This book is intended for scholars, researchers, and academic leaders who have a passion to share their knowledge outside their classroom, laboratory, or institution; who want to make a difference; and who believe that the information they possess and ideas they offer are important for a wider public. "Pitch Perfect" is a practical guide to communicating your knowledge and research to broader audiences. How do you get yourself heard amid the volume of news and information in today's 24-hour news cycle, and get your message across in an environment where blogs and Twitters vie with traditional media? To break through, you need to amplify your ideas and make them relevant for a wider public audience. Bill Tyson - who has been successfully advising scholars and academic leaders on media relations for over thirty years - shows you how to undertake early and thoughtful communications planning, understand the needs and workings of the media, both traditional and digital, and tell your story in a way that will capture your audience. Bill Tyson is strategic in his advice, no less so when discussing how to engage with such social media as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, podcasts or wikis.Whether you are working on research or a new initiative that has public implications, or have a story that deserves wide telling; whether you want to address funders' requests for communications plans to promote the programs they are supporting, or whether you want to know how to publicize your new book; this practical guide offers insider advice - complete with case studies - on how to communicate your message. An appendix lists key media in North America, Australia, and the UK.