A vote that truly will make a difference

Nothing ever prepares someone when diagnosed with cancer. It’s a stunning emotional blow. We know, we’ve lived it at our house. But you can be prepared for what comes next which often times includes chemotherapy.

Most patients are not prepared for the physical, emotional, and financial stress brought on by treatment. Not knowing, not understanding, not having a coordinated plan can bring disastrous consequences. Did you know that 30% of chemotherapy patients end up bankrupt because they didn’t understand all of the financial implications of their treatment? Many more never complete therapy due to unexpected side effects or unmanageable cost.

This is why an experienced team who've seen first-hand the impact of cancer and chemotherapy treatment have created Chemo101.com, an innovative, educational on-line platform designed to meet the needs of the cancer patient and caregiver. Chemo101.com launches in October and will be a complete one-stop solution for education about chemotherapy treatments and resources to help mitigate the unexpected physical and financial impact. Information that will help patients and caregivers take a more active role in their chemotherapy treatment plan.

Think of Chemo101 as a “Future Shock-Shock Absorber.”

Also coming is the impending launch of “Chemo Gives,” a non-profit organization focused on supporting some of the non-medical financial needs of the patient like transportation, home utilities, food, and lodging. It’s a huge and expensive undertaking, and why we were thrilled to be selected as a finalist for a Pepsi Refreshes Grant for “Ideas that change the world.” At stake is $250,000 to help us achieve what we’ve been working so hard towards, which Chemo101 can earn by gaining the most votes during September's competition.

We now turn to you.

We need your help, your vote, and to spread the word. Here’s how:

1. Voting starts September 1, 2010 and continues throughout the month.
2. Voting is easy. Login to the Pepsi Refresh page, and type “Chemo101” in the search box on the top right of the page. Click on the “Vote for this idea,” register, then vote.
3. You can vote every day, so please make it part of your daily online routine in September.
4. Share this with your friends via Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, e-mail or text. Ask them to spread the word. If we get the most votes, the Pepsi Refresh Project awards Chemo101 $250,000. Your vote, every day, for 30 days. That’s it.

Your vote can bring about advancing chemotherapy education, and providing the financial help to those who badly need it. You can make a difference. You can bring about change.

Thanks,

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

Chemo101 picked by Pepsi Refresh to compete for $250,000 Grant!

Denver, CO (PRWEB) August 30, 2010

Thanks to Pepsi's Refresh Project, an entrepreneurial initiative that awards millions of dollars in grants to ideas that "refresh the world", patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers engaged in chemotherapy treatment may soon be logging on to Chemo101, an innovative education platform designed to meet the needs of both cancer patients and caregivers.

Chemo101.com is a complete one-stop solution for education about chemotherapy treatments and resources to help mitigate the unexpected physical and financial impact on those affected by cancer.

Starting September 1, supporters of Chemo101 can log on to Pepsi Refresh's website and cast their daily vote through September 30 to help win the grant and launch the website.

A glaring need to provide a central resource for cancer patients and caregivers ignited Chemo101 principal and consultant to the pharmaceutical industry Kristin Gustafson's passion for the idea to enter the Pepsi Refresh competition. Ms. Gustafson witnessed the hardships and confusion experienced by patients and caregivers firsthand during her many years in the industry. She explains, "30% of chemotherapy patients end up bankrupt because they didn’t understand all of the financial implications of their treatment. Many more never complete therapy due to unexpected side effects or unmanageable cost. We want to change that. That's why we need everyone's vote support to provide this much needed one-stop online resource for thousands of cancer patients and those who give care to them."

The stakes are high for Chemo101 and its supporters. Winning Pepsi Refresh's $250,000 grant by gaining the most votes during September's competition can mean advancing chemotherapy education, and providing the financial help to those who badly need it. Voting for Chemo101 starts September 1, 2010 and continues through September 30. Supporters can vote help by logging on to the Pepsi Refresh page “Chemo101” in the search box on the top right of the page. Click on the “Vote for this idea,” register, then vote.

Media contact:

Kristin Gustafson
612-845-8769

Conversation Starters LLC is proud to be a partner with Chemo101.com.

BEVO Blog #2

I just watched the Big 12 Preview on ESPNU. The usual cast of characters got the most attention, mainly Texas and OU, although honorable mentions went to A&M and Texas Tech. It will be weird to see Tech actually running the football! Howdy Tommy.

Texas and OU come into the season with new QB's. Sam Bradford is now with St. Louis, Colt McCoy with Cleveland. Texas coach Mack Brown is legendary for his ability to re-load each season. Garrett Gilbert got a baptism by fire last January in the BCS Championship Game. It will serve him well this year. Also look for Texas to run the ball a lot more.

The two big games on the Texas schedule this year are Nebraska who has a lot of motivation to beat the 'Horns in Lincoln this year. That last second loss in the Big 12 Championship game still hurts and with Nebraska leaving for the Big 10, this could be the last meeting of the two teams for quite some time. The big question is just how will the Nebraska fans, among the best and most sportsmanlike in all of college football, react when the Longhorns take the field.

Then's there's the annual gathering in Dallas with the Sooners. The Red River Rivalry. Game time has been pushed back a couple of hours which means an even rowdier crowd than ever. Most of the predictions have Texas winning, again. But when these two teams take the field against each other, all bets are off. Howdy ya'll.

We're excited to be heading to Austin for the Wyoming game on September 11. Pre-game will be at the Salt Lick plus we'll make a visit to the Co-op. We were up at the game last year in Laramie, and the Cowboys led at half-time. The Pokes have a history of playing big teams tough in the first-half. As for the second-half, not so much. But never take Wyoming for granted. Just ask the Vols.

College football is almost here, and no matter who you cheer on, it's the happiest time of the year.

HOOK'EM!

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversations about you"

A comic strip is worth a thousand words

Did you see the story this week about teens and texting? Some researchers liken texting to a narcotic. Nielsen Research says teens send 3-thousand texts a month and a lot of us spend over 8 hours a day in front of a screen, either computer, PDA or iPad.

But it was cultural media this week that brought the story home. A recent episode of TNT's "Rizzoli and Isles" had a group of kids touring the police station. Rizzoli was doing her best to talk to the kids about her job as a detective, but the kids were too busy texting to pay attention.

Today, once again, the comic strip "Zits" (seen above) nailed the whole thing in just one panel. Less is more. But not apparently, when it comes to texting!

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

Bob Schieffer on 'Net Nuts

The great thing about the Internet is pretty much everyone has access to it. The bad thing about the Internet is pretty much everyone has access to it.

Remember the old saying that a lie gets half-way around the world before truth gets it pants on? That quote is often attributed to Winston Churchill, some say it was Mark Twain. Either way, it's a point well taken. The Internet just speeds up the process.

This was all the subject of this commentary by Bob Schieffer of CBS News this past Sunday. Schieffer is "old school" and as a Texan, he talks plain. He makes the point that "Ignorance Travels Fast on Internet." He was reacting to the recent poll about people's perception of President Obama's religion. I won't weigh in on that debate, but do agree with many of the points Schieffer makes about the danger of believing everything you read or see on the Internet.

Schieffer isn't the first person to make the point that the Internet provides a platform for a lot of misguided folks who use the Internet to validate their own misguidedness. Shari Julian, a Texas psychologist says, "When you have a venue for ventilating rage, your belief in that rage is ratified. It increases their belief that their behavior is acceptable. Their behavior is applauded, seconded. In that case, it's scary. It does seem to roll and escalate."

You can pretty much post the most outrageous things about anyone or anything on the Internet. There are lots of websites that provide the platform for you. It's all protected by free speech and the folks who run these websites defend themselves by saying they're essentially a digital book-shelf and not responsible for the content of the books on that shelf.

To be fair, the Internet is an incredible source for information, research and news. But as Ronald Reagan famously said, "Trust but verify."

Just like a good journalist, seek out more than just one source for information. Just because it's on the Internet doesn't make it true. Be especially aware of anonymous posters. Anyone who posts a thought, idea or opinion anonymously makes what they say about as worthless as spit.

Imagine if John Hancock had signed the Declaration of Independence as "FreedomGuy76?"

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

I didn't know what I was missing.

I recently got a new iPod Nano. Actually I won the darn thing in a drawing. A nice surprise, and the even better surprise was about all the Nano does. It's about half the size of my iPod Classic which I've had for a few years now. The "old" model has video, games, music etc and it stores over 3-thousand songs, several seasons of Entourage along with other videos and gobs of pictures. It works great and frankly, there was no urgent need to upgrade it. I know, all this stuff is also available on the iPhone, but until Verizon makes them available I'm living a non-iPhone life. I dislike dropped calls.

What I like about the iPod Nano:

1. Size. It fits comfortably in a shirt pocket.
2. Capabilities. Not only does it play music and videos, it also has a built in video camera, FM radio tuner (with pause functions) and even a pedometer!
   
3. Storage. While my iPod Classic has 160GB of storage, the Nano comes in 8 and 16GB models. The Nano can't store everything I have on the Classic, but more than enough for "on-the-go" usage and I can shoot a video of anything interesting I might come across.
   

This morning I hit the treadmill, tuned in a local sports-talk radio program and kept track of steps taken and calories burned. Pretty cool. Last week while visiting family, I shot several videos, plugged it into my laptop and uploaded everything to YouTube.

I'm old enough to remember the first Sony Walkman. It was amazing for its time when it came out in 1979. A portable device that played an entire audio cassette tape! Believe it or not, some of the devices are still around. On a flight recently, a gentleman across the aisle from me was listening merrily to music on his. Far out.

Today we take technology pretty much for granted. Not me. The challenge is simply keeping up with the next thing to come along. Which likely will be as early as this afternoon.

Recently I had lunch with a senior marketing executive for one of the nation's top television programmers. She told me they literally have a tech lab where they look at, and play with the latest digital toys to see what they do, and how her company can monetize results providing content for them. Employees take the devices home then come back with ideas.

It's a digital world changing almost, at the speed of light. The little Nano in my pocket is proof.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We star the conversations about you"

BEVO Edition #1

Ok dear reader(s)...time for a new Friday feature which will run throughout the college football season.

***Update*** 1:41pm ET
Texas and BYU add home and home games to schedules.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog:

The BEVO edition, named after the stalwart symbol of the glorious Texas Longhorns will of course cover the 'Horns, but also a couple of other favorite teams; the University of Wyoming Cowboys and the Auburn Tigers.

For fans of OU and CU and yes, Nebraska we extend our apologies in advance.

This past week, ESPN re-ran the National Championship Game between Texas and 'Bama. We didn't watch. Once was enough to see Colt go down. But a new season awaits and all is well with the world.

The Big 12 almost folded itself into what might have been the PAC 16. We would have liked the opportunity to visit new venues in cities like San Francisco. Now the Big 12 is the sort-of Big 12. With Nebraska heading to the Big 10 this years match-up between Texas and the Huskers will overshadow the OU game if you can believe it.

Lots of changes coming to several converences in the coming years. How it will all shake out remains to be seen but we'd be disappointed if there is no championship game in the Big 12 or whatever it ends up being called. It's very likely one or more teams will be moving into the conference depending on what kind of television deals can be made.

Then there's the whole mess with USC. We're not fans of Lane Kiffin, who is? But it's sad players who came to USC after Reggie Bush left will pay the price.

We're just weeks away from the happiest time of the year, college football season. It should be a grand one.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

Wind Power a Lo$er...for now.

Folks owning stock in Vestas Wind Systems* got some bad news yesterday as the Danish builder of wind generators reported lousy earnings, and even worse guidance through the rest of the year. Shares dropped 22% at the news.

Talk about having the wind taken out of your sails! Or turbines in this case.

While there has been much talk about wind power, part of the "green" energy solution, there is little profit because while demand exists, financing doesn't. Especially for infrastructure to get the power from where the wind is, to where the demand is.

So wind power works, it's just not working now. Both the government and the industry itself need to manage expectations, it's a PR thing. We need to continue to develop alternative energy 'cause we're going to run out of oil eventually. But we're a generation away at least from replacing the old with the new.

Sadly, the argument about energy is "Either-Or" but not both. We'll need both fossil fuels and green energy deveopment at the same time. It's up to this generation, to make sure power is available for the next.

As one Gulf oil worker said, "Air Force One runs on jet fuel." There's also a reason 100 plus coal trains leave the Powder River Basin (Let 'er buck) in Wyoming every day. A demand for power being met by tried and true fossil fuel sources. But while the supply is plentiful, it's also finite.

So let's not give up on wind, but let's be real at the same time.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We get the conversation started about you"
* I own Vestas shares

All the news that fits...

I try and start out each morning checking out my favorite news websites. It's good to start the day half-way informed. Normally none of this is blog material, and might not be but hey, it's my blog and I'll blog if I want to.

First out of the gate is this column by my friend and Dow Jones Newswires writer Al Lewis. It's about corporate brown-nosing, i.e. sucking up. Al has a knack for rooting out the problems and foibles of corporate America, and this column is no different. Sucking up works, which ends up with companies not working.

In other news...you might remember the story about a thief who tried to rip-off an iPad from a victim at a mall in Denver, darn near ripping off the victim's thumb at the same time. In an dictment of a lousy legal system, the crook then tried to order a hit on the victim from his jail cell. The crook was allowed access to all the victim's records connected to the case, even his home address. The charges have escalted from theft to attempted murder. But something is wrong with a system that allows criminals to order hits from jail. Something very wrong.

Finally from our "It takes all types to make a world" department, this story about a mother who thought it was funny to take a picture of her 11 month child with a bong. Ha ha! She even posted the picture on Facebook. Surprise, surprise, someone noticed and she got busted. You are what you post.

Maybe some or all of the above will get some conversations started. It's an interesting world.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We get the conversation started about you"

Warhol got it wrong.

Pop Artist Andy Warhol set society off on a bad path when he predicted "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes." I'm not against fame. Heck, it's my job.

But fame for what? Today that JetBlue flight attendant who threw a temper tantrum announced he's hired a publicist. Could a reality show be in his future? The flight attendant tusseled with a customer, then grabbed a brew, opened the cabin door and hit the emergency escape slide button. Wah wah wah.

Instantly he became a symbol for angry workers everywhere. Take this job and shove it!

He still gets gobs of coverage, especially in social media. Sadly little was reported about how he endangered the lives of ground crew and his passengers when he popped that escape slide. That thing fires out like a cannon.

Now he's got a publicist. Remember the two attention starved yahoos who crashed a White House Party? Mrs. Yahoo now has her own reality show. And a publicist. And an agent.

It's sad that shameful behavior is what gets a person famous these days. Normally I put links to the subject matter in this blog. But in this case it's the subject, not the subject matter that deserves the attention.

Fifteen minutes? Fair enough. Fame and fortune? Not so much.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation started about you" (If you deserve it)

Take time for bubbles.

One of my favorite comic strips is Luann. Yesterday's strip had Luann and best friend Bernice hanging as usual and talking about when they first met as young kids. They remembered the fun they had blowing bubbles.

Both then looked down at their laptops and PDA's and how they entertain themselves in this 24/7 connected world. The last panel showed them outside blowing bubbles and having a grand time. (Real bubbles, not the iPad App)

It's hard to resist the temptation not to get on Facebook, or worse yet check your business e-mails on a Sunday. Even if you do that, there are texts requesting meeting for the next day as I got last night. (Which I answered)

I think Luann is on to something. Whatever your particular "Bubbles" is, take time to turn off the electronic gizmos and enjoy time away from them. Even if just for a short while.

Being too connected can make you disconnected. That said, time to get connected this Monday morning and get back to work. Sigh.

Brian Olson
Conversation Staters LLC
"We start the conversations about you"

Haiti Mission Video

We've posted a couple of times about the work that needs to be done in Haiti. Check out this video. No more words needed.





Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

Free! Really.

We've all seen the ads on TV. Try it free! Then they ask for your credit card number. Another hook is doubling the offer at no extra charge, just pay separate shipping and handling which can often cost more than the product itself.

Some of these products actually work as advertised, ultimately it's up to you to judge the value.

But all of the above made me appreciate two truly free offers, and indicative of the way some great companies are drumming up business in this economy.

SportClips opened up a new store where I live and sent out coupons for a free haircut. There were no strings attached to the coupon, and none when I went and got, yes, a free haircut. The whole idea of course is to get me back into the store as a paying customer in the future. Based on the experience, mission accomplished.

While I was about to leave, a representative from Chick-fil-A came in with free Hot and Spicy Sandwiches for the staff. The goal was to get the folks working at SportsClips to visit their restaurant for lunch breaks or maybe after work in the future. Customers in the store got a free sandwich too.

Both SportClips and Chick-fil-A believe enough in their product and customer service that they took the risk to truly offer it for free, betting that the experience will build future business.

No credit cards or shipping and handling charges required.

There's free, then there not-exactly. Kudos to two companies, SportsClips and Chick-fil-A, for believing enough in themselves, that I could believe enough in them in the future.

Have a grand weekend everyone.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversations about you"

Crisis Management

This morning a friend and colleague had to cancel a morning meeting. He had a good excuse. A client needed his skills and expertise to deal with not the best of news.

A couple of weeks ago, another colleague had to drop everything to deal with a simply horrific event impacting her client.

It's called "Crisis Management." You can't anticipate a crisis, they arrive on their own schedule. But you can prepare. When I was a field producer for an affiliate group of 126 television stations, I had to be ready to leave on a story on a moments notice, head to the airport and wait for a call to let me know where I was going and on what flight. When I got to the scene, we started to ask the "Who, what, where, when and why" questions. Sometimes there was a person to answer those questions. Often times not. When there was, in too many cases the people we were talking to were unprepared.

Bad things happen to good people and organizations. That you can't control. What you can control is how you deal with them.

How you react can impact you positively, or in too many cases negatively. The latter happens when you're not prepared.

Crisis management is just one of the things we do at Conversation Starters. Take a cue from the Boy Scouts and "Be prepared." Better to have a plan and not need it, then need a plan and not have it.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

Alaska Air Crash

It was very sad to hear of the plane crash that took the life of former Senator Ted Stevens and others aboard the aircraft. What hit home is that we were just in Alaska and had flown a Piper Navajo from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, AK north of the Arctic Circle. The particular aircraft that went down was a De Havilland "Otter." It's one of the backbones of Alaska Aviation.

Planes are like taxis in Alaska. one in 70 Alaskans have a pilot's license. You can't drive to Alaska's Capitol city of Juneau. You have to get there by boat or plane.

We saw one neighborhood outside of Anchorage that had a plane in the backyard of every home!

It will take awhile to determine the cause of a crash, but weather could have been a factor. Both times we've been to Alaska you could always count on at least some foggy/rainy weather. Mountains and oceans make for rapidly changing weather, despite the best forecasts.

When I flew with the Civil Air Patrol in Wyoming and Texas, but especially Wyoming, we learned that mountainous areas create their own weather. According to reports the plane Stevens was aboard was flying VFR or Visual Flight Rules although it's very likely the pilot was instrument rated which is required to fly in bad weather. Maybe the cause was mechanical. We just don't know.

My flight instructor taught me early on he wasn't teaching me how to fly, but how not to crash. When you're flying over rough terrain your options for a safe landing are slim should you have problems with your aircraft. You train to do it, but mountains and heavily wooded areas make lousy landing fields.

With the CAP I also learned that a crashed aircraft looks anything like a plane. It's a crumpled pile of metal, usually hidden deep beneath huge trees and very difficult to spot. Then there's the challenge of getting rescue crews to the crash site which was the case in Alaska.

Despite this crash, there will be thousands of takeoffs and landings every day in Alaska because that's how you get from "here to there" in the 49th state. Whether in the Lower 48 or in Alaska, the most dangerous part of your trip is the trip to the airport. Given a choice between flying by plane or driving down the road, I'll take the plane any day.

While in Alaska, I took video of various planes whenever I could, so here's a video montage of an important, make that a critical part of transportation in Alaska.




Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversations about you"

Empower yourself. Ditch the Cell Phone.

Just read the August 9-15 edition of my favorite magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek. In the "Etc" section Joel Stein writes about major moguls who conduct life sans cell phone. Warren Buffett doesn't use one. Neither does Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire who just bought the New Jersey Nets. He says "Nyet" to cell phones.

We're a nation of 280 million mobile subscribers and according to Joel, we even interrupt sex to take a call. Say what?

So what's with not having a cell phone? Joel thinks it's all about control, a power move. Want to deal with Warren Buffett? By not having a cell phone, Buffet can make you wait until he's ready to deal. He controls the schedule. With his enormous success, it's hard to argue.

Granted, all these mega-successful people have staff around them, who do have cell phones. My guess is folks like Buffett have borrowed them from time to time. But on their time. Don't call me because you can't. I'll call you when I'm ready and maybe you're not. Power move.

All this got me to thinking if cell phones have really improved our lives. Walk down the street and you see people yakking on their phones. Ditto for coffee shops, and the guy in the seat behind you on the airplane before they close the door. And for some strange reason, people seem to think they need to talk loudly while on a cell phone so we can all share in the conversation.

A digital tower of babble for all of us to share, even though we don't want to. There's a time and a place for cell phones and it seems it's all the time and every place.

I doubt I'll get rid of my cell phone. I've been using one since 1987. Bad habits are hard to break.

Maybe Warren could stage an intervention for me. I just got to figure out how to get a hold of him.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversations about you"

Got time? Want to make a difference?

Time.

It seems we never have enough of it. Perhaps it's more about managing the time we have because we all get 24 hours a day. Time is the ultimate equalizer.

A lot of people spend at least some of their time volunteering in the community. My two favorites are The Jeffco Action Center and Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. The former because of the huge and growing need, the latter because I love aviation.

I'm privileged to serve on the board of directors of the Jeffco Action Center. Many committee meeting start at 7:30am. While the doors of the center open at 9am, it always touches me to see people already lined up for help when I arrive.

These are good people. At Jeffco many people who used to donate, are now clients. If you wonder why, just look at the economic news, not the least of which is an unemployment rate that hovers around 10%.

When the money runs out, they turn to Jeffco. The Jeffco Action Center is just one of many such fine volunteer supported agencies around the country. So my plea to you this Friday is to take a look at your schedule, think about how you could spend even an hour a week making a difference, then finding an organization where you can make a difference in your community.

People are already lined up for help as you read this. Please think about helping them. You can make a difference. If you want to. You do have the time.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

Welcome Chemo101

We're pleased to announce the signing of Chemo101 as our newest client at Conversation Starters. Chemo101 is targeted towards cancer patients and their caregivers who face chemotherapy. We have personal experience with all the uncertainties, the fear and impact of chemo in our family. It's one of the reasons we're happy to help promote this terrific group.

There's much work to be done and you'll be able to help us achieve our goals. We'll be sharing all this with you in future blogs, along with news and information on Facebook and Twitter.

So stay tuned as we join Chemo101 in filling an important need.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

Going negative on negative

I don't know about where you live but several months out from the November election, the negative political ads here in Colorado are hard to avoid and harder to stomach.

Based on an internal poll comprised of myself, if everything said in these ads are true, every candidate is a no-good lowlife crook. With the primary a few days a way, both the Democrats and the Republicans have perfected the concept of the circular firing squad. Ready, shoot, aim.

The general campaign promises to be worse. Before proceeding, here's one definition of "Negative" that I found today.

"Damaging; or intended to discredit, especially without positive or helpful suggestions."

Along with the negative advertising come the perfunctatory news stories about whether negative advertising works, which includes the perfunctatory sound bytes from Political Science Professors saying that indeed, going negative is a positive.

Class dismissed.

That may have been true in the past, buy not anymore. I won't pretend to speak for anyone but myself but I'm sick of it and believe you are too.

I've attended several candidate forums sponsored by the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, at the most recent of which a candidate came out in support of private sector job creation. Talk about taking a bold position. Later that day I saw one of that candidate's ads blasting an opponent. In neither forum did the candidate actually say what they'd do to solve some of our current problems.

Bad mouthing and platitudes are so much easier. I'm not buying it, and in fact demand a refund.

I'll support any candidate who will actually say what their goals are, and what they'll at least try and do to achieve them. One problem. I can't find any candidate willing to do this.

But I'll keep my eyes open.

But this is the year that going negative is going to backfire on a lot of politicians. It's about time.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

EXCLUSIVE!

ABC News touted an "Exclusive" on my Twitter feed this morning. It had US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner telling George Stephanopoulis that unemployment could actually rise as the recovery continues. I'll let you draw your own personal conclusions as to how the administration is handling the economy but does this statement come as any surprise? To anyone? But apparently it's "Exclusive" because that's what it says on ABC's Website.

While I'm singling this example from ABC News, (I used to sit on their Affiliate Advisory Board) everyone is promoting "Exclusive" so much that it really has no meaning.

OK, it's a competitive news environment these days but it seems that the promotion departments are driving news rather than the other way around. Today's story was about the same as saying the sun rises in the east.

There were lots of breathless "Exclusives" in past months talking about....oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. All of which left me completely whelmed.

Good journalists work hard for exclusives. Bad promotion departments promote exclusives when they really aren't. A perfect example is this morning's "Exclusive" when a morning news anchor talks with a government official putting their spin on what condition our condition is in.

It's not exclusive, it may not even be news because news is what's new. Political spin is just that. Spin. But please, don't call it exclusive and don't call it news.

Brian Olson
This Exclusive Blog brought to you by:
Conversation Starters LLC
"We get the conversation started about you"

Red Ribbons better than Red Tape

I had the opportunity to attend a South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting (actually sawing!) for the new Ace Hardware store at 15600 E. Briarwood at Cornerstar in Aurora.

Ted Schenderlein is the GM and Partner in the enterprise. What I hadn't realized is ACE Hardware stores, while having the power of a national brand and marketing, are individually owned. It's a great way to do business.

In these economic times, it's refreshing to see someone starting up a big enterprise. Ted's approach is to make his store a "Neighborhood" type of store, with focus on customer service and individual approaches to customer needs. He's a nice guy and I wish him well.

It's also important that entrepreneurs like Ted can focus more energy on operating his business and less time on bureaucratic red tape. Red Ribbon cutting is far more effective than dealing with Red Tape. Free enterprise creates jobs. So let's free-up, free enterprise!

Here's the video we produced of the event.



Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We get the conversation started about you"