Committee Membership: The Chair is appointed by the President of the Eastern Branch assuming office in 1991, 1994, 1997 ..., and serves for a period of three years. A minimum of four other members are appointed for staggered two-year terms; members can be reappointed to provide continuity from year to year. One committee member should reside or work near the site of the Annual Meeting to develop contact with local media and educational groups.

Committee Meetings: At least one meeting should be held annually to discuss functions of the Committee and to assign responsibilities. This could be done most efficiently at the Annual Branch Meeting.

Interaction with Other Committees: The Chair is responsible for attending planning meetings called by the President. Appropriate information from these sessions should be disseminated to the Committee members. At least one member of the Committee should work closely with the Program Committee to ensure timely development and distribution of news releases and, where possible, appropriate scheduling of topics of general public interest. The Chair should contact the Awards Committee for information about awardees and coordinate information distribution before and after the awards presentation. The Chair should provide the Archivist-Historian with photographs and negatives from the Annual Meeting, including Plenary Session, the Awards and Recognition Dinner and the Business Meeting. Photographs of the old officers and the new officers should be made available for archiving. The photographs provided must be labeled as to (1) significance (date, which meeting, which award, which session, etc.) and (2) the names of the individuals pictured. The Chair must also provide the Archivist-Historian with copies of all significant products from the media, such as newspaper articles. These must be labeled with full source citation (example; Daily Press (Newport News-Hampton, Virginia), February 22, 1993, pages B1-B2).

Public Information Network

ESA Membership: Information about Branch activities, awards, and member achievements should be sent to the ESA Newsletter (9301 Annapolis Road, Lanham, MD 20706-3115). Develop a communication link with the ESA Coordinator of Communications. Requests and announcements related to Committee activities should be in concert with Branch Meeting notices.

Cooperators: A list of trade journals will be maintained and updated annually for distribution of meeting announcements, awards, and appropriate topics of interest. A list of representatives of commercial, industrial and private groups with entomological interests will be maintained; invitations to attend Annual meeting should be sent to Departments of Biology of all universities and agricultural experiment stations in the Eastern Branch area. A special attempt should be made to contact science teachers at small colleges within a 100 mile radius of the meeting site.

General Public Through Media: Working with the Program Committee subject talks of particular public interest will be selected from the program for development and distribution of news releases. The Chamber of Commerce or the Convention Bureau usually have prepared media listings. Also ask them for advice on the timing of the releases. Often they will be willing to distribute the releases; ask them about this service. Where possible arrange for interviews during the meeting. Interviews on TV talk shows are great but must be arranged 1-2 months in advance. Press releases on meetings should be written with appropriate media guidelines (see ESA promotional guide). Well in advance of the Annual Meeting, a professional photographer should be contracted to take pictures of award presentations and other appropriate events such as election and change of Branch officers. Pictures, with appropriate announcements, should be sent to media in the subject's home town.