UCLA Extension Debuts New Media PR Course this Winter Quarter

 

(LOS ANGELES - Nov. 30, 2006) For the first time, UCLA students -- and local public relations and marketing professionals looking to update their communications skills -- will have the opportunity to learn how organizations are integrating blogs, podcasts, RSS and the web into marketing and PR campaigns through a new public relations training course beginning Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007 at 7pm and continuing for 4 additional Wednesday evening sessions on UCLA’s main campus.

 

Through demonstrations and guest speakers, an Introduction to New MediaPublic Relations: Generating Public Awareness with Blogs, Podcasts, RSS, and Websites will teach course attendees:

The public relations training course will be taught by new media technology pioneer Eric Schwartzman, managing director of Los Angeles-based public relations firm Schwartzman & Associates, founder and chairman of online marketing and PR application service provider iPressroom and host of the PRSA PRism Award (sic) and Society for New Communications Research Award of Excellence winning podcast “On the Record.Online,” which features interviews with journalists from the mainstream media, influential bloggers, podcasters and newsmakers discussing how new technology is changing the way organizations communicate and the way people consume media and information. Schwartzman also blogs about how he thinks new media influences perceptions at Spinfluencer.

 

“There is a heightened degree of interest in emerging social media. We have been looking to add this type of course to our curriculum for some time now,” said Krista Loretto, program manager, Journalism, Public Relations, Fund Raising, UCLA Extension. “We actively recruited Mr. Schwartzman, who has established himself as one of the leading new media marketing and online PR experts in Los Angeles through the professional development workshops he teaches for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Bulldog Reporter’s PR University and Pacific Conferences in Singapore, and through the new media initiatives he has implemented with organizations such as the LA Opera, Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter.”

 

The course, which will be held at Dodd Hall 147 on Wednesdays for 5 consecutive sessions, is designed to help non-technical individuals understand how to strategically integrate new media technology into corporate communications, marketing and public relations campaigns without depending entirely on information technology personnel. In addition to covering the qualitative benefits of leveraging new media technology, the course will also include instruction on building a business case for a specific new media initiative.

 

Subject to availability, guest speakers scheduled to appear include new media technology experts Rob Barrett, general manager of LATimes.com; Sally Falkow, co-developer, PRESSfeed; Chris Bechtel, chief operating officer, iPressroom Corporation; Tim Bourquin, event producer, Podcast Expo; Dan Klass, podcast producer, The Bitterest Pill and Phil Gomes, vice president, Edelman.