WASHINGTON - September 20 - Liberal flaks can sharpen their PR skills at a “national conference on media relations for progressives,” scheduled for Feb. 2 and 3, 2006, in Denver.

The “True Spin” conference will include 25 workshops, lectures, and panel discussions by some of the leading liberal PR practitioners in the country.

The keynote speakers are:

• Ben Cohen, Co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s;
  
• Kathy Bonk, author, Strategic Communications for Nonprofits;
  
• Martin Kearns, Executive Director, Green Media Toolshed; and
  
• Lisa Witter, Executive Vice President, Fenton Communications
  

Session topics include:

• Do Progressives Suck at PR?;
  
• Pranks with a Purpose: A Report from the Front Lines of the New Creative Activism;
  
• Stop Being a Bore: How to Create Newsworthy Visuals;
  
• Be like PETA!;
  
• Can Progressives Unite Under one Frame?;
  
• Loud and Clear in an Election Year: 501c3s and Elections;
  
• Network-Centric Advocacy; and
  
• Is News Irrelevant and Media Relations a Dying Art?; and others.
  

“A lot of us liberal flaks are looking at the news media and thinking, ‘We’ve got to be able to do a better job at PR than we’re doing’” says Jason Salzman, President of Cause Communications and author of Making the News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits. “The conference is a small step toward trying to do better.”

Other faculty include: Andy Bichlbaum, Yes Men!; Andrew Boyd, a founder of Billionaires for Bush; Lori Dorfman, author, News for a Change; Lisa Lange, Communications Director, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; Holly Minch, Spin Project; and Bill Walker, Vice President of Communications, Environmental Working Group.

For more information, visit www.truespinconference.com.

The conference is sponsored by Cause Communications (www.causecommunications.com), a Denver-based PR company focused on assisting nonprofit and advocacy groups.

###