Working with the IT Press

Alan Zeichick (BZ Media's Eclipse Review)

Business · Long Talk
Presentation File
Thursday, 10:10, 50 minutes | Grand Ballroom C

Alan Zeichick

Do you or your company offer an Eclipse-based product, plugin or service? Are you a leader of an Eclipse Foundation project? If so, the best way to get publicity is by working with the trade press â€“ independent newspapers, magazines, e-newsletters and so-on. This session expands upon a popular 15-minute talk given at the most recent Eclipse Marketing Symposium, about how to work with the trade press on news stories, new product announcements, product reviews and more. This isnâ€™t about advertising, but about getting the word out: how to get the reporter's attention, how to work with editors, how to tell your story. Attendees should be marketing and public relations staff, product managers, business leaders, and anyone who wants to know how the trade press works â€“ and how to work with the trade press more effectively.

Alan Zeichick co-founded BZ Media LLC in 1999, bringing 20+ years as a software developer, technology analyst and industry journalist to the company. He serves as editorial director for the company's magazines, including SD Times, Software Test & Performance, and Eclipse Review, and newsletters, chairman of several of its conferences, and manages its BZ Research arm. After starting his career as a mainframe programmer and systems analyst in the 1970s, Mr. Zeichick shifted over to the world of technology journalism in 1984, beginning at a small publishing company in rural New England. From 1987-1990 he worked for IDG Communications and was recruited to Miller Freeman Inc. in 1990. As an editor-in-chief and editorial director at Miller Freeman, Mr. Zeichick led the content-oriented aspects of the start-up, acquisition and repositioning of several publications, as well as several trade shows and conferences. His final project at the company was the award-winning repositioning and redesign of LAN Magazine into Network Magazine. A prolific author and popular speaker, Mr. Zeichick left Miller Freeman in 1998 to develop Camden Associates, the technology analysis and consulting firm he launched in the early 1980s. In April 1999, he partnered with Ted Bahr to launch BZ Media LLC. Mr. Zeichick is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.