Workshop to Teach Public Relations Skills

Staff members and volunteers from nonprofit organizations serving the Valley are invited to a daylong workshop Wednesday at Cal State Northridge that will focus on working with the media.

The workshop, “Interacting with Media: A Day for Nonprofits,” is intended to teach representatives to work more effectively with the news media to publicize their services and fund-raising projects.

“The idea is to give people some of the tools they need to accomplish their public relations goals,” said CSUN spokeswoman Carmen Ramos Chandler. “Many small organizations can’t afford to hire a public relations firm and this workshop can really help them out.”

This is the second year that CSUN has hosted the workshop, Chandler said. Last year more than 200 people attended.

The program, co-sponsored by CSUN’s Office of Public Relations, NBC 4 and the Los Angeles Times Valley Edition, will include successful examples of actual community relations and fund-raising campaigns and tips on how to successfully market one’s organization to the media. Editors and news directors will also discuss how they make make news decisions.

Presenters will include Bill Lord and Jim Giggans, vice president and news anchor, respectively, for NBC 4; Nelkane Benton, director of community relations for KABC-AM (790), and Ardith Hilliard, managing editor of the Times Valley Edition.

Attendees may register for $25 by calling CSUN’s Public Relations Department or for $30 on the day of the event.

Wednesday’s workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center of the University Student Union.

For more information, or to register, call (818) 677-2130.