How BusinessWeek makes sausage, I mean, webcasts

The BusinessWeek webcast, “Boosting Productivity through Virtual Collaboration,” was so much fun that I thought you’d like a bit of an inside peek. (FYI, the show is now live on the BusinessWeek site - register by clicking link here or in previous sentence and you're good to watch it.)

In short, it was extremely professionally done. I’ve been on a TV show or two in my time and this production was of equal quality to CNN, CNBC, NHK...

First the prep. Producer Alex Cohen (left) spoke at length with both Karen Sobel Lojeski and me, individually and together. We each provided Alex with material – in my case the webcast I did for American Management Association Association and a small slide set. Karen did the same.

From these background materials, Alex put together a deck for the show  and wrote the script for Jim Ellis (right), Assistant Managing Editor at BusinessWeek, whom you’ve seen if you’ve turned on your TV in the past ten years and watched any kind of business report – he’s been on too many to recount.

Karen and I met beforehand at a nearby coffee shop then made our way through a tidal wave of elementary school students queuing to get into the International Center of Photography. Seriously. To make forward progress, we had to walk down the middle of 43rd Street, but alas, giving lie to my post earlier this week, there were indeed people in Times Square, even if they were very short.

NASDAQ (nice photo from AP's Rich Kareckas) is right in Times Square central, at the corner of 43rd and Broadway. Heavy, heavy security to get past the front desk – but heavily friendly as well and soon we were ushered into the green room, which of course was painted white.

There we underwent our transformations, Karen first, me second, and with the help of Courtney from Uptown Girl, we both were camera-ready in no time (well, an hour). If you’ve never been made up for TV, make sure you do it before your days end. Everyone looks glamorous with paint on their faces – and you just wish you could miniaturize Courtney for future use.

During make-up, people started pouring in – from BusinessWeek, Cisco, the multi-media vendor, and the janitorial service at NASDAQ (they were only there very briefly).

 

Next, we were taken onto the set, which is spectacular. The NASDAQ board is on the outside wall of the control room; Broadway is behind the anchor desk, with people walking by. I’m not certain that they could see in but there did seem to be people standing on the street, facing our direction.

Jim, Karen, and I were now all in our seats, the teleprompter was all set – and my phone rang. Giving credit where it’s due, the caller was Steve Wylie, who manages the Enterprise 2.0 conference. We’d been trying to connect for days so in true last-minute TV fashion I took Steve’s call and had to rush him off because, as you know, I was about to go on air. Made me feel very important. Alex told me to turn off my phone. Smart man.

  

Next we know, Jim, who had the earpiece thingie with the curly wire, was listening to James (last name?), the director, and suddenly is saying 30 seconds…5, 4, 3…And we’re on the air.

Not exactly. On the web, which those who’d linked in could watch in real-time, see the slides, and ask questions all at once.

With all the preparation behind us, we proceeded to do the show ad lib. I hate scripts (having used them, I can say honestly I do much better without them) which meant that as Jim’s questions came up, we answered them on the spot, passing the ball back and forth between Karen and me. Meanwhile, people were posting questions to the website, which also were coming at us.

Then, before we knew it, the 30 minutes had passed, the show was over, and we were back to the green room to answer more questions. Last I saw, there were 71 questions. Karen and I would yell out to each other – “I’m taking 53,” she said – and then we went about our typing. That went on for another 30 minutes and then it was time to celebrate.

We packed up, braved the cold - honestly, I lived in NY and had to walk to work every day from the West Village - Perry and West Fourth Street - to 18th and 5th (guess where I worked – if you know the intersection, it’s obvious: Barnes and Noble) – you know, a serious schlep and I’ve never been as cold as on this jaunt.

But…it was worth the walk. We ended up at John’s Pizzeria where we indulged in a great lunch of calamari, Caesar Salad, and three kinds of pizza. A wonderful time was had by all.

Thank you, BusinessWeek, thank you, Cisco, thank you, Alex and Jim, and thank you, Karen.

Comments

[Hans Henrik H. Heming]

It was a great wembinar - THX :-)

But - it was to short :-)

I have a special interest in the field because I'm writing a book on Virtual Teams.

It seems to me, that the notion virtual team is very much linked to "old" technology, old perception on how you can work, also in the webinar.

A truly globalized working culture, where you not necessary participate in synchronised project working flows requires a new set of tools, dont you think?

How do you web2.0 as a platform in that matter?

[jessica lipnack]

Thanks, HH, and I agree, it was much too short. We covered about 20 topics in 30 mins, each of which could be a webcast of its own (which I mentioned to the sponsors :).

I do agree completely that Web 2.0 tools are transforming virtual working. Surprised that that didn't come through in my remarks. I'll have to do better the next time. In fact, that could be the special focus of one of those 20 other webcasts. Please tell us what your book is about.

[Hans Henrik H. Heming]

You're right - there is LOTS AND LOTS of stuff to future webcasts :-)

Our book is about how you as a company can orchestrate the multiple number of relations online in a way that makes you able to improve bottom line.

Topics are, social media, social capital, knowledge management, CoP, online sociality...

Would be pleased if we can send you some of our writings during our process :-)

[Christopher Avery]

Congratulations Jessica on a fabulous webcast and fun experience. You deserve it.

[Nina Coil]

What a wonderful webcast! Informative, engaging, very impressive!

[Rick Morris, PhD]

Very informative, and very well done. Full of insights at a time when transforming the way we learn and make and execute decisions is a matter of organizational survival. As relevant to mission outcomes and improved efficiency and effectiveness in government as to boosting productivity in business.

[jessica lipnack]

Hans, by all means, I'd love to see what you're writing, especially if it requires my coming to Copenhagen.

Christopher, thanks. So glad you saw the fun in it too!

Nina, appreciate your taking the time to look. May all our work together be like this.

Rick, right on as always re: organizational survival. And agree completely that it's equally relevant to government as it is to business.

[Tom Kunz]

Jessica, you were a star on the webcast. Such rich information. The fact it was short made it watchable and I think really helps people to know there are things we can be doing differently to improve productivity. You really looked fab!

[Tom Kunz]

Jessica, just one more thing. I have to disagree with Karen when she spoke about the 5 times that ftf meetings are critical. I am a real believer that all of that can be done in a virtual team without ever meeting (I have lived this at Shell). It takes TRUST and a committed team leader, but it can be done. Also, I think rather than doing virtual lunches, my experience is that if a team simply uses one minute checkins where everyone answers a question such as: "Who was your favorite teacher and why?" the team gets to know each other better, builds TRUST and this is so much more productive (and fun) than doing something like listening to others eat. Thanks again for a great webcast.

[Steve Wylie]

Jessica, great webcast. I've been moving toward virtual meetings for my project teams and am finding that the meetings are shorter, have better documentation for next steps/action items and are more productive. More on that here: http://enterprise2blog.com/2009/02/go-virtual-cut-costs-and-be-more-productive/

[jessica lipnack]

Great point, Tom. The Harvard Business School study that we did -- in which your team was featured, as I recall :) -- pointed to the same finding: while desirable because, after all, we are human, duh, is not necessary for virtual team success. Preferable but not necessary. Maybe we should do another piece together just about that!

[jessica lipnack]

Steve, the benefits you name are superb. Shorter meetings, better documentation of what to do next, and greater productivity. Who could ask for more?

[Mike Prevou]

Jessica, Great webcast. So applicable today. It seems that a lot of organizations are doing a lot of virtual teaming and virtual meetings but not very well. A very haphazard approach in most. I like how this focused on boosting productivity. Your comments about TRUST, spot on. My recent work with Army and now inter-service teams highlight that we need ways to develop this trust and common team purpose quickly and effectively. Communicate-communicate-communicate! I’d love to share this webcast in my KM circles, it superb at getting to meat of virtual teaming in a short presentation.

[jessica lipnack]

Thanks so much for the comment, Mike. You can share it using the embed code available at this BusinessWeek site: http://feedroom.businessweek.com/index.jsp?fr_story=02a7a83669a1faf20bb8b6b934d9c52a38d09687