Rescued: Overcoming the Pain of Press Releases

Sometimes the word "press release" brings upon the theme music from "Jaws".

It is one thing to write a press release to fit a page and meet the criteria. It is quite another painful experience to determine who to send the press release for the best results.

Then, through Facebook, I learned about Utah News Source. It is a company that keeps current with which reporters write which kind of stories. They give guidelines on what is needed in the press release and send the press release on your behalf.

So someone could rescue me from the shark!

Utah New Source barely started their group on Facebook on Friday, January 9th when I discovered it a few days later. (Today is January 13th!)

Of course, for this kind of service there was a fee. I gladly paid it. My time was more precious to save than some money.

It cost $50.00.

I paid $20.00 more so the press release could also be shared through social networking sites like Facebook, Digg, etc.

My grand total was $70.00.

This is what my press release looked like--

Family Famine: Hunger for Love, a world premiere storytelling concert addresses social concerns

Storyteller Rachel Hedman presents “Family Famine: Hunger for Love” a world premiere storytelling concert, Monday, February 9, 2009 from 8:00 - 9:30 pm. at Covey Center for the Arts, Grand Theater at 425 W. Center St. in Provo, UT.

The concert addresses social concerns and is sponsored in part by the Utah Storytelling Guild, a nonprofit group.

Audience: Minimum age 8, geared for 12-year-olds+ due to themes, program expects to tour worldwide mainly at educational venues from upper elementary to universities as well as other venues similar to Covey Center for the Arts.

"Sometimes the best way to approach sensitive concerns like child abuse and abandonment is through a multicultural tale. It takes us away from the here and now so we can think of people or situations that seem familiar in the present-day," says Hedman.

Hedman will share multicultural tales from Ireland, the Ojibwa nation, and Colombia. The Irish one is storytelling with a mix of personal reflection while the others are enhanced by music like songs sung as duet with Holly Robison for the Colombian piece.

A guitar can howl like a wolf with Joshua Payne, guitarist. Payne will be joined by Geoff Rayback, upright bass player, to create soundscapes for the Ojibwa piece.

Hedman's cousin, Kristen Lorensen, discovered in 2005 that there may be a family history link to the Ojibwa people. Lorensen mailed an Ojibwa story “Forsaken Brother” to Hedman, which she clung to until Elizabeth Ellis, her Storytelling Masters professor from East Tennessee State University, assigned the “My Finest Hour” project in August 2008. That was when Hedman started her blog.

Already people in Utah and worldwide have followed the story development process and marketing through almost daily posts.

Tickets: $10.00 general admission, $5.00 student/senior*, $5.00 for groups of 15+* ***Discount prices available only by phone or in person.

Call (801) 852-7007 or go to www.coveycenter.org for more info.

Contact: Rachel Hedman, Director/Featured Storyteller

Phone: (801) 870-5799

Email: info@rachelhedman.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Website/Blog: http://www.coveycenter.org and http://familyfamine.blogspot.com

Other People of Interest: Elizabeth Ellis (national teller from Texas/guest emcee), Joshua Payne (guitarist), Geoff Rayback (upright bass player), Holly Robison (singer). Contact information for them can be given at request

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Trek (5 of 7): "Oh Glorious" Paperwork for Theatre

Whether or not the university is conservative or has religious connections, there is a guarantee there will be paperwork to create an event.

This is five of seven posts relating to my info-gathering trek to BYU on October 21, 2008.

Brigham Young University may have the most paperwork than any other place, though that is only to provide a safe place for sponsors and for performers alike. Usually each piece of paperwork is no more than a page. Sometimes receiving the proper signatures is the challenge.

I met with Naomi Davidson (see upper left picture), current BYU Storytelling Club president, so to discuss if the club could sponsor the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production. She was fully supportive, and I thought how wonderful it was for a club that I founded to still be around when I could use it's help at this time. Things seemed to fall in place.

Then, with all the forms to be completed and rules to check, I jokingly wondered if at any moment Naomi would shout, "Stop! This is not worth it!"

From talking with the Associate Dean of Students to the Student Leadership Club Coordinator, Naomi and I discovered that paperwork would be needed for the following:

• Official BYUSA club sponsorship of the Event
• Scheduling the Varsity Theatre
  
• Fundraising Exception outside Care Week (March 2-7 for clubs)
  
• Monday Night (during 7:00pm-9:00pm due to Family Home Evening)

The fundraising exception form was considered only because I thought the performance could connect with the Storytelling Heroes Campaign. This is a new tradition by the National Storytelling Network for 100 benefit concerts per year around the country to raise at least $250 each so as to further the art. The Associate Dean of Students believed that it would make sense for the BYU Storytelling Club to want to raise money for a nonprofit national storytelling organization. However, the final say would be from the Club Coordinator.

Usually BYUSA clubs are reserved one Care Week per semester to raise money, services, or goods for causes. My February 9th premiere date was about a month before the actual Care Week of March 2-7, 2009.

Yet, it was the exception form to perform on Monday night that was "the impossible". Besides all-day Sunday, Monday night from 7:00pm to 9:00pm is considered sacred because it is connected to the Family Home Evening (FHE) time.

You may ask, "Why would that be a concern as students are away from their families?" The answer: students are placed into Family Home Evening groups with a student as "mother" and another student as "father". It is amusing when the "parents" and the 10-15 "children" are about the same ages. Someone teaches a spiritual lesson merged with an activity and finally followed by refreshments. Food is of utmost importance to these gatherings.

To have FHE more convenient, you cannot schedule from 7:00pm-9:00pm anywhere on campus. The exception is if one of the BYU bishops from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints calls the Campus Scheduling Office to make the arrangements. So for my "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" program, I thought perhaps Naomi or other BYU Storytelling Club members could approach their FHE groups and see if it could be a grand scale FHE activity also open to the public. This would boost attendance and help in regards to the professional filming of the event.

After the filming and with food being one of the themes in "Family Famine: Hunger for Love", then it made sense to have light refreshments after the performance. Besides the four official forms aforementioned, I would need to check if only food from BYU Catering would be allowed due to health rules or if I could have friends bring in desserts in potluck style. Most elementary, middle, and high schools are not allowed to have homemade treats because they need to be made and wrapped in sanitary ways. I am unsure if this standard stretches to universities.

With the attempt to keep all these forms and exceptions straight, I then received an unexpected answer from the BYU Storytelling Club faculty advisers. They did not think the BYU campus was the best venue for the ambitions and dreams I had for the event. Plus, they did not want to disrupt the Monday FHE time. Their signatures would be need alongside Naomi's and though I was disappointed, I began to think that perhaps they were right--at least about the BYU campus being the best venue.

If it was a FHE activity at the Varsity Theatre, then there could not be any exchange of money for tickets, donations, or selling of merchandise. I had hoped for this option to cover my costs in putting on the event.

Yet, Monday night was the aim as national storyteller Elizabeth Ellis would be in the area for the Timpanogos Storytelling Conference. She is one of my East Tennessee State University Storytelling Masters professors who challenged us students to create "My Finest Hour" project. The "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production happened to be my project.

Elizabeth Ellis promised to attend and to be my emcee.

Despite all the research to make it possible for the BYU Storytelling Club to sponsor me, I will now determine what other options are available to meet the majority of my ideals.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller