Lack of publications is filling up email boxes
Here's something to think about. Suzanne Deffree at EDN tweeted yesterday that she took a couple of days off and came home to fine over 800 valid emails waiting for her (not viagra spam). She first wondered if she was "super popular" but then realized that the missives were from PR people desperately searching for journalists to write about their latest widget update (note, Semicon is going this week and DAC in two weeks).
So what happens when the journalists still employed find their inboxes tripling in volume? You probably start getting lost, even if you have a good relationship with them.
Another tweet from JL Gray was asking what to do with PR meeting requests, so the age of Blogolism is finally getting traction in the EDA world, and just in time. Hardly any press left. That should take some of the burden off the press, but maybe engineers will start finding out just how bad engineers are as communicators.
Lou,
ReplyDeleteJust as an FYI... I've been getting PR requests since shortly after my first stint covering DVCon in 2007... My Twitter question was really meant to be: What are the PR pitches worth listening to at DAC?
Also, very keen to understand further your last statement that "maybe engineers will start finding out just how bad engineers are as communicators".
Take care,
JL
JL, Good questions. I've learned not to multitask when blogging. the whole thing is intertwined.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the post was to point out that traditional journalists are becoming overwhelmed with meeting requests coming from people they've never talked to to do interviews on subjects they've never covered of taken meetings on, the reason being is that there are so few traditional journalists left. But there are no fewer publicists and they have no fewer demands from clients for meeting. Bloggers have entered into that vaccum and are now getting calls from publicists ... and engineers serving a communications managers for small companies ... to take meetings. DAC is accommodating this process by giving more press credential to bloggers. The bloggers, for the most part, are not professional communicators but engineers who have a following of engineers... which is why the publicists want to meet with them and do the very same pitches they used to do to the journalism corp. So we will find out what engineers think of multiple pitches from engineers that all say the same thing.
As to your question about what is worth listening to, I've seen two dozen pitches about different products making the same claims with the same hyperbole. So I have no clue what pitch would be worth my time. I have asked a couple of specific questions that I want answers to before I accept a meeting but I've already told them I don't want a pitch. Oh and it has to be done in 10 minutes. That eliminates all the slides that talk about time to market and increasing complexity.
"...maybe engineers will start finding out just how bad engineers are as communicators."
ReplyDeleteThe tradition of engineer to engineer communication in EDA is as old as DAC, which started as a community of practice among early tool developers inside of major semiconductor and system houses. USENET news groups and newsletters like ESNUG provided a lot of good information, as well as forums like the Verification Guild. The most interesting sentences in any article or blog post about new technology is what the early users--who are normally engineers--are saying about it.
I enjoy reading JL Gray's Cool Verification blog because it's authored by an engineer with deep knowledge of verification issues and practices who writes well.
I also think most of the EDA PR folks are doing much more experimenting in how they are trying to engage bloggers, they are not just e-mailing press releases. Look at the Synopsys Conversation Central effort at DAC for one example, another would be a recent conversation that Ed Lee (http://www.leepr.com) and I jointly blogged at http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2009/07/12/a-conversation-with-ed-lee-on-the-changing-media-landscape-for-eda/ and http://www10.edacafe.com/blogs/ed-lee/2009/06/10/bloggers-in-eda/
One final point: in my opinion one significant difference between journalists and engineers blogging is that the bloggers don't have a "news hole" to fill: for the most part their engineering audience tolerates an irregular publishing schedule as long as there is quality in when it is posted. So they can be much more discriminating in what they choose to write about.
Sean Murphy http://www.skmurphy.com/
I may not be clear here. I am not talking about the communication skills of bloggers. Most bloggers in tech industries like EDA have largely been insulated from what was imposed on traditional journalists. Journalists had to talk to the engineers that were no longer doing the interesting work in making tools and technology and were no doing the marketing or running the companies. Those contacts were, themselves, insulated from the engineers doing the actual work. What has made USENET, ESNUG, etc. interesting was it was outside of the normal reporting realm. Marketers, up to now, ignored and belittled those other avenues of information and those that ran them were free to dig down into the information that only engineers wanted to read.
ReplyDeleteJournalists, on the other hand were required to write for a much broader audience that included engineers doing the work, but engineers doing the marketing, engineers running companies, engineers investing in the companies, non-engineers investing in the companies, non-engineers to industry analysis.... and on and on. they had to write about business as well as technology, market trends and the economy.
Now, however, the insulation protecting engineer bloggers from the onslaught of corporate marketing is eroding rapidly. They won't just be talking to engineers doing the work because the companies will be blocking that. They will have to sift through the dreck and make judgements regarding what is and what isn't real. Sometimes they will be right and sometimes they will be wrong. What will be interesting is how long it will be before they develop empathy for what their predecessors endured.
This heralds back to my recent blog about DAC relaxing the press rule for bloggers (both independent and corporate) and marketing folks (as press). Those few of us left in the press know exactly what I mean.
ReplyDeleteFrom the responses on my blog and this one by Lou, it seems clear to me that most bloggers don't understand the "legacy" of the issue, namely, that without the established press most companies and conferences are desperately looking for any coverage they can get. This problem certainly isn't the fault of the bloggers, who are happy to find growing acceptance as "press." But not all bloggers are bloggers, if you know what I mean. This coverage-at-any-cost (not dollars but integrity of content) issue will greatly muddy the waters for legitimate and independent content provides. That's the long term issue.
John, you got my point. I think what is happening will be eye opening for a lot of people. What traditional journalists do is not really understood, much less respected. It's always seemed magical to the engineering community: put out a couple news releases, meet a couple of editors and, voila! Validation of the message. No one realizes just how difficult it is to wade through the dreck, do some basic research and come up with an objective position on news that is at least interesting to read for many audiences.
ReplyDeleteBloggers have the luxury of only needing to reach a couple thousand readers to be successful. Mass media people need 10X that amount. Journalism ain't rocket science...because it ain't that easy.
Sean - Thanks for the kind words.
ReplyDeleteLou - Out of curiosity, which bloggers are attending DAC this year as press? I am certainly not, though I haven't really given it a go for a couple of years. Also, I didn't want to run afoul of the apparent rule about mixing business and press-type activities. Of course, I'm still getting pinged by PR folks looking for meetings... Problem with meetings is that there is then an expectation you'll write something, and that's a commitment I'm not always comfortable making.
Take care,
JL
Actually, I have no idea. All I know is I was not planning on going to DAC (no EDA clients) but suddenly found myself getting requests from PR people asking if I would take meetings with their clients and write about them, based on my work with State of the Media and New Tech Press. Then EDA Cafe asked if I would start doing a blog for them. Since I had no other reason to go to DAC other than these opportunities (for which I am not getting paid), I contacted The PR agency handling DAC and said I would go if I could get a press pass. They said that based on my monthly unique readers on all my blogs, I qualified as long as I was not representing any companies at DAC. So I agreed to take the meetings.
ReplyDeleteI know John Blyler has found that there are other EDA bloggers getting press passes, although I don't know who.