Jeff Cutler – columns, essays and opinions

I’ve been a journalist for 20 years and have dabbled in some fields (TV for eight months) while remaining focused on others (print reporting for two decades). As times change and organizations restructure their physical plant and their mental approach to the business of news delivery, professionals must do the same.

In my case I’ve taken on new challenges.

For the first time in my career I’ve entered the radio field. With two pieces on WBUR – Boston’s NPR radio station – I’ve added to my portfolio. I expect to continue the radio portion of my career with regular segments and hope someday to gain some prominence there.

On the collaborative or community end, I’ve also jumped back into the public speaking and presentations field. After having been a guest speaker at Northeastern and having run a session on freelance writing for honor-role high schoolers, I recently appeared in front of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

This session – see photo….

….this session was aimed at giving business professionals a better handle on how to interview, what to expect from the media and to warn them of potential pitfalls. It was an amazing session.

My co-presenters/speakers were Paula Ebben of WBZ Television in Boston and Candy O’Terry of Magic 106.7 Radio. They were brilliant.

In a one-hour session, we covered everything from how to develop a relationship with reporters, how to prepare yourself for an on-air interview, what mistakes PR people make when contacting the press, and a handful of other topics that gave valuable insight into how the media works.

If you can’t tell, I was honored to be on the same panel with these two broadcast superstars.

Thanks again to NAWBO for inviting me. And look for me on the speaking circuit talking about media, new media, blogging, reporting, and many other topics.

Further, if you’d like to have me speak to your group, please leave a comment on this blog post.

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Email is the tool I prefer to use when speaking to editors, reaching out to friends and family and contacting businesses. I recognize the value of printing and there are some documents that are better suited for delivery or evaluation in a hard-copy form. But this deliniation is starting to fade, and with any newly adopted technology there are going to be some who use it poorly.

Let’s look at an email I received from a dry cleaner. Bear in mind that the business owner gets point for trying to use new media. They do not get points for ignoring the basics.

Let’s start with the positives. The Cleaner Spot has adopted Constant Contact as a tool to reach out to customers. They clearly want to find out how people like me feel about their services. They are saving time by keeping everything online. They’re to be admired.

OK, scratch that last comment. They are NOT to be admired.

Just being online isn’t enough in an age when the people you’re talking to have a bigger online presence than your business. It’s idiocy to not vet official documents like emails that go to your customer base and surveys from which you expect to extract value.

I’m not saying that a company can’t have transparent and free-thinking representation on Twitter or on their company blog (see @scottmonty on Twitter – he’s the voice of Ford in the social media space). What I am saying is that if you’ve entrusted your brand and messaging to someone, make sure they understand how to read.

If you can’t see the text in this email from The Cleaner Spot, it’s just placeholder text. Essentially it’s a series of instructions to Constant Contact on how to formulate their survey email.

In my eyes, this is akin to putting up a billboard with the words “Witty Headline Here” next to the product.

There were two articles in the Boston Globe today about people not knowing how to write longhand and about people not knowing how to communicate. This example falls into both camps.

I hope the next note from The Cleaner Spot includes $10 worth of free dry cleaning. Otherwise they’re going on my blacklist for being idiots. None of us has time for organizations that don’t value us enough to communicate clearly, professionally and intelligently.

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In the past week I went from moderately famous podcaster, journalist and philanthropist to the echelons of household name…at least when it comes to National Public radio reporting.

That’s right, NPR sent me to the Consumer Electronics Show to report on the gadgets that make Americans drool. I came back with lots of audio, many blisters and a great deal of respect for the cab drivers in Las Vegas.

Further, I came back with content. I’ve sent some to MobileMag.com and some to Technology Review. But the bulk of my research and interviews have been used on the air at Boston’s NPR radio station – WBUR.

Here is the first clip that ran last week.

Interview with Anthony Brooks – 1/8/09

And here is the clip that ran earlier today.

Boomer and Kid Tech – 1/14/09

If you’re having trouble listening – because they require Real Player, then just click below for the audio of my clips.

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Please realize that WBUR is public radio and they enjoy support from listeners like you. It’s even more important that you give them money now because I loved working with them on this project and look forward to many more adventures. For that to happen, they need your suport.

WBUR.org is the Website and Here-Now.org is where you can find more great stories any day of the week.

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At CES, from the prototype cellphone with a video projector in it to the three or four models (no phone) that fit in your hand and put movies on walls at resolution that amazes you, there’s a lot to see – literally.

Steve Garfield and I spent a moment with people from Optoma to put their little projector through it’s paces. I’m working on an article for Gatehouse Media featuring these products, so I’m not going to give you my take yet.

But here’s my interview in total along with some photos. You make up your mind. And I welcome your comments.

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Actually, the Consumer Electronics Show isn’t nearly as bad as my headline. My feet are blistered (as is my wallet), but the people I’ve met and the pieces I’ve put together for various clients have been awe-inspiring and fulfilling, respectively.

From the arrival Sunday – and please realize that we’re only at day two of this massive show – I’ve been at the microphone, on my feet and in the face of anyone with a product to sell and a story to tell.

If you’re not familiar with the machinations of a journalist at a trade event, the blueprint/gameplan/schedule is pretty much as follows…

Set up interviews, meetings, outlines, story ideas, assignments, timelines and leisure plans before you drive to the airport.

People you’ve never met send you literature and pitches asking you to cover their products in your segments. At this point, you don’t even know what the real stories are or in my case, who you’re writing or recording them for, but that doesn’t deter the PR armies from filling your inbox faster than a new Viagra drug note or a god/prayer/Nigeria/hoax email from family, friends and that nice guy named Nigel overseas who wants to give you $40Million.

You then play the planes, trains and automobiles dance to get to your hotel. I’m lucky that mine – reserved sight-unseen (or should that be site-unseen?) – was amazing. See this video for a walk around the estate.

Next you start working. For me, reporting for NPR’s Boston station WBUR meant that interviews and information had to be compiled before the show floor was even open to the media. To this end I had to attend multiple press events and consume large amounts of complimentary refreshments.*

After doing my taping of a program for Here and Now – a syndicated, immensely popular and brilliant show – I had to press the reset button on my soul and go back at it. I have other segments to write and produce for the radio station and also have three other clients in the publishing world who need content.

It’s only Saturday and the show doesn’t end for another 40 hours. If you are keeping score, I’ve met @scobleizer and @jaffejuice in person, I’ve rubbed elbows with Dick DeBartolo, have interviewed really smart people with really silly products, have interviewed really smart people with really great products, have been on high-lust status for the technology I’ve seen that may never make it to market, have lost some money at poker, and I’m still going at it.

My second NPR segment should air the middle of next week and my first is right here for your listening pleasure… ENJOY.

I’ll be giving a more comprehensive detail of the things I learned about at CES, the pieces I’ve written and recorded and some of the less professional fun I’ve had out here, soon.

For now, it’s back into the fray with microphone in hand and a smile on my face.

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Traveling is a severe pain, or so implied a piece I heard on the radio last week. After flying on a connecting flight to Jacksonville this weekend, I have to agree.

Aside from having to deal with passengers around you – regardless of your travel mode – you’re now subject to the crappy policies that airlines, trains and even buses have put in place.

Under the guise of offering more options to its customers, United Airlines has instituted a slew of seating upgrades and check-in choices. Essentially, if you don’t pay extra money, you’re jammed into a seat behind the wings and surrounded by other cattle.

On my recent flight to Washington Dulles Airport, the aircraft was packed with people from row 13 back and only five people sat in seats forward of that section. You know why? Because it cost about $40 or more to move up into an exit row or to be in the front section of the plane.

Does this make any sense? I’m not an engineer or a pilot, but I can’t imagine that putting 80% or more of your passengers at the back of the plane might make it hard to handle in the air, on landing and even during take-off. Sure, you want the nose of the plane light so it can get up in the air, but you don’t want the freaking thing popping a wheelie all the time because everyone is stuffed in the back.

Further, this attitude of classism (and yes, airlines are one of the few firms that continue this practice) makes everyone on board edgy. Will the guy next to you dash forward during flight to bogart a good seat? Will the flight attendants have the cajonés to stop the interloper?

What about the exit row. I’m pretty provincial, but I’m also fair in my assessment of danger. On my last flight, I was temped to alert the staff that the guy they just approved for exit row status didn’t even speak English. Makes me feel safe.

Maybe during a burning, catastrophic wreck we’ll have time to find someone to translate the crew’s instructions to this man who couldn’t understand the staff when they said to him three times, “please put your tray table up, sir.”

Perhaps the problem is with the staff. Do they even care anymore. All I’ve overheard from flight attendants are complaints about this passenger or that one. And how many flights they’ve had to work without a break. Are pilots in the same boat…err plane?

Is the guy at the front of my aircraft working on more than a few hours sleep?

These worries might be better placed on a talk-radio program or my Worries blog, and as I finalize this column a few days later my fear has been dulled slightly.

I wonder if it will return unbidden as I hop on a couple more planes today and jet toward Las Vegas. Likely surrounded by inconsiderate boobs, illiterate (by American standards) passengers, and questionably committed flight staff.

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New Year’s Day has always been my Everest, my college diploma, my driver’s test. It exists in memory as the day when I emerge better than the challenges before me…victorious.

While the day is a temporal rebirth – at least for those who follow Julian calendars – it’s also the first test of the year. How did you emerge from the previous year? What were your first words, views, thoughts, interactions each new year?

Over the years, I’ve subscribed to my father’s belief that the early bird gets the worm, the best choice of bagels, the quiet bathroom and the best sections of the newspaper. I’ve also believed correctly that dashing around the world before others are up is a fine way to get better breakfast service, see wildlife and take amazing photos of the virgin snow or uncrowded attractions.

During college I treated weekend days like New Year’s morning. While classmates were snuggled in their beds or strewn on couches across campus, I was up and out. A deserted campus is a marvelous thing.The air is sweeter, the coffee shop staff is friendlier and the city sounds (I went to school in the heart of Boston) are muffled by their infrequency.

Put yourself anywhere on New Year’s Day and see how getting up early might help you get ahead. OK, not the Post Office, but nearly anywhere else.

Disney World – first in line on an uncrowded morning.

Ski slopes – more runs before 11 than most people can do in a regular day.

The ocean – perfect kayaking, fishing and drifting before the morons take to the water.

Any major metropolitan city – the aforementioned peace, quiet and privilege of being first in line for everything.

Now let’s shift that thinking. If we’re treating every day as New Year’s, how would your life be different? Would you become a walking commercial for the U.S. armed forces getting more done before 9AM yada yada yada? Or would you cherish your peace, strain your brain and work to make your world and that of others a better place?

The thought of saving time is so prevalent that drivers lose their patience if another car cuts them off. Waiting 15 minutes for a table is worse than having our fingernails pulled out. And if someone cuts in line anywhere it’s grounds for a lawsuit.

But then look around the world on any given day. Look in the morning. Look at those people. They’re often the ones who don’t lose it at minor infractions of the social code. They have a pace of life that’s constant and positive – for the most part.

It’s been said, by many people and most credited to Mahatma Ghandi, that there’s more to life than increasing its speed. Ironically, all of Ghandi’s writings are now in the public domain. They belong to anyone and nobody at the same time. All his work…is it for naught? Maybe not.

I believe that. I believe it’s not how much you get done, because that path could bury you under failed expectations, guilt and Xanax. No, it’s how much you enjoy whatever it is that you do.

That’s the path I choose to take whether I whittle away the hours in front of a computer screen, on a softball field, clipped into the cranks of my bike, or mindlessly staring at the hammock swaying in the breeze. I choose a path that will make me a person who can contribute an ear to others’ lives; who can be in the moment; who values the minutiae and the earth-shattering; and who understands it can all be gone the next day.

That next day, symbolically and literally, is today, tomorrow, next month, your birthday, July 4, equinoxes, high tides, snowstorms, births, deaths, hours, minutes, seconds and even New Year’s Day.

Don’t take a moment to think about that. Use one of the moments you’ve already got and emerge victorious from every new day you get.

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