Post Oak County Historical Commission is a fictional organization in a fictional county. Texas Historical Commission (THC) staff created Post Oak County as a teaching tool and reference for County Historical Commissions (CHC). We present this fictional information in a variety of ways to provide general guidance to CHCs. Our hope is that the examples, which highlight common challenges, will help Texans develop stronger CHCs.
Event Media Kit
We developed an Event Media Kit to send to our partners and sponsors. This Event Media Kit includes the following: a press release, media advisory, information about the County Historical Commission (CHC), approved graphics and photos that we want to share, CHC contact information, social media messaging, a list of sponsors, and a schedule of events.
Sending an Event Media Kit to our partners and sponsors is a great way to remind them about our event and why it is to their advantage to help us promote the event. The contents of the Kit provides partners and sponsors with the tools necessary to publicize the event. We increase the likelihood that publicity will be accurate and consistent because the information within the Kit is provided by the organization hosting the event, which is, in this case, the CHC. We also increase the likelihood of others publicizing our event because the information is accessed easily.
Sections of this Event Media Kit
Each section of the Event Media Kit serves a purpose. Below, we provide you with a description of each section and why it is necessary to include it in the kit. You can find our Texas Independence Day celebration--The Texas Jubilee--Event Media Kit Here.
Press Release: This is the most important section of the media kit. It explains the who, what, when, where, and why of the event. Our partners at the newspaper and radio stations can use this information to promote our celebration.
Media Advisory: We plan to use this one-page document to alert the press 2-3 days before the event. The media advisory gives the press the information they need to cover our event. We will send this by email.
About Post Oak County Historical Commission: Many of our partners and sponsors are familiar with the goals of our organization, but some partnerships are new. We want to make sure the businesses and organizations we are teaming up with know about the work and mission of our CHC.
Graphics and Images: We created two posters to advertise
this event. We created them using Microsoft Word and 
Paint.
If we didn’t have time to create a poster, we would have selected one or two photographs that represent the event (e.g., photos of the courthouse). Images are important to include because they create interest and balance the text.
Contact Information: The contact list quickly directs individuals with questions or concerns to the correct person on the CHC. Quick and easy communication is essential to a successful event.
Social Media: Attracting a younger audience was one of our goals for this Texas Independence Day event. To do this, we invested a lot of time in promoting the celebration with Facebook. We will continue to publicize the event on social media, and we are asking our partners to do the same. To make it easy, we have provided a sample Facebook post that they can use on their own Facebook page.
We didn’t have much success on Twitter, but other organizations and businesses may have a Twitter following, so we provided our event hashtag #1836PostOakHistory.
Sponsors: We want to give credit and say thank you to our sponsors and partners at every opportunity. We realize that it’s important to recognize these individuals if we want them to work with us in the future.
Schedule: The schedule provides a clear timeline for the event. We developed a detailed schedule a few weeks in advance to help the public and our partners plan for the event as well as advertise specific activities.
We created our Event Media Kit in Microsoft Word because our local media prefer to receive information digitally. We have already emailed the kit to our partners and sponsors, including the local radio and television stations, and the local newspaper. As Texas Independence Day draws nearer, we will follow up with these organizations and renew our request to help us promote the event.
Template Event Media Kit
We have created a template Event Media Kit geared toward Texas Independence Day. This template is provided to CHCs, so that you can promote your local event in coordination with other similar events across the state. Simply click on the template link below to open the document, save it to your computer, and then replace the yellow highlighted portions with information specific to your event. Some users may need to click the "Enable Editing" button in order to use this Microsoft Word document.
Texas Independence Day Media Kit Template
You can also use this template for events other than a Texas Independence Day. Simply use the general format to provide information specific to your event.
