ACS NEWS COMMENT
Expand the reach of your outreach activities JENNIFER MACLACHLAN, CHAIR, ACS COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC RELATIONS & COMMUNICATIONS
while to check whether your local newspaper will waive the advertising fee if you’re a nonprofit organization. Community television is another avenue in which to publicize your local section events. For the past few years, NESACS has worked with the Cape Cod Community Me-
Maclachlan (right) al Counsel to produce a series dia Center to promote our local and her father section science communicaof videos to highlight resources publicize their tions activities. More recently, that the committee offers to local section’s we have connected with Sandhelp ACS members improve outreach activities their public relations and sciwich Community Television, on a radio program. ence communications efforts. which created a promotional video for our NESACS STEM The videos also showcase the Journey IV: Mission to Mars event and Chemistry Ambassador program, the comarranged for us to record a public service mittee’s annual awards, and tips for local announcement. sections and divisions on how to use social Also, familiarize yourself with the local media most effectively for communicating radio station programs and science. their requirements for pubIf you have specific questions about lic service announcements. how to maximize your ACS local section Our local radio station has or division’s public relations efforts, or if a weekly program called you would like to have a member of our Sunday Journal, and our committee work with you to develop a local section has been a public relations program for your local guest on that program nusection or division, please contact me at merous times to discuss and
[email protected]. promote our outreach activities. I can spend months Views expressed are those of the author and sharing an event with my not necessarily those of C&EN or ACS.
Having an extensive network has made the work that I do easier and more enjoyable.
40
C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | MARCH 6, 2017
friends on Facebook, but they might be more compelled to attend if they hear about it on the radio. The Committee on Public Relations & Communications is partnering with the ACS External Affairs & Communications unit of the Office of the Secretary & Gener-
CREDIT: COURTESY OF JENNIFER MACLACHLAN CREDIT
S
ome people might look at networking with a skeptical eye and wonder, “What’s in it for me?” I can tell you that having an extensive network has made the work that I do easier and more enjoyable, whether it’s as a sales and marketing professional serving the chemistry enterprise or as a leader in an ACS division or local section. In fact, people who know me know my zest for networking both within and outside the American Chemical Society. How has networking helped my work? In 2011, when I first started organizing the Cape Cod Science Café for my local section, the ACS Northeastern Local Section (NESACS), I relied heavily on my community connections to identify science communications topics of local interest, identify free venues, and generate an audience. I also reached out to my local civic association, town officials, parent/teacher associations, Girl Scouts, and other community groups for help. With continued funding from my local section public relations committee, ACS divisions, local industry, as well as in-kind donations from community partners, the Cape Cod Science Café has blossomed into a sustainable entity. As I begin my second year as chair of the ACS Committee on Public Relations & Communications, I want to focus the committee’s goals on public relations efforts for effective science communication, for both ACS divisions and local sections. Developing relationships with the local media, including newspapers, radio stations, and community television, is at the top of my public relations checklist for ACS events. Although it continues to be challenging to get newspaper coverage, I take advantage of the event submission forms that the larger papers offer. I have found that paying for an enhanced listing in my local paper is often worth the money because the editor is more likely to include the event in the newspaper’s “Things To Do This Week” section. It may be worth-
