May 2008

Network PR knows what ICT women want

Network PR worked behind the scenes to help bring 150 female IT professionals together during CeBIT to discuss just what Australian women want from technology on Tuesday, 21 May.

The occasion was Females in IT and Telecommunications’ (FITT) May forum that included presentations from four leading technology professionals on how they see technology contributing to the career and family lives of Australian women.

As FITT’s pro bono public relations partner, Network PR engaged with FITT early in the process to add value at various stages in the event’s development.  In the planning stage, Network PR helped set the theme for the event and assisted with copy for the invitations.  Leading up the event day, Network sourced a major sponsor and also negotiated free videoing of the presentations and the Q& A session.  On the day itself Network hosted an influential freelance journalist for exclusive interviews and also wrote and distributed a post-event media release. 

“This forum was one of our major initiatives for the year, so the effort from Network PR in assisting us from planning to implementation was most appreciated.  The fact that we gained quality media coverage was also a great result for us,” said Maggie Alexander, a founding member of FITT and the event coordinator.

“To be able to supply a major sponsor, one of our new client acquisitions this year, Premiere Global Services, was a nice bonus, as we knew the theme was around the utilisation of Unified Communications, and this is one of Premiere’s key offerings,” said Geoff Hoddinott, business and technology account director, Network PR.  “Our friends at Viocorp also recognised the value of being made visible to FITT’s 1,300 strong membership base, and generously donated their time and facilities for the event.”

Within 48 hours, Viocorp had the video available for viewing by all 1,300 FITT members.  Additionally Telstra, which has a number of high-profile FITT members, and which supplied a presenter for the event, also posted the video link on its intranet, making it available to over 40,000 employees.

In commenting on the FITT relationship, Hoddinott said “Many of our technology and business clients see us working with females in roles from marketing and account management, to human resources and IT management, and we know just how important technology is to them all, regardless of their role.  So, when we were approached by FITT to be their public relations pro bono agency, we felt we would be able to both understand their member’s needs as well as the organisation’s marcomms requirements.”

Network PR had previously assisted FITT in putting together the last three International Women’s Day luncheons and will be working with FITT to gain sponsorships for their ongoing initiatives.

GRANT COMMON
Managing Director

Network PR optimises brand appeal by matching messages to individual markets and mapping a communication ‘Network of Influence’ to ensure messages are delivered with clarity & credibility