Today i met Peter Shankman. What an honor -that’s why this is in english-.
First, i have to thank Peter himself for being able to visit Chile and be available to share his knowledge with us. Second, thanks to my undergrad faculty, Periodismo at Universidad Diego Portales for hosting Peter’s talk. And third, the US Embassy in Chile for whatever -i’m not sure of it- their participation on his visit was.
The Man
Peter Shankman is someone who is -as PR Week Magazine described him- “redefining the art of networking”. He’s the mind and efforts behind Help A Reporter Out, HARO, an entirely free social media service that links journalists with sources and businesses. HARO has allowed more than 7,5 million media pitches and has put hundreds of thousands of journalists from around the globe in contact with more than 1,500 brands and different sources. Kudos for HARO!
Maybe you’ve heard about Peter for being the guy that Morton’s Stakehouse brought a porterhouse stake to the airport to, after he tweeted for it (you can read all about it in Peter’s blog post. And if you love those kind of stories as much as i do, you should check KLM’s Surprise project).
Peter is also founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a book author, a speaker, a consultant… basically a media, marketing and communication innovator, i’d say. But after today, i think above all that, he’s a very interesting nice guy. Today he not only gave a great speech to journalism students but also was kind and patient enough, to answer questions an greet some of us who waited for him afterwards (freeks…).
The Talk
Regarding to his talk, i couldn’t agree more. His basic argumemt was that today’s journalism and journalists challenges can be met with the basic principles that have always ruled good journalism. He sums them up in:
1.- Transparency
2.- Relevance
3.- Brevity
4.- Top of Mind
But not only he said challenges could be met following this rules. He started by saying that: «journalism fundamentals haven’t and WON’T change«. What a great advice for journalism students that are begining their studies in today’s journalism and communication in general, vertigo.
Also, he has not only speak about it for a long time but he proves it with actions. HARO is one of the most interesting social media innovations i’ve seen in journalist-sources relationships. Morton’s Stakehouse case is one that proves all four principles too.
The Lesson
As a communications profesional i’ve experienced succesfull examples of both. And the main reason i think both worked and that Peter’s advices are correct, is because underneath all of it lies an even more simple but radical principle: the better the person, the better the communication it can achieve. Is that simple. HARO and Morton cases prove it. Peter proves it. You can prove it.
So, to rap it up, i’m glad i could meet in person, someone i’ve been reading and tweeting with for more than four years now, but i’m more happy to listen his great advice on good journalism and communication opportunities for future profesionals, based on the long lasting basic inmutable principle.
Morton’s couldn’t have made a better choice on rewarding a good pro with a powerstake.
DirCom 