The Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau works with its members and clients to help promote their events and reach their goals. We ask that clients work with us as far in advance of the event as possible by contacting Director of Communications This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 313.202.1951 to complement your organization's public relations efforts.

NEWS RELEASES
The DMCVB will review and help edit news releases of its key convention clients' major metro Detroit meetings and conventions.

We suggest that you keep newsworthy angles in mind to attract the interest of local media and business writers and columnists when writing news releases and considering asking for media coverage. Is your event/convention something you'd like to read about? If so, it's worth sending a news release, if not, you may want to reconsider your goals and objectives.

The media will more likely cover something with a creative and/or community and human interest angle more than your election of officers, which would be of interest to your industry's/organization's trade publication, but not necessarily warrant a story on the local news. If you have local sponsors or hosts with interesting ties or stories, that is important to include as well. Include as many specific details about the event and your organization as possible so the media doesn't have to search for it. Also include your "boilerplate" language and web address in your release. Here is the sample of the DMCVB boilerplate language:

The Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to market and sell the metro Detroit area on a worldwide basis as a destination for leisure and business travel including conventions, trade shows, corporate meetings, tours and incentive travel to maximize additional visitors, visitor expenditures, state and local tax revenues, and job opportunities.

More than 800 businesses are represented in the DMCVB's membership. The DMCVB was founded in 1896 as the world's first convention and visitors bureau.

The first rule of journalism for writing a news release is to write it in the "inverted pyramid" style, meaning that you include the most important information at the beginning of the release so if it's cut from the bottom, key facts will remain. Include the key elements as early in your news release as possible, including:

• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?
• Key local media contact. A regional or national contact is fine if easily reachable.

What are your goals and key messages for media coverage? What are you trying to achieve? Do you want a calendar listing of your event to help build local attendance, or do you want media coverage during your event to promote awareness of the organization and increase membership?

MEDIA LISTS
We are happy to share with you a general list of our local media outlets. For more specialized lists with specific names and beats, (ie: education, automotive, etc.), we may need to charge a fee or ask for more time to help create these specialized lists.

NEWS RELEASE DISTRIBUTION
The DMCVB works regularly with PR Newswire to send out its news releases. A news release that is under 400 words costs less than $200 to send to all metro Detroit media outlets. Broader distribution and length has additional costs.