Featured Post from ExpertFile

Showcase Your Experts to Generate Media Attention and Grow Business

Dec 10, 2019

6 min

Peter Evans


This blog was initially posted by our friend David Meerman Scott on his blog, read it here


Some of your most important assets for securing interest in the media as well as educating your buyers are the experts who work at your organization. As a part of a virtual newsroom or other appropriate place on your site and blog, highlighting your employees is a great way to generate attention.


When reporters are looking to quote someone in a story, having a name, photo, bio, and examples of content makes it much more likely they will want to conduct an interview. This is especially true when you are newsjacking.



Similarly, when buyers are exposed to the smart people employed at your company, they will be more likely to trust and want to do business with you. Yet most companies feature only the senior management team on the site, not those with particular and interesting expertise.


University of Ontario Institute of Technology shines spotlight on faculty researchers


For example, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), a public research university located in Oshawa, just outside Toronto, was founded in 2002. That makes it one of Canada’s newest universities. With an enrollment of more than 10,000 students, UOIT offers a range of undergraduate programs, plus graduate programs in science, engineering, health, and information technology.


But because it is such a new institution, the marketers and public affairs people at UOIT have to work extra hard to make sure that potential students, donors, partners, and other constituents know about the school. Unlike other universities, UOIT cannot rely on decades of families that send their children and grandchildren to the institution and support it with financial contributions. So one way the school reaches out to new audiences is by promoting with the media the many faculty experts who teach and do research at UOIT.


“We focus on the experts within the institution,” John MacMillan, director of communications and marketing at UOIT told me. “We have very few resources, but we have a lot of really interesting people who are focused on very exciting things, like using big data and looking at issues of disability and how it relates to the insurance industry, among other things. We are able to reach the media and people who are organizing conferences or booking speaking engagements.”


MacMillan uses the ExpertFile software platform as a way to easily showcase UOIT thought leaders in what they call their Expert Centre. He publishes, promotes, and measures the expert content as a tool to engage business prospects, media, and conference organizers. “We needed to have a way of getting out those important stories that we know are of interest to media, to producers, to editors, but also in many ways to partners, to institutions that might be interested in working with us,” MacMillan says. “And we needed to have a way that did a better job of telling our story to those various groups.”


MacMillan started with 26 profiles for faculty in the Expert Centre, and is steadily expanding to a planned goal of 200 profiles. He says that an ideal expert is one who is already comfortable with digital technology. “We’re amplifying the presence of each of those faculty members—whether they are involved in multimedia, whether they have their own websites, or whether they have their own followings—and presenting them in a way that gets some response. Part of their success as faculty members lies in establishing their bona fides with granting authorities or with the government or with others. The Expert Centre augments their legitimacy.”



Adding credibility to your newsjacking efforts


Having profiles available to the media also helps your newsjacking efforts. When you comment on something that’s newsworthy and a reporter finds it via search, they often want to know biographical information on the person before they quote them. Having a link to the bio of the author of that timely blog post is a great way to add credibility and to increase the liklihood of being quoted.


As an example of the action that can come from an Expert Centre profile, MacMillan cites Dr. Isabel Pedersen, an associate professor at UOIT and Canada research chair in Digital Life, Media, and Culture. “She focuses on a sociological perspective of wearable computing devices,” he says. “Her research looks into questions like: ‘When we wear gadgets on our body, how will that shift the reality for us? How will it change the way we interact with other people? How will it allow us to participate in digital culture?’ She is one of the early profiles that we created because she is one of our Canada Research chairs, a distinguished researcher who is working on an area of particular national and international importance.”


Dr. Pedersen’s Expert Centre profile contains her bio, photo, links to her Twitter and Google Plus feeds, and a list of past speaking engagements, as well as video content, previews of her book Ready to Wear, and articles she has published. The profile attracted the attention of a reporter from IEEE Spectrum magazine, the publication of the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence. “They were working on a story about wearable technology, and they wanted to interview her,” MacMillan says. “That’s a magazine from the U.S. that has a much broader readership than anything we’d be able to position her for, and it came along as a result of somebody seeing her profile and deciding that they wanted to speak with her. That’s an example of where we’ve been able to use our resources in a very efficient way, in a manner that gets a story out well beyond our own physical boundaries and that tells about the uniqueness of the work that’s going on at this university.”


A lesson learned from the early days of the UOIT Expert Centre was the importance of having the profiles appear in a consistent voice. “When we started out, our assumption was that the individual faculty members or individual experts would develop their own profiles,” MacMillan says. “We realized that would result in a lack of consistency, so we hired a writer, and her job was specifically to interview our experts and to create a story for each of those experts so that when someone does look at this, they’re looking at a consistent story, a consistent tone, and a consistent brand for the university. I’ve learned from creating our Expert Centre that I share some one of the same challenges as faculty members: if you don’t manage your digital presence actively, someone will do it for you. I like to think that our Expert Centre has helped our faculty to curate their digital content as much as it’s helped our university to strengthen its brand.”



The ExpertFile platform


Your employees are a great resource for generating interest in the media as well as a way to show potential customers and partners that you are doing interesting work. Showcasing them is easier with the ExpertFile platform, a SaaS application that helps organizations make their experts more visible. In my mind, ExpertFile is to showcasing people what HubSpot is to showcasing content.


What’s traditionally held many organizations back is that until now, there hasn’t been an online platform to simply organize the growing base of expert content that is being produced across organizations every day. Yet this content is what many audiences are looking for. They want to easily reference everything from biographies to speaking engagements, to social feeds and multimedia assets.


“Experts are a great way to humanize an organization and make it more approachable, yet many marketers struggle with how to best showcase these people online,” notes Peter Evans, founder and CEO of ExpertFile. “Adding expert profiles to various sections of your website such as your media room is an ideal way to create more engagement on your site and drive valuable speaking, media and customer inquiries. Experts are quickly becoming the new frontier for content marketing.”


Disclosure: I am on the advisory boards of both HubSpot and ExpertFile. Peter Evans, ExpertFile CEO, is a friend.






Connect with:
Peter Evans

Peter Evans

Co-Founder & CEO

Recognized speaker on expertise marketing, technology and innovation

Media TrendsThought LeadershipMarketingTechnologyInnovation

You might also like...

Check out some other posts from ExpertFile

3 min

From Saint to Superstar: The Remarkable History of Santa — and His Many Global Identities

Santa Claus may look familiar — red suit, white beard, infectious laugh — but behind the modern icon is a centuries-long story shaped by religion, folklore, migration, marketing, and local tradition. Far from being a single character, “Santa” is a global collection of gift-givers, each reflecting the culture that shaped them. The Historical Roots: A Saint Becomes a Symbol The story of Santa Claus begins with St. Nicholas, a 4th-century Greek bishop known for generosity, compassion, and secret gift-giving. Stories of Nicholas helping the poor — often anonymously — spread across Europe, establishing a lasting connection between generosity and winter celebrations. Over time, St. Nicholas evolved from a religious figure into a folkloric one as traditions blended with local customs, seasonal festivals, and storytelling. The idea of a benevolent winter gift-giver became firmly embedded in European culture long before Santa ever boarded a sleigh. Santa in North America: Reinvention and Red Suits In North America, Santa Claus emerged as a cultural hybrid: Dutch settlers brought traditions of Sinterklaas 19th-century poems and illustrations reshaped Santa into a jovial, approachable figure 20th-century popular culture and advertising standardized the modern image: red suit, round belly, flying reindeer, North Pole address What began as a saintly figure became a universal symbol of generosity, childhood wonder, and seasonal joy — largely detached from religious roots but deeply tied to cultural celebration. Santa Around the World: Same Spirit, Different Stories Santa’s core traits — kindness, generosity, winter magic — remain consistent, but his appearance and habits vary widely: Europe Sinterklaas (Netherlands & Belgium): Arrives by boat, wears bishop’s robes, celebrated earlier in December Father Christmas (UK): Rooted in feasting and goodwill, later merged with Santa traditions Père Noël (France): Delivers gifts with a quiet, gentle presence La Befana (Italy): A broom-riding grandmother figure tied to Epiphany traditions Nordic Countries Joulupukki (Finland): Lives in Lapland, wears practical winter clothing, and feels distinctly grounded in nature Julenisse (Norway & Denmark): A blend of Santa and household folklore spirits Asia Hoteiosho (Japan): A cheerful monk associated with happiness and abundance Christmas gift-givers in many Asian countries are largely secular, tied to pop culture rather than religion Latin America Papá Noel: Often coexists with religious gift-bringers tied to Epiphany Emphasis may be placed more on community and family than individual gift-giving Why Santa Still Matters Santa’s endurance lies in his adaptability. He absorbs cultural values — generosity, kindness, joy — and reflects them back in familiar, comforting ways. Whether religious, secular, or purely symbolic, Santa represents shared traditions that bring people together during the darkest days of the year. Story Angles for Journalists How St. Nicholas became a global icon The commercialization of Santa — myth vs. modern marketing Cultural identity through holiday folklore Why children worldwide believe in gift-givers How immigrant communities blend Santa traditions Santa as a mirror of societal values across cultures Why This Matters Today In an increasingly globalized world, Santa Claus is a rare figure who crosses borders with ease — adapting, evolving, and uniting cultures through shared storytelling. His many forms remind us that traditions aren’t static; they grow with the people who keep them alive. Journalists covering culture, history, religion, folklore, or holiday traditions can connect with historians, anthropologists, religious scholars, and cultural experts through ExpertFile to explore how Santa continues to shape — and reflect — societies around the world. Find your expert here: www.expertfile.com

9 min

ChatGPT-5.2 Now Achieves “Expert-Level” Performance — Is this the Holiday Gift Research Communications Professionals Needed?

With OpenAI’s latest release, GPT-5.2, AI has crossed an important threshold in performance on professional knowledge-work benchmarks. Peter Evans, Co-Founder & CEO of ExpertFile, outlines how these technologies will fundamentally improve research communications and shares tips and prompts for PR pros. OpenAI has just launched GPT-5.2, describing it as its most capable AI model yet for professional knowledge work — with significantly improved accuracy on tasks like creating spreadsheets, building presentations, interpreting images, and handling complex multistep workflows. And based on our internal testing, we're really impressed. For communications professionals in higher education, non-profits, and R&D-focused industries, this isn’t just another tech upgrade — it’s a meaningful step forward in addressing the “research translation gap” that can slow storytelling and media outreach. According to OpenAI, GPT-5.2 represents measurable gains on benchmarks designed to mirror real work tasks.  In many evaluations, it matches or exceeds the performance of human professionals. Also, before you hit reply with “Actually, the best model is…” — yes, we know. ChatGPT-5.2 isn’t the only game in town, and it’s definitely not the only tool we use. Our ExpertFile platform uses AI throughout, and I personally bounce between Claude 4.5, Gemini, Perplexity, NotebookLM, and more specialized models depending on the job to be done. LLM performance right now is a full-contact horserace — today’s winner can be tomorrow’s “remember when,” so we’re not trying to boil the ocean with endless comparisons. We’re spotlighting GPT-5.2 because it marks a meaningful step forward in the exact areas research comms teams care about: reliability, long-document work, multi-step tasks, and interpreting visuals and data. Most importantly, we want this info in your hands because a surprising number of comms pros we meet still carry real fear about AI — and long term, that’s not a good thing. Used responsibly, these tools can help you translate research faster, find stronger story angles, and ship more high-quality work without burning out. When "Too Much" AI Power Might Be Exactly What You Need AI expert Allie K. Miller's candid but positive review of an early testing version of ChatGPT 5.2 highlights what she sees as drawbacks for casual users: "outputs that are too long, too structured, and too exhaustive."  She goes on to say that in her tests, she observed that ChatGPT-5,2 "stays with a line of thought longer and pushes into edge cases instead of skating on the surface." Fair enough. All good points that Allie Miller makes (see above).  However, for communications professionals, these so-called "downsides" for casual users are precisely the capabilities we need. When you're assessing complex research and developing strategic messaging for a variety of important audiences, you want an AI that fits Miller's observation that GPT-5.2 feels like "AI as a serious analyst" rather than "a friendly companion." That's not a critique of our world—it's a job description for comms pros working in sectors like higher education and healthcare. Deep research tools that refuse to take shortcuts are exactly what research communicators need.  So let's talk more specifically about how comms pros can think about these new capabilities: 1. AI is Your New Speed-Reading Superpower for Research That means you can upload an entire NIH grant, a full clinical trial protocol, or a complex environmental impact study and ask the model to highlight where key insights — like an unexpected finding — are discussed. It can do this in a fraction of the time it would take a human reader. This isn’t about being lazy. It’s about using AI to assemble a lot of tedious information you need to craft compelling stories while teams still parse dense text manually. 2. The Chart Whisperer You’ve Been Waiting For We’ve all been there — squinting at a graph of scientific data that looks like abstract art, waiting for the lead researcher to clarify what those error bars actually mean. Recent improvements in how GPT-5.2 handles scientific figures and charts show stronger performance on multimodal reasoning tasks, indicating better ability to interpret and describe visual information like graphs and diagrams.  With these capabilities, you can unlock the data behind visuals and turn them into narrative elements that resonate with audiences. 3. A Connection Machine That Finds Stories Where Others See Statistics Great science communication isn’t about dumbing things down — it’s about building bridges between technical ideas and the broader public. GPT-5.2 shows notable improvements in abstract reasoning compared with earlier versions, based on internal evaluations on academic reasoning benchmarks.  For example, teams working on novel materials science or emerging health technologies can use this reasoning capability to highlight connections between technical results and real-world impact — something that previously required hours of interpretive work. These gains help the AI spot patterns and relationships that can form the basis of compelling storytelling. 4. Accuracy That Gives You More Peace of Mind...When Coupled With Human Oversight Let’s address the elephant in the room: AI hallucinations. You’ve probably heard the horror stories — press releases that cited a study that didn’t exist, or a “quote” that was never said by an expert. GPT-5.2 has meaningfully reduced error rates compared with its predecessor, by a substantial margin, according to OpenAI  Even with all these improvements, human review with your experts and careful editing remain essential, especially for anything that will be published or shared externally. 5. The Speed Factor: When “Urgent” Actually Means Urgent With the speed of media today, being second often means being irrelevant.  GPT-5.2’s performance on workflow-oriented evaluations suggests it can synthesize information far more quickly than manual review, freeing up a lot more time for strategic work.  While deeper reasoning and longer contexts — the kinds of tasks that matter most in research translation — require more processing time and costs continue to improve. Savvy communications teams will adopt a tiered approach: using faster models of AI for simple tasks such as social posts and routine responses, and using reasoning-optimized settings for deep research. Your Action Plan: The GPT-5.2 Playbook for Comms Pros Here’s a tactical checklist to help your team capitalize on these advances. #1 Select the Right AI Model for the Job: Lowers time and costs • Use fast, general configurations for routine content • Use reasoning-optimized configurations for complex synthesis and deep document understanding • Use higher-accuracy configurations for high-stakes projects #2 Find Hidden Ideas Beyond the Abstract: Deeper Reasoning Models do the Heavy Work • Upload complete PDFs — not just the 2-page summary you were given • Use deeper reasoning configurations to let the model work through the material Try these prompts in ChatGPT5.2 “What exactly did the researchers say about this unexpected discovery that would be of interest to my <target audience>? Provide quotes and page references where possible.” “Identify and explain the research methodology used in this study, with references to specific sections.” “Identify where the authors discuss limitations of the study.” “Explain how this research may lead to further studies or real-world benefits, in terms relatable to a general audience.” #3 Unlock Your Story Leverage improvements in pattern recognition and reasoning. Try these prompts: “Using abstract reasoning, find three unexpected analogies that explain this complex concept to a general audience.” “What questions could the researchers answer in an interview that would help us develop richer story angles?” #4 Change the Way You Write Captions Take advantage of the way ChatGPT-5.2 translates processes and reasons about images, charts, diagrams, and other visuals far more effectively. Try these prompts: Clinical Trial Graphs: “Analyze this uploaded trial results graph upload image. Identify key trends, and comparisons to controls, then draft a 150-word donor summary with plain-language explanations and suggested captions suitable for donor communications.” Medical Diagrams: “Interpret these uploaded images. Extract diagnostic insights, highlight innovations, and generate a patient-friendly explainer: bullet points plus one visual caption.” A Word of Caution: Keep Experts in the Loop to Verify Information Even with improved reliability, outputs should be treated as drafts.  If your team does not yet have formal AI use policies, it's time to get started, because governance will be critical as AI use scales in 2026 and beyond.  A trust-but-verify policy with experts treats AI as a co-pilot — helpful for heavy lifting — while humans remain accountable for approval and publication.  The Importance of Humans (aka The Good News) Remember: the future of research communication isn’t about AI taking over — it’s about AI empowering us to do the strategic, human work that machines cannot. That includes: • Building relationships across your institution • Engaging researchers in storytelling • Discovering narrative opportunities • Turning discoveries into compelling narratives that influence audiences With improvements in speed, reasoning, and reliability, the question isn’t whether AI can help — it’s what research stories you’ll uncover next to shape public understanding and impact. FAQ How is AI changing expectations for accuracy in research and institutional communications? AI is shifting expectations from “fast output” to defensible accuracy. Better reasoning means fewer errors in research summaries, policy briefs, and expert content—especially when you’re working from long PDFs, complex methods, or dense results. The new baseline is: clear claims, traceable sources, and human review before publishing. ⸻ Why does deeper AI reasoning matter for communications teams working with experts and research content? Comms teams translate multi-disciplinary research into messaging that must withstand scrutiny. Deeper reasoning helps AI connect findings to real-world relevance, flag uncertainty, and maintain nuance instead of flattening meaning. The result is work that’s easier to defend with media, leadership, donors, and the public—when paired with expert verification. ⸻ When should communications professionals use advanced AI instead of lightweight AI tools? Use lightweight tools for brainstorming, social drafts, headlines, and quick rewrites. Use advanced, reasoning-optimized AI for high-stakes deliverables: executive briefings, research positioning, policy-sensitive messaging, media statements, and anything where a mistake could create reputational, compliance, or scientific credibility risk. Treat advanced AI as your “analyst,” not your autopilot. ⸻ How can media relations teams use AI to find stronger story angles beyond the abstract? AI can scan full papers, grants, protocols, and appendices to surface where the real story lives: unexpected findings, practical implications, limitations, and unanswered questions that prompt great interviews. Ask it to map angles by audience (public, policy, donors, clinicians) and to point to the exact sections that support each angle. ⸻ How should higher-ed comms teams use AI without breaking embargoes or media timing? AI can speed prep work—backgrounders, Q&A, lay summaries, caption drafts—before embargo lifts. The rule is simple: treat embargoed material like any sensitive document. Use approved tools, restrict sharing, and avoid pasting embargoed text into unapproved systems. Use AI to build assets early, then finalize post-approval at release time. ⸻ What’s the best way to keep faculty “in the loop” while still moving fast with AI? Use AI to produce review-friendly drafts that reduce load on researchers: short summaries, suggested quotes clearly marked as drafts, and a checklist of claims needing verification (numbers, methods, limitations). Then route to the expert with specific questions, not a wall of text. This keeps approvals faster while protecting scientific accuracy and trust. ⸻ How should teams handle charts, figures, and visual data in research communications? AI can turn “chart confusion” into narrative—if you prompt for precision. Ask it to identify trends, group comparisons, and what the figure does not show (limitations, missing context). Then verify with the researcher, especially anything involving significance, controls, effect size, or causality. Use the output to write captions that are accurate and accessible. ⸻ Do we need an AI Use policy in comms and media relations—and what should it include? Yes—because adoption scales faster than risk awareness. A practical policy should define: approved tools, what data is restricted, required human review steps, standards for citing sources/page references, rules for drafting quotes, and escalation paths for sensitive topics (health, legal, crisis). Clear guardrails reduce fear and prevent preventable reputational mistakes. If you’re using AI to move faster on research translation, the next bottleneck is usually the same one for many PR and Comm Pros: making your experts more discoverable in Generative Search, your website, and other media. ExpertFile helps media relations and digital teams organize their expert content by topics, keep detailed profiles current, and respond faster to source requests—so you can boost your AI citations and land more coverage with less work.                                            For more information visit us at www.expertfile.com

3 min

The Light That Lasts: Exploring the Meaning and Magic of Hanukkah

Hanukkah may not be the biggest holiday in Judaism, but culturally it’s one of the most recognizable — a celebration of resilience, identity, family, and (let’s be honest) some of the world’s finest fried foods. Behind the candles and the dreidels is a deeper story that continues to resonate across generations, especially in a time when conversations about cultural identity, belonging, and freedom are front and centre. Where It All Begins: A Miracle of Light in a Time of Darkness Historically, Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem around 164 BCE after the Jewish people, led by the Maccabees, revolted against oppressive rule. When they reclaimed the Temple, tradition says only one day’s worth of purified oil remained — yet it burned for eight days. This “miracle of the oil” inspired the festival: eight nights of light triumphing over darkness, both literally and symbolically. Cultural Significance: A Celebration of Identity and Resilience Hanukkah stands as a powerful reminder of: Religious freedom — the right to practice one’s traditions openly Perseverance in the face of adversity The strength of cultural identity and community While it is not one of Judaism’s major holy days, its timing in the winter — often alongside Christmas — has made it a cornerstone of Jewish visibility in North America and worldwide. For many families, the holiday carries a warm mix of pride, heritage, and continuity: a chance to tell stories, honour ancestors, and reinforce cultural roots in a rapidly changing world. The Festive Side: Food, Family, Flame… and Spinning Tops Hanukkah traditions vary around the globe, but common themes include: Lighting the Menorah Each night, families add one more candle, filling homes with increasing brightness — a powerful metaphor for hope and persistence. Fried Foods Potato latkes, sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts), fritters — all fried to commemorate the oil of the miracle. Dieticians everywhere look the other way. Dreidel Games The spinning top (nun, gimel, hey, shin) is tied to historical stories of Jewish children studying Torah in secret. Today it’s mostly about bragging rights and chocolate coins. Gifts and Gatherings Gift-giving is a more modern tradition in some regions, influenced by cultural exchange with North American holiday norms. Looking for an angle or Story? Hanukkah in a multicultural society — how Jewish visibility shapes community identity The Maccabees and modern conversations about resistance and resilience Evolving Hanukkah traditions across the global Jewish diaspora Food as cultural storytelling — the symbolism of oil in holiday cuisine The rise of public menorah lightings and interfaith holiday events How Hanukkah has been portrayed in pop culture — and why representation matters Why Hanukkah Still Resonates Today Hanukkah is more than a ritual of candles — it’s a celebration of survival, spirit, and cultural pride. In a world where communities continue to navigate questions of identity, inclusion, and tradition, the Festival of Lights offers a meaningful lens on perseverance and the enduring human drive toward hope. Connect with an expert today! Journalists exploring religion, culture, family traditions, or seasonal celebrations can connect with Hanukkah scholars, Jewish studies experts, cultural historians, and community leaders on ExpertFile for interviews and deeper insights. Find your expert here: www.expertfile.com

View all posts
Powered by