OR Daily powered by SNEWS – guidelines for getting attention at ORWM

The clock is ticking and the All Mountain Demo on Jan. 19 is just around the corner – and, with that, the official start of Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2011. With this year’s show also comes the debut of the new OR Daily powered by SNEWS®. Your OR Daily team is extremely excited to share all the great show news with you every day of Winter Market…and, of course, show off our new design and concepts, too.

A lot of people have been calling and emailing with congratulations, mutual excitement and the usual, “how do I…” sort of questions, especially as Winter Market nears. With that in mind, we thought laying out a few guidelines would help all of our friends attending Outdoor Retailer Winter Market. The goal being the best mutual understanding of how to work with the new OR Daily team to ensure maximum opportunity for coverage of your company, products and news while at the show.

How do we submit news we want the OR Daily to consider for publication?

Our OR Daily editors are always looking for newsworthy information about your company’s trends, marketing strategies, sponsorships, advocacy efforts, promotional campaigns, overall product line launches, fun events and parties, and even funny show stories. BUT…any news we consider for the OR Daily must be specifically relevant to the show, meaning if it is news that does not pertain to something happening at the show or is not related to the show in some way, then it may be best suited for SNEWS® online before or after the show and not necessarily for the OR Daily.

However, if it is news that folks can follow up on at the show, for example by coming to talk to you about it at the show or taking action at the show, then by all means, the OR Daily wants to know about it. Send this information to the editors of SNEWS at ordailynews@snewsnet.com. Chances of inclusion improve if you send your information in the form of a well-written press release in an attached Word document (no PDFs please) with accompanying supporting photographs if pertinent to the pitch and in a high enough resolution to print. Short items can be in the email body.

Remember, you MUST be an exhibitor or officially showing at Winter Market to be included in the OR Daily. No exceptions!

How do I get my products featured in the New Product Gallery?

Outdoor Retailer and SNEWS put out numerous email announcements between October and November 2010 seeking product submissions for the New Product Gallery section (formerly “Product Picks”). If you responded by the Dec. 6 submission deadline and you followed our submission guidelines, you were definitely considered. We ended up with more than 600 products to choose from – and only space enough to include around 120. We apologize in advance if you are not one of those chosen for the New Product Gallery.

If you submitted multiple products for publication consideration, keep in mind you will likely only receive one product picked for publication since we need to ensure we are being fair and balanced and are able to cover as many exhibitors as possible.

Will there be any other product coverage in the new OR Daily?

But of course! In a SNEWS survey, you told us loud and clear you wanted product coverage…a lot of it…so among many other things, an avalanche of product coverage is what you are going to get.

Each day, we will be writing about product trends, and mentioning select products in trend stories as examples of those trends. In all cases, we will be referencing booth numbers in stories when a product is mentioned to ensure our readers can more easily find what it is we are talking about.

In addition, we are launching a new feature for the OR Daily – Editors’ Picks. Our OR Daily editorial team will be scouring the trade show floor and the Demo looking for products we feel are worthy of mentioning in the new Editors’ Picks section. Products will be more likely to garner our attention if they are cool, unique or otherwise innovative, creating a bit of a buzz or wow. To be sure we notice you at the show (although this doesn’t guarantee you will get chosen for an Editors’ Pick product mention), send us an email to ordailyedpicks@snewsnet.com with the following information and ONLY the following information (no press releases, PDF files, athletes’ testimonies or other materials). Note: Only ONE product per company:

1.Company Name

2.Product Name

3.Booth Number

4.Product MSRP

5.50-word product description that will help us understand why the product is cool, unique, innovative and worth an Editors’ Pick mention. We will need to hear facts about features and function, not just gushing and colorful descriptors.

6.And, very important, a high-resolution image of your product suitable for printing, in jpeg format – so we’re prepared to run it if we do choose it after seeing it.

How can I be guaranteed my products and company get featured in future OR Dailies?

We will always treat every exhibitor with an equal amount of attention – OR Daily advertiser or not, SNEWS subscriber or not, large company or small — when determining what products or companies we choose to feature in the OR Daily. Although we would love it if we had sufficient pages to promise every company who submits products to our New Product Gallery or Editors’ Choice section will be featured, there are simply too many product submission requests and too little space — all from very good companies pitching very good product — to cover every last one.

If you want to absolutely guarantee that your company’s product will appear in the OR Daily for Summer Market 2011, the only way to do that is reserve a Product Zone placement with our sales team. It is not free, but it is more robust and, you can publish as many products as you want in the Product Zone. To get more information about this, contact ordailysales@snewsnet.com and Elizabeth Averbeck, our sales manager, will be happy to take care of you.

I am not an official exhibitor, but want to get my news into the OR Daily. How do I do that?

You MUST be an official exhibitor or officially showing to be included in the OR Daily as part of any editorial or photography coverage; however, you are certainly welcome to advertise in the OR Daily provided there is space available. Contact our sales team at ordailysales@snewsnet.com.

What about getting my show events covered?

The deadline to submit information about your trade show events (press conferences, celebrity appearances, autograph signings, prize drawings, contests, giveaways, happy hours, parties and other hoopla) for the OR Daily Schedule of Events was Jan. 3 – again emails and PR was distributed frequently with this deadline information. But, if you have a change or a late addition (we all know how party planning can go), feel free to continue to email the 411 to ordailyevents@snewsnet.com – concise is best. We can’t promise anything that is sent to us after the deadline will be included, but we will certainly do our best. 

Can I drop off material or come by and visit with the OR Daily team during the show?

Unlike past shows, your new OR Daily team is trying to make itself less like the wizard behind the curtain in Oz and, in fact, more accessible. Granted, we’re all moving so fast that sightings of editors may only be recognizable by the passing blur, and most of us just won’t be able to make appointments. Still, there is one place — now actually on the trade show floor — where OR Daily news will be happening live, all day long — in the OR/SNEWS Media Center, booth #32016E (location pointed out on map to right). There, our SNEWS photographers will be shooting the OR Daily covers and other portraits and our editors will be filing stories with the OR Daily nerve center (OK, that spot is hidden away). And look for some SNEWS TV being filmed there, as well as being streamed on the big screen in the Media Center. Also, you’ll find a place to drop off comments, and even pitch a possible story – although last-minute, in-person submissions may be more difficult to jump in, so email is best. Now, although the Media Center is on the floor, we may not be planted there at all times since we all want to be out in the booths and handling products for best news coverage.

OK, so what are those official OR Daily emails again?

For events – ordailyevents@snewsnet.com

For news at the show – ordailynews@snewsnet.com

For consideration as an Editors’ Pick – ordailyedpicks@snewsnet.com

For general comments and questions – ordaily@snewsnet.com

And, for OR Daily ad sales and classifieds, both at this OR Daily and at upcoming shows – ordailysales@snewsnet.com

–Michael Hodgson and Therese Iknoian