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Whew! There’s a lot involved in putting together a four minute segment on the Today Show. I know I’m pretty picky about the details but I don’t think I’m the only that gets so particular on these occasions.
This Sunday, I’ll attempt to pack into four minutes what could take four days to talk about. Creating an eco-friendly garden at home is something I’ve been doing personally and talking to others about for years now. And I’m supposed to squeeze that down into a four minute piece, including the introduction by the host and all the questions to set up each topic???
I figure that leaves me about two minutes to explain to the country just how important and easy it now is to practice environmental stewardship right in your own yard or garden. When are they going to figure out I need my own network show?
Even though I always rant about the lack of time given to talk about such important information, I must say, The Today Show producers and crew do an amazing job at moving through everything I have to talk about, albeit forcing me to only throw out the bullet points on each item I am covering.
This Sunday’s segment will be interesting. Normally I fly up Friday morning and meet with the producer, set designer and props crew. The purpose of this very important meeting is to make sure we are all in agreement on how the set will look, how the flow will work and to make sure everything we need to talk about is in place. It’s virtually a dress rehearsal inside the studio.
By the time I arrive back the next morning (Saturday) for the live segment, the entire set has been transferred to the Plaza where it all takes place. It is truly amazing to see the operation unfold.
This time, the segment is on Sunday morning. I’ll arrive on Saturday morning but there won’t be any rehearsal. I won’t even see everything in place until I arrive at the Plaza on Sunday morning, an hour before my segment goes live (I’m already starting to sweat).
I’m trusting that all the people we contacted on short notice yesterday will have time to package and ship the products I’ll be talking about on Sunday. Without any real way of knowing what makes it and what doesn’t, I’m praying that it all goes according to plan.
We tried something new this time since we won’t have the benefit of meeting with the set designer and producer before Sunday. I asked my faithful jack-of-all-trades and right hand (wo)man, Courtenay to assist with a set design sketch that might help the Today Show crew get the picture for what we envision for the layout. I’m sure it’s overkill for professionals like them, but it makes me feel better and I need a good nights sleep on Saturday!
By the way, today is Wednesday and it’s also the Fourth of July. That means one less day for prop deliveries or anything else but I know I’m in good hands. Talking about creating an eco-friendly garden will be a good message regardless and a lot of fun to do. I hope you’ll be watching. It airs live at 7: am EST and I’m on in the 7:30 half hour. My next post will be a follow up after the segment. Stay tuned as they say!
JL