Event Planning and Execution

On October 3rd, 2000 TIF/WHYY held the first of their co-produced events, “Radio Times Live at Temple.” The question for discussion was whether there should be a moratorium on capital punishment in Pennsylvania. Hour One, on state and national issues, featured Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher (in 2002 a gubernatorial candidate) and Ray Brown, host of an Emmy award-winning legal affairs shown on New Jersey public television. Hour Two, on capital punishment in Philadelphia, featured the chief of homicides in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office, and David Rudovsky, a prominent civil rights attorney and Penn professor. Presiding both hours was the venerable Marty Moss-Coane, whose talk show on public radio commanded a loyal listenership. The third hour was given over to lunch and informal discussion. A team from Computer Media Services was on hand, as usual, to videotape the proceedings and interview selected audience members.

By all accounts the event went exceedingly well. The auditorium was filled to capacity. The topic was engaging, the sound was good, the panelists responded well to Moss-Coane’s probing, audience questions and comments were insightful, and everyone remembered to turn off their cell phones. How did it happen?

Preparation for public affairs productions requires adherence to the rule that whatever can go wrong will go wrong unless anticipated in advance. Even then, there are no guarantees. Thus, provisions must be set in place for responding quickly to emergencies: a late arrival by a panelist, a faulty sound system, a crowd in excess of a room’s capacity. Experience helps, but so too does dumb luck.

Planning for the October 3rd event began the previous Spring and required seemingly endless meetings, e-mail exchanges, and telephone conversations with the scores of people who make such events work. Particularly vexing was the task of panel selection. One learns early on in arranging such events that there is no such thing as perfect balance, and that the varieties of expertise relevant to a topic exceed the number of slots available, or considered manageable, on a panel. Complicating matters is the need to combine balance with expertise each hour. And so our event advisory committee went through lists of people in proximity to Philadelphia who had received media attention on the subject of capital punishment in the aftermath of the recently announced Illinois moratorium. They included victims’ rights activists and DNA specialists, legislators and religious leaders. Many seemingly competent advocates were considered but none invited, not until we had found a formula for combining desired varieties of expertise with desired varieties of balance. Fortunately, one member of our advisory committee was well connected to major proponents of a moratorium, the other to major opponents, and the people we contacted were eager to appear on Radio Times.