'From TV 2 Twitter' Social Media Workshop Coming to Ohio.

Event Includes Media Lunch Panel

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Communications professionals will get an inside look at social media trends and put their skills to work at an interactive, half-day media workshop Thursday, December 10 in Columbus. "From TV 2 Twitter" also includes a lunch panel featuring Central Ohio journalists. The workshop is designed for public relations, marketing, advertising and government communicators, and association and not-for-profit executives.

The program will begin with a 2010 social media forecast, followed by fast-paced presentations on integrating traditional and social media strategies, building media relationships online, conducting multimedia interviews, online media sourcing and pitching, and crisis management.

Next, attendees will work in small groups with real-life scenarios to develop communications plans. They will then test their communications skills by creating viral videos, preparing Tweets, Facebook postings and other online communications, and conducting mock news conferences. A lunch panel with print, broadcast and online journalists follows.

National media consultants Brad Ritter, APR and Janet Ritter, APR of Brad Ritter Communications and Bridget Weizer of Mills James Productions' award-winning Web & Interactive studio will lead the workshop. Media panelists will be announced soon. Business Wire is the event's media partner.

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"Social media topics have dominated professional development programs this year, but traditional media are still very important communications channels," Brad Ritter said. "We need to understand the dramatic changes newspapers, magazines and broadcast stations are undergoing."

According to Weizer, "In the coming year, successful communicators' greatest challenge will be thinking about how the social and digital media space will be best utilized as a venue for driving good public relations for their organization."

Commenting on the workshop's hands-on format, Janet Ritter said, "Along with learning about new developments, 'From TV 2 Twitter' is a great opportunity to share experiences, experiment with new ideas and brush-up on critical skills, such as video interviewing."