Advance

An advance is a story that public relations professionals and others send to the news media to announce upcoming meetings, performances, speeches, sports events, news conferences, fundraisers, hearings, rallies, conferences, and other activities. The goal is to tell people about the event in an interesting way so they can decide whether or not to attend. A good practitioner will avoid hyperbole, which puts people off—particularly the editors who decide whether or not to publish the advance.

A good advance begins with the event's main topic (what the speaker plans to say or the main agenda item), the main purpose (to raise funds for a charity, for example), or a key personality (such as the star of a musical performance). This is followed by the time, day (date), and place (with room number) of the event. An advance also reports the exact name of the group holding or sponsoring an event, background information about the speaker or primary issue, other important items on the agenda for a meeting, and mention of other key personalities.

An advance for a print publication or Web site typically is no more than two or three paragraphs long. This allows an editor to slip it in almost anywhere in a newspaper, newsletter, magazine, or Web page. An advance for broadcast typically is no more than 25 words or so and is written as a public service announcement. This also can be used to fill space during a broadcast. An advance writer must always remember that a release that doesn't get published or aired is worthless.

In olden times, before 1995 or so, advance stories were mailed or faxed to newspapers and some broadcast outlets. The distribution process today is more sophisticated. Advances may still be mailed or faxed to local news media, but some editors prefer to receive advances electronically. A writer creates the advance in a word processing program, pastes it into an electronic mail message, and sends the story. A recipient can paste the advance into his or her word-processing program, and no retyping is required.

An advance writer also can bypass the middleperson by posting all advances in prominent positions on the organization's Web site with links to a speaker's biographical information, background material to be discussed at a meeting, and other relevant information. It's a good idea to send advance stories to interested parties on listservs. News media writers may be on the listserv, but the list will include names of people who are simply interested [Page 11]in the organization's activities. Advance writers should make sure their lists are accurate and current, for this is a good way to get the advance to the people most likely to attend the event.