Alan Duke Mouths Off At LCO

CNN Entertainment Reporter, Alan Duke, came by to speak to the office today, Friday, August 27. The entire office was so honored to have him here and was completely captivated by what he had to say.

He began by telling us all a little bit about himself. If you were to ask Alan when he was still a student what he wanted to be when he grew up, “journalist” would not have crossed his mind. He actually had planned to go into politics, mostly studying political science in school. Over the years, Alan has developed an infinite amount of skills and worked in several fields in addition to journalism, including publicity.

LCO Founder, Michael Levine asked him to give some insight to the interns present on what he, as a journalist, feels are qualities of a good publicist. Alan tells the interns that if they want to be a successful publicist, they must always call after sending an email rather than bombarding a journalist with tons of emails. A good publicist knows how to treat people right and they always treasure their relationships. Alan also states that it is beneficial for a publicist to know history, whether it be the history of their client or the history of the industry.

As we continued to listen to Alan, we picked up a few other helpful tips:

When you call someone, always ask them if it is a good time to talk.

Don’t expect a journalist or reporter to remember to call you back.

A journalist would rather get a phone call on their cell phone than a bunch of emails.

Always know what you are talking about.

Gain as many skills as you can.

When introducing yourself to someone, talk about something interesting.

Become something.

The most important thing we took away from Alan’s words was to “never just do one thing in your life”. Achieve what you want to achieve and never wait to be hired to do something.

Thank you so much Alan for taking the time to come see us today! We appreciate all that you said and hope to see you again soon.