Archive for July 2007

Pages of Possibilities

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

I’m thrilled to once again emcee the Barbara Schneider Foundation annual gala.  The organization advocates in the area of mental health crisis awareness…training police officers, corrections officials, 911 operators, emergency responders, and social workers about how to identify whether someone in a possible criminal altercation is truly suspect or actually off-balance due to mental illness.
The mission is to make people suffering with mental illness safer to themselves and others and to make a stronger community.  So what more fitting of a place to hold tonight’s gala than at the Downtown Minneapolis Public Library.  Along with supporters and officers from all over the state you can meet authors sharing stories of humor, mystery, and triumph.  BSF will premiere Getting it Right”, a short behind-the-scenes documentary of a first-responder call to someone in mental health crisis. 

Join us…for fun, food, and to share your story for continued ”Pages of Possibilities”.

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All that Talk

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

Six weeks into my new radio gig, the verdict’s in:  I love it!  I fell in love with talk radio when I was in TV news.  But when I first started with WCCO Radio last month, I wasn’t exactly sure what the blend of News and Talk radio would feel like.  The news part of it actually made me a little nervous.  Not because I’ve forgotten how to be a journalist, but because now as a performer, I’d turned my brain away from news and remaining so neutral (like a journalist should).  I’ve actually enjoyed this past year of performance as a commercial actor and talk show host…offering me the ability to share opinion and personality.

Even though I do not need to nor want to share opinions while I’m delivering the news on radio, I’ve found ample opportunities to share personality within my newscasts.  Plus, I can share opinions during some of the talk shows.  This Saturday for example, I reported David Beckham’s entrée to the Los Angeles Galaxy looked like it might get put on hold due to an ankle injury (the superstar eventually played for 12 minutes…to thunderous applause).  But my personality came into the after-chat because Hammer on studio control and sports host Eric Nelson know I’ve got a “slight” fascination with the Beckster.  My personality had to surface in order to both defend myself and admire the soccer star…no real neutrality on my part.

Doing birthday chat with Dave Lee on the morning show a couple weeks ago, we shared a few minutes of pop culture and opinions about older men dating younger women, about MN’s former governor…you just never know what will come up.  That’s probably why I love radio so much.  You’ve got an open microphone, a couple different people with the ability to share information and perspective.  Throw in some interesting listener comments, and you just don’t know what will transpire.  And the best part?  Once it hits the airwaves, you move on to something else.  It ends…for better or worse.
Be talkin’ to you.

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Voice Mail Tones

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

Timely timing from this East Coast reader’s e-mail message: 
“Just wanted to let you know that I shared your June voice mail blogs w/my co-workers today.  Listening to some folks leave messages and hearing the greetings to their own voice mails, I thought it might be useful.  VERY useful.”

We’ll leave this writer’s name out, so her co-workers don’t know at whom she’s pointing fingers.  But let me thank her for opening the door to allow me to revisit the topic of voice mail (Smile, June 18, Voice Mail Speaking, June 4).

I read her e-mail following a meeting with a financial advisor who’s considering my consulting services.  We spent part of our meeting talking about how he could make his voice mails more effective and why every business person should focus on outgoing messages as a form of business communication.  He thanked me for my suggestions, and I was glad he took this newfound insight so seriously.  He promised he would get back to the office, immediately listen to his voice mail, and re-record his message.

Some quick tips if you decide to follow his lead and analyze your business voice mail:
 1.   Ask yourself:  Is this someone with whom I’d do business?
 2.   Identify the tone of voice you hear in your outgoing message.
 3.   Decide if that tone will help you gain a client, maintain a client, lose a client, or insult a prospect.
 4.   Does the sound of your voice convey the “real” you?

Feel free to send me questions and comments as you go through your own personal Voice Mail overhaul.

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Happy Birthday

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007

This is an exciting 4th of July for me.  Not only am I excited to celebrate the holiday for obvious reasons, I also get to experience the celebration through the eyes of a foreigner.  My dear friend Matt is visiting from Australia.  We haven’t seen each other for more than ten years. 

This is Matt’s first time in Minneapolis and his first American Fourth of July.  He’s excited.  I’m ecstatic.  I met Matt in the Budapest train station 15 years ago.  The two of us and our respective sets of friends traveled together to Prague.  Matt visited me in Boston a few months later, and I visited him before heading into my last semester of law school.  We brought in 1997 together on Sydney Harbor…overlooking the famous Opera House.  The world got to see the amazing fireworks over that location when 2000 hit, but I got a sneak peek experiencing them first-hand several years in advance.

I feel I get to pay Matt back for that amazing visit and those dazzling fireworks.  He showed me his country, and now I can show him mine…at least a part of it.  I was welcomed by his family, and now mine will welcome him.  In fact, my brother will pick him up at the airport because I will be on air at the radio station when he lands Wednesday morning. 

And what a coincidence today is Matt’s birthday.  So happy birthday Matt and happy birthday to this country that means so much to so many.

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