It's PR Darlings

Powered by Public Address, the innovative media relations management platform providing that indispensable extra hand for every pitch, the It’s PR Darlings podcast took an exciting turn in its latest episode. This wasn't just any regular episode; it was a live podcast session, in collaboration with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Queensland.For those unfamiliar, IABC is an essential hub for communication professionals who thrive on networking and continuously update themselves with industry trends and insights.Hosted by It’s PR Darlings co-hosts Greer Quinn and Jo Stone, this special episode unraveled in the casual ambience of a Brisbane pub – the iconic Paddo Taven – setting the stage for candid conversations and insights. This exclusive panel presentation brought together Michael Coombes, the erstwhile deputy editor of Channel Seven News, Queensland, who has recently stepped into the shoes of the editor, and Craig Johnston the Editor from InQueensland.Introduced by Melanie Loy, the President of IABC Queensland Chapter, the live setting added an authentic touch, complete with ambient bar noises and paper rustlings.It's PR Darlings is powered by Public Address. Use our discount code “DARLINGS” for 50 per cent off the first six months. Book a demo today: https://publicaddress.ai. It’s PR Darlings:www.itsprdarlings.comwww.sticksandstonespr.com.auwww.forwardcomm.com.auSocials:https://www.instagram.com/itsprdarlings/https://www.facebook.com/ItsPRDarlingshttps://www.linkedin.com/company/it-s-pr-darlings/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-stone-youngleson-562809104/https://www.linkedin.com/in/corporate-communications/We acknowledge the traditional landowners and pay our respect to elders past and present, and all Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

“I just think there's never been a more exciting time to be a comms professional. The PR industry is at a really unique inflection point in terms of the potential of our industry and the impact that we have.” – Shane Allison, Public Address Founder In this episode co-hosts Greer Quinn and Jo Stone, together with Public Address Founder Shane Allison, explore the future landscape of public relations, the impact of artificial intelligence, essential PR metrics, industry trends, and advice for career advancement. “Those people who have a really generalist understanding of communications and can help produce a video one day, a podcast the next, and a social campaign the next are going to be incredibly sought after,” Shane explains. “And so too will those who have a very deep vein of subject matter expertise and discipline.” Shane's recent recognition as the "PR Professional of the Year" by Mumbrella highlights his significant influence in the field. Season Four brings a notable change with the introduction of Public Address as the official sponsor. Public Address has rapidly emerged as a vital tool for modern communicators. “First I should say how excited I am to be part of PR Darlings,” Shane says. “I absolutely love the way that the PR Darlings podcast has been able to educate people about some of the fundamentals of PR. It's a really valuable resource and we're so happy to be partnering with you guys.” Shane Allison, a driving force behind both Public Address and Public Relations Institute of Australia, sheds light on the evolving landscape of PR. He emphasises the shift from tactical approaches to a focus on strategy and channels. Greer and Jo discuss how they're already benefiting from using Public Address, which they describe as having an "extra pair of hands on every pitch”. They emphasise the AI-driven platform's ability to personalise pitches and process thousands of articles, making it easier to target the right journalists. “Through tools like Public Address, we can focus on the creative and interesting and engaging and exciting parts of our job,” Shane says. “But also we can leverage all of that into spending more time on the things that matter for our stakeholders and the businesses that we work for and we work with.” In keeping with the podcast's tradition, co-hosts Greer and Jo delve into the concept of "currency" as a news value. They explain how PR professionals can leverage current trends and topical issues to secure more extensive and impactful media coverage. It's PR Darlings is powered by Public Address. Use our discount code “DARLINGS” for 50 per cent off the first six months. Book a demo today: https://publicaddress.ai. It’s PR Darlings:www.itsprdarlings.comwww.sticksandstonespr.com.auwww.forwardcomm.com.auContacts:jo@sticksandstonespr.com.augreer@forwardcomm.com.au We acknowledge the traditional landowners and pay our respect to elders past and present, and all Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

"We have a hard paywall at the Australian. It means that bar is pretty high in terms of me taking the time to tackle something and go really in depth with it. And that often means…if there's a new story, it probably has to be exclusive to us.” – David Swan, Technology Editor, The Australian Considered a rock star among the tech PR peeps, Technology Editor at The Australian David Swan has an uncanny ability to turn the technical into the connectable. “I used to write for a technology news website for IT professionals, so I could use jargon and get away with it,” David explains. “Now, anyone on the street could be picking up the Australian and reading one of my stories. So I strip back that tech and say, ‘what will this actually do? What, what will it be used for how it'll be used? How will it impact society?’ The other thing too is every founder I interview has an interesting story about how and why they founded the company – sort of like a superhero origin story, a little bit like Batman or Superman.” Co-hosts Jo Stone and Greer Quinn also probe into the X Factor elements that make David say “yes” to a story within his turf of start-ups, business and technology. “We really need a news hook,” David said. “I think readers are pretty savvy and know when they're being fed more of an ad or a PR pitch. It has to be a really genuine news hook…it's one of those things where you kind of know it when you see it.” David also discusses some of the media conventions such as exclusives, embargoes and “first dibs” and why transparency is imperative when using these strategies. Keeping up with Season Three’s "news values" theme, during this episode the Darlings explore the value of “timeliness”, which is all about injecting the new into the news. It’s PR Darlings is produced by Jo Stone from Sticks and Stones PR and Greer Quinn from Forward Communications.  It’s PR Darlings www.itsprdarlings.com www.sticksandstonespr.com.au www.forwardcomm.com.au Socials: https://www.instagram.com/itsprdarlings/ https://www.facebook.com/ItsPRDarlings https://www.linkedin.com/company/it-s-pr-darlings/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-stone-youngleson-562809104/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/corporate-communications/ Contacts: jo@sticksandstonespr.com.au greer@forwardcomm.com.au  We acknowledge the traditional landowners and pay our respect to elders past and present, and all Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. 

“Media networks are running on the smell of an oily rag – they really are. So there's actually an opportunity there for PRs and for spokespersons to guide and influence the direction of the story.” –Jessica Ridley, Today Show Presenter + BTW Media Founder This episode of It’s PR Darlings, Jo Stone and Greer Quinn chat with journalist Jessica Ridley whose voice – and face – you’d recognise from national TV reporting roles, news-reading gigs and live crosses. It’s PR Darlings invited Jess on the podcast for two reasons – one is her years of experience in TV and her insights into post-covid television newsrooms in particular, but also because of her experience in media and presentation training, which is a specialised training that all PR, communications and marketing managers should be doing regularly with clients who have to front the media. From taking sips of water and regulating your breathing to small-talk before an interview, Jessica provides the media interview tips and tricks that’ll see you invited back. “Visualise that one person sitting at home, eating their dinner, watching the 6:00 pm news – that's the person you're talking to,” Jessica says. A chance to hold the microphone on national television presents a rare moment of influence, but talent sometimes falls short through poor preparation or mindset.  “If you get that chance for a couple of minutes on national television, those opportunities are far and few between,” Jessica says. “I definitely see a lot of people that could have done with just a little bit of preparation, you know, some key messages prep as well, so that they're going in and they're really clear about what they want to say and their position on the issue.” During Season Four, It’s PR Darlings is providing insight into some journalistic tools to help you hack the newsworthy algorithm to create content the media want to publish and follow. A cornerstone to that is news values, which journalists use every day to measure newsworthiness. This episode’s news value is a journo favourite – it’s “unusual” or “bizarre”.It’s PR Darlings is produced by Jo Stone from Sticks and Stones PR and Greer Quinn from Forward Communications. Jessica will be joining Jo and Greer on stage during Mumbrella 360 in July. Please get in touch for tickets and guest discounts. It’s PR Darlings www.itsprdarlings.com www.sticksandstonespr.com.au www.forwardcomm.com.au Socials: https://www.instagram.com/itsprdarlings/ https://www.facebook.com/ItsPRDarlings https://www.linkedin.com/company/it-s-pr-darlings/ Contacts: jo@sticksandstonespr.com.au greer@forwardcomm.com.au  We acknowledge the traditional landowners and pay our respect to elders past and present, and all Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. 

“One of the really key sentiments that came out [of Medianet’s 2022 Media Landscape Report] was the most important aspect of a pitch…is that the story’s original, newsworthy and relevant to that journalist’s specific field of reporting and audience.” -Amrita Sidhu, Director of Media Intelligence, Medianet and Mediaverse From pet peeves to journalists’ preferred days and ways to receive media releases, the impacts of Covid-19 on reporting to media trolling and gender pay gaps, this episode offers a deep dive into 2022’s complex media landscape. Taking us through the insights, based on a survey of almost 1,000 Australian journalists, is Medianet and Mediaverse Director of Media Intelligence Amrita Sidhu. While public relations and communications professionals won’t be surprised Medianet’s report revealed audience relevance was the most widely valued feature of a pitch, there were some surprising and somewhat disappointing findings too, including that 30 per cent of male journalists earn more than $100,000 per annum, compared to just 16 per cent of females and 12 per cent of non-binary journalists. Also, honouring an embargo is no longer a given within today’s competitive and social media-influenced media world, signalling a continued trend of disruption of media conventions. It’s PR Darlings Co-hosts Greer Quinn and Jo Stone also ask Amrita to discuss some of the newer or lesser-known features Medianet offers including media call-outs, an editorial service and Mediaverse’s qualitative analysis feature – something that is offering incisive room-reads in the lead up to Australia’s Federal Election. Following on from the last episode featuring ABC News Breakfast host Lisa Millar, It’s PR Darlings hosts continue the theme of news values during their end-of-segment education session when the duo unlock the news value of “proximity”. Download Medianet’s 2022 media landscape report here. Undertake It’s PR Darlings/Medianet’s collaborative crisis communications micro-course here. It’s PR Darlings is produced by Jo Stone from www.sticksandstonespr.com.au  and Greer Quinn from Forward Communications.  It’s PR Darlings www.itsprdarlings.com Socials: https://www.instagram.com/itsprdarlings/ https://www.facebook.com/ItsPRDarlings https://www.linkedin.com/company/it-s-pr-darlings/ We acknowledge the traditional landowners and pay our respect to elders past and present, and all Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. 

“Michael and I get in about 3:30am. We have a staff meeting at about 5:00am where we run through the show – what's planned, what our top story is, what we're going to tease, what our best vision is for the day...” -Lisa Millar, ABC News Breakfast Australia’s breakfast TV wars have been dominated by Channel Nine’s Today Show and Seven’s Sunrise. Other stations have tried but these two early morning juggernauts have had decades of loyal followers always battling for the top spot – until now. The ratings have become a closer race during the past two years after one of ABC’s most experienced foreign correspondents, Walkley award-winning journalist and author of a new memoir called Daring to Fly Lisa Millar took the helm alongside reporter Michael Rowland. For the first time during its 14 years on air, ABC’s early morning flagship News Breakfast program has toppled the traditional big guns. And for those in public relations and communications, this means looking at the program with fresh eyes and assessing when and how to pitch what stories.“The biggest one is that the audience is way more used to seeing people on Zoom and Skype and they don't mind that it looks a bit rough and ready,” Lisa says.Inclusion and diversity are key to ABC’s charter, so PRs should consider gender, ethnicity, location and socio-economic diversity in their pitches. “The first question that the producers will ask someone who might've pitched something is, ‘Do you have a woman?’…because we are committed to a 50/50 gender target that we have to reach on a daily basis.” Lisa also shares moments from her memoir Daring to Fly which tracks the journey of a kid from a tiny Queensland town who goes on to cover some of the world’s most impactful events, including September 11, all while battling a fear that almost grounded her career.It’s PR Darlings is produced by Jo Stone from Sticks and Stones PR and Greer Quinn from Forward Communications.  Contacts: jo@sticksandstonespr.com.au greer@forwardcomm.com.au We acknowledge the traditional landowners and pay our respect to elders past and present, and all Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.