Take of the Week:
This week’s Take of the Week stems from a recent conversation. As Brandon Watts and I were chatting, he made an excellent point about how comms people need to study comedians.

And he’s not wrong.

If you think about comedic moments in movies, tv shows, stand up, the really good ones are memorable and relateable. And, when you drill down our comms work, isn’t that the goal (at least most of the time)?

He dives into this, as well as how comedians excel at getting to the point quickly, being honest and using first person stories. Of course there’s more, and I highly recommend diving in here and give it some good thought.

Resource of the Week:
Morgan Smith at the WSJ posted about a new section in their 10-Point newsletter called “Reporter’s Notebook” to take readers behind the scenes of the stories.

Bonus Resource of the Week:
Joao-Pierre Ruth hosts a podcast with InformationWeek, and posted about the topics and guests he’s looking for through July.

Chuckle of the Week:
I’m sure some of us can relate to Adam’s post about life as a PR/Comms pro.

Bonus Chuckle of the Week:
I’m also sure some of us can relate to “another” Adam’s post about explaining PR to his parents.

The Rest of the Takes:
Media Relations
- Leila’s take on embargoes was so hot that Frederic from The New Stack weighed in. My two cents: I agree with Frederic, it’s ok to describre the embargoed news at a high level to gauge interest.
- Interesting take from Hannah about PR people offering either an interview or written piece.
- Gabriela on the hundreds of pitches she gets, and how her inbox is like a rolodex.
- Katie Roof with an FYI on scoop denial and blocking.
- Kristen with a request to stop pitching her AI related stories, unless it’s related to workplace bias.

PR Misc.
- Shannon had a good take on why paywalled media are still great PR targets
- I’m “thrilled” and “excited” to share Lisette’s take on those exact two words
- H/T to Dustin Siggnins for sending this one…Bridgette had a great take on a reminder that reporters are people, too (and landed some great results)

That’s it for this week’s takes, thanks for reading.

-Brian
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkramer/