1996 - European Telework Week

Telework 96
Germany Open Day GDE &
TA
Netherlands Open Day -
Telework &
Satellite Offices
Netherlands Studie-middag
Telewerken
Denmark Distance
arbejde
17-11-95 TA
TeleArbeit
Open Doors -
10
17-11-95 Open Doors -
120
17-11-95 Rijkswatersta
at Noord-NL
28-11-95 TeleDanmark
Consult
Conference - 90
Conference - 90
Gladbeck &
Geilenkir-chen
Throughout
Holland
Golden Tulip
Hotel, Drachten
Radisson SAS
Hotel,
Copenhagen
3.3. Impact
Constructed around three previously planned events in Rome, Vienna and London, the
week was brought together using various methods. A core working group of consultants
and DG XIII officials managed, in a short space of time, to plan and implement a pan-
European media/public relations plan, where more than 1,000 journalists working in all
sectors of the media were contacted on several occasions with news releases and
invitations to attend events.
This three language PR campaign worked well, prompting further enquiries from media
as diverse as EuroNews (the cable and satellite TV news service based in Lyons), to The
European newspaper (circulation now exceeds 300,000 copies a week) to the UK's
Sunday Telegraph newspaper, a one hour programme on Dutch national television and
reams of coverage in national and specialist newspapers and magazines.
ETW also had its own Web home page and a special public messaging and library
section on the Telework Europa Forum of CompuServe.
The first Press Release was issued on 31 July 1995. This contained extracts from Peter
Johnston’s original letter, inviting interested parties to sign the Expression of Interest,
along with the background notes for journalists, giving statistics on the current
deployment of telework in Europe. This was faxed, posted and e-mailed to more than 600
journalists/publications.
The second press release was centred on Martin Bangemann’s decision to become
official “patron” of the week. This press release was issued to almost 1,000
journalists/media on September 10, 1995. Again, distribution was largely by fax, with
some e-mail and a small number by post.
3.3.1. Wider electronic dissemination
While journalists were contacted directly, contact with national organisers, organisations
which had signed the original Expression of Interest, and others had to be maintained.
Electronic files were uploaded to the Telework Europa Forum of CompuServe and to the
MTA Web Server, so that Internet users could “look up” information free of charge. All
issued press releases were also posted to various discussion groups used by journalists,
such as CIX on the Internet.
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