DWPub Sporadic

Leeds proves great venue for first DWPubHub PR networking event

Last week's inaugural DWPubHub public relations networking event was a great success, so much so that we kept the event going an extra hour and a half.

Sandrine Powell from Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger won the business card draw and took home a lovely Flip Video UltraHD video camera. There were some suggestions she'd attempted to influence her odds of winning but I just call it initiative!

It was great to chat to a wide range of media people at the event, including PR agency people, in-house PR professionals, PR academics and masters students. Many thanks to all who came, and hat's off to the Hatch Communications crew who hit the town afterwards and still managed to be at their desks the next morning.

Here are the tweets about DWPubHub.

The next event will be in Birmingam in mid-May.

SourceThatJob strikes a chord over media internship exploitation

My recent post about our decision to no longer accept adverts for unpaid internship positions on media job board SourceThatJob triggered a wave of support.

I had more comments on that one post than any other on this blog and the vast majority were supportive of our attempts attempts to raise awareness of this issue.

I've recorded a podcast explaining how I became aware of media internship exploitation and our subsequent decision to reject advertising for unpaid positions.

Daryl's internship exploitation podcast

If the only people who can get decent work experience are those who can afford to work for free for extended periods then media inevitably becomes elitist. I firmly believe the media should represent society in its widest sense, not just the better-off.

PR for small businessess and startups - our latest whitepaper

The lastest in our series of whitepapers is one aimed squarely at owner managers and marketing managers of small businesses and startups who want to do their own public relations.

Written by small business PR consultant Jane Lee, the nine-page document 'PR for Small Businesses' gives an introduction to in-house PR and avoids media jargon (see the press release).

We're finding a lot of smaller businesses are interested in PR as a way of raising their profile and getting sales leads, but most are put off using an agency beacause of cost concerns or are reluctant to do their own PR due to unfamiliarity with PR techniques.

Although primarily aimed at those who want to do 'DIY' PR, our whitepaper 'PR for Small Businesses' also gives an idea of what PR agencies do.

DWPubHub - the informal networking series for PR professionals

We've launched our new series of networking events for public relations professionals - the DWPubHub.

The first event will be in Leeds on 18 March 2010 and all local PR professionals and marketing people with an interest in PR are invited.

We used to run short seminars in London some years ago, but our business is very much a national one (well, international in fact) so we felt simple networking events around the country would be a better way for us to meet and greet the PR community.

So, if you're based in or around Leeds on the 18th or happen to be in the area, come along between 6pm and 9pm at the Malmaison Hotel - please register first though so we get a good idea of numbers. Drinks and canapes will be provided. No presentations, no selling. Just a chance to talk to others in the industry. But we will be on hand to answer any questions you have about what we do at DWPub, if that takes your fancy.

Why Leeds? Well, we have strong links with the PR degree course at Leeds Metropolitan University and Leeds is an important centre for digital marketing too, so it seemed a good place to kick off the DWPubHub.

If you'd like a DWPubHub event in your area, let me know.