A day in the life of a "techie"

Our third day started with a visit to TechAmerica, a trade association representing the technology industry. We were given a presentation by two of the association’s vice presidents which included a general overall of their duties and a more in depth discussion of new media and its usage.

Jason Langsner, the VP of marketing, said they often re-tweet excerpts of published articles about their association in order to keep their name circulating. Part of this is to increase membership because while representing such a large industry, they only have a $30 million budget. In regard to tweeting, Jason and Kali Hunter discussed the suggestion that “all press is good press”. Jason explained that in their industry, that bad press doesn’t affect them in the same way. He said that because TechAmerica is not a household name, they aren’t held to the same standard as other more recognizable names in the country.

TechAmerica helps to create a unified message amongst its members in the technology industry in response to legislation being passed regarding technology. Jason discussed an important part of their job, which is to not allow technology to be demonized in any way. So when legislation is presented suggesting that all cell phone packaging should contain a warning that the product causes cancer, TechAmerica fights for their members in the cell phone industry by finding scientists and other experts who defend the notion that technology’s purpose is to help people, not harm them.

Later in the presentation, we discussed their ideas surrounding the use of press releases in new media and their group’s aim at making reporter’s lives easier in order to be given more coverage. I asked Jason about their future plans involving the incorporation of video into their press releases (ex: interviews with the chief executive officers and chief information officers of some of their member companies) in order to lessen the load on reporters. His response was that they were in the process of deciding how they would incorporate video because they are so small staffed and there would be a larger constraint on the time it takes to put out a press release. He said that delay could allow their competition to beat them to the punch. I would have liked to hear more about their plans for the use of video in press releases, but it didn’t seem to currently be a priority.

Our afternoon stop was to mCapitol Management, a lobbying firm that consults for cities, towns and private companies, and their interests in grants and legislation. Our visit to mCapitol Management gave me a better understanding of how a lobbying firm works, but was not as beneficial, in terms of the media industry, as our first stop.

I think both companies are important in terms of communication in Washington, but as a speaker for many important industries, TechAmerica really focuses heavily on the communication between businesses and our government and making that relationship more efficient.