Topaz Partners - Update

Tech Gets Personal
One of the most exciting developments in tech PR is the increasing "personalization" of technology. Not long ago, tech PR folks worked with companies where there were several "degrees of separation" between us and the tech products we represented. As you'll see from the articles in this e-newsletter, and in particular from the client snapshots we've included, there's a much closer connection between consumers and a variety of technologies.

Topaz is also very involved in social media - an area that is contributing in a significant way to the personalization of technology. Today, through blogs, newsgroups, podcasts and other online resources, consumers can learn about and comment on products. You'll see this reflected in the work of Living Expositions Inc., producer of the Electronic Living Expo (ELX), an event that is making social media a key element of its interaction with attendees.

In this issue, we'll touch on these topics and other personal technology developments that are changing the lives of consumers, businesses, journalists and PR professionals.

ELX: Showcasing Consumer Technology
Topaz is working with a growing number of companies whose products and services represent the personalization of technology. One of the best examples of these companies is Living Expositions, Inc. - producer of ELX, Electronic Living Expo consumer events.

Debuting February 15, 2008 in Boston, ELX will offer a learning and entertainment experience dedicated to helping consumers integrate and enjoy the latest electronic innovations in their everyday lives. The event will showcase, demonstrate and allow attendees to use cutting-edge products and technologies for home entertainment, gaming, personal and home audio systems, personal computing, mobile communications, digital creation and more offered by leading manufacturers, retailers and services. The expected 30,000 attendees will also have access to product introductions and demonstrations from hundreds of exhibitors, interactive activities, live and online entertainment, how-to workshops and expert presentations.

Premier sponsor Verizon Communications was recently joined by the Boston Globe and CBS RADIO, who have signed on as the primary media sponsors.

Topaz is working with ELX to raise visibility with prospective exhibitors and attendees for this breakthrough consumer electronics event. READ MORE

The Widening World of Consumer Tech
In addition to ELX, Topaz is working with other companies whose technology touches the lives of consumers. Here's a quick look at some of our clients who represent the fast changing and expanding space of personalized technology. READ MORE

Tech Journalism - Telling the Story Gets Personal
Alan Alper
Imagine working as an excavator in the days of antiquity (think Egyptian pyramid, Greek Parthenon or Roman Coliseum) with little more than a pick, shovel and basic blueprint to illuminate the way. The work would, no doubt, be back-breaking, but incredibly breath-taking as your 24 x 7 x 365 effort culminated first in a foundation and then a structure pointing skyward - decades later. Amid aching arms and legs, you would likely reconsider your career path - unless you were an indentured servant committed to finishing the job before it finished you.

That's not too dissimilar from how high-tech trade journalists dug up stories in the industry's pre-PC days. I began my publishing industry career in the fall of 1980 writing for one of the granddaddy's of the industry, Electronic News, which by the time I entered the newsroom had already chronicled the rise of the mainframe and minicomputer and was poised to uncover how new fangled computing and communications technology would forever change the business world.

Back then, the quality of reporting was inordinately influenced by the precision of your olfactory senses -- and the willingness of your contacts to swap industry rumors and speculation inside their companies and across the industry landscape. Of course upstart companies were more willing to engage in this game of information give and take. They saw it as a way to gain credibility and exposure. Many of the large corporate players (particularly one known by its three- letter acronym) wouldn't even permit trade reporters to interview their executives. Instead, reporters were required to submit their laundry list of questions to corporate PR (over the phone - not fax) and await a response, which rarely if ever provided enough insight to fill a thimble. READ MORE

Alan Alper has been a tech journalist for more than 25 years. Here he looks at how and why journalism has changed along with the tech market. Alan is currently editorial director of Cognizant Technology Solutions, a global IT services company headquartered in Teaneck, N.J. He can be reached at alan.alper@gmail.com.

Team Topaz Gets Personal about Consumer Tech
Many of the Topaz staff have also witnessed and participated in the personalization of technology - with some of their experiences going back to the early days of consumer tech. Here's a recap of a few of their favorite consumer tech stories:

"My best experience in consumer tech PR is with Topaz client, Podcast Ready - as our work with them forever changed in my media habits. I barely followed podcasts before hearing about an opportunity Topaz had with Podcast Ready.

While promoting their service, that makes the downloading and management of podcasts easier, I became hooked on Podcast Ready's online directory and bought an MP3 player to listen to podcasts. In fact, having this access to podcasts convinced me that we could launch one at Topaz Partners too."

"One of the most exciting PR projects I've worked on is the launch of Compaq (which had been a longtime leader in the business PC market) into the home computer arena.

We developed a set of background materials that focused on the various ways PCs could be used in the home, and we targeted a new set of media for Compaq, reaching out to lifestyle and regional publications as well as TV and radio broadcast. We supported all of this with an event in NYC, where we reproduced a number of home PC settings -- the home office, a kid's bedroom, a student's desk, the kitchen workspace, etc.

It turned out to be one of Compaq's most successful launches ever, but this move from business users to consumers had even larger meaning - it was an early reflection of the trend toward the personalization of technology that continues today."

"Topping my list of favorite consumer tech PR experiences is working on the official introduction and launch of MedioOne Express, TimeWarner Road Runner -- the first high-speed residential Internet service (via broadband) available in the United States.

I developed and directed the launch media strategy which consisted of joint live press conferences via the MediaOne network in Boston (and in Arlington, MA, at the actual home that was the first to be hooked up in the country -- with the family conducting interviews with national media live from their home) and NYC. I also executed a host of other activities to highlight the speed, technology and consumer benefits around always on, high-speed Internet (up until then, the vast majority of consumers had dial-up)."