NATA truly made its media mark at the 61st annual meeting in Philadelphia and we were excited to be a part of the momentum. As in past years, we helped to spearhead an onsite press conference that garnered strong local and national media attention and also worked closely with several media on larger health stories. A recap of our June and meeting efforts is included below.
Total audience reach: 18,857,125
1. NATA Annual Meeting Public Relations Activities
a. National Press Conference:
In light of the increase in skin diseases in sports over the past several years, NATA’s position statement on the topic was met with terrific and ongoing media interest. We were excited to promote the advance release of the statement (to be published in the July issue of the Journal of Athletic Training) with an event on Wednesday, June 23 and to receive such strong onsite media attendance. We are planning to re-release the press material the week of July 15 and in keeping with formal publication. Our responsibilities included:
ü Coordination of press event
ü Liaising with speakers and securing case history
ü Development/distribution of press material
ü National and Philadelphia/grassroots media outreach
ü Development of speaker comments as appropriate
ü Post-event planning for statement publication
Marje Albohm provided introductory comments and formal speakers and topics included:
Steven M. Zinder, PhD, ATC, assistant professor of exercise and sport science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chair of the position statement writing group: overview of skin disease prevention and treatment.
Jack Foley, ATC, assistant athletic director and director of sports medicine, Lehigh University and writing group member: preparing sports facilities to prevent disease outbreaks.
David B. Vasily, MD, FAAD, team physician/dermatologist, Lehigh University, president, Lehigh Valley Dermatology Associates and writing group member: a team approach and the importance of an integrated plan among health care professionals.
James J. Leyden, MD, emeritus professor of dermatology, University of Pennsylvania and statement reviewer: medical perspectives on infectious disease in athletics.
Mike Moyer, executive director, National Wrestling Coaches Association: the coach’s perspective and athlete time loss from skin infections.
Kyle Frey, 21, a junior and wrestler at Drexel University in Philadelphia: personal insights into his battle with MRSA and return to activity in January 2010.
Press event results to date (and onsite attendance as indicated):
· CNN producer Val Willingham taped segments on skin infections (to air July 19); stretching with Marijeanne Liederbach; and one-on-one with Marje Albohm on trends and profile of profession (air dates TBD). CNN also posted a story on the website the day of the press event:
· CBSnews.com ran a June 23 story online with quotes from Steve Zinder and case history Kyle Frey (MRSA survivor and junior wrestler at Drexel University):
· CBS Network Radio distributed a package to its 500 affiliates after the event and with quotes from Steve Zinder the day of the event (we’ve seen good results from KNX-AM radio in LA among other 17 other local outlets as reported to us by the network, total audience: 900,000.
· Local Philadelphia (WCAU-TV/NBC and KTXF-FOX/TV) affiliates covered the event and ran stories on the 5:00 p.m., Wednesday June 23 broadcasts with a total audience reach of 250,000.
· Local Philadelphia WIP-AM radio host Steve Trevalise interviewedMike Moyer (National Wrestling Coaches Association) on tape to air at a later date on Steve’s daily talk show.
· Northwest Indiana Times, June 28, total audience reach: 210,292. Reporter John Doherty highlighted the skin diseases guidelines in his weekly Monday article:
b. Other Meeting Activities Included:
· Spearheaded general media relations efforts (highlights below).
· Coordinated Marje Albohm one-on-ones with New York Times; CNN and Scripps Howard News Service (working on long-term youth sports safety and athletic training story for fall timing and met with secondary school committee and we are coordinating select interviews with several members on-site).
· Set up review with Advance Magazines: Meeting with editors for 2010/11 editorial calendar and video session with Marje Albohm for placement on the website
· Drafted and distributed Board of Director and Hall of Fame press releases to key media outlets at the direction of each respective member.
c. General Annual Meeting Press Results To Date:
· Dr. Radio (Sirius Satellite Radio), Tuesday, June 22 and Tuesday, June 29, total audience reach 3,000,000: Secured half-hour live radio interview on youth sports safety with Jon Almquist on June 22; and a follow up story on skin infections conducted live on June 29 with Steve Zinder and James Leyden, MD, FAAD, both of whom spoke at the press event.
· Philadelphia Inquirer, June 25, total audience: 356,189: Feature reporter Art Carey wrote a Friday local news article on the success of the convention, background on the profession and the “day in the life” of an athletic trainer which included an online link video with Adam Annaccone talking about the profession: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/97136994.html.
Reporter Vardem Wyatt is exploring stories on sickle cell and steroids for future publication and attended the sports safety session on Thursday as well.
· Ortho Supersite, June 29, total audience reach: 28,880: Three reporters from Orthopedics Today were onsite for the meeting. The first of the articles focuses on research re: anxiety levels and predisposition to exercise: http://www.orthosupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=65991
· New York Times: Personal health columnist Jane Brody is writing an article on skin diseases and speaking with several of our press event speakers for an upcoming story. Date of publication: July 27 or later (TBD).
· USA Today: Coordinated interviews with Katie Walsh (cheerleading); Steve Zinder (skin infections) and Brian Robinson (youth sport safety) on general youth sports safety for reporter Kim Painter’s column in July.
· Washington Post: Conducted phone interview with fitness reporter Vicky Hallett on blister story for July 8 with Mary Mundrane Zweiacher.
2. Consumer Placements
Ø FamilyCircle.com, June 2010, total audience reach: 3,823,253
Ralph Reiff worked with freelance writer Cynthia Atoji on a series of articles on walking and related fitness plans for its June website content (preliminary content ran in May):
