TV Rights U.S. Women's Rugby World Cup in Dubai

At the LinkedIn Convergence 2008 sponsored by the Business Development Institute, I was privileged to meet an extraordinary person. This person was memorable because of her humility, courage, and honesty. She is a leader, and a natural spokesperson and plays Rugby on an international competitive level, in addition to holding down a fulltime job, family obligations, etc.

The bottomline is that these folks are going to Dubai in March of 2009 to compete in the World Cup, and they stand a good chance of winning. To cover costs and expenses of training, travel, transportation they are doing fundraising selling calendars, but they need more help.

QUESTION : IF this event were televised would you watch it?

Pass the word along that this is a chance to invest/sponsor a new sport that is going to be exciting to watch on TV and Live at stadiums. It has an un parallelled intensity.

These are the people to watch....

Your US Women's Rugby Team are made up of the following people ( from their website:

Kirsten Ahrendt, Keystone RFC
Ida Bernstein, Keystone RFC
Beth Black, NOVA RFC
Amy Daniels, Beantown RFC
Jenna Flateman, NY RFC
Tyshawn Henry, NY RFC
Ellie Karvoski, Little Rock RFC
Phaidra Knight, NY RFC
Pam Kosanke, Chicago Northshore RFC
Teena Mastrangelo, Chicago Northshore RFC
Melissa McKibben, Kansas City RFC
Alison Price, NY RFC
Christy Ringgenberg, Minnesota Valkyries RFC
Ines Rodriguez, Keystone RFC
Jen Sinkler, Keystone RFC
Jennifer Starkey, NOVA RFC
Lindsey Stephenson, At Large
Jess Watkins, Stanford University
Kelly White, Belmont Shore RFC
Heidi Whitman, Austin Valkyries RFC

"From time to time, you might even hear from our fabulous coaching staff, our managers and the people who keep us healthy.

They are:
U.S. Head Coach: Julie McCoy, MD
U.S. Assistant Coaches: Christopher Ryan, Andrew Fautley
General Manager: Tristan Lewis
Team Manager: Sadeana Green
Team Physios: Lisa Bartoli, DO, Michael Moses, DC

And this is our competitive schedule:
U.S. World Cup Qualifier, Nassau, Bahamas, October 23-27
IRB Dubai Sevens, Dubai, UAE, November 22-December 1
U.S. Sevens Testing/Skills Camp, Little Rock, Ark., January 16-18
U.S. Sevens Residency Training, Little Rock, Ark., January 30-February 9
IRB USA Sevens, San Diego, Calif., February 9-16
U.S. Sevens Residency Training, Little Rock, Ark., February 16-23
IRB Sevens Rugby World Cup 2009, Dubai, UAE, March 1-9

Feel free to leave messages for us in the comments section of this blog — getting to and through the first-ever Women’s 7s Rugby World Cup victorious is going to take a nation of players, coaches and fans working toward the same goal. We’re in this together, and we appreciate all of your continued support and enthusiasm. Go USA! "

How to get People to Move Towards Democracy with Media

The Web 2.0 is growing Democracy faster and more efficiently than anything else. And the countries that are emerging are doing it faster than anyone else...

How to Weather the Perfect Media Storm

After reading Jeff Einstein's "The Perfect Media Storm" I tried to think of the last time there was a shift from when communications went from the wealthy and powerful few, to the not so wealthy and not so powerful many, (seems backwards doesn't it).

The only one that I could remember (and I was there)...

The Gutenberg Press. Here is a reference

Suddenly, we have people that can self-educate, but we would rather entertain and sell things. The explosion of ideas and technology as happened across Europe is the thing that we were hoping for, and now that we are typing with our thumbs (sigh)...

The Cyborg Self and the Networked City

Mullet Media

I heard this term recently attributed to the Huffington Post, "business up front, party in the back" was the meaning. A front-end that has the attributes of legitimate, credible first source news but on the inside a mash-up of opinion, discussion of views that is not necessarily news.

Dan Rather recently warned us that modern journalism has become a series of 'views-cast', and not 'newscasts.' My hunch is that with the ability of anyone to publish, comes the need to find something newsworthy. Not all opinions are news, and not all news needs to be sensational, controversial ... so please give us your best, not your worst.

Rahm Emanuel , President Elect Obama's - White House Chief of Staff

Rahm Emanuel (D) was chosen for the position of White House Chief of staff . I personally did not know much about him. The best thing I can say is that he worked under Leon Panetta who was the Chief of Staff for Clinton 1994-1996. I have a great deal of respect for anyone who has worked for or with Leon Panetta.

With that said we will have to see how Mr. Emanuel handles things, but I feel he is the right man for the job, at the right time.

If you would like to know more about the work of Mr. Leon Panetta, visit The Panetta Institute.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce - Leading Authorities

Charlie Cook, Cook Political Report Editor and Publisher, National Journal Columnist, on the Colbert Report or on CSPAN could be interesting to watch. I'm watching him on CSPAN.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Leading Authorities presentation 11/7/08 he reminds us, "53% to 46% popular vote, 364 electoral votes, Indiana , Ohio , North Carolina, Virgina, the totality of the effect of the election , there are some profound problems within the Republican BRAND."

What a thing to say. Imagine.

The strategists will be deep into brand marketing when it comes to issues and politicians in the future you see he understands that the Obama political warchest an "IPO" and people have invested in a 'new brand'.

He feels that the character/brand of Barack Obama is not linked to the voters and the American people, and is linked to the Senate, the pundits, the journalists.

Stuart Rothernberg, Rothenberg Political Report, needs to digest data and wait for the other shoe to drop.

My conclusion is that it is up to the President to set the natinal agenda, communicate it to the American people, lead them to the expectation that the priorities of the President are their priorities and get them to voice that to their congressional representaiton. It won't be a honeymoon, it will be work , it will be leadership, and certainly we don't have time to wait.

Yes, the problem is worse that we know because it had been known and hidden. Greenspan knew about, Soros wrote about it, and the Bush adminsitration orchestrated it, and somehow all of the brilliant pundits are still waiting to to be told how bad the situtation really is with the economy.

Who is Barack Obama ?

This may be the funniest bit of political humor you may ever see. After 21 months of campaigning we needed to have something that says, "he's a human being and yes we can enjoy ourselves as Americans...with comedy. Take a look and remeber, "laughter is the best medicine."



Who is John McCain? Here's his humor:



Here is the full video from CSPAN:

What makes a good President?

Kenneth Walsh moderated a roundtable in November with four ex White House Chiefs of Staff at the Smithsonian. What makes a good Preisdent?


Josh Bolten, is the second Chief of Staff under President Bush, said Bush's greatest asset is to have confidence in a core set of values, and that even though people such as the Treasury Secretary, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, have no idea of how the financial breakdown occurred, it is Bush's character that will provide the leadership to see us through this crisis.


Leon Panetta served nine terms in the US House of Representatives and Chief of Staff for Clinton 1994-96 .He remembers the Mexican peso going to hell, and there was a danger of seeing the Mexican economy collapse. They invited Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich to help , but they could not get the votes.


Kenneth Dubersten got on to the folky wisdom of Ronald Regan. Are they comforatable within themselves? do they have a gut instict or judgement. Ron liked to be underestimated, ( as if he had a choice)....sorry, but if we believe there is a liberal media at work, well there it is.


How do they deal with crisis?


Thomas Mack McLarty, said a Presindent needs to reach out to whomever you need to define the problem, then when to act, what to do, and what not to do. Then how to communicate it. Then there is an aspect of getting all of this across to other leaders.

Clearchannel Radio and i Pod

Clearchannel Radio & iPod
Clear Channel Radio finished upgrading all of its radio stations - all 700 stations are now broadcasting in HD and have been tagged on iTunes so they can be listened to on an iPod equipped with a FM receiver.

For marketers this means that radio's reach and utility stabilizes in this environment of mp3's and fragmentation. However, this also is an opportunity for Brand marketers to take advantage of the music download marketplace, as consumers will still crave thier favorite songs in their own personal digital player environment.

Savvy marketers are already taking advantage of the private lable download system provided by Focus Right Marketing's JUST TUNES digital music delivery system.

The JUST TUNES system allows branding of the digital music experience where none has existed before.

Stay tuned for more....