I'm awake at 4:30 in the morning and can't get back to sleep. I just got back from 10 days of skiing in Switzerland and am still on their time.
Congratulations to all involved with the coaching and development of Ben Cline! And great job to Ben! I noticed in a previous post that someone was complaining about the lack of media coverage for Ben's accomplishment in our great sport. As Chief of Media for the National Masters held in St. Paul in 2000 and President of our club, I can tell you that you need to spoon feed the media anything of importance for cross country skiing. They are not going to come to you and they are not following skiers unless they know what's happening. That's most likely the reason that there was no coverage. XC skiers need to be proactive in getting the media the attention our sport deserves. With extra attention comes money, interest and better trails. Tips for giving information to the media. 1. Have one person per town be the media spokesperson that sends press releases to the media. This would work great for Madnorski in Madison. Papers, TV and radio like to contact only one person. 2. Use standard press release formatting and fax or e-mail the press release. 3. Give them information all year long or as long as you have information that you would think would be noteworthy. this includes press releases on clinics, meetings, accomplishments, etc. 4. Try to target writers or reporters that have shown an interest in our sport. Usually when I send press releases to our two major papers in town, they put something in. This takes time to develop relationships with them, but you need to start now. Good luck For some fun, check out www.north-stars.org. I got to meet and talk to the greatest XC skier of modern times while I was in Switzerland. Greg Fangel North Star Touring Ski Club _______________________________________________ http://www.MadNorSki.org/ XC mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/xc
