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CU Boulder membership in The Conversation gains momentum

By now, we hope you’ve heard the exciting news that CU Boulder is a member of The Conversation, which has the primary and lofty goal of “democratizing knowledge.”

The Conversation is an independent, nonprofit publisher of commentary and analysis, authored by academics and edited by journalists for the general public. These pieces are syndicated by the Associated Press (which means they land in newspapers around the country), U.S. News & World Report and GateHouse Media.  Read a story announcing our membership in The Conversation.

Environment and energy editor Jenny Weeks and Chief Innovation Officer Bruce Wilson visited campus Feb. 11 and 12 and held informational, Q&A sessions with faculty in every major academic area. They also met with communicators and helped us all better understand how to leverage our membership. Thank you communicators for making this such a successful visit. Jenny and Bruce were impressed by our faculty experts, our campus, and our communicators!

Also, in the fall I attended the first members conference for The Conversation in Indianapolis and gleaned many new valuable insights that will help CU Boulder maximize its membership.

Over 60 public relations, communications and marketing professionals (most in senior positions on central comms/marketing teams, along with some from research offices) attended the conference, including Arizona State University, Indiana University (obviously), Iowa State University, University of Michigan, Michigan State, The Ohio State University, Purdue, Rutgers, Texas A&M, University of Arizona, University of Florida, University of Maryland, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Oregon, University of Southern California and the University of Washington.

Here are some key learnings from the campus visit and the conference:

What makes a good pitch

  • Think of tying proactive calendar to themes or news hooks, such as holidays. The Conversation ideally likes to publish these pieces two or three days before the holiday (or timely news hook), so content should be submitted at least one week in advance. The article does not need to be tied to a research publication date.
  • The Conversation editors want the story pitch when the academic learns a piece is accepted for publication – not necessarily if it has already earned a lot of media coverage. The Conversation will take submissions under embargo.
  • Check past pieces on similar topics on The Conversation to make sure the new article advances the conversation. It needs to be different from what’s already out there. Pieces that counter conventional wisdom are in demand.
  • NEVER submit an entire story to the pitch form. Editors want the opportunity to shape content.
  • Do work with the author on developing the pitch BEFORE contacting The Conversation.
  • As you help a researcher craft a pitch, think: Why this? Why me? Why now? Focus on solution-oriented pieces.
  • Consider pre-pitching the idea to a Conversation editor before moving forward.

Series and multimedia opportunities

  • The Conversation will be playing around with bigger series that feature experts from multiple institutions. Topics under consideration include: Lyme disease, antibiotic resistance, aging, climate change and immigration.
  • The Conversation wants to expand into multimedia. They have hired videographers to do 60- to 90-second explainer videos. We can help by sharing our B roll.

Questions? Feel free to reach out to me, julie.poppen@colorado.edu or Chris Yankee at chris.yankee@colorado.edu. The two of us co-lead our Conversation membership and work closely with lead college and school communicators.