As founders and communications professionals, how can we translate complex ideas and theories into powerful stories in our engagement with stakeholders like the media, potential customers, and investors? We brought together a founder, a communications practitioner, a regional journalist, and a foreign correspondent to discuss ways to turn jargon into impactful stories.

Held on 3 October 2024, the panel organised by the PRCA APAC Technology Group and supported by SGInnovate reunited on stage a startup founder Dr Joe Fitzsimons, CEO of Horizon Quantum, a PR professional Christopher Sim, Assistant Director, Communications & Content at SGInnovate, and journalists Alvin Chong, Senior Editor, CNA and Meghan Morris, Deputy Bureau Chief, Singapore, at Business Insider.

They walked us through the process of communicating about an emerging technology, from lab to market, and shared different objectives pursued and constraints faced through this process.

Balancing Accuracy And Accessibility

What are a domain expert’s preoccupations and agenda? The core of any technology is often highly technical. “We are building things that haven’t been built before, so there is no playbook,” said Joe, about quantum computing. Another important aspect he discussed is that a technology like quantum computing suffers from many misconceptions. An expert in the domain feels it’s their duty to rectify false information and bring accurate explanations. Finally, a wave of interest in an emerging technology often comes with a lot of noise. An expert’s role is to help journalists pay attention to important breakthroughs and avoid overhyping unsubstantiated claims.

Coming from a research background with a strong culture of scientific integrity, Joe considers that there’s a limit to simplifying explanations. “If you ask me what quantum computers are, it’s pretty simple: they are essentially better computers,” explained Dr Joe Fitzsimons. However, the answer to the question of how they work is way more complicated, and because there are very complex devices, Joe wouldn’t compromise accuracy for accessibility.

The Tough Role of the Middleman

As a PR professional, you find yourself in the role of a middleman who has to deal with all the stakeholders. In supporting a domain expert, especially from research, you prepare them to understand that a journalist doesn’t know or comprehend a technical topic they’re talking about, and the audience doesn’t either. A PR specialist’s role is to distil messages, make them more accessible and adapt them to a journalist’s needs. Chris opines that if you want people to get their foot through the door of a newspaper, sometimes you’ll need to work on a sound bite. It often isn’t a straightforward exercise.

To Talk About Tech, Know Your Reader

Communicating about an emerging technology to the general public represents a challenge that different media addresses in various ways.

For CNA, there’s a demand for visual and easily readable stories. Their audience has an appetite for short, snackable content, particularly adapted for social media. Alvin shared that a CNA journalist today has to balance the demand for bite-size content, and the need for expert journalism with long-form content.

For Business Insider, an article about new technology will likely be presented as a story about an entrepreneur. BI’s readers are captivated by a hero’s journey from a first-person standpoint. Meghan emphasised that this transformation plot only works when it includes setbacks and challenges, instead of a story of a protagonist who went to a great school, launched a startup and met success.

The era of AI adds up to the complexity of a journalist’s work, especially with Google AI search summary, shared Meghan. Business Insider adapts by ensuring stories are easily digestible but have value added that Google AI can’t summarise.

PR Fundamentals Stays the Same, Tech or Not

“Spray and pray does not work,” reminded Meghan. In the context where a journalist receives 200 pitches per day, the key is to tailor a pitch that speaks directly to the journalist and the editorial style of their media: the email subject that reads as a headline of the target media is the first step to catching attention. From there, a pitch needs to be straightforward, clear and actionable, with spokespersons’ contacts and information on their availability. Assets such as high-quality horizontal photos must be ready, but attaching an image to a pitch decreases the chances of success. The attachments tend to land in spam automatically.

Off the Record

Just as in an interview with a journalist, the most interesting stories are always off the record. This is why a mixer is always an important part of the PRCA APAC Technology Group’s in-person events—it is where the most authentic anecdotes are usually told.

Thank you to all our attendees for coming in person, joining online or sharing their impressions on social media.

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 The event Tech Reset is over but the conversation continues on LinkedIn. Join PRCA APAC Technology Group to discuss latest developments in PR on new technologies, share best practices and connect with peers.