Media Relations Conference; The Keynotes

I've spent the last three days at the Media Relations Summit that was put on by Bulldog Reporter. There's a lot that has taken place in the last few days so I will be doing multiple posts about my time at the event.
This first post is about the two keynotes for Day 1, Dan Rather, Former anchorman of CBS News, and for Day 2, Dan Abrams, from CNBC. And you couldn't have any more different speeches.

Dan Rather, who I remember seeing as a kid when he was a correspondent from Vietnam, was a perfect speaker. He was beautifully prepared - telling two very funny stories that bookended his talk. His talk focused around Speaking Truth to Power and the need for everyone to support a strong and independent media. The media remains an additional check in the system of checks and balances. He spoke of how he discovered that Richard Nixon's White house attempted to pressure William Paley of CBS to stop the investigation of Watergate by CBS. CBS stood firm. Contrast this with the way today's much weaker media, confronted with a punitive FCC failed to followup on things like why we were going to war in Iraq.

Dan Rather spoke for over an hour, graciously answered our questions in a Q&A session and received an enthusiastic standing ovation.

Today's keynote was quite different. Dan Abrams spoke about his formation of a new firm, Abrams Research which hires freelance journalists to consult with companies on media strategy. It seems that this is an issue fo great controversy and Mr. Abrams seems to think that everyone in the room was strongly disapproving of this action - and that we considered him some sort of axis of evil - a lawyer, a journalist and gasp - perhaps worst of all -a media strategist. His talk, also an hour, was very up and down in tone. I felt like we were getting some very odd kind of sales pitch. That since other journalists (those not laid off that had full time jobs) were somehow disapproving of people hiring their former peers - people who have lost their jobs in media and needing a job - he had to explain why his firm was great. I can't help but feel he was giving some bad information. Few people in the room were aware of his firm, and far fewer seemed to care about the issues he was raising. We gained little insight from his talk and sadly no inspiration.

I will treasure getting to see Dan Rather. As for Abrams, I'll look forward to seeing him in the pages of Us Magazine at the hair dresser when he is shown out and about with Renee Zellewegger. A better talk might have been how it feels to go from being a reporter chasing the news to being a celebrity consort being endlessly chased by the paparazzi.

NonProfit Marketing: Exchanging Cash for Prizes

As every NPR listener knows, several times a year the station runs a fundraiser. Beloved programs are cut short, you miss chunks of the morning news, Terry Gross doesn't get to say Fresh Air as often as you'd like. I actually enjoy the pledge drive. What creative combination of goodies will KQED offer its listening audience to tempt them to pay in their $12 per month to support the station. And in just two days I've heard several winners that truly have tempted me. Before I go any further know that I do support KQED annually and am the proud owner of a DVD on biking around the Bay Area, would be helpful if I owned a bike, a KQED messenger bag (ordered because I was desperate to find something that my overlarge work laptop would fit into comfortably), a crank emergency radio/flashlight - a lifesaver during last year's 12 hour power outage and best of all a complete DVD set which has every issue of the New Yorker from its founding to 2006. So yes, I'm a marketer who loves NPR and wants to do good - for a price.

So what temptations have been offered this week? On the way home today if I donated I would get coupons for two pies from Whole Foods. Now I'm not sure why these pies are so special except them come from Vermont and have sort of blueberry madness going on in one and three kinds of apples in the other. Not a temptation. There is the mind exercise dvds - 40- 1 hour classes to help train my brain. Somewhat tempting but $30 per month is the required fee and I'm not sure the DVDs wouldn't just sit on my desk waiting for a week when I have all that spare time.

Then there is the one that I just loved. It's a combo gift - all you get delivered to your home is a small tote bag that zips up into a wallet sized item you can carry in your purse. And if you get that bag then 100 lbs of food will be donated in Rwanda by Whole Foods. And how cool is that? I can give cash to help one charity and another charity will also benefit. And to top it all off, if I told them I don't need the tote bag - the money that would have been spent sending me the tote bag would go to the San Francisco Food Bank and it would be enough to buy 180 meals. That's just amazing. I can do a trifecta - do one donation and benefit three charities simultaneously.

So did I give? Not yet. I'm still waiting. KQED tends to escalate the prizes as the drive progresses. What may be on offer on Friday or even next Monday? I can tell you I almost always give on the last day. The endless repetition wears me down and I crack just before the final bell rings.

What would be your idea of the perfect gift item? What would get you to donate?