Lots of letters in response to the PR survey,
but first lies, damn lies and stastistics ...

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There is an expression that says, "There are lies, damn lies and statistics." Most of the misuse of statistics is based on logical errors in the way that things are put together. I may have been guilty of this in the past, but now I am reformed. The one I am referring to is usually based on the Collett International data. The figures given here are from the 2003 report:

1) Logical / Functional errors occur on 62% of all chips.

2) 61% of chips need to be re-spun at least once before volume production.

Therefore Logical / Functional errors are the primary cause of chip re-spins. NOT TRUE.

Collett never asked the question "what was the fatality that caused the re-spin?"

He asked, "If your IC or ASIC design required more than one spin, please indicate the number of spins that had the following type of flaws."

Many chips have errors in them that are minor, can be fixed in software, are dealt with by reducing overall functionality, or are only found after it has been in use for some time. If a chip is going to be re-spun, then of course all of the logic / functional errors that have been found will be rolled into re-spin, but these are opportunistic changes. Errata sheets on chips have been around for as long as I can remember. Those errors did not necessarily cause the re-spin. It is time that company executives and marketing people stopped perpetuating this lie, and it is time that people who hear this should call them on it.

Best regards

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I'm laughing ... I loved your questions. A big thank you for taking the PR profession seriously enough to ask what it's like on this side.

Regards,

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In light of the article you are working on about PR/MarCom folks in the technology space, I thought you might want to take a peek at our new blog, which is devoted to just that. We launched it this week, so we haven't done much yet to spread the word -- we're still experimenting and working the kinks out.

Best regards,

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Being a sole proprietor is a special calling. PR agents who operate alone focus on getting the job done. They understand how to ask the right questions to block out a project, define the parameters of the problem, define the goal and then put the pieces in place like a puzzle to accomplish the goal. They don’t need the long discussions to analyze; they can do that themselves. They get the big picture and can write about it even if it takes a pound of chocolate. Which it frequently does.

Regards,

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Thank you for asking these questions. I’ve been in the public relations field for over 15 years and I’ve never been asked for input like this. I’m so impressed that you are addressing this subject and I have been looking forward to providing input to you.

Thinking about my responses to your questions has forced me to reflect on my career – something I don’t often take time to do. I realize that I’ve been very lucky and yet I still have a lot to learn.

When I started my career, I chose Public Relations because it combined the best parts of journalism with business. I have always been enamored with the media and secretly want to be a journalist. I majored in journalism, which furthered my desire to an extent. However, upon graduation and job searching, reality set in. The opportunities available in journalism were far less attractive to me than the public relations positions being advertised.

The things I liked about journalism were the idealist things – saving the world, making a difference, seeing my name in print. But, the downside of journalism for me was the sales side of it – and getting people to talk. So, for me, PR was and is a happy medium. It has roots in journalism and I get to work with journalists, but I don’t have to deal with all the nasty aspects. Thanks for getting me to think about all of this stuff!.

Best wishes,

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Our job as PR people is to be a bridge between the company we represent and the editor. We are here to provide information within tight deadlines. The best thing an editor can do – besides using us as a resource – is to be objective and factual.

Regards,

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Some ideas/ complaints/ suggestions for editors, in no particular order:

• Answer e-mails. Even an e-mail that says "Got it" is better than nothing at all. We have to track things for clients, and continuing to say, "I haven't heard back" sounds a bit lame after a while.
  
• Tell us when you don't like/ want an abstract/ proposal/ submission. See above. We can take rejection, what we can't take is continuing to tell a client "I don't know." Besides, if you reject an article, some other publication may take it.
  
• Make it easy to find editorial calendars and author guidelines on your website. Keep the links that ARE there up to date.
  
• Have boilerplate handy that you can e-mail to us when you accept something, telling us graphics specs, word count, # of graphics in a typical article, etc. We have to remind our clients who are writing (yes, a lot of them DO write, and we simply copy edit).
  
• Don't take it out on PR/middlemen if one of our clients misses a deadline or refuses to answer a question.
  
• Make it clear on your website which editors to contact re which topics.
  
• Tell us how to effectively bring it to EiC or managing editor attention if an editor or reporter does not keep appointments, consistently gets information wrong, seems biased against a specific vendor. Sometimes an e-mail or phone call from PR backfires and the editor/reporter becomes harder to deal with.
  
• Often, editors ask for information late on Fridays. We almost always scramble to provide it. When we have something last minute for you, offer us the same courtesy. Small EDA companies are often very over-extended and have multiple deadlines. They mean no disrespect; they're just busy.
  
• E-mails that update and provide more detail on editorial calendar items are a godsend. They also save you time. If your editorial calendar says, for instance, "Power," you are going to get all sorts of queries. If we can dig deeper without bothering you, we can plan ahead better and you can reduce questions in your Inbox.
  
• Tell us in an e-mail that you re not going to interview vendors at DAC at our behest, that you will be attending sessions and will choose interviewees yourself. (Goering does this.) We absorb the information and we can also pass it on to clients, who will have proof that we are not making excuses.
  
• Bottom line seems to be -- realize that we are in the middle between vendors and you. We WANT to help get you the best possible information in a timely fashion, it makes our jobs easier and more productive. You want info; we want exposure. Realize that we are allies, not harassing gadflies.

Regards,

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Please don't think of us as stupid or inept. We know the editorial process; it's our clients who often do not. And, all the counsel and background about a publication does not resonate; they want coverage and answers as to why not. You tell us one email is sufficient, don't follow up with a phone call if you don't hear from us. However, if we don't hear back, our client is demanding what's up.

So, it sure would be nice to have some response even if it's "NO." We understand you are busy, but a brief-"NO NOT NEWS WORTHY," "NOT OUR FOCUS," or "CALL ME AFTER I'M OFF DEADLINE," would mean the world to us. Hey we're adults, we can take constructive criticism. Some word is better than no word.

Now, the technical trade press are some of the best and most reasonable to work with. But, here is an example, straight from Media Map, on how to approach an editor from a management pub:

XX is the Executive Editor and covers Customer Relationship Management, Healthcare Technology, Privacy, Security and Cyberbehavior. XX duties include providing editorial direction and conceiving and editing feature stories. XX also works on the Peer to Peer column, which is a section written by and for CIOs.

In regards to preference of contact she says, "I really don't like getting e-mail," and she also discourages phone calls. XX stresses that XX should only be contacted by e-mail, if at all, and only with information that is relevant to the CIOs in the CRM and healthcare industries.

So, I guess we approach this editor telepathically??

Finally, it's great to have a posting of upcoming articles with topic/angle and deadline. This cuts out unnecessary phone calls and emails. Several publications already have Web postings or editorial calls that get sent to a distribution list. This is most helpful and reduces unnecessary contact. We LOVE these!

Thanks,

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Now this is an interesting and unusual topic!

By and large, the press in EDA do a good job of working with us on the dark side. ;-)

For those PR folks just getting into this area (and why would they want to? Cuz they dunno the level of nerdiness!), perhaps a collective proclamation that the editorial calendar is advertising generated, that editors need to abide by the general topics, but that it's really not a working document. Problem is, clients hold our feet to the fire regarding the so-called editorial calendar.

In truth, we dunno what the topic really is until we call you all, about 3 or 4 months before the issue date. So while the clients get all wound up about "all the topics that they fit into," the PR folks sort of get caught between the aura of lots of issues client X fits into and the reality that there may be none to all that they conceivably can fit into.

Would be great if there was greater rigor on covering technology developments in depth and avoiding product announcements/upgrades/new mailing boxes. By and large, I think the EDA press do a pretty decent job of this, but all of us need new product announcements to butter our bread or pay our mortgages.

Also, I would love to see more attention paid to EDA stagnation.

• What are the business practices of this industry that cause it to tread water, at best?
• Why do we continue to have such a bad rep in the public markets?
• Why don't we have an effective industry chamber of commerce?

Maybe the answers are because we effectively have no industry here – just a bunch of vendors clawing at one another and suing each other?

Regards,

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I would like to explain what editors/journalist could do (not that they would, of course) to help independent contractors involved in Pr/MarCom to do their work. We want to serve editors/journalists, and here's what would help:

1. TOPIC surveys/questionnaires with a clear date on when they are due back.
2. Checking your sources on damaging or specific company touting "Anon" quotes (when you don't recognize the names). A quick example – "John" from XYZ company sends quote touting company FOT and dinging company CEX. Turns out XYZ is a distributor for FOT. CEX says NOT FAIR, but then really is in a no-win position.
3. 1x a year publication/mingling events. CMP media hosted a seminar in January complete with handouts of all the slides (edit calendar, media study, and org. chart/updated contact list). SocCentral hosts an event at DAC. etc.
4. Lastly, understanding that at least 2x a year our clients really (really!) need a face-to-face meeting.

Regards,

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Peggy,

I’m not going to answer Question #25 as such, but it makes me think of that show “Lost” and all of the different roles the survivors took on when they landed on the island (leader, helper, fighter, rogue, sage…). So I’ve written a brief play:

A plane on its way to DAC goes horribly off course and crash-lands on a remote Pacific island and a strange drama unfolds…

Mike Fister: [Leaning back against a tree and eating a coconut] What should we do, guys?

Jim Hogan of Telos: [Taking a bite out of a papaya] I’m with you, Fister. Let’s just sit back and play some music. Somebody will figure this out. [Holds out some of his papaya seeds] Does anyone need any seed get them started?

Rajeev Madhavan: Well, I think we should start by putting together a team of people to fix the electrical equipment to send an SOS message.

Aart de Geus: Nice try, Rajeev. My team is already doing that. If you look over by the fuselage, you can see my crack team of EEs already working on the problem. Maybe you should try coming up with your own idea.

Wally Rhines: I’m going to build a raft to get us out of this place. Unfortunately, I have all of the materials but I don’t have anything to put in the middle to hold them together.

Alan Naumann of CoWare: I think we really need to look at this from the system level. We’ll simulate the design of the raft on the ocean using this small pile of twigs and a puddle.

Gary Smith: Good idea, Alan. But I don’t think it’s going to work without some behavioral synthesis.

Brett Cline of Forte: Here, I’ll help by throwing rocks into the puddle to create some waves.

John Cooley: Ha! That will never work. You’re all fools!

Mike Santarini: [Handing out some tiny bottles of bourbon pilfered from the flight attendant’s cart] While we wait, why doesn’t everyone have a few drinks and then you can tell me about your company’s future plans.

Richard Goering: Mike, you work for EDN now. Why doesn’t everyone have a few drinks and tell ME about your future plans?

Gabe Moretti: I’m still here too, guys.

Tets Maniwa: Me too!

Jim Lipman: I’m here too, sometimes. Other times I’m over there [pointing to a group of PR people organizing a limbo party farther down the beach.]

Joe Costello: Yeah, I’m here too sometimes, when I decide I like you guys. I guess I made the wrong decision to be in your camp this week, huh?

Amr Mohsen, former CEO of Aptix: [digging himself out of the wreckage] I can’t believe this. I was set to be released today. Does anyone have the key to these handcuffs?

Wally Rhines: Ha! All of your plotting and scheming got you nowhere. I own your company now!

Sanjay Srivastava, Denali: Why can’t we all just get along and work together? I am going to go down the beach and show those PR people how to throw a REAL party.

Gerry Hsu former CEO of Avanti: [Emerging from a hidden door in the side of the island’s largest volcano] What is going on out here? This is MY island that I purchased with my $40 million parachute. Gah! Aart! What are you doing here?

Peggy Aycinena: This is all very interesting. I am going to write about it.

To be honest, the editors in the EDA world are not all that difficult to work with. In fact, most are a pleasure compared to the rest of the publishing world.

Regards,

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Peggy Aycinena owns and operates EDA Confidential. She can be reached at peggy@aycinena.com

Copyright (c) 2005, Peggy Aycinena. All rights reserved.