Public Relations Committee Chairperson

Position Currently Held by:

Lindsay Schmidt              
Email: hatapublicrelations@gmail.com      
Phone: 808-641-3273

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Position Description

Goals and Responsibilities
The goal of the HATA Public Relations Committee is to reach those individuals and organizations that can help make a difference for athletic trainers when it comes to legislation, employment and public health.  We organize and/or publicize grassroots activities, along with media coverage to improve the awareness and position of the profession.

The PR Committee utilizes the toolkit provided by the NATA in order to educate stakeholders on the importance and value of athletic trainers to athletes, patients, clients and the public.  The 2012 PR Toolkit can be found here  (http://www.nata.org/sites/default/files/2012_NATA_toolkit.pdf).  Some of these activities take less than 30 minutes to complete.  Therefore, it is easy to get involved. 

Typically, the busiest time of year for the PR Committee will be in March, which is National Athletic Training Month (NATM).  Please refer to NATM to-do list taken from NATA.org, which describes some responsibilities and goals for the PR Committee below.

NATM To-Do List:

• Meet with your staff, students and athletic trainers in your area to develop an NATM plan.
  
• Determine your target audience (e.g., school board, legislators, athletic directors, coach groups, parents, employers, hospital administrators, rehab directors, medical and other health care societies, etc.).
  
• Seek advice from colleagues who work in marketing, public relations and sports information.
  
• When adding a legislative component, be sure to involve your state governmental affairs committee chair.
  
• Educate school officials, other health care professionals and employers about NATM and the athletic training profession.
  
• Review NATA videos and podcasts (http://vimeo.com/user1930386/videos) to see which ones will fit into your plan.
  
• Develop local media contact lists.
  
• Establish and renew media relationships through emails, phone calls and meetings.
  
• Define specifics of selected activities.
  
• Create a schedule of confirmed activities.
  
• Send news releases and promotional materials to print and broadcast media, PTA newsletters, medical societies, local government officials and others. 
  
• Follow up with phone calls and e-mails.
  
• Contact TV, radio and newspaper reporters and producers about story 
  
• ideas.
  
• In addition to sportswriters, contact health care and business reporters and possibly education reporters.  Which reporter you contact depends on your particular story angle.
  
• Send links to videos and send link to “Resources for Employers” (http://nata.org/employers).
  
• Send NATM electronic greeting card (http://nata.org/national-athletic-
  
• training-month).
  
• Take photos and save all media coverage.
  
• Thank reporters and producers who cover your events.
  
• Send a summary of your NATM activities to your PR Council district representative.