Biographies

It is important for you to have up-to-date biographies of all your top executives. These are particularly critical when you are planning press interviews and press conferences, since reporters will want to know about the person they are interviewing.

Focus a bio on the person's current responsibilities. What does he or she do for your company? That's the most important information you include, and should be at the beginning (i.e. John Smith oversees Anycompany's sales efforts). In other words, write it in reverse chronological order -- with the most recent information first, and the oldest last. You can also be creative -- talk about what sets a person apart from the crowd, what makes him/her different. When you're writing a bio, think in these terms:

• What does this person do for my company?
  
  
• Why does he/she do that job well?
  
  
• What other qualifications does he/she have?
  
  
• What did he/she do before? Is it pertinent to his/her current job?
  
  
• Is there anything else about this person that would make me stop and think "hey, that's really interesting?"

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