data analytics greatly rely on math models and statistics. 

The panelists included award-winning physicists including a Dean, a Chancellor’s chair and Berkeley’s most famous mathematician Professor Kenneth Ribet who is teaching linear algebra in the Fall. 

Ribet is known for the Herbrand–Ribet theorem and Ribet’s theorem, which were key parts of the proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem, as well as for his service as President of the American Mathematical Society or the AMS from 2017 to 2019.

During the afternoon’s networking sessions, I chatted with a Post Doctoral student from Germany, a Japanese student visiting from Tokyo, a Cal dad who was also a Fields Medal winner, another parent, and a transfer student from SoCal who had recently been admitted to the chemistry department.

Trekking to The Hill

Just getting to ‘The Hill’ from the South Bay was an adventure. I took the BART train from Berryessa station in San Jose to the Downtown Berkeley stop and walked to Evans Hall, the 10 story math building, then took the Bear Express H bus – for only $1 cash – up to Lawrence Hall of Science. H stands for Hill apparently. I grabbed a healthy snack at the Press Cafe near Memorial Glade on the way.

This bus ride could be a tourist attraction due to the views which included the Bay and Karl the Fog. It’s just past the Berkeley Botanical Garden but I didn’t notice sidewalks so the bus or Uber or car are recommended. Parking at the science hall is $1.50/hour and is done by PaybyPhone app. 

The Hall of Science reminded me of The Exploratorium with many kids activities.Three workers who were also Cal students taught me how to tell if a skull belonged to a creature that walked on four legs.

Back to the panel. Here’s the description,  list of speakers, and comments.

Is Mathematics a human invention, or is it woven into the fabric of reality? The description was, an “engaging panel of physicists and mathematicians as they explore whether math is a universal truth waiting to be uncovered or a tool of human creativity. This fun and thought-provoking discussion, open to all curious minds, will be followed by a sunset cocktail hour where attendees can meet the speakers and continue the conversation over refreshments.”

Kenneth A. Ribet, Professor of Mathematics 

Mina Aganagic, Chern-Simons Professor in Mathematics and Physics

Raphael Bousso, Professor and The Chancellor’s Chair in Physics

Steven Kahn, Dean of Mathematical & Physical Sciences 

Moderated by Stephen Sharpe, Cal Alum ’83, from University of Washington

Here are some of the comments they made:

Dean Steven Kahn:

We use mathematics to make predictions then use that information in experiments.  Math is the science of pure thought. Compare math to chess, a human invention. There are tactics to win at chess. Math is like this. Math is incredibly successful at explaining nature. 

We’re prejudiced to believe in individuality but some cultures are not like this. 

He described the cultural aspect of math. A man tried to explain to his dad, a merchant, what a negative number is. The merchant just didn’t get it. Then finally the son said, dad, it’s like you owe something. 

Professor Mina Aganagic:

This string theorist and physics professor referenced the discovery of magnetics and Isaac Newton, as well as string and number theories.

She said that mathematicians have found inspiration in physics. She was skilled at focusing on a specific message because she repeated this a few times.

 Professor Aganagic said that physics proves connections. 

Professor Kenneth Ribet: 

Consider that a long time ago, mathematicians in different countries who didn’t talk to one another figured out the same things. Therefore math is out there waiting to be discovered.

Global collaboration and learning other types of things, not just your own area, can lead to a math discovery.

Ribet stressed that collaborating globally is key to breakthroughs as is learning about math beyond your specific expertise. This is how you truly innovate.

In math, you choose something to focus on and then extract something from it. You introduce something that wasn’t there before.

He mentioned books like, “God Made the Integers” by Stephen Hawking which is about mathematical breakthroughs that changed history. 

Mathematicians don’t understand physics, which resulted in many laughs from the audience.

Professor Raphael Bousso, Chancellor’s Chair in Physics:

He doesn’t care for the word “discover” because it is overused. Like, you might say, I lost my iPhone and then discovered it. 

Math came to be in three ways: 1) It’s inspired by the physical world. 2) You write down axioms. This is the creation part. 3) Then deduce theorems. 

Take for example, geometry. Play with axioms for a new kind of geometry to describe space and time.  Axioms help formulate. One of my colleagues came up with something amazing using facts from 100 years ago. 

Math helps us make predictions and more accurate ones. Consider that Kepler’s Law was succeeded by Einstein’s theory of space and time. (As background, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity showed Kepler’s laws of planetary motion were foundational but imperfect.) 

Using math and calculations you can make this either easier or harder.

Key Takeaways

Math has played a critical role in the advancement of physics, from Einstein’s theory of relativity to Newton’s laws of motion. It has been key in furthering our understanding of the universe and has provided insights in the nature of the physical world. 

I learned from this panel that mathematicians can achieve breakthroughs by building off of past works. These works can go back hundreds of years.

The panelists were split on whether math was created by man or already out there in the universe waiting to be discovered. More than half of the audience made up of a lot of STEM folks felt that it was a combination of both. I agree.

Photo credits: Michelle McIntyre took the photos of the panel event, Bear bus, and view from the Lawrence Hall of Science, below. The four speaker headshots came from UC Berkeley’s website.

###

Michelle McIntyre is public relations consultant and a UC Berkeley math mom ‘alum.’ She stays on top of STEM trends through events like this. Her son graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in mathematics and is a rising third year PhD math student at Duke.

68% Surveyed by USC Annenberg Say Humans will Remain Essential to PR 

Posted on by
Reply

USC Annenberg’s Global Communications Report examined trends affecting the public relations (PR) profession in the second half of 2025. 

The report team surveyed more than 1,000 PR professionals and like my trusty Nissan Rogue tires or the number of members of Metallica, there are four trends. They are AI, hybrid and remote work, the changing media landscape, and political polarization.

Let’s examine two, AI and political polarization. 

Sixty percent of respondents say AI will have a positive impact on the PR profession while 68% said that humans will remain essential to public relations. I agree with this thinking because at its heart, PR is about relationship-building. I literally get hired as a consultant because I know people. 

As an aside, the biggest use of AI in communications was social media according to USC’s timely report. And Gen Z PR people were the most AI-optimistic: 75% who responded said that AI decreased their workload.

The second trend that’s blaring louder than Metallica Guitarist Kirk Hammett at Levi’s Stadium Friday night, is political polarization. 

The U.S. and in some respects, the rest of the world, is divided in two. Either you are for the President of the U.S. or you can’t stand him. The reason why is that if you respect U.S. laws, it seems more ethical to be against him. But then, how can you be against the President? Do you advise your employer to take a stand on this?

And if you do media relations, it’s also wise to not approve of the President because he says he disrespects major media outlets. Theoretically a PR pro needs to respect outlets like Associated Press.

But if you speak out one way or the other customers or ‘investors’ can get upset. At its heart this has to do with the fact that if you take a strong stand either way, you could lose big revenue. Imagine what Harvard and most major colleges are going through right now. 

My advice is to hire an experienced and skilled PR professional to help navigate messages during this polarizing time. Pepper in an attorney’s viewpoint when tens of millions of dollars are at stake. 

By the way, Metallica’s famous four members never mentioned politics once Friday night at Levi’s! I guess their PR team told them to not bring up a politically polarizing topic.

###

Michelle McIntyre is an award-winning tech PR consultant in the Silicon Valley, and IBM vet. The photo of USC above is from its Wikipedia page.

PR Professionals:  9 Pieces of Advice from Fast Company Editors

Posted on by
Reply

Winning awards can boost brand recognition, encourage innovation and create meeting and networking opportunities. Awards that matter are worth the investment of time and money.

Some have a fee so marketing folks, budget dollars for these in 2025. 

Today I attended Fast Company’s video meeting session regarding how to fill out their “World Changing Ideas” awards forms for maximum success. 2024 winners are here. The session was called the “2025 World Changing Ideas Awards Informational Q&A.” 

Senior Editor Aimee Rawlins, Executive Editor, Digital, Morgan Clendaniel and a few others presented. To me, most of the advice applies to creating a variety of PR materials from news releases to pitches. 

They conveyed these nine tips: 

  1. Focus on the past 12 months.
  2. It’s okay to say, “Not for publication” if it’s too early to disclose information.
  3. It matters that you show “capacity growth” with numbers.
  4. Don’t use jargon or marketing speak. We can tell when you lift it off of the website. We know marketing jargon. This was repeated a lot and with passion!
  5. Describe how it compares to others. Where does it sit in the market?
  6. Use the actual name of the solution, project or service. 
  7. Don’t use superlatives. Say what it is, plainly. 
  8. The words need to explain it as fully as possible without URL links.
  9. If a section has a 500-word limit, don’t go beyond that. They read thousands of applications and have to get through them all. 

It takes hours to research these awards criteria and advise clients so I appreciated the information session or “sesh” as some like to say. It was better than collecting and reading a lot of tips material. Plus, I was able to attend a ‘freebie’ senior editor panel.

How Can PR Help You Win Awards?

A skilled PR practitioner is to me, similar to a journalist. They will do the investigative reporting at their company and find out what makes the item super cool and useful and then articulate that efficiently. Apparently, you want to NOT copy paste from the website. 

I appreciated the tips immensely (<excuse the superlative!) because they can apply to any public relations materials that are shared with journalists. 

The application deadline for Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards is this Friday, December 6, at 11:59 p.m. PT. 

As an aside, the woman worker image was produced by ChatGPT on December 4, 2024. I asked for an image of a 45-year-old woman office worker with a laptop.

###Michelle McIntyre is the president of Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC, a tech PR consulting firm. She’s on the board of PRSA Silicon Valley. To buy a ticket to the 17th annual Media Predicts gala and panel event happening Dec. 10 in San Carlos, California, visit this link here. A panel of journalists from ABC7, Business Insider, NY Times, and TechStrong, will give you tips on working with them and you can even meet them to say, “Hello.”

Michelle is FromMichelle on BlueSky and she has 2.7 million views on Quora.

6 Tech PR Trends for the Second Half of 2024 Like Sassy AI and NVIDIA Dominating Headlines by Michelle McIntyre

Posted on by
Reply

I noticed a few glaring tech trends happening that are affecting public relations in the second half of 2024. These include TikTok’s growing popularity as a news source, AI adopting a sassy tone, and journalists using AI to make predictions like which teams will win college football championships this season. The predicted ACC winner is mentioned in number 5 below!  

Of course white hot NVIDIA – worth a stunning $3 trillion now – is discussed in number 3.

Here are the six trends:

1. People Are Getting News from TikTok. According to The Verge, “TikTok is the social media sensation that all of Silicon Valley — and a lot of Washington, DC — has their eyes on. The app, created by ByteDance, became famous for rocketing musicians and dancers to stardom. But as its popularity and influence have grown… social media competitors are doing everything they can to knock off TikTok’s features and usurp its short-form video dominance.”

My advice is use TikTok to become familiar with it. There is a ton of ‘citizen journalist’ news on it.  I went on Twitter, now X, long before many of my PR colleagues and was glad I did (well up until you know who bought it.) Here are some Pew Research stats on TikTok’s popularity. Parents, check to see if your child’s teacher has an account! There are many educators on there.

2. AI Has Become Sassy – I’m using AI a lot and my tools are becoming quite sassy. I asked my husband to set a back up alarm so I can get up on time for my flight to Seattle. Siri raised her voice saying, “I set an alarm already. It’s done!” I repeated the request to my husband. Siri chimed in and said, “I set a back up too. Two alarms!” I said, “Siri, is your name Dave?” She said, “Who’s Dave?” Yep, she set two alarms for 5 AM. 

And CoPilot is chiming in when I don’t ask it a question. It has interrupted my generic internet searches several times recently. AI has gotten a personality. It’s almost as if the letters are brighter or bigger or appear faster when it is interrupting my other work with its ‘opinion.’ One time CoPilot proactively provided the answer when I could not find it via regular search.

My advice is to enjoy AI’s new personality because it makes working more interesting.

3. NVIDIA Dominates Headlines and Keynotes. It is THE place to work or partner with and the CEO is the hottest keynote. Their AI chips are in hot demand. NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, below, continues to keynote top conferences like just recently, Siigraph. Also, NVIDIA is worth an estimated $3.06 trillion dollars as of 8/16/24 according to several financial sites.

My advice is to read about what NVIDIA is up to and be aware of their major actions. Think about newsjacking strategies. Can your company executives offer a comment in a story about NVIDIA? It’s a simple concept but if you have something intelligent to say and it’s not a conflict of interest, go for it. Sometimes people way overthink their PR strategies. 

4. The ‘Secret Recession’ Lowers Marketing Budgets. This is leading to requests for workers to do more with less. Forbes and the PRSA Silicon Valley blog both recently covered the underground recession. Forbes based it on a high number of startups going out of business.

My advice is to keep a positive attitude, set up more meetings if you are job hunting, and destress if you are left at a company after others have been laid off. Take a walk outside during your breaks. Foster kittens. Spend the weekend seeing The Dead and Company in Las Vegas. Learn how to play. If you want to learn golf, go to a driving range and practice hitting balls. The pro shop will set you up with a golf club, probably a driver, and bucket of balls. 

5. AI Tools Help Journalists Make Predictions: The Sporting News just published AI’s college football championship team predictions. It’s interesting. With the Cal Bears and Stanford trees moving to the ACC I’m most interested in that one. Apparently, Florida State and Clemson are the baddest teams there. (And by bad I mean good.) By the way, I saw a Bears-Clemson game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley and there were literally thousands of Clemson fans there and it was an away game.

My advice is ask Microsoft CoPilot and ChatGPT questions every day: Get used to using them. Being comfortable with AI will make you a more valuable worker. The writing and responses are getting more high quality daily.

6. Tech Reporters Change Jobs Faster Than You Can Say, “Wanna buy my Cybertruck?”

Tech reporters continue to change jobs, like Kenrick Cai went from Forbes to Reuters, and Jon Swartz went from Marketwatch to Tech Strong Group. Actually, these two didn’t change jobs fast. Both were in their previous jobs quite a few years. But some do change jobs at least annually. 

My advice is to check a reporter’s social media profile job description before reaching out to them. 

###

Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley-based PR Consultant with 11 awards for results: Eight are from IBM. She gets companies much needed attention so that they are more attractive to workers, investors and other stakeholders. She is on the PRSA Silicon Valley Chapter board and boasts 2.2 million views on Quora. Message her on LinkedIn if you need PR help.

Image credits: The robot in sunglasses image was created by CoPilot AI on 8/20/24. The Jensen Huang and Ragdoll kitten photos, and ACC sports conference logo are from Wikipedia.

The CEO & President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Mary C. Daly Sees Cautious Optimism in the Economy, Says the Goal is an Inflation Rate of 2 Percent 

Posted on by
Reply

The president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Mary C. Daly delivered remarks on monetary policy and the economy at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco which is in a sweet location at 110 Embarcadero, in between Fisherman’s Wharf and AT+T Park where the San Francisco Giants play. (Photo of Deirdre Bosa of CNBC and Daly is by Jeannie Entin.)

Naturally Daly focused on inflation and jobs which is what a lot of we citizens care about the most. I was dismayed seeing my dog Ringo’s Rachel Ray brand dog food go from $17 to $34 due to inflation. The good news is that the new cost has stuck for a while. If it doesn’t go up soon I’ll be happy! (The Ringo photo by me is below. He’s a big boy and eats a lot of dog food.)

Daly, who holds an undergrad degree from University of Illinois and a PhD from Syracuse University, said, “We (The Federal Reserve) need to restore price stability and do so without a painful impact on the economy.” She added, “We are still in a fight to bring inflation down to two percent.” 

What is Inflation at Now? 

Inflation looks like it’s around three percent according to the U.S. Inflation Calculator website. This is a very cool chart. Check out the year it was at 7%. 

She said that people are confident that inflation will come down to two percent. She added that the decline in unemployment is declining more slowly than the decline in inflation. Monetary policy is working but it will take more work, added Daly.  She also said that the Bay Area has a lot of innovation that could come and help productivity. She touched on supply and demand and how that affects the economy. (Argh. Thoughts of Econ 101 and 102 undergrad classes are flowing back into my brain. I simultaneously love and hate this topic. Understanding the economy is important if you have a career in public relations. We typically spend a lot of time with company leaders and sometimes advice on business strategy.)

But, Daly added, things are pretty much in balance, in regards to demand and supply of workers. 

Look back to 2022 Daly says. At one point, unemployment was very low and job vacancies were high. As interest rates rose, the vacancies reversed. In April 2024, the vacancies slid down, as per her graphic. We need to have the labor market slow down a bit to bring inflation down, says Daly.  

My opinion is this is the stressful thing about the economy. If companies hire a lot they have less money. They lay off and stock prices might go up. Running a business is tricky business! Back to Mary…

Mary C. Daly summarized by saying, “We are in a better place than 2023. Inflation has come down and the labor market is solid. But we are not there yet. To thrive, people need price stability and jobs.”

I can hear that Queen song in my head. “I want it all. And I want it now.” Balance is hard but I think the Fed is doing a good job. Hopefully my beloved Rachel Ray dog food will stay the same price for a long time!

As an aside, Daly is a great speaker and from the MidWest like me. I could hear that Midwest roots vibe in her messages. Although I love the location of the Embarcadero near all of the cool touristy stuff, I attended Daly’s talk online.

Thanks San Francisco Press Club for streaming it and making it very easy to attend. I serve on the board of PRSA Silicon Valley with Curtis Sparrer who is the president of the SF Press Club and he extended a personal invitation to me. Curtis is a busy bee.

Look for a more detailed story on this talk from Jennifer Yoder on the PRSA Silicon Valley website soon. Deirdre Bosa, anchor of CNBC’s tech-focused franchise, “TechCheck,” based out of the network’s San Francisco Bureau, interviewed Mary C. Daly on stage after her remarks. Yoder’s story will incorporate more of what Bosa said. Here is the YouTube video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrY3957xQ-A

In closing, here is a reminder of what we learned in econ 101 class taken verbatim from the Federal reserve website:

How does the Federal Reserve affect inflation and employment?

As the Federal Reserve conducts monetary policy, it influences employment and inflation primarily through using its policy tools to influence the availability and cost of credit in the economy.

The primary tool the Federal Reserve uses to conduct monetary policy is the federal funds rate—the rate that banks pay for overnight borrowing in the federal funds market. Changes in the federal funds rate influence other interest rates that in turn influence borrowing costs for households and businesses as well as broader financial conditions.

For example, when interest rates go down, it becomes cheaper to borrow, so households are more willing to buy goods and services, and businesses are in a better position to purchase items to expand their businesses, such as property and equipment. Businesses can also hire more workers, influencing employment. And the stronger demand for goods and services may push wages and other costs higher, influencing inflation.

During economic downturns, the Fed may lower the federal funds rate to its lower bound near zero. In such times, if additional support is desired, the Fed can use other tools to influence financial conditions in support of its goals.

However, there are many factors that affect inflation and employment. And while the linkages from monetary policy to both inflation and employment are not direct or immediate, monetary policy is an important factor.

###

Michelle McIntyre is a PR consultant, IBM vet and head of marketing for PRSA Silicon Valley. She is a Quora influencer in the area of elite college admissions, with 1.9 million views there. McIntyre, a graduate of Ohio University’s EW Scripps School of Journalism currently has a 4.0 GPA in Stanford Continuing Studies. Jeannie Entin who snapped the beautiful event photo for this story is the president-elect of PRSA Silicon Valley.

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

Posted on by
Reply

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:

  1. 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. 
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Contact the news wire service about your news a couple of days in advance so you can troubleshoot any problems.
  5. 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. 

###

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

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

Posted on by
Reply

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:

  1. 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. 

  1. 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. 

  1. 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.

###

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 by
Reply

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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. 
  3. 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. 

###

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.