Education reform is a hotly debated topic in political circles and communities nationwide. Ironically, kids' voices are rarely heard in these discussions of issues that
directly affect them.
The Clinton White House set out to change that in April, 2000. The White House staff approached Widmeyer Communications and longtime client Channel One to create an
interactive forum that would allow young people to become more involved in the education dialogue. Channel One, a news network with a daily audience of 8 million students and
400,000 teachers in schools across the country, has come under fire over the years from various groups for exposing children to "forced" advertising through its in-classroom news
broadcasts. The White House, however, had no qualms about its choice of partners, according to Chris Beakey, VP with Widmeyer.
"The White House wanted what Channel One wanted - an effective way to give students a voice in this issue and to gain firsthand knowledge of their views," Beakey says. "Channel
One provided an existing network of nearly 12,000 schools. There was no other organization with these capabilities."
Kids and the Web - A Perfect Mix
Since today's kids are accustomed to instant gratification, cutting edge technology and e-communications like email and Instant Messaging, Widmeyer and Channel One decided to
present the forum in a live Webcast with an exciting hook: the presenter would be none other than the president of the United States. President Clinton would discuss educational
issues live with high school audiences across the country, answering questions that students would email in advance of the event. The goal was to get as many kids participating by
sending questions and watching the Webcast as possible.
Widmeyer began planning a low-key media relations campaign to promote the forum, contacting education media and legislators with information on the Webcast, advising them to
tune in to hear what kids had to say. But in this first effort at such a forum, Channel One wanted to focus primarily on generating buzz among students.
The company began contacting its vast network of school librarians, teachers and media specialists at 12,000 schools to get the word out to kids to send their email questions
for President Clinton's consideration. Exciting kids about the forum was the top priority, and also one of the network's toughest challenges. "Education can be such a complex
subject," Beakey says. "This wasn't designed to be about heady, complex ideas. It was intended to be an up-front dialogue about schools and school improvement with those who are
impacted the most. It had to be thoughtful, but it had to be engaging."
Much of the effort on Channel One's part went into developing the program and lesson plan that went along with the Webcast in order to foster student interest. Plus, the
network had to compress a discussion which very well could have spanned an entire day into an abbreviated time period - not only to adhere to the limits of the Webcast and the
president's schedule, but also to keep kids from losing interest.
The Channel One programmers and producers were at the forefront of the effort to develop a live program that allowed enough time to clearly respond to issues, but moved at a
brisk pace.
Results
The Webcast was held on Thursday, May 4, 2000, in a live broadcast from St. Paul's City Academy, St. Paul, Minn. The event went above and beyond in terms of its primary goal -
President Clinton's "Webside Chat" received 16,000 questions for consideration during the discussion, ample evidence that kids were engaged by the forum.
"Channel One encouraged kids to ask forthright questions, and the students proved that some of the issues that generate the most debate - funding inequities, crumbling school
facilities, attracting good teachers to struggling schools - really do have a hard-hitting impact on their lives," Beakey says.
If that wasn't enough, the Internet broadcast itself reached more than 8 million students and educators around the nation, showing that education was weighing heavily on their
minds.
As the network plans for future events, it is considering creating more of a "debate" format including differing points of view, but on the whole, both the White House and
Channel One were thrilled with a forum that allowed them an inside look at what was on kids' minds.
(Contact: Chris Beakey, 202/667-0901, [email protected])
Campaign Stats
Timeframe: April to May, 2000
Budget: $32,000
Widmeyer Team Members: Scott Widmeyer, David Summers, SVP; Lisa Manley, VP; Chris Beakey, VP
To see a recap of the event, go to http://www.channelone.com/pop/special/.
The transcript is available at http://www.yahooligans.com/docs/club/chat/president.html.
Widmeyer and Channel One received an Honorable Mention in PR NEWS' Platinum PR Awards Interactive category for President Clinton's "Webside Chat."