The following suggestions are for bringing Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month to the attention of the public by using your local media outlets. The more you are able to provide a local angle (such as getting an MSAM proclamation from your mayor or governor, involving a local high school or college, etc.), the more likely you are to receive local coverage.
Contact your institution's public information office (PIO) and ask to have your events included in its various calendar announcements. The PIO is likely to have good contacts with local media and may be able to help you get media coverage. You may also want to discuss the following ideas with your PIO staff.
Newspapers (especially weekly ones) may run an editorial recognizing MSAM if it is signed by a local professor or public policy representative. Restrict the focus to one topic, such as changes in math or statistics courses in your department, selected research projects at your institution over the last decade, and how skills in mathematics and statistics can increase career options in all fields. Mention your local events briefly as part of the editorial. Keep it to 300 or so words in length. Letters to the editor are appropriate when you can respond to a recently published story and mention mathematics, statistics, and/or MSAM as part of the reply. Carefully follow the guidelines for letters to the editor provided by your paper—often on the editorial page.
Radio and television stations may run PSAs of 10, 20, and 30 seconds in length. The script could focus on Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month in general or specifically on your local events. You must provide at least one good slide with 10–, 20–, and 30–second scripts as part of requesting a local TV station to run your PSA. It helps to have the materials and request come from a local institution.
Sample 10-Second Script
The University of invites you to join in celebrating Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month this April. Mathematics and statistics give us new discoveries and offer students many career options. Explore mathematics and statistics at ww2.amstat.org/mathstatmonth (or provide your own URL—the simpler, the better).
Cable television companies have local access channels that will make 30-minute blocks of time available. Propose a panel discussion to your local cable company on a topic such as “Careers in Mathematics and Statistics.” Provide a list of spokespersons, their institutions, and a few specific ideas about what you could discuss.