Advice to be heeded

• Look for opportunities that can lead to great photo opps:  kids doing experiments is always a winner, either for print or television journalists. You doing experiments that show a “wacky” or interesting picture, such as you on the bed of nails or your hands on the Van De Graff Generator and your hair flying out, are also both great photo opps. The potential for photo opps motivates a reporter and more importantly the editor to cover your story.
• Give reporters good lead time – ideally, if you can alert a reporter about your event or story at least 2 weeks ahead of time, that gives them enough time to get moving.

• Don't call a reporter “after the fact”: once your event or outreach project is over, there is no story. You must call the reporter beforehand if you want them to cover it.

"Watch out for…"