Working press and advance for the Obama for President campaign was the highlight of over a quarter century of my experience in public relations and public affairs. Starting with a “messaging boot camp” in NYC two summers ago, the Obama campaign honed my national media connections, hanging with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and John King. I learned valuable lessons about leveraging social media and proving how scale works and can win with Web-based fund raising and today’s media relations.
I was involved on the Obama Tech, Media and Telecom media relations team and the Obama Small Business committee. These relationships have lead to my helping PRSA reach Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to bestow PR Professional of the Year at the White House. Shortly after, I landed a regular column on Huffington Post and had. Shortly after, I landed a regular column on Huffington Post, here is what I said about my experience working on Press and Advance in “What I Saw at the Revolution — Obama Campaign.” David Plouffe’s outlook said that the improbable primary victories kept the team going; they “just wanted to make a good showing”!
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Here is what folks will learn if they come to my case study cool talk at this year’s PRSA International Conference in San Diego:
- Learning Saul Alinsky-style grassroots organizing techniques.
- Energizing and engaging your base (stakeholders).
- Creating a dialogue in social networks and leveraging for positive outcomes.
At the 2008 Democratic National Convention
Of course, Michael Smith Business Development (MSBD) was at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). I had press credentials and worked for both Reuters.com “inside the tent” and for the Huffington Post’s “off the bus” features. As a citizen blogger, I built relationships for MSBD with politicians, including New Jersey and Virginia Governors Corzine and Warner and House Democratic Majority Leader Senators Hoyer and Rockefeller. I even made connections with CNN’s jounalists John King, Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer and some Hollywood stars like Matthew Modine, Richard Schiff, Anne Hathaway, Susan Sarandon and Dana Delaney.
