How to Win Over the Media

Lauren Ciemniak The Alternative Fuels Media Training Workshop was a wonderful session to attend. During these three hours, Jenna Higgins as well as a couple guest speakers, talked about how to have a successful interview with the press.

Jenna gave some wonderful tips and advice about having a clear and concise interview with the media. Here are some of the key tips you should remember when you are doing an interview.

The Media is the best way to get your message out about alternative fuels.
Remember to relate your message to your audience, you have to make an impact on them. You should always be prepared before an interview. Make a couple notes to yourself on the questions you might need to answer and always have 3-4 strong sound bites. Communicate with your body not just words. But most importantly, relax and don’t forget to breathe! When completing an interview, remember to answer in complete sentences and relate it to your audience. Be enthusiastic and correct a reporter if a question is based on incorrect information.

I learned a lot in this wonderful media training workshop and hopefully after reading this, you did too.

Domestic Fuel coverage of the Clean Cities Congress is made possible by the following sponsors:
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Southern California Gas Company

Clean Cities Congress

Next Year’s Congress Location

Chuck Zimmerman

Stage AnnouncementThe big announcement at Alice Cooper’s Town was next year’s Congress location. You can hear it in the announcement audio I have for you in this post.

It might be hard to tell from the picture but we had some masked characters from the city in question.

They all have something to do with “Tinseltown.”

Which means that next year we’ll be in Los Angeles. Listen To MP3 Closing Reception Announcement (5 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the Clean Cities Congress is made possible by the following sponsors:
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Southern California Gas Company

Audio, Clean Cities Congress

Energy Bill Roundtable

Chuck Zimmerman

Energy RoundtableOur energy bill discussion this morning covered a lot of ground.

Over the coming days I’ll try to bring you segments of it.

To get started here’s a selection which includes each participant answering the question of what he thinks is most important piece of legislation and why.

Here’s their response: Listen To MP3 Energy Bill Roundtable (12 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the Clean Cities Congress is made possible by the following sponsors:
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Southern California Gas Company

Audio, Clean Cities Congress, Legislation

Guest Speakers Speak about Alt. Fuels

Lauren Ciemniak Senator John McCain, future presidential candidate, delivered a wonderful speech on the future of alternative fuels. The United States is deeply dependent on foriegn oil. The U.S alone uses about 7.6 billion barrels of oil a year. By using alternative fuels, you reduce the greenhouse emissions. An option proposed to help our environment and economy is to raise Corporate America Fuel Efficiency standards. There are currently 5 million flex fuel vehicles on the road but more are on the way. James D. Boyd talked about domestic fuels and its problems. California is the 5th largest economy and consumer of energy in the world. California is the second largest consumer of gas and diesel, the largest consumer is the United States. Many alternative fuel vehicles will be taking up the roads in California within the next year.

Domestic Fuel coverage of the Clean Cities Congress is made possible by the following sponsors:
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Southern California Gas Company

Clean Cities Congress

Clean Energy CEO Remarks

Chuck Zimmerman

Andrew LittlefairOur energy roundtable moderator this morning was Andrew Littlefair, CEO of Clean Energy.

Before getting into the discussion he gave an overview of energy legislation.

You can hear his introduction here: Listen To MP3 Andrew Littlefair Introductory Remarks (5 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the Clean Cities Congress is made possible by the following sponsors:
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Southern California Gas Company

Audio, Clean Cities Congress

Let’s Hear From The Executive Director

Chuck Zimmerman

Annalloyd ThomasonThe Executive Director of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute is Annalloyd Thomason.

We heard from her on stage earlier this week and to get to know her better and learn a little more about AFVI I sat down with her for a short interview.

Annalloyd explains how she and her husband Leo, started their own company and had the opportunity to take over the production of the Clean Cities Congress a couple of years ago.

You can listen to my interview with Annalloyd here: Listen To MP3 Annalloyd Thomason Interview (6 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the Clean Cities Congress is made possible by the following sponsors:
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Southern California Gas Company

Audio, Clean Cities Congress

GM’s Reception Steals the Show

Lauren Ciemniak Did you attend Sunday night’s opening reception? If you didn’t, then you missed out on a stomping good time! From admiring the beautiful artwork, to the energizing entertainment, many people went back to their hotels smiling. General Motors gave out $20,000 to the top three Clean Cities Reward recipients. The food was great, a big hit was the cute little cakes with the GM Logo on them. Overall, the GM reception was a wonderful night, and many people had a great time!

Domestic Fuel coverage of the Clean Cities Congress is made possible by the following sponsors:
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Southern California Gas Company

Clean Cities Congress

Energy Panel Is Discussing

Chuck Zimmerman

Andrew LittlefairOur final day general session is going on right now.

It’s being moderated by Andrew Littlefair, Clean Energy. Andrew has a challenge considering the panel has some very outspoken industry representatives but he’s handling it very well.

The panel consists of (l-r) Phil Lampert, NEVC, Scott Gerke, American Honda, Rich Kolodziej, NGVA, Joe Jobe, NBB and Brian Feehan, PERC.
Energy Bill Panel

I’m recording the complete session and will post a portion of it when complete. Then I think I’ll post pieces of it later as time permits.

While the session is going on the exhibit hall is still open. I’ve got some pics from it to post for you too.

Domestic Fuel coverage of the Clean Cities Congress is made possible by the following sponsors:
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Southern California Gas Company

Clean Cities Congress

Rocking To The Band

Chuck Zimmerman

Still CruisinThe Clean Cities Congress crowd kind of changed the slogan for Alice Cooper’s Town a little last night to “Where Rock and Alternative Fuels Meet.”

The band, Still Cruisin, had the crowd on the dance floor to some great rock and roll.

Just to give you a taste here’s a short video clip: Watch wmv file Still Cruisin (WMV file)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the Clean Cities Congress is made possible by the following sponsors:
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Southern California Gas Company

Clean Cities Congress, Video

Bill Is Still Cruisin

Chuck Zimmerman

Bill BallThe band at our closing reception was Still Cruisin led by founder and drummer Bill Ball.

By night he’s a rock and roller. By day he’s the Transportation Director for the Tucson Unified School District. An interesting combination Bill. And one we enjoyed at the reception.

On a break I interviewed Bill to find out what he does and what he gets out of the Clean Cities Congress. You can listen to my interview with Bill here: Listen To MP3 Bill Ball Interview (2 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the Clean Cities Congress is made possible by the following sponsors:
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Southern California Gas Company

Audio, Clean Cities Congress