Ohh La La- My Mind's Eye by Loretta Cooper

I hope you've been logging on regularly this week to see all the amazing designs posted this week by the design team.

One of the things I like best about this kit is the versatility. The Ohh La La kit is great for fall photos, but it could be used for virtually any project you've been planning.

I especially like the more muted tones for photos with bright colors. The monochromatic layout makes the pictures pop. I also love the way the title turned out. This is one of the new Quickutz fonts (teriyaki) cut from the same cardstock as the "base". I used pop up dots to give the title a little...pop!

Ooh La La by My Mind's Eye

Loretta Cooper

If you've been reading the blog this month then you've seen some amazing work by the Design Team...

Lisa has picked out some terrific papers for us to work with this month. I chose the Ooh La La kit. I love the fall colors, but the prints and combinations are so versatile you can use them for just about any page.

I had this silly picture of my youngest son and my (oldest) husband. The colors just seemed to work and the design came together almost effortlessly.

Media Coaching- Why and How

The role of a media coach is part marketing guru, part acting coach and part therapist. There is no single approach that fits every individual. Each ‘performer’ has distinctive skills and talents, and faces a unique set of facts, circumstances and challenges. Effective media coaching steps back from all these variables and helps the client assess these competing factors, creates an effective strategy, and then assists in the implementation of that plan.

The goal of media training is not to turn the client into a replica of the guy who reads the teleprompter on the evening news, but rather to help the individual maximize those strengths and assets that are unique to him; to bring a highly concentrated mix of skills and talents to a media that otherwise diminishes and distorts.

Stellar on-camera performances begin with comfort and confidence. My approach to one-on-one coaching is to get to know my clients, identify their unique strengths and help them learn to create the environment for powerful presentations.

Is It Too Late for Michael Steele?

The very public clash of personalities between Rush Limbaugh and Michael Steele elevated the talk show host to the role of party leader, and diminished the party chairman to the butt of late night one-liners. Has Michael Steele become the Howard Dean of the Republican Party?

The answer to the question depends entirely on Chairman Steele and his willingness to position himself as a serious and thoughtful leader going forward.

In the meantime, the Chairman could benefit from some close examination of his previous television appearances. His strengths include a comfort and confidence on camera that often makes him likable and fun to watch. He is attractive, charismatic and at times has the ability to come through the lens and capture the viewer.

The flip side of this is that he gives the appearance of not recognizing the importance of every nationally televised appearance. He appears to “wing it”, “shoot from the hip”, and recycle talking points from last week’s RNC bulletin.

One example of this is his most recent appearance with Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today Show. Given the tempest the Chairman found himself in at air time, he could not have had any doubt about the line of questioning he would face. Still, he seemed unprepared to answer the basic question: “Do you/Republicans want to see President Obama fail?”

Steele was non-responsive, dancing around the questioning. He came off as evasive and slick. (Side note on wardrobe: A ‘slick’ politician should never wear pinstripes, it’s a dangerous combination.) Lauer continued on this single line of attack. Steele failed to answer or successfully refocus and redirect. The longer the interview went on, the faster he talked. You see the Chairman’s anxiety rise and his body language reflected his mounting frustration. Lauer set a sprinter’s pace. Steele struggled to keep up.

Chairman Steele would benefit greatly from support staff to assist him in more carefully choosing his venues and preparing for television appearances. This should include extensive consideration of larger goals and outcomes he would like to achieve on behalf of the RNC. In short, he should be more strategic in his choices.

From time to time in his role as Chairman, Mr. Steele will no doubt be required to work with a teleprompter. Given his experiences with Fox News, it’s not surprising that once again, Steele appears quite confident and comfortable with the equipment. Still, a review of his Lincoln Day address, in which he relied on a prompter, raises a few concerns that are common to the venue.

First, this very charismatic and energetic personality gets “flattened” in this setting. His sparkle and animation are diminished, the resonance and timber of his voice seem flat (although that could be a function of the microphone) and he seems to be channeling the nightly news anchor, rather than playing to his own strengths. He seems unnecessarily restrained in this setting. Media training might appropriately focus on dialing up the personality in this venue.

Bobby Jindal - Still the GOP's Best Bet

Much ink has already been spilled regarding Governor Jindal’s performance following the President’s address to Congress earlier this month. Let’s begin with what has not been as widely discussed; the Governor’s strength of intellect, his mastery of public policy and his obvious passion for the people of Louisiana.

A review of Governor Jindal’s management of evacuations and preparations for Hurricane Gustav last summer demonstrates his strengths: his ability to assimilate vast quantities of conflicting and shifting information, his willingness to act decisively and his ability to communicate these complexities under pressure.

In television interviews during this emergency, the Governor exudes a sense of command and urgency, but also inspires confidence. He is comfortable and in command of the facts, deftly managing events that have intimidated and diminished other leaders.

On the flip side, this event also demonstrates what we might call the “vices of his virtues”.

Television is rarely the appropriate venue to download all of the factors and variables of the decision making processes. Governor Jindal’s ability to communicate more effectively with his audience would have been enhanced by determining in advance precisely what the citizens of Louisiana needed to know, and communicating those few things, simply and succinctly, over and over again. This requires a bit of intellectual discipline, and sometimes, good staff support.



Governor Jindal is at his best talking specifics. This is a man who clearly knows and understands the details of policy and administration. He is smart, articulate and appropriately animated. His February 22nd appearance of on NBC’s Meet the Press once again demonstrates these strengths. Governor Jindal is in command of not just the “executive summary” of the proposed stimulus package. He understands the details and their consequences, perhaps better than many of those who voted on the bill. Jindal also managed the moderator effectively, refusing to allow David Gregory to set the agenda and define his choices.

The Governor anticipates objections to his positions and defends thoroughly and amiably. He is responsive to the moderator’s questions, without surrendering direction of the interview and speaks to the interests of his constituents. Here again, we see the qualities that make Bobby Jindal one of the most promising young leaders of the Republican Party nationally. This is the Bobby Jindal that excites conservatives, and that most of America has not yet had the opportunity to meet.

What the Governor fails to do in the midst of all of this is reach through the camera and grab the viewer in a personal way. The viewer is left appreciating the man’s intellect but without any sense of his likability. The Governor fails to build a relationship with the viewer. Part of this is attributable to Jindal’s tendency to focus almost exclusively on details and complexities of the issues. Here again, his performance could be improved by considering larger goals and specific objectives, and determining how the facts can serve and support those goals. Again this requires the ability to step back from the issue, assess the audience, and exploit the appearance for its larger opportunity.

Given all these strengths and abilities, the Governor’s performance following the President’s address is all the more frustrating.

There are philosophical issues related to this, which reflect the current internal debate within the Republican Party. Clearly, the message and the content fell flat. I will leave further discussion of that to others, and focus my remarks on a few more technical observations.

The practice of allowing the loyal opposition an opportunity to respond to a Presidential event is an art form in search of an application. I don’t think anyone has really mastered it yet. One of the primary factors that has not yet been fully exploited (and therefore presents a pregnant opportunity) is one of physical venue.

Consider the contrast that strikes the viewer at home: First, a wildly popular President who is a practiced and articulate communicator in his own right; a (mostly) adoring crowd cheering and seeking autographs, and all the color and pageantry of a national event broadcast live from the Capitol. Then the venue changes abruptly. The viewer is in a silent, marble hallway, watching a lone and little known figure reading off a teleprompter to an empty room. I know of no one on the American political scene who could have made this stark contrast compelling.

Two other points to consider; I suspect the Governor was not intimately involved in writing the script. He didn’t seem to relate to the material in a personal way. Either the Governor needs to find a speechwriter who has a deeper sense of who he is personally, or the Governor needs to take a greater hand in drafting the material. Perhaps both.

Secondly, the teleprompter. Most of the people who criticize a politician’s ineffective use of a prompter, have never had to use one themselves. Allow me to interject a personal observation. It is harder than it looks. It is a skill, not a talent. Like all skills, it requires practice. Lots of it, and not just 24 hours before a major address.

Scott-Free; Another Absurd Political Scandal

Remember the line from that old song, "...freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."
That was what came to mind when I heard about Scott McClellan's new book What Happened.

Free of the prestige and paychecks of his job as chief White House flack, Scott apparently felt he had nothing left to lose in this embarrassing act of self promotion and greed.

For those of you who have slept through the latest Beltway soap opera, the former White House press secretary has written a new memoir about his years in the West Wing. One of the chief claims being that "the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" and "downplaying the major reason for going to war." (Washington Post, Wednesday)

For the journalists who were forced to sit at Scott's feet, daily begging for news morsels, this book is beyond insulting. It's not that he was all that compelling in his role of White House Press Secretary. He wasn't. It was clear he was simply reading talking points provided to him by someone higher on the adminstration's food chain. It's that he condemned others (Richard Clarke for example) for doing precisely what he is doing today. It's a marvelous example of the absurdity of this city.

Interpreting the new book and psycho-analyzing Scott's state of mind was the single most popular activity in your nation's capital over the weekend. Ultimately, it's a Rorschach test; what you think of Scott's book has a lot more to do with you, than it does with Scott.

Newsweek's Elanor Clift for example found it "refreshing", while Bob Dole, well... let's just say Scott is off the Dole's Christmas Card List.

Everywhere you looked today the former Bush loyalist was on television, flacking his book and explaining his new found insights. He says it wasn't until after he left the White House that he realized he had become a pawn in the war propaganda game. Does anybody out there believe that?

As for the people who covered the White House in those days; the general concensus at the time seemed to be that Scott was in over his head. You didn't have to be in the West Wing every day (I certainly was not) in order to conclude that this guy got the job for some reason other than his smarts.

Of course it's not as if Scott is the first former Bush White House official to commit this kind of political and professional suicide. The list, in fact is growing quite long.

The book is only now shipping to bookstores. I have only read excerpts, and as far as I can tell the Washington Post is one of the few news organizations to get their hands on a copy mid week.
That fact in itself is perfectly illustrative of Washington.

... but just like Scott, not knowing what we're talking about doesn't keep us from talking about it. Welcome to Washington. Now, like Scott, we should all go home.

The Church in (Media) Crisis

This is a piece I wrote following Ted Haggard's humilating scandal in November 2006. While there have been some positive comments about how New Life Church in Colorado Springs handled the removal of 'Pastor Ted' there were also some glaring mistakes made that served only to further damage the church and its reputation in community.

It's easy to criticize after the fact, but it's also a good way to plan for the future.

I am posting it now, because every church needs a crisis communications plan that includes dealing with local, and potentially national news media. Thanks for reading on.

Controlling the Media Onslaught
(The Church in Crisis)
by Loretta Cooper

“It’s not the deed… it’s the cover up!” This simple mantra is part of Washington’s political cannon. In many respects it applies to the church in crisis as well.

As a Washington-based television news correspondent I have covered more scandals than I care to recall. As a believer who loves the church, I cringe when my own community finds itself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

No one in ministry likes to think about managing a very public scandal, let alone preparing for one. It’s a bit like advanced funeral planning; it’s a difficult subject to broach, but it can preserve your ministry and your reputation in the community if done effectively.

Of course every situation is different, but there are a few key variables that should be defined well in advance of a crisis.

First, who will be the church’s spokesperson? Generally speaking it should not be a member of the pastoral staff or family member. Media representatives will have more confidence in a spokesperson with access to the principal, but also some distance from the crisis. Wisdom and practicality dictate that your representative be an elder or church leader with maturity, objectivity and credibility; a person who will already be part of the crisis ‘recovery team’. The spokesperson should be an effective communicator who will be comfortable speaking to reporters, and possibly even before cameras.

What should the spokesperson say? This should be obvious, speak only the truth. We all know that honesty is always the best policy, but time and experience have taught us that it not always the first human impulse. (Remember Adam in the garden?) It is foolish to lie to a reporter, and insane to do it in front of rolling cameras. It will always come back to bite you. Always.

When should the spokesperson speak? Only after the facts have been assembled. Dribbling out new bits of information day after day only ‘keeps the story alive’ in newsrooms and drags out the ordeal for everyone involved. Get your information assembled. Draft a statement and deliver it as quickly as justice and mercy will allow. In the meantime, craft a simple statement you can give reporters anxious about their next deadline. “Our goal is to give you the best answer we possibly can, and right now we just don’t have enough information. As soon as we do, I will be back to you.” It doesn’t have to be substantive; it just has to assure them of your good faith. Never let the words “no comment” pass your lips.

Be aware that releasing information on a weekend will also drag out the story another day, as it will be revived for all those Monday morning news shows. Your goal in media management should be to get the facts out quickly, and assign this event to the ‘old news’ pile as soon as possible.

Finally, the individuals directly involved in the crises should be secluded, never speaking to reporters. These individuals need to be surrounding by caring and compassionate friends, not making television appearances.