Lake Placid News Editor Andy Flynn (Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)

SARANAC LAKE — The Lake Placid News will be partnering with its sister newspaper, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, and the Malone Telegram to offer a free workshop to help people learn how to effectively write and distribute press releases.

The workshop, “Press Release Essentials: Best Practices For Your Community Newspaper,” will be presented by LPN Editor Andy Flynn via the Zoom videoconferencing platform from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, March 20. It will be co-hosted by Malone Telegram Editor Rich Rosentreter, who was the editor of the LPN from 2007 to 2013.

“With shrinking budgets, community organizations and small businesses need cost-effective ways to tell the public about their news,” Flynn said. “And newspaper editors are always looking for story ideas and local news to help fill their pages.”

The workshop is open to residents of Essex and Franklin counties. It is a unique partnership among three of northern New York’s small-town newspapers to share resources that benefit the communities they serve.

“The goal is to share an important skill with those throughout the North Country who wish to ensure vital information about their organization, company or club gets published in an area newspaper,” Rosentreter said. “Time is a valuable commodity for editors at newspapers, and receiving press releases that follow the basic guidelines as outlined in this workshop will increase the likelihood the material gets published.”

Participants will learn the basics of writing and distributing press releases and the best practices to get their releases published in community newspapers. They will get valuable tips on working with the media, learn how to set up a press release system and receive a PR Toolkit with press release templates, samples and general submission guidelines.

The workshop is designed for a wide spectrum of the community, including small businesses, sole proprietors, artists, local sports organizations, schools, students, nonprofit groups and clubs.

“Community organizations can reach more people through traditional media with effective press releases,” Flynn said. “Social media should only be one tool in an organization’s public relations toolbox, as it only reaches a small portion of our society.”

Attendees of this workshop in recent years have found the material helpful.

“This workshop gave me the tools to dramatically improve my organization’s press communications,” said Tyler Merriam, former donor outreach associate for the Ausable River Association. “I highly recommend this workshop to anyone who wants practical and effective guidance on improving their company’s communications with the public through press releases and related outreach methods.”

Flynn has more than 30 years of experience on both sides of the press release, as a public relations professional and a print and radio journalist, including more than 15 years as a newspaper editor for weekly and daily publications.

Preregistration for the workshop is required in order to receive an invitation to the Zoom meeting. The workshop is limited to 18 participants. If there is high demand, a second workshop will be scheduled.

To register, email Andy Flynn at news@lakeplacidnews.com.

This workshop is a free service of the Lake Placid News, which covers communities in the towns of Jay, Keene, Wilmington and North Elba, as well as the village of Lake Placid; the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, which covers the Tri-Lakes villages of Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake and surrounding hamlets; and the Malone Telegram, which covers communities in northern Franklin County.