Thursday 22nd May 2008 / 09.30am / £45

Description

Publicity can make a business. Just ask Richard Branson, Stelios or Dyson. But it’s not just famous entrepreneurs who take publicity and the media seriously. The right mention in the right place can have a massive impact on orders for companies of all sizes, can attract new business partners and can even help a growing business secure funding.

So it’s with business owners in mind that the new series of Star Entrepreneur media training events kicks off in 2008 at the British Library. The Daily Telegraph’s enterprise editor Richard Tyler and the editor of BBC2’s Working Lunch, Tracey Hobbs, are the two headline speakers at the first event on May 22nd.

Format

Tyler will outline how the business pages on a national newspaper are put together, what journalists are looking for in a story and the best way to get a business, product or service on to the page. Tracey Hobbs will explain how Working Lunch finds its stories and how companies can become a case study on the programme.

The event will also hear from Francis Ingham, Director General of the Public Relations Consultants Association, on how agencies operate – and how to get value-for-money. Then it’s the turn of Susanna Simpson, who founded award-winning Limelight PR five years ago when she was 24. She will talk about the potential and pitfalls of hiring a PR agency.

Then Crispin Manners, founder of PR firm Kaizo, will cover the importance and effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing, before Michael Hayman, chairman of The Communications Group, will talk about the vital importance of reputation to the entrepreneur.

The event is hosted by former Real Business editor Matthew Rock, while there will be a humorous and frank introduction to the UK news agenda from Keith Elliott, a former Fleet Street journalist and now head of Europe’s leading media training company, PMA Training.