 Again, we want to thank our sponsors. Without you, we would not be here having these discussions. I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy, joined by the non-profit nerd herself, Jared Ransom, CEO of the Raven Group. Good morning to you, Jared, after all that. I know. Good morning and good day to all of you. I am excited to have you in the hot seat, you know, every now and then we kind of do rock, paper, scissors, and you and I decide who's going to like, you know, unzip our brain and just kind of share it all out with the nation or the world. So today I'm really glad to have you share with us your media and publishing background because there is so much for us to get really from your experience and expertise, especially as you said, it is very timely. You have been on the phone recently, several times with one of our local publishers, and as we continue to navigate forward, there are so many opportunities, events, galas, fundraising, you know, so much happening that knowing how to reconnect with the media during this recovery phase is very critical for us to know and for us to be prepared for. So today you are sharing with us, Julia, some of these like high level pro tips. So this is going to be a very action packed episode. And so make sure you have your pen and paper actually have two pens. I'm not sure why because I'm, I can't do that. I can't like write at the same time. I wish I could. But yes, get your pen and paper out because Julia, I'm excited for you to share with us what this looks like. So let's move into this step number one. And what does it mean to be a good and reliable interview subject? You know, it used to be that when you would be interviewed by print or broadcast media, the interviewer had time to do research, to show up and be prepared, go back to their office afterward, and, and really consume what you had said, what the engagement was, and put it all down into their, their medium. So if it was print, if it was writing, if it was video for film work. Now we are seeing and this has been, this wasn't just because of the pandemic, but it was cemented during the pandemic. We are seeing media outlets get rid of the interviewer reporter, so to speak, and they're sending out what we call shooters, which now is an inappropriate word to use. But these are basically cameramen and women who are miking up a subject. They're standing back and then they're turning on the camera. And they're just like, maybe they'll ask a couple of questions. Maybe I'll be looking at their watch, reading where they're supposed to be next. Right. And I actually experienced that in the beginning of the pandemic. Remember when I was sharing with you at the beginning, I was serving as an interim ED for an organization that provided personal hygiene to those experiencing homelessness. And so I actually packaged up, and you were super proud of me, but I packaged up the, the actual box that goes out into our community. I put it with a press release and I dropped them off, physically dropped them off at the news station. So I got some leverage, some traction with that. This same thing happened. One gentleman came, the cameraman, he came, he mikes me up, he stood a couple of feet away, right? He told me kind of what he was looking for. And there was no reporter walking me through this. No, no. And it's really disarming because if you are expecting the human engagement, I mean, you're nervous to begin with, yes. You want to say the right thing. It's really hard. And you have to remember, and this is one of those things, it's so difficult to even conceive of this. In media, especially broadcast, we use the term package. A package is like, if you will, a segment. Most segments at best are going to be 90 seconds. So you've got to try and communicate everything that you want to say into 90 seconds that's going to be edited and edited down. So it's really hard. And if you don't know what's the best angle that the media outlet is attracted to, it's just, it's brutal. And then if you don't have somebody on the other side of the camera supporting you, encouraging you, asking the right questions, making you look good, okay? I mean, literally saying, you know what, your zipper's unzipped. Honestly, I mean, things like that. For women, it's that button in the blouse, right? Where it comes a little bit more open or there's a collar turned the wrong way, or a funny piece of hair or something. Or you need a little bit darker lipstick so that we can see your mouth move. I mean, it's fascinating stuff like this. Your cameramen are not going to do that because they're onto the next thing. And so you want to be a good, unreliable subject. And the reason why this is so important, Jared, is that as the labor pool changes in media, you're looking at reporters who one minute are covering a semi truck that had an accident carrying a full load of onions to, you know, a CEO involved in a scandal, a financial scandal to your nonprofit, to a car wash, right? All in the span of one day. And so you're not getting talent that comes to you prepared, which is okay. That means you need to be prepared and understand what it is that they're going to need so that they can be more successful. And that is from the newsroom to any print publishing. It's just the reality with where we're going. And one of the things I did in this number one tip, and I know we're just getting started. So maybe it's more applicable later, is I made sure that where they were coming to meet me, which was actually in the office where we packed these products, it was tidy. It had signage, right? Like everything was out and about so that the backdrop, if you will, really represented the organization and the mission driven goals in which, you know, we were seeking. So that was a big thing for me, too, was, okay, let's clean up the floor. Let's make sure that, you know, everything looks, looks tidy, even though it really is like the place where we put everything together. So it's not always a tidy place, but it was for that shot. You know, you thought about the shot. And that's part of being a good subject. I mean, for that, think about that cameraman shows up, and you're like, well, where do you want me to stand? Or where do you think this would be a good shot? That's ridiculous, because they don't have time. Remember, they got to get to that truck that just fell, you know, blue onion, right? So if you can think about what does it look like? And it's that old funny adage where you hold your hand up like this, and you kind of pan to determine what is a good shot. You can do that. And you can say, okay, this might look good. And if you're not sure, pick three things, three places that you think might be good, and then ask that cameraman what they think will be good, because they'll know with lighting and the sound and the texture. But yeah, I think I appreciate you bringing that up, because that is a central theme to being a good, you know, a good interview. And it makes you more successful. And remember, you want that cameraman or that media outlet to say, oh my gosh, that Jared Ransom, she was fabulous. Let's get back with her. Well, it makes their job easier. Yeah, and it makes them look like a hero. And so part of parcel to that, and this might be a little bit more challenging for some people. But that's the concept of B-roll. B-roll is background, background material, background footage. So to give you an example, it might be what we call a slow pan video footage of your campus. It might be a slow pan of people that you're serving. And you have to be careful about that, because you never want to show the faces of children or minors. You don't want to be sensitive to photo releases. That's a whole another topic. But this does not have sound. It does not have music. It is just something if you think about that could be rolling in the background and the reporter or you as a subject could talk over. You might be like, well, wait a minute, that's just for broadcast. That's not the case. Most every single print media outlet has a web presence, and they are wanting this type of B-roll to accompany their print pieces. No, I have a question. Curveball question for you, Julia. You ready for this? You're going to bun it out of the park, I'm sure. When you pan, is there a certain direction you should go? It should be what we call a slow and steady pan that is generally left to right. Because that's oftentimes the natural movement. But it shouldn't be like real jumpy. It should be like a steady, slow piece. It's not the main part of the story. It just supports the story. So if you're trying to communicate, let's say you run, like our guest yesterday, you run a shelter. A slow pan might be people visiting the shelter or playing with a puppy, right? Or things of that nature. And generally, we're talking about a 30-second snippet. And so that's a long time. Because remember, we talked about in the very beginning, some of these packages might only be 90 seconds long. Right. I'm so glad you said that. So I will share with everyone, and I think you know this, Julia, but my undergrad is Mass Communication and Journalism. So I was taught left to right. But when I see things on social media and it's right to left, it really does some things with my brain. I'm like, no, no, no, let's go left to right when we pan. So as we're talking about this, I just wanted to share one of my biggest pet peeves is when there is a pan from right to left, it just seems like, you know, we started at the end of the book and now you're going to the front. Yeah, it's really funny, Jer, because you know, in Eastern cultures, when they do media b-roll, they go the other direction. Sure. Because you know, they're reading a different direction. Yes. For us with our brains, we do go left to right. Left to right. It's kind of a big one of those things. It's a weird thing. I think that a lot of people would see it and go, it doesn't seem right, but they wouldn't be able to articulate why. Right. Yeah, left to right is always much preferred. Well, thank you. I'm glad to know that that's still kind of the way. Some of the b-roll materials, Julia, I'm assuming if we've had events in the past that were recorded, galas, anything that we might have done for those, you know, short videos that we shared at gala, you know, events, these are some b-roll materials that we could still call upon. Is that correct? Absolutely. And even still photography that's produced in a JPEG format or PNG, but JPEG is better for broadcast and for printing. It needs to be a higher resolution or TIF file. So this is like, let's say you had a gala and you had a retired rock star that came and, you know, was honored or you had the governor or you had a high profile mayor or something like that. And you've got a picture of them speaking to your crowd at the podium. Those types of still shots can be put into this b-roll, but this is the thing. You need to have these pieces of collateral or materials in the appropriate format that an editor or news producer can easily access, right? So tell us again what the TIF, the JPEG, like, are paying for. But TIF and JPEG are going to put you up at a higher resolution. Okay. So for the most part, but you don't want to send a PDF, you don't want to send a Word file, you don't want to send some wackadoo file, you want it to be very consistent and you generally want it to be a horizontal shot. So just like you talked about the left to right panning, the framework, I mean, think of like, I always tell folks, think of a three by five card. Yes. You know, how is it going to fit on a three by five card? That's kind of the frame dimension for printing, for broadcast, for even web creation, you know, with a little bit of room for cropping. But these being rolled materials, we often talk about being evergreen. And so that means that you don't want to show footage of people in parkas during the summer, because that's just that's going to seem like old footage. The concept is here is almost like a trompe l'oeil, a trick of the mind. It looks like it was filmed for that package, right? We remember during the middle of COVID, it was like, well, if there's no mask on, this was definitely a long time ago. You know, perfect. You are, that is, Jared, that's brilliant. Yeah, because we see like, you know, a local campus and we're like, that's not now or if it is there, that's not good. Right. And I appreciate you saying that because now I was just working with a client who had a bunch of images and they were of their volunteers and they were all masked up. And we're producing a piece, a document that's really going to have a two year shelf life. And I said, yeah, that works now. But as you come out of recovery, that's going to look like an old story. That's right. Because it wasn't COVID related. And so yeah, I'm thrilled that you brought that up. That's super. Yeah, sure. Well, I remember some media stations would say at the bottom, you know, in small print, this was produced prior to COVID-19 if it was a no mask kind of a shot. But now as we're moving into recovery, you know, CDC guidelines, all of that is changing. And I think again, just to be cognizant and mindful of that as we move forward in our media, you know, outreach and what that might look like. I absolutely agree. Okay, let's talk about tip three, have stats and data ready for your reporters. Okay, I'm a big believer in the eight to 10 rule. That means eight to 10 data points. And that could be everything from our organization was founded by so and so in the year such and such. We serve so many people. I think about, you know, I'm writing down by the way, please do. One in four women will be impacted by domestic violence during the course of her life in the United States of America, you know, 40% of all American children go to bed hungry, whatever those stats are. And that gets the reporter out of having to do research. I will have clients or I'll have people that will say, yeah, Julia, that's just allowing them to be lazy. And I always say, no, that's allowing them to be accurate, because you don't want to do all this work, get everybody excited about being on, you know, the six o'clock newscast or a national like PBS piece, and then have the wrong data points expressed by the reporter. Here's my thing, who cares if that's them being lazy? Or I mean, for me, it's like, why is that even the perception because we want to drive our story, right? We want to help tell our story. And you've been really, really wonderful. I think in another masterclass, it was about the leadership list and how you should quarterly update your stats and your data. So this is an ever moving kind of, you know, document. And you just go back to the last one you created in that quarter, you share that because we want to tell our story, not them create the story, which might not be exactly how we want it shared. Exactly. You want to control it. You want to make it easier for everyone. And also, you know, what's powerful to communicate. So I was working with a group last night that does women's empowerment in education in Africa. Fascinating group. It's always tenuous to work with them because we are these, you know, over a day off in our time zones where, you know, they don't have reliable power, let alone internet service. And one of the things is that, you know, they have these amazing data points about how little money makes such a huge impact. And they were like, that's important. And I'm like, you're telling me that for $2,609, you can educate a woman through a, you know, a high school, what we would consider a high school period. That's incredible. That changes the trajectory of lives. But they, they didn't see that as a value, you know. And so what you have to do is understand what's going to make good news, what's going to be a good story. And those data points and stats help your mission. So think about it. If you're talking about your nonprofit and you're like, well, reporter, you know, misreporter, believe it or not, all it takes is $2,000 and a little change for us to educate somebody for four years in a high school, you know, setting. You can have people watching that being, oh my gosh, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna fund three scholarships or 10 scholarships. You don't know. But unless you can communicate those points, it's tough. I have actually had that happen with a client where they are based in Costa Rica and it was a medical doctor, medical profession, and the annual salary was $12,000 for this medical person, right? Which then made a huge impact in the community, not only the organization that they served, but beyond into the greater community. And they got their story out and literally $12,000 donation came in. So telling the story, letting us all know like how much a dollar makes the impact, I think is really important. So you said eight to 10 data points. So really having those stats and that and that data. And I'm thinking when it comes back to that leadership list, you know, you also are saying quarterly, you really want to update all of your data and stats. So that kind of best practice to me. I mean, I know I've been sitting next to you for all 300 plus episodes. So that's that's coming up to me in my mind. But I hope for our viewers as well, there's so much amazing information and in our previous episodes. And it all relates as to how we continue to navigate and move forward in the landscape of a recovery. It doesn't, you know, Jared, this is not a one time piece of a pursuit. You know, this should always be on your website. This should always be something that you can recite, your board members can recite, your team can recite. These should be very basic facts that you can roll off. Because that helps everybody tell the story. Right. And so it should be a habit anyway. And you know how I feel about doing something never for once. It's like not for one purpose. Yes, never just have make one dinner. You always, you know, you always take parts of it for the next meal. I am such an old lady. Well, I'm looking at our clock and I know we've got two more tips to go about the the FAQs or questions that we might need to have ready for the reporter. So remember in the very first tip, you're going to have a maybe a cameraman that shows up. Think about this. What if you had five questions or five FAQs frequently asked questions and you said, hey, you know what, I know this just might be presumptuous or you might not care, but we get asked these questions all the time. Folks a lot of times are interested in this and you hand them. You just saved the day because then the cameraman can go, well, tell us, Miss Ransom, how many people do you serve in an average afternoon or whatever. And it just makes everybody's life really easy. They might not use it because they might be curious. So they might have done their homework, but just remember that onion truck, that onion truck. Plus, we're the one driving the story. We're the one telling our mission driven focus and purpose. And I love that. Yeah. And it's easy to do. And I mean, look at this guy on the slide. He's trying to get the shot. He's trying to get the sound right, the lighting right. He's trying to help you look good so that when he goes back to the studio or the station, he can put it together. He doesn't have time to figure out scintillating questions for you, right? Absolutely. So that's a great tip. Now this fifth one is one that you said this is the biggest tip of all. So we're saving it for last. And I want to make sure that we have plenty of time, but promote your coverage. What does that look like? Because isn't that what the media is doing for us? You know, it used to be, but this is the dirty little secret. A lot of times when assignment editors and assignment editors are the ones that send out the reporters for journalism from print to broadcast. The other ones to deciding the show flow, the news flow, the broadcast flow, even the magazine or newspaper layout. They're going to look to see how connected you are on your social media. And the reason why is there's so much competition. They want their subjects and they're going to be more attracted to their subjects when they see that you have promoted their work. So for example, you know, you get filmed for something and you're told, okay, you're going to be on the six o'clock news. That organization, it's like, holy moly, we're going to be on the six o'clock news and we're going to be interviewed by the lead anchor or whomever. That is the type of thing that media loves to see because it helps amplify their story, right? Because remember, media now is competing with social media and Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter. People are getting their news, not just from traditional media sources, right? I'm guilty of that. I am one of those. I hate hearing that. I know. I mean, it's just one of those, you know, one of those areas, it's one of several, but yes, there are oftentimes that I hear it first on social media before I hear it, you know, somewhere else. But I also follow the news stations on social media because they are very active there, too. They have to be, they have to be become, they have to do that. You know, news is no longer appointment TV. I mean, when, when America in the world used to tune in at five o'clock to hear what Walter Cronkite said, the most trusted man on the planet is they used to call him. They used to say the most trusted man in America, and then it quickly moved to, you know, the planet. This is the changing face of media. So if you can promote your coverage, that's really important. This is one of my last little tips before we wind up today. That is, if you can get somebody to take a picture of the interview happening like a behind the scenes, here's the reporter interviewing me or here's the photographer filming us or whatever. And then you post that up. That's like gold because it's like, Oh, you know, I got the insider look at what's going to go on. Super, super important. Well, I think you could come back to another master class specifically around the top five tips on how to promote your coverage. I think that needs to be our next one because unfortunately our time is drawing nigh. And here we are thanking you so much, Julia for sharing your years of expertise in the industry and staying on top of the best practice and trends and how we as a sector can continue to promote, you know, everything that we're doing in the community, how we're of service, how people can find us and really just being there as a connector for our community. So reconnecting your nonprofit to media during this recovery is very important. Thank you for sharing, Julia. I'm always grateful to be here alongside you for this really fun ride. It's been a wonderful journey and we just continue on. Tomorrow is Friday. I get to say that because I was gone last week and I missed that Friday, but here we are Friday Eve. We'll be back again tomorrow. Thanks to our presenting sponsors that continue to help us show up each and every day to be of service and to connect with experts and just a variety of leaders and voices around our nation to share and support all of the good work that each and every one of you are doing out into our community. So thank you to our presenting sponsors and thanks to all of you that tune in either live or on our recording. We are just so grateful. Well, thank you, Jared. That's so true. And we also want to also mention that we've launched a second show like What Were We Thinking, but Fundraising Events TV. It's broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays and a lot of fun just dedicated to the actual events. And that is ramping up. That season is ramping up. So perfect timing as maybe you're looking at an event coming up in the fall. You want to tune in certainly to Fundraising Events and hear more about this. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. We always say from golf to galas, if they're being held in ballrooms or barns, definitely check it out. It's a lot of fun. Jason Champion is an amazing co-host of mine. He's a lot of fun. He's been on our show. And so I think you'll like and I think you'll learn a lot. Well, thanks, Julia. I love having you on the hot seat. It's always fun. I know I enjoy being on it. I hope you enjoy being on the hot seat so that we can share. And again, I keep repeating myself, but being of service to each other and to our community and to all of you joining us. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you again. Join us tomorrow for those ask and answers. It's interesting the questions that we are receiving as we move into recovery. And until then, stay well, so you can do well.