This morning CNW Group sponsored one of its semi-regular “Breakfast with the Media” events, this time featuring investigative reporter, Robert Cribb (see full description below). I registered to attend in person, but as a morning meeting got scheduled too close to the event, I opted to listen to the webcast instead. As is often the case with webcasts, CNW Group announced at the session that it will be archived and available for several months (generally three), to anyone with an Internet connection and audio capabilities. The readers of PR Conversations who “relate” with the media may want to take advantage of this opportunity to pick up some tips.
Although you need to register to listen, it is very easy and fast. Best of all it’s free. (This is the same platform I used to webcast the Canadian Economic Update 2007 with Dr. Sherry Cooper.)
I’m listening as I post this item. The session was slow in starting, but Cribb began coming into his own at about the half-way point, with audience questions and comments, as well as frequent laughter.
A 29-slide PowerPoint presentation accompanies the webcast, but unfortunately the listening audience has to figure out when to forward them.
Snipped from my invitation:
Join CNW for breakfast with Robert Cribb, one of Canada’s top investigative reporters, for a look at how journalists research in-depth stories and how organizations can respond to potential public relations nightmares. Learn the kinds of questions journalists are likely to ask, and how your reactions can impact the outcome–for better or worse.
Robert Cribb is an award winning investigative reporter at the Toronto Star. His investigations include reports on serious food safety problems in Toronto restaurants, illegal slaughterhouses, fraudulent telemarketing boiler rooms, dangerous doctors, sexual harassment, slum landlords, airline safety problems and government corruption.
Cribb is past president of the Canadian Association of Journalists, a lecturer at Ryerson University’s School of Journalism and co-author of Digging Deeper: A Canadian Reporter’s Research Guide (Oxford University Press). He holds a BA (Hons.) from Dalhousie University and a Masters of Journalism from Carleton University.
Access the webcast registration page.
View the HTML version of the invitation.
Note: the webcast is approximately 80 minutes in length.
Webcast update (05/25/07): I was curious to know if the webcast of this session was popular (I believe this is the first time CNW Group has webcast its Breakfast with the Media series), so I inquired of my reps whether they could supply some registration figures. They were kind enough to do so. The in-person session had more than 100 people attending and the “live” webcast participants numbered 61 (i.e., they registered by the 8 p.m. start time…whether they lasted the entire 80 minutes is unknown).
I also mused whether this post had any (apparent) effect on registrations for the archived webcast–because no one has commented, online or offline so far. I was just supplied with the information that 50 people registered/clicked in yesterday to the archived webcast (post session) and six more today. I hope at least some of those registrants found out via PR Conversations, as this helps me to determine whether readers are interested in hearing about distance-learning opportunities like this one, in future posts. Remember, the archive will be available for several months…and it’s free!