It's long overdue, but I finally got around to uploading my photos from my recent Papal visit adventure on Flickr. Head over to the New York Papal Visit set for the full batch.
As a teaser, I'm posting one of newly uploaded photos here:
This is at the edge of the blocked off 'media village' and also rare shot of me working. Note the sunburn, sweat drenched suit, secret service pin, and my need for support to stand upright. It was a long, hot day.
By the end the of the day, I was using the minute-by-minute schedule in my left hand to beat back unruly reporters. I'm joking, sort of...
All right, that's it; no more Pope-related posts. My next post on social media, its impact on political campaigns, and sniper fire, coming soon!
Now that I've had a few days to get settled in, I'd like to revisit the Papal Public Relations post and add in a few more thoughts.
[Disclaimer: Event planning for the Pope is pretty old school, and as a result, I won’t be talking about Twitter, or the latest FIR on this post. No, this will be a throw back to traditional event planning.]
First, I've included a highly requested Popemobile clip. Here's the Holy Father as he leaves the Youth Rally. It was quite amazing to be so close and to have a free moment to snag the video.
This may come as a shock to some of my colleagues who, like me, faced an unrelenting torrent of questions, demands, and near riots, but this Papal visit has given me a newfound respect for the media.
Some PR pros are susceptible to developing the "us versus them" approach when working the media. I think our agency does a good job of working in collaboration with the reporters that cover our clients, but this Papal visit highlighted three aspects of news reporting that I didn't fully appreciate until this event:
1: Size Matters. There was no way on earth that every outlet could receive media credentials for every stop on the Pope's visit. Some of the events like the Ground Zero stop and the mass at Saint Patrick's Cathedral allowed for precious few media assignments. When it came down to it, the largest outlets often got the spot. That's not to say smaller newspapers, radio stations, and broadcasters didn't get access to high profile venues. Rather, the size of the outlet was a factor in the credentialing and positioning equation.
2: Hurry Up and Wait. As I described in the earlier post. I spent hours upon hours camped out, often in close quarters, with journalists covering the Papal visit. At one point, I found myself stationed next to two photographers. In an effort to kill some time, I commented that today must be hard on them since the media check-in started at 8am for an event that wasn't scheduled until 4pm - thinking the eight-hour wait was brutal for all parties involved. Nope. Not at all. This was their job, they told me. United Nations meetings, visiting heads of-state, waiting was common practice for these guys. They brought books and laptops and seemed legitimately accustomed to sitting on a marble floor for hours, after having spent the entire morning in security lines. All of this for a few minutes or sometimes seconds of opportunity to take the perfect shot.
3: Plan for the Unexpected.You’d think the actual bus ride from the hotel to the venue would be the one aspect of the trip that could be reasonably scripted: get all the media through security and on the bus.Ride said bus.Get off and find the Pope.Pretty manageable, right?
Well, no. As it turns out, the Secret Service escorting the buses to the venue didn’t check the route and we encountered an overpass that was too low for buses. No worries, we spent the better part of an hour backing up on the West Side Parkway causing apocalyptic traffic delays and attracting what I think were news and traffic helicopters. Fox News, with nothing else to do, blogged about the experience here: Wild Bus Ride to Youth Rally. As I think about it, I have no real insight on this one. Shit happens, be ready.
That's it for the Pope, I'll link to a Flickr stream, as soon as I get all the pics uploaded.
If you read a newspaper or turned on a TV over the last week you no doubt know that Pope Benedict XVI recently made his first ever visit to the United States. Our agency, on behalf of the Archdiocese of New York, was tasked with working with the thousands of media outlets that had converged on the New York portion of this historic trip.
As you can imagine, this was public relations event planning to the extreme. Months before the Holy Father landed in the US, we were working to field credentialing requests, process the approved outlets through the Secret Service background checks, and then assign the media to positions at various venues on the Vatican's itinerary like Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Yankee Stadium, etc.
I won’t bore everyone with the endless hours spent mapping out thousands of media assignments but it’s worth noting that the security procedures were so tight that reporters and broadcasters were to be assigned to fixed positions. That is, once an outlet arrived at their respective location – for example: USA Today at position 13 near the choir loft at St Patrick’s – they were not allowed to move or roam around the venue to gain a better angle or to interview passersby.
This was all in an effort to restrict movement in the moments leading up to the Pope’s arrival or departure. The Secret Service would institute a ‘frozen’ zone surrounding the venue. That meant no bathroom breaks, no running back to the satellite truck for fresh batteries, nothing. No. Movement.
Those that attempted moving out of their assigned location risked getting escorted out of the venue entirely. And, while PR people may have profound respect and understanding for the important role that, say, an AP photographer fills in covering these events, the Secret Service did not distinguish between an unruly member of the public and a top tier photographer angling for a better shot.
With those rules in mind, you can imagine the job of us ‘media escorts’ in ushering the media through the Secret Service sweeps, on the bus, to the venue, to their fixed position, and then standing alongside a contingent of media that spent the entire day reporting live and filing stories.
At night, after getting back from full day of media escorting, we went back to the hotel, showered, changed into street clothes, and went back out to tape down media assignments for the next day’s venue. This was the easiest part of the job – we simply were to duct tape down signs with numbers that would serve as a blueprint of sorts for staff and media the next morning. Compared to the long hectic days, the quiet nights spent shuffling down the pews in empty, dimly lit churches were almost as refreshing as sleep itself. Almost.
This photo is taken from Saint Joseph's Yorkville in Manhattan. As luck would have it, I was assigned an incredible position, in front of the first pews nearly 20 feet from the altar. This photo was taken from that position during the hours we spent awaiting the Holy Father's arrival. In the foreground producers make final adjustments to the lighting, microphone, etc.
This is taken after the Yorkville service, from the steps of the Church. In the foreground Cardinals mill about on the street. In the center, background, a 'frozen' media position of broadcasters positioned to capture the Pope's arrival and departure.
Photo taken at Saint Joesph's Seminary in Yonkers. I was assigned to a huge section of broadcast media at a Youth Rally on the grounds of the Seminary. The rally was about 25,000 people and included Kelly Clarkson as a performer leading up to the Pope's arrival. Here, on-air talent and cameramen wait for the rally to begin in an area that became known as the Media Village as a small city seemingly sprung up overnight as hundreds of outlets set up shop. Unnamed reporter catches some sleep in the foreground. Video from the same position below.
Taken from the main press box in Yankee Stadium.
Video from same position below. Note the radio broadcasters in the rows below me. My apologies for the jerky movements, the box was packed with agents and media. Also I happened to take this clip when a Spanish-speaking performer was addressing the Holy Father. Regrettably, I do not know Spanish. Any guesses at a translation are welcome in the comments.
I plan to write a follow up post touching on the lessons learned after surviving such a massive event. For now, I just wanted to get these initial thoughts and pictures posted.
