It is with great pleasure that we convey our most heartfelt gratitude to the dozens of companies and hundreds of friends and colleagues who made Project Reboot an unparalleled success.

We saw people reconnecting with those whom they haven’t seen in years and making connections with new friends.  After so many years, some had a little more gray hair with stories of battling the economy, but ultimately packed with a lot more wisdom sporting the same twinkle in the eyes with rich smiles.

We were gratified by the response to the Production Crawl, when colleagues came to visit several open houses around town where they were welcomed and warmly greeted like long lost friends.  In many ways, we saw the event as a celebration of a great thriving industry whose members are some of the most talented and innovative in the country.

We heard ideas from many and we are excited to see their concepts become a reality.  We saw work and spaces that inspires and reminds us that the San Francisco/Bay Area continues to be a mecca for incredible creativity.  And we felt the surge of energy and a renewed sense of optimism that our best days are yet to come.

We thank all those who came to our soundstage at 2178 Palou.  We hope that the sounds of Max Bran Beat brought music to your hearts and that your appetites were satisfied by our makeshift bar and grill.  Thanks for all the laughs, you all made SOMA-palooza a great party.  Above all, we hope that the event was fulfilling for everyone.

Our goal was to promote the companies in the area to bring recognition to their brand and to make their services better known to the community.  We also wanted to rally and honor the several organizations who work tirelessly to enhance our existence, promote our professionalism and provide the face of our industry to the government, other businesses and the public.

We wanted an event where those who are starting their careers could meet and get to know the icons and veterans of our industry so that the spirit of community continues to burn just as it always has in the past.

We are confident we achieved our goals and it could not have happened without your support and we thank you all so much for making Project Reboot & SOMA-palooza an astounding success.

My best to all,

Ray Santiago, Beyond Pix

P.S.  I especially thank the several key members of the other companies and organizations who helped in the planning of the event.  I also thank the various members of Beyond Pix who worked so hard to provide leadership.  And if any of you have pictures that you can send our way, we’d definitely appreciate it.  Please send it to danielle@beyondpix.com

After Project Reboot, the event will culminate at Beyond Pix Studios @Bayshore newly renovated soundstage from 6pm to 8pm (or later…).   Blues and jazz music of Max Bran Beat will rock the house along with hors devours, and drinks will be provided.  Participants of Project Reboot will also be eligible to win prizes and the number of tickets one can submit for the drawing will depend on the number of facilities visited during the open house event.

Project Reboot is an extraordinary San Francisco/Bay Area event to compel industry professionals and clients to venture out to meet others face to face.  In today’s smartphone, tablet and laptop dominated culture, we rely too much on the Internet to make connections, but in many ways it has disturbingly left many disconnected and disenfranchised.  We seek to reverse that, to transcend the devices and to “reboot” our real life connections and promote friendships within the community.  For many, this will serve as a reunion while for others, this could be their first industrial social event.

In any case, Project Reboot and the SOMA-palooza party is a stab at rallying the members of our industry to come together to see what and how others are doing, to visit their facilities to see where they work and to exchange ideas, business cards and swap stories.

After so many years of what many have perceived to be some of their toughest times, it’s imperative that we shake things up.  Many are reporting that things are getting better and that business is looking up.  We believe that is the case and Project Reboot is our emphatic statement that our best days are ahead of us and we’re just at the starting blocks.

If you want to join and enjoy this awesome event, please go to projectrebootsf.eventbrite.com and RSVP.  Passports can be obtained at any of the open house locations, and will be stamped at every destination you visit which in turn will be converted to raffle tickets to qualify for several prizes including the New iPad.  Drawing will be held at the SOMA-palooza soiree.

At the end of the day we decided to get some football-playing b-roll, and our DP Sean and Audio Tech Palmer raced onto the field to follow the actors as they caroused about with the pigskin.  My camera and I found ourselves racing about with them…

Peter Shaplen

Noise – there’s too much of it.  People talking, pitching, selling, persuading us.  Politicians do it; sales people, barkers – we’re all “Guilty!”  Your boss does it to you.  You probably do it to those around you, too.  So much noise that few of us can say we even listen, much less hear much of the content that spews forth at us hour after tedious hour.

We’re so eager to convince people these days that we never let up – never cease – never pause long enough to think, “Is my message getting through, much less challenge ourselves to ask: is my message worth being heard?”

Oh sure – what we have to say is important to us.  Our careers, bonuses etc., all depend on increased awareness, sales, and some sort of measure about our impact in social media.  Call it ROI or ROV, we just don’t want to be heard but we are stressed wondering if we are being listened to.  And so we use press kits, videos and media tours — all designed to get the word out – it’s too often just more noise.

It is not about the yakity yak – despite how important you believe your message should be.  Have you really addressed how you are saying it?  Who is saying it for you?  Are they saying it well, or merely adding to the crescendo?

Too many companies and their bosses have forgotten the simplest rule: it is not so much what’s said as who is saying it and whether the audience finds them likable.  Likable.  Not trustworthy or believable.  Before trust comes the simple, inescapable assessment – do I like this person?  Am I comfortable with this messenger?  Does this messenger really believe what they are telling me – that is, truly I sense they believe their message and the fact that they want to share it with me.  Or, again, is this just more noise?

There are lots of ways to train someone to smile – to show empathy – to feign compassion and an appreciation for an unseen audience.  That’s acting.  It is transparent.  It is phony baloney BS.  Within 10 seconds I bet you can name at least one or two national TV anchors who you think are full of beans.  Why?  Because you don’t like them much less believe them!

So what makes a difference?  Why train any one?  Why not just make a more substantial advertising buy?  Simple – the same rules apply — if you want to make an impression, go with your human assets – your strengths – your own messengers but be very very sure they are ready.

Message and media training is about connecting your audience with your most important content delivered precisely, elegantly, eloquently, authentically and honestly.

Media training is not simply telling someone when to pause, or stress brevity, or not to wear a thinly-striped shirt with a gross tie.  Media training is about process – about explaining the how and why of answering the questions that come from the anchor or host matched to the truly perfect response.    Media training is about connecting the human part – the messenger – with the content that has been produced and massaged,  but that still needs to be interpreted and delivered authentically and effectively.

That’s what we do – it has taken 4 decades of experience to do so well.  It’s what makes the difference to you, your success and effectiveness.  Are you believable?  Are you likable?  Are your results giving you any measure of ROI or ROV?

If there’s a ‘no’ in any part of that, then media training may make a significant difference.

~Peter Shaplen

Ray Santiago

Why Viewers Appreciate Authenticity by Doug Drew
Highlights:

- “Why business people speak like idiots.”
- Talk to your viewers, don’t read to them.
- Formal writing and complex words alienates viewers.

Writing conversationally is something most television journalists know they should do, but have difficulty doing so. As I monitor television news, I find it fascinating how so many reporters can ad lib so well while out on a live shot, but when they come back to the station to write their package, their writing becomes formal and their narration sounds stiff and emotionless.

Writing conversationally is one of the topics I teach in my workshops. But it is not limited to the television news business. I recently discovered that the world of big business has the same issue, and there is a very interesting book that address that topic called: “Why business people speak like idiots,” written by Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway, and Jon Warshawsky. The following is an excerpt from the book:

“November 22, 1963. At 2:37 P.M. CBS news editor Ed Bliss, Jr. hands anchorman Walter Cronkite an AP wire report. Cronkite takes a long second to read it to himself before intoning: “From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official. President Kennedy died at 1:00 P.M. Central Standard Time, two o’clock Eastern Standard Time.” He pauses and looks at the studio clock. “Some thirty-eight minutes ago.” Momentarily losing his composure, Cronkite winces, removes his eyeglasses, and clears his throat before resuming with the observation that Vice President Lyndon Johnson will presumably take the oath of office to become the thirty-sixth president of the United States.(excerpted from The Museum of Broadcast Communications)

What has been called the “most moving and historic” passage in broadcast history – and it’s hard to say otherwise – was a sharp departure from the rehearsed and stiff television of its era. News of the shooting broke an hour earlier, and there were unconfirmed reports that President Kennedy had been fatally wounded. Cronkite himself had delivered that momentous news, breaking into the soap opera As the World Turns. But it was this segment that got inside of everyone watching. Decades later, it has the same effect. There’s no doubt that Kennedy’s death would have moved the nation no matter who reported it, and others did, nonstop for days, but Cronkite’s broadcast is the one of record. Why?

There’s a brief but riveting pause while Cronkite reads the wire report. What’s he reading? It might have been that glance back at the studio clock, or the uncharacteristic clearing of his throat – news anchors have always been hired for their seamless, unflappable delivery. Why did he have to look at the clock? Maybe it was the removal of the eyeglasses. No one ever does that on TV.
Whatever it was, the whole nation saw that the most even-keeled guy in the United States, in a decade when men were never caught weeping in public, was on the verge of tears on national television. Walter Cronkite! Choked up on the most important broadcast of his career. It gave the whole audience a license to share their grief. Cronkite went on to become a legend in broadcast news.

Avoiding the Anonymity Trap is all about making a personal connection with your audience. Templates are your enemy. Humor is your ally. At some basic level, though, the audience is going to decide whether you actually care about the topic or are simply standing there to read from a script.

The polish we apply to all our performances is one of the downfalls of business presentations. Whatever efficiencies come from cue cards, notes or scripts, they make it obvious that what we’re saying is coming from the page rather than from our brains. The listener knows that this presentation is a one-sided experience – it’s a repackaging of pre-digested ideas and facts that have been filtered of emotion for public consumption. What people really cherish are those unplanned moments – the authentic stuff that happens in live events.”

Conclusion
I think we in the television news business can learn a lot from this book. Just as business people need to talk conversationally, so should journalists. Many business people use big words because they think it makes them look smart. What it does is simply confuse their clients.

I think many news people fall into the same trap. Using formal and complex language simply makes it difficult for your viewers to understand the story. Its your job as a journalists to make it easy as possible on viewers. Clarity is the ultimate goal.

The book is easily available. I know Amazon sells it and you can order it directly from the author’s website:http://www.fightthebull.com/index.asp. But whether you buy the book or not, the take-a-way for me is that the more real and transparent we can be in television news, the more our viewers will appreciate the authenticity.

Doug Drew is a morning news specialist with 602 Communications.

Infineon’s NASCAR slogan of “Think Outside the Oval” is dead on as many of the drivers have readily admitted that the Sonoma event is one of the most challenging of the season. In the other 90% of their races, the routine is speed up, turn left, speed up, turn left, then repeat like 300 times. At Infineon, the road course presents so many other factors, from straightaways, to hair-pin turns, uphill charges, to downhill deceleration, certainly a more active driver engagement for every minute of the nearly four hour race.

The Beyond Pix cameras were there to capture the kaleidoscope of stock cars as they careened up to 150 mph around the challenging road course of Infineon. The annual attendance for this Sonoma weekend classic tops 200,000 attendees, but millions more will see the images captured by Beyond Pix in the blur of web productions, press highlights and TV commercials.

Beyond Pix Studios has been Infineon’s official video production company for more than five years specializing in informational and promotional elements for their website, media feeds and broadcast advertising.

The show, “Nancy Grace,” is originating in San Francisco as part of an on-location coverage.  Anchoring away from the comforts of its home studio in Atlanta always deserves serious logistical considerations because for one thing, it’s live and there are no second chances.  Second, all the functionalities of the original studio has to be replicated.  And third, each on-air personality is lit in their special way and it has to match the look and feel of the original studio.

Beyond Pix Broadcast has a rich history of anchoring shows when the main talent is in the San Francisco Bay Area, ranging from PBS’s Charlie Rose, to CNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, Bloomberg’s Dylan Ratigan and Brian Sullivan, Court TV’s Johnny Cocharn, just to name a few.

A number of networks rely on Beyond Pix Broadcast as the home studio for nationally renowned guests such as Dusty Baker-baseball pundit, Joan Walsh-Salon.com, Marc Klass-Klasskids Foundation, to high-powered celebrity attorneys such as Dan Horowitz, Michael Cardoza and John Burris as well a plethora of big names in the financial industry.

Prominent public officials such as Governor Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, CA. Speaker & SF Mayor Willie Brown, Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and former Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi have all originated from the studios on a regular basis.

Ultimately, it isn’t about blind justice for they make their judgment with eyes wide open and the unanimous decision is for Beyond Pix Studios.