The situation around the world continues to go on. United States crosses forty-five thousand fatalities. I think four nations cross twenty-thousand fatalities, while applying a little sea sauce in some places it kind of went down and again it's going up. As I said earlier, we are only controlling human behavior. We have not found a single handle on the virus and virus is displaying various new capabilities and different level of competence and different level of damage that it can cause. What was understood has a largely respiratory and problem. Now has gone into various places. One of deep concern is... one thing is it is definitely attacking the immune system and something of deeper concern is it is also impacting the neurological system, causing a certain level of brain damage. Those who are already damaged, maybe there's room for them but this is a deep concern because many, if not many at least a few of the patients, those infected by the virus have gone into seizures, loss of memory and of course everybody knows about loss of smell is the first thing which is a neurological sign and it is leading to various levels of damage and scientists... nobody is very clear but they're estimating it could also leave permanent damage in the neurological system. Or in other words, essentially it's getting more complex than what we thought it is, that we thought it's just a respiratory thing, we just manage our lungs and things will be okay. At the same time the positive sign is over eighty percent of the people infected by the virus don't show any sign, any symptom and they go through it silently which is plus and a great minus two because these silently infected people, asymptomatic infections they are giving it to everybody all over the place because they don't even know they carry it. So ultimately a huge economic cost of in the end testing all the 7.6 billion people, this onerous task is what the virus is kind of pushing us towards because eighty percent of the people who are infected don't show any signs means we will have to quarantine people who have no symptoms, we will have to treat people who have no symptoms which is going to be very difficult as it is around the world also in India. A certain amount of social restlessness is also building up, cooped up in their homes for too long, concerns about economic well-being, businesses being closed, people not only the daily wages, even monthly salary earners losing out on their economic you know advantage that they had or their savings and other things running out and the fear of that people see that more than fifty percent of the world's workforce can go unemployed for a year or two. Those who are in variety of businesses right now I think software industry has already started load shedding that is they're trying to drop people from their employment roles because they think next three to four quarters there will be no demand and they cannot sustain these people clothing industry they believe eighty percent of the jobs may go away for a year or two because fashion and clothing will be out of fashion for some time which is I hear that those who are eco warriors they're all saying this is it this is good people can live with less number of clothes all this is very true but this is not the time to talk that language I've been talking that language in the past but now when people are losing the losing jobs in a massive way this is not the time to celebrate those gains those gains have to happen in a planned way not in such a cruel way so challenges are multiplying but nations are losing their patience nations are losing their resilience to hang on to the lockdowns there's a lot of debate all over the place whether this lockdown is really needed or let's go out and do what we have to do let's say let's see what the virus will do these kind of bravados are going on but at the same time I think what a quarter million people have died is it nearly nearly two hundred thousand people have lost their lives that's not a small number to ignore so this is a real challenge how we deal with this every one of us have to figure out ways to rejig ourselves our activity how we do things in the world how we live in this world we can't just go on living as we have been living many changes need to happen the union government of India has passed an ordinance that if you attack or in any way threaten a health worker a doctor or a nurse or somebody who is fighting for maintaining or the controlling this virus infections a new law where you could be arrested without bail you could go to prison for five to seven years various stringent laws because these attacks are also rising they don't want certain people don't believe they will be affected by this virus and they're attacking the medical personnel who go to treat them or to test them they don't want to be tested because they're afraid they will be forcefully taken to a hospital or put in a quarantine so all social issues are roiling up and obviously when this is going on simply another lockdown and another lockdown will become difficult relaxing the lockdown we don't know where it'll take us but that's where we are if we if we do not pay attention to all sides we should pay a lot of attention to the virus we should pay attention to those who are saying this could kill the humanity we should pay attention to those people who say nothing will happen we can just go out and do what we want let's get the economic engine rolling and a thousand other shades of people in between it's important to listen to all of them to make a reasonably right decision i don't think anybody can make a really perfect decision because nobody has a full grasp of what this can do and how it can run through a human society at least a reasonably right kind of decision we need everything but there are many you know you've heard of kangaroo courts but that did not kangaroo though limited itself to australia the kangaroo courts did not remain in australia alone they went all over the world that is you know just jump to a judgment this happened at one time Shankaran Pillai became a judge in the local court it was not always on the other side so then he got record number of judgments going so they wanted to give him an award because he is clearing the maximum number of cases then this award-giving committee asked him how do you manage this you are delivering the maximum number of judgments he said i only listen to the plaintiff they said what you don't listen to the defendant no if i listen to both it just confuses me i just listen there are a lot of people like this they just want to listen to one thing and take a decision let's see if it works no too many lives are on the line we can't take a decision like that it's not just about you because it concerns everybody's lives i think we need to listen to every little bit of information that is there and try to arrive at a reasonably correct kind of decision for each nation one thing that's happening in india is the fatalities are very low compared to the number of people infected and recovery is also getting very good people are recovering faster with medical attention so is it leaving any damage in them what is the long-term impact these things can be assessed later but you got them back on their feet that is important so that is a good sign maybe we are little more resistant and resilient in that sense but the number of deaths in united states is very worrying why is it the fatalities are so high when medical attention happens quick and the best possible medical attention is largely available to most people why the death rate is so high many explanations some of them are saying because one thing is there is a very large geriatric population but that is not all right because when you look at the age group of people dying a whole lot of people between forty and sixty are dying below forty also there are quite a few but lower percentage another explanation is too many of them are on some kind of addictions so those who have addictions their immune systems are always very low and that could be the reason it is very much possible because it's considered very normal to be addicted to something it is just that I am addicted to a little lesser evil than you so I am better than you kind of attitude this could be playing havoc but this is something that needs to be looked at properly scientifically a proper study needs to be made why in one country the number of deaths are so heavy in a nation where maximum medical facilities are there and the quickest possible medical response is there in spite of that why are so many people dying is something that needs to be looked at that could definitely give us a better understanding of how this virus functions and deals with us they're also categorizing three varieties of the same virus a b c right now I'm sure they will get some exotic names shortly so there is a variety b variety and c variety so is it the variety of virus which is making the difference or is it the state the physical status and the health status of individual people which is making the difference is something that needs to be arrived at which will give us a little better understanding of how to deal with ourselves who should go out who should not go out we should be able to determine this who will be vulnerable who will not be vulnerable vulnerable I think this call and this understanding is very very important and also all this joblessness that's going to happen we should definitely look at how to minimize that and everybody should learn to work with we are largely living on pumpkin are we at least that's all that's what that's happening to me I hope it's happening to you also so how to minimize our lifestyles so that everybody can have some kind of a job in terms of lowered salaries so that instead of firing a whole lot of employees everybody can go on fifty percent salary and everybody can have a job and redirect this this huge human resource into other dimensions of many things that are neglected ecological aspects policy aspects various aspects of governance and variety of things in the world which have not been done now when the markets are down when other activity is down I think this is the time to attend to it but it's easier said than done because reorganizing people reorienting people training them getting them into activity is not going to be a easy thing but we must do the difficult things otherwise this may end up being too cruel to a whole lot of people whom virus did not even touch this this question is from Shashank Namaskaram Sadhguru you said that depending upon how compulsive we are and as per our karma we attract certain situations or life arranges itself accordingly but for an enlightened being who has no karma what determines the nature of situation he or she gets into or the way life pans out we have seen you face some of the most challenging situations what is the mechanics behind this the question should be about you so whoever told you an enlightened being does not have karma an enlightened being has immense karma much much more than others yes because without karma if you're at a certain level of energy without a certain weightage of karma you cannot remain grounded this is why ninety percent of the time enlightenment and leaving the body happens at the same time because if you do not consciously ground yourself with substantial weighty kind of karma then you cannot stick to the body first thing to understand is that karma is not some negative trash it's only because of karma you are who you are when we say karma we're talking about layers and layers of memory which makes you who you are there is evolutionary memory which makes you a human being suppose your body lost its evolutionary memory well you may start crawling because you're a human being not by knowledge by a huge amount of evolutionary memory invested in every cell in your body which makes you be human you have seen when we do certain programs which are connected to getting into or putting our fingers into deep levels of karma like samyama certain people start crawling certain people start doing things this is simply because we are sinking certain things deep inside it's touching their evolutionary karma and things are happening well there is an immense amount of karma starting from evolutionary or even before the elemental karma is there we will not go into it it's too complex but you understand the evolutionary karma let's say see right now the frogs are happy in the evening for whatever reasons they're doing quack quack quack I don't know who found the connection about kissing the frog and turning them into human beings all those things but suppose you lost your evolutionary karma and somewhere around amphibious life somewhere around a frog you stopped after that what memory you had is gone suddenly you may be a princess but you will turn into a frog yes because it's this memory which is so invested in every cell in your body which gives you a human form and a sense of being human being so who you are essentially the shape and form of you is just karma because it's memory like this there are many levels of it I will not go into all of it now there is a genetic karma because of that you have a particular kind of nose a particular kind of you know a skin particular behavioral aspects certain amount of capabilities and incapabilities genetic karma is there after that your own stuff is there articulate in articulate and now conscious karma now karma is not a negative thing if you know how to use it but if you do not become conscious enough to use it then it runs like a software let us say there is a software on the computer you use or the phone that you use I think computers are gone only a few people seem to be using computers everybody is only this so phone is a computer in a way so whatever software that is on it well whatever work you're doing let's say every eleven seconds I'm choosing that number intentionally every eleven seconds you should do boom boom doom every eleven seconds it's good boom boom doom believe me after a few months you yourself will start doing every eleven seconds boom boom doom yes you will but the software is only in the phone but if it keeps on doing it every day see right now the chant is going on around the ashram some of you why is it going on all the time but slowly unknowingly yoga yoga it is it is we are programming you towards liberation many people and you yourself may be programming yourself to bond age because a whole lot of people are always trying to build bonds with something or the other because they think only by trying themselves to something or somebody they will feel safe if you have a bond with age it becomes bondage I'm just playing with you but all bonds unconsciously developed and unconsciously it exists with you become bondages well bonds are like you know a sailor will throw an anchor in a place so that there in case there is a small storm the boat doesn't go away somewhere so you put an anchor she's a very good thing if you want to be safe in one place but you are in a damn boat because you want to sail so if you keep on putting five ten anchors obviously you will be safe but you will never sail so you have to make up your mind you want to sail or you want to be safe so well you have seen me go through all kinds of situations all kinds I don't know who's asking this question how does he know what all I go through too many things all kinds of rubbish lots of wonderful things also lots of absolutely wonderful things but lots of trash also comes my way well what's his name that's his real name nishant shashank so no shashank has been very closely around me to see all the nonsense that comes my way anyway if shashank is well informed because he has access to somebody around me or he's just reading it in the news all the nonsense unfortunately in the news only the nonsense they're reporting all the wonderful things that happen to me they don't usually report that's their karma so lots of absolutely wonderful things every day being thrown at me if nobody throws anything anyway I sit very wonderful wherever I am but some trash also comes my way well the trash is coming not simply simply because when you have nothing to lose and nothing to gain you can do whatever you want either you can go sit in a mountain cave simply blissed out or you can get active in the world you can do many things you can be somewhat active somewhat withdrawn or all out active depends what's your choice my choice has been shaped by the needs in the world not by my whim till till I consecrated dhyanalinga there was only one intent because I'm somebody slave I don't want to tell you all those terrible things which have been beautiful to me a man who doesn't even want to touch me with his foot he touches me with a stick I serve that man for three lifetimes so that's a terrible story but with fantastic results because I'm result-oriented I value the result I don't resent the touch with the stick many of you have these issues that's why I'm telling you siddhu guru didn't even look my way he doesn't so because my activity since dhyanalinga till then I was not bothered about anything else just one thing I thought that's it and with that I will even end because I had not created an intent in my mind as what I will do beyond that so things collapse things happen whatever that's all history now every one of you know it probably when the body begin to collapse very badly when my basic structure got very badly damaged and became almost like what to say little crippled then it became like a challenge let's see if we can get back and there were also some absolutely wonderful and dedicated people around me who are willing to give their life have necessary so for their sake and also as a challenge if we can really build back the system we took up certain things and started working which is another kind of karma well those of you who have seen me since 99 that is 1999 because a whole lot of millennials who do not know there was a 20th century so in the year 1999 if you had seen me and today you're seeing me well in terms of physical well-being I'm leaps and bounds ahead of what I was 20 years ago in 20 years decline should have happened but in 10 20 years I'm way better than what I was it's clearly visible in every way so once we successfully built back the system then the question was okay what the hell do we do my long-term dream you know that I will ride away across the world not a care in the world simply full tank open road gone that was the dream of that time even if my stomach was empty didn't matter motorcycle tank was full road was empty this virus time this lockdown time should be really nice to ride almost every road is like a racetrack but I'm not allowed to ride so so that dream I thought shall I revive but all the people around me without them I won't have had the intent to go through that enormous striving that it took of almost three years or three and a half years to build back the system I wouldn't have had the intent without all these people looking hopefully at me if I didn't have that I wouldn't have had the intent to build it back so then naturally got involved with people their spiritual process then when you went to teach spiritual process then you saw people are hungry somebody is sick nothing happening for them so we got involved in the social process then we saw even if somebody is just about getting enlightened there is not even a tree in the village so we started planting trees to a point where people are calling me tree planter so all this karma but what do you think look at me and tell me you think this karma is taking a toll on me sometimes I might not have slept well I'm a little but does it does it look like it's taking a toll on me because I want you to understand all of you get this trait the simplest way to deal with all the humongous mountains of karma that you may have because if you have a Himalayan sized karmic background it's very good that means you have a complex structure but if this complex structure tortures you and you will use your torture to torture everybody else around you then it's a disaster but if you use this complexity because complexity is needed to come out with very significant solutions if you have no complexity usually you're called a simple fellow in England in India we call them simple ton people will have compassion for you but no passion for you yes that's a sad way to live so now if you want to deal with your karma the simplest thing is you sit here absolute dispassion for this one total passion for everything else this is all right now the problem is people have enormous passion for their life but they have dispassion for other people's well-being and suffering and whatever is happening this is why this is why right now the world is saluting the doctors and nurses who are sticking their life out there to work for somebody because they are showing passion for other lives and dispassion for themselves this is a sure way of release so this is all you have to do you must reverse the equation too much passion for yourself no passion for others no absolute passion for every life around you total dispassion towards yourself you don't worry about all this karmic nonsense you're gone you're free from this rubbish shiva shiva sarvesh mara shambha shambha mahadhe


G'day everyone. I'm John Haynes. I'm the Executive Director of Volunteers and Strategy and part of my role we look after the foreign incident reporting service which has been around since 1997. We're modifying the role of FERS and expanding the the collection of data we do and so because of that we're going to change the name to the service delivery reporting centre and out of that we're going to collect more data of what we do before we respond to incidents. So all the good work we do in brigades and the community about community education and you know working with schools etc we're going to collect in the one central point so we can get a greater view of all the good work we do right across Victoria. Thanks.


I speak to you today from Interpol, after yet another wave of terror attacks across Paris. On behalf of the international police community, Interpol condemns these cold-blooded cowardly attacks in the strongest terms and extends its condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. Recent weeks have seen acts of terror across all regions of the world. Terrorism is a global threat. Interpol stands in full solidarity with the citizens of its host nation, France, as it does with all victims of terrorism in all regions of the world, where no country is immune from terrorism and where innocent victims are targeted. Interpol is united with France and has pledged its full operational support to its authorities as they investigate these barbaric attacks. We have set up a crisis response task force at Interpol's General Secretariat headquarters following the series of attacks. Interpol is closely lazing with its National Central Bureau in Paris to provide full assistance requested by French authorities. Now more than ever, we must stand and act together as a global community.


Well, every experience has to rank very high. I had three careers, one at Cornell as a professor and teacher, one at Erie, and then one with US Agency for International Development at the World Bank in Washington. And I wouldn't want to say which one was the more critical. I would say that my experience at Erie, not only for me, but for my wife and family, a highlight. There's no question about it. Because I felt I was involved in something that would help humanity. I felt I was involved with a group of individuals, men and women, who wanted to improve the lot of people. They weren't there just to do research work. They weren't there just to write research paper. They were there to solve problems. I remember one time, I think it was a grassy stunt virus, suddenly hit the Philippines scene and called the group. What do we do? What do we do? Within a matter of a month, they had already evaluated and found certain lines that we really didn't know were resistant to the grassy stunt virus that were resistant. And already then, the plant readers were beginning to pull together materials and you'd see that kind of effort. It's really heartwarming, that's for sure.


Hello everyone, thanks for turning into UrbanForex.com. Many of you guys had questions on some MetaTrader tutorials on how to open and close a trade for a lot of your newbies out there. Let me show you. Once you have your MetaTrader opened and you're actually logged in, you basically, you can do one of a couple of things. There is a button here called New Order. You can either click that or you can click anywhere, right click anywhere on your screen and you can go to Trading and New Order. Or there is a shortcut key called F9.  You can, by default, you're selected on the same currency that you're looking at, or you can choose any other ones that you like. You choose your lot size. If you want to add in a stop loss or take profit, you can do that as well. And instant execution is if you wanted to open the trade immediately. Pending order is something where you can set your order that if a certain price is touched, then your order gets executed. So instant execution is usually the one that a lot of people go with for opening a trade immediately and you can choose to sell or buy. Okay, let's, for example, I clicked on Buy right now. Now once you click on Buy, there is a button up here called Terminal. You can click on Terminal. If you do not have this button, you can go to Windows. I'm sorry. I can go to View and you will see Terminal or you can press Control T on your keyboard. Once you see Terminal, on the bottom left, you will see the button called Trade. You will see your trade running right now and if you would like to close it, just click on your symbol one time, right click, and there is a button that says Close Order. If I click Close Order, it closes the order right away. And you can see in the account history, we can go to Custom Period for today and you will see that today's order that we had closed for $21 of profit is right there. Okay, so thanks for tuning in. I will create videos on stop loss and take profit soon.


Welcome back to the breakfast on plus TV Africa. A little bit of history. Let's go back to the year 2004 in Russia where there was a very very shocking attack by Chechen separatists on a school in Russia They eventually held hostage more than a thousand Kids and you know this lasted for longer than could have been imagined Eventually led to the loss of over 340 people It was an armed gang of Chechen separatist rebels who went to the school in southern Russia and took more than a thousand people hostage It happened on the first of September and it was the day of the new school year for millions of students across Russia Nearly three hundred and forty and this is the sad part about half of them died in the ensuing three day or deal The rebels stormed the school at 9 30 a.m. Just after a ceremony celebrating the new school year had ended Rebels of course place children into the room And of course place explosives at the entrances and exits to the room and the auditorium school of term aware. They were all held Not long after about about the third day the rebels started to shoot children Russian special forces stormed the school and Over 30 of them of course the Russian or the Chechen separatists were killed. I think it was just one That survived this attack And was arrested but all 32 of them that carried out the kidnapping and this very very Dastardly act where killed when the separatists or when the Russian special forces entered the school building this is very very I Wouldn't say relatable, but we've had conversations like this on you know on the breakfast Of course across Nigeria when we've had ahead of People being kidnapped here in Nigeria school children mostly being kidnapped here in Nigeria and people have also suggested always suggested You know that there should be other ways asides Negotiating and paying ransom that they should be you know very very, you know Critical ways that this could be handled, you know Can any of these sites where these victims are kept be stormed? Can we have Nigeria's special forces? Stominy of these things that they're tactical ways that these things can be handled But of course, we've never really been able to experience or you know see any of those Playouts here in Nigeria, but that's what Russia had to do and since then I don't think we've heard anything about Chechen separatists Kidnapping a thousand students are kidnapping anybody for ransom or for ready on the reason But happened on this day in 2004 now. Let's move down here to Nigeria in 2015 We're on this day 31 workers were punished over lateness and this happened with governor IO fire ship in AQT state he basically stormed setting schools in the state Earlier than normal and everybody who came late to school that day was Fired no fewer than 31 civil servants who of course were in various ministries departments and agencies in the state We're punished for coming back to late His visit exposed all of them, you know, because he showed up in this MDAs before 8 a.m In an unmarked car Without the usual convoy and aids or that the gates of the secretariat locked after him Okay, this wasn't actually in school. This was in Secretariat's and of course the unsuspecting civil servants walked into the hands of the Waiting governor who kept to watch at the gate over 30 late comers Apprehended by the governor and directed that disciplinary committee be set up to try them with appropriate sanctions It was you know a very interesting discussion in 2015 when this happened, but you know I think I have also pointed out that It may look like a crude way of handling issues in Nigeria and this is what we've always You know a pointed out the fact that we need to have systems We need to have better, you know systems that operate that make it more difficult for you to break the law difficult for you to evade Punishment when you break the law when you go against the rules Well, instead of having those proper and interesting systems We then have very crude means of carrying out these things in 2007 I believe when Inugus state Government when the Chimarukin Namanee finishes tenure and of course it was taken over by Sullivan Chime There was something that was very interesting about the way Sullivan Chime ran his government He used to once in a while drive around town and look out for street lights that were broken Look out for traffic lights that were no longer working look out for roads that seem to be you know Getting spoiled even after they were fixed and he will call the commissioner or whoever it is whose department whose Agency is meant to be handling that it will speak with them and warn them give them an automaton to ensure that it is fixed That was him getting himself involved and getting to be hands-on with what was going on in the state And if you notice between 2007 and about 2010 Inugus state changed completely and Sullivan Chime has been praised as one of the best governors Then in Inugus state has ever had So it is really you know I'm sharing that story because I want to encourage or I want to just point out the fact that the fact that you're a governor and You and government house doesn't mean that you should not be able to every now and then have your hands on ground be able to observe for yourself Yes, you've appointed people. Yes, you've put people in these positions to handle these things But at times when they are failing it's just responsibility to ensure that these people don't embarrass your government because you will be blamed a lot of People will remember who's commissioner for this or commissioner for health commissioner for education Nobody so a lot of people don't even care It is the government and the governor who gets to be blamed for some of all these things And the failure, you know of his government to you know ensure a very very Or better society and so I identify she may have been criticized for taking those steps because they're pretty crude But you know, there is some sense in what he did and this happened in 2015 Stay with us our first major conversation for today We're going to be talking about the president that Nigeria needs in 2023 There have been postulations. They have been some names mentioned There have been some people who have also mentioned that they would like to run But what does Nigeria really need that's what comes up next will be joined by is the kill yeah I talk and Nick Agouli both public affairs analyst to share with us. Stay with us


In the meantime, the governorship election petition Tribunal Sitian in Uyó has trashed a petition brought by the Aquarium State Governorship candidate of the all-progressive Congress Acanimo, or Dorfia, challenging the election of Pastor Omar Enno of the People's Democratic Party. The grounds Dorfia sought for the disqualification was that Omar Enno presented false documents to the Independence National Electoral Commission, INEC, and did not score the highest number of valid votes in the March 18 governorship elections. Dorfia also accused the second respondent of being convicted by an Abuja Magistrate Court, hence not qualified to be fielded for elections. The Tribunal, in its unanimous decision, wrote that allegations of substantial non-compliance with electoral law in the conduct of the election was not sufficiently proven by the petitioners in their case. All the issues have been thoroughly addressed and the issue of conviction that has been settled, that the purported conviction by Magistrate was wrong and was set aside. The issue of a certificate, WIEC, or 81, 83, those issues have been settled by the Supreme Court that those certificates were genuine and Oumonno, Governor, those certificates are all genuine. And so there was really nothing for this petition to stand on. On the issue of whether or not the Governor had the majority of lawful votes, it was very clearly stated that there was no evidence whatsoever that was produced to show that the votes for minor were also by voting, or there was anything that could impugn the election.  And don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.


Good afternoon. Thank you so much. We're really excited about our next panel. I wanted to introduce Dr. Brian Gervais. He's going to head, he's going to moderate our next panel, which is entitled The World of Political Communications. So Dr. Brian Gervais is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and Geography at UTSA. He earned his PhD in MA in government and politics from the University of Maryland and his BA in political science from the University of Massachusetts and Hearst. He specializes in political communications and political psychology. Please give a warm welcome to Dr. Brian Gervais and the rest of our panelists. Well, thank you all for being here. I think this is probably, and I'm not biased or anything, but the most exciting panel of today. And that's because we're in the midst of a presidential election. I think perhaps one of the most unique elections in years, if not in a generation. And what we can say about this presidential election is that political messaging still matters. I think that's probably the one constant we can say about elections over time. As new technologies emerge and disrupt and change the old way of doing things, as norms and traditions die out and are replaced by new ones, as political parties evolve and are reimagined and are made up of new interest groups. The one thing that still matters is the crafting of political messaging, or with the attempts to craft effective political messaging. And we are really lucky today because we are being treated to a group of individuals, all of whom are very experienced with crafting political messaging. And hopefully we can learn a lot from their insight today. So let me introduce our excellent panel. We have Dr. Laura Barberina, the owner and consultant of VivaPolitics. Sherri Sylvester, who's a political consultant with Texas for Lawsuit Reform. And James Aldry, president and creative director of Messaging Audience and Presentation. I also understand that you're with the Texas Freedom Network, which I heard was in the news this morning and yesterday, so maybe we can talk about that at some point as well. So what I'd like to start talking about is how each of you got your start in political communication. We have lots of individuals here that are hoping to perhaps have a career in public service. I think it's always helpful to know how people who are successful on the field got there in the first place. So maybe we can start with Sherri. How did you get your start in political communication? Good morning. Thank you all for coming. It's great to see you here. And this is a great time, as Brian says, to talk about this. I have always been in politics. I'm a native Oklahoman. My father was the mayor of the small town. I was born in Oylton. He served between the years. He's finally defeated. My mother ran for city council. She served several terms. So I have never not done this. I was on the student senate at Oklahoma State University. I was very far on the left among my first political, first big political campaigns I worked on was Geraldine Ferraro. First woman ever to run for vice president on a major party ticket. And by the time she was running was in the early 90s. I worked on that campaign in New York, worked for Mayor David Dinkins, did some congressional races, and then shifted to the Republican Party over three or four years. So I have a master's degree in political management from GW, my undergrad in communications from Oklahoma State. And one of the things that I'm excited about being here is that I feel very strongly about the professionalization of political operatives. Being in Texas, I know that Dr. Lauer and James have this too. I'm often competing with somebody who won a judges race in East Poduk County. And I moved to Austin and opened an office and they think they're a genius and they're charging some poor smug candidate, $10,000 a month. And you're kind of going, well, you got lucky. So I think it is, this is something we need to study, we need to do professionally, we need to act with integrity. And so that's why I'm glad to see you all here because I know you're interested in doing it. So exact opposite was not political at all growing up. In fact, I was going to be a filmmaker. I was going to make movies. I was going to be Robert Rodriguez. I was Robert Rodriguez before he was even Robert Rodriguez. I actually went to film school at UT Austin. That's where I got my undergraduate degree. So kind of one of those, I made the wrong turn in Albuquerque kind of things, literally. I was going to build my reel because I was going to be this great filmmaker, right? I was going to build my reel. So I went to work for a Hispanic ad agency in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And the gentleman who started the agency actually had had some political background. He actually had a PhD in political science, had been a speech writer for Jesse Jackson. And through his connections, lo and behold, here I am. At that time, the agency primarily focused on automotive industry. So I was doing a lot of commercials on buying cars. And lo and behold, we get a call. And next thing you know, I'm working on the Clinton Gore 96 race and producing all of Clinton Gore's television, radio, newspaper for the presidential run. So my first campaign that I ever really worked on was actually a presidential, which is completely the opposite of what most people do. Most people kind of start off and work their way up. I actually kind of went up and then went down and luckily have had the opportunity to go back up and down throughout my career. And largely because of this gentleman who's sitting next to me, James Alderete. When I moved back to Texas, I was so fortunate enough to meet him through friends that I had met working on the presidential campaign and was given the opportunity to work for his agency. And it was amazing. He's one of the smartest people I know, extremely talented, and gave me an opportunity to kind of showcase my skills with his firm. The day I left his firm, I literally cried. We were at Taco Cabana. I was like, I don't want to go. But I wanted to go back to school. So I went back and got my masters here in St. Mary's University. And I actually got it in, what is this, one of those, very quickly. I wanted to get it done very quickly. And so then I actually applied for UT Austin actually in the journalism department because I thought I wanted to study media and politics. And I actually got denied, I got turned down from the journalism department to which I was thoroughly depressed. And then thought, okay, things happen for a reason. So the next year I applied to communication studies and realized, hey, this is where I was supposed to be. So my first few years at the University of Texas at Austin, I had the privilege of working at the Annette Strauss Institute, which is an amazing place to be. If you're interested in politics, and it's just a phenomenal organization and they do everything from research to engagement. And so it was quite a wonderful experience. I finally finished my PhD, which I'm really excited about. I'm newly christened. So I just actually defended my dissertation a month ago, so I'm really excited. So hearing this doctor stuff is kind of cool, I have to admit. It took me 10 years to get this doctor. 10 brief years to do it. A gradual degree. Exactly, not a graduate degree. And so then, but throughout working through the PhD, I've been working in politics and working on campaigns and being fortunate enough to collaborate with actually both people up here on the stage. We've had a chance to work on campaigns together, and they've been incredible teachers, and I've learned quite a lot from both of them, and so that's kind of how I got started. Fantastic. Okay. I'd say similar to Cher, I grew up in a political family. My dad was an early lieutenant in the American GI Forum movement, which was a civil rights movement that started off when you had post-World War II. You had a young private that had served in the Pacific arena out of Three Rivers, Texas. It was killed, but the only funeral home in town wouldn't serve them. So LBJ was the Senate Majority Leader at the time, and now Private Felix Longoria is buried at Arlington Cemetery. The movement started by Dr. Hector Garcia out of Corpus, and a lot of young GIs, including my dad, kind of became part of that. So I always kind of grew up in hearing the Mexican American civil rights stories, my family's from different parts of the border. And I had this mindset that if I was going to get into politics, I had to go to law school. So finally at UT Austin, Kathleen Hall Jamison, one of the leaders in political communication was chairing the speech department at the time, and I had enough flexibility in my program to kind of take some communication courses out of government, and I credit her for saving me from law school. So to get into really the communications part of it and get more directly into the campaign part of it, there's a lot of lawyers that are in politics that no longer do anything close to law, but carry that level of debt. So that aspect to kind of get involved, and then eventually went from my masters in communications at UT as well. And my first job, you know, while I had internships and other things, a nice exposure and always was involved, my first full job was with the Ann Richards campaign. And I was interviewing with Glenn Smith, like chair, a former reporter. He used to head up the Houston Bureau, but then was heading up hobbyist office and was the first campaign manager for Ann Richards. And I said, I want to do press. And he goes, that's great. Can you do correspondence? Can you do thank you letters? I'm like, yeah, yes, but I really want to do press. And he goes, that's fine, but can you do thank you letters?  So partly just when you get into the campaign aspect, there's, you know, more to it than the glamour aspect of crafting messages and what it takes to kind of get people collaborating into a sense of a cohesive team. But nonetheless, every bit of work, including thank you letters, teaches you along the way. Right. So I was talking to Miss Sylvester earlier before the panel, and I heard Dr. Barberina say something similar, that you were interested by the idea perhaps writing for a sitcom, right? And Dr. Barberina was interested in film school. I wonder, is that part of what your job involves? Is it writing stories? Is it selling narratives? Is it sort of a similar approach to what somebody would do who's writing a, you know, a movie script or writing a script for an ongoing, you know, sitcom? Are you selling a story, so to speak? Well, and of course that's the trick of it. Not that it's a trick, but that's exactly what you're doing. I mean, I think when you are in the piece of it that James and Laura and I are in, well, let me say something about it. And we had this in the East. In the East, campaigns are more clearly divided between field and communications. When I was on campaigns out there, I would be the campaign director, which is not a title we use here, and the campaign director handles all communications, and the campaign manager handles all fields. And so it's kind of split, but if you're specializing on the communications piece, you have to have the story, and that's a process. You get that from the candidate, you pull every line of it, every line of that story to find out, because the trick is, okay, here's my principle. Voters are interested in four things, but it's not balanced. Half of what, 50% of what voters are looking for in a candidate is, does he understand my life? Is she empathetic? 50%. We see that, I'm not even going where we're seeing that, but we see that. That empathy will transcend the other three, honesty, competence, honesty and commitment. People are looking for those things, but what they mostly want is a candidate that understands their life. And we see this all the time when we elect crooks, but at least there are crooks. So that's the piece of the story. You've got to be able to bring your candidate's life, so that's why you hear so many narratives, if I started out my life as a Porsche air cropper and a lot of people did. That's why you get that story. That's why Marco Rubio tells you every time he talks that his father was a bartender of mine. He tells that every time he talks. That's important. And we do not hear from Donald Trump that his father was a billionaire. So because he's looking at a different kind of story, he's starting his story somewhere else. Hillary doesn't tell you she married a governor. She tells you about her story so that you can find a connection. I'll let the filmmaker take it. That's kind of the best thing. Definitely. Campaign is all about telling the story and finding that narrative arc. And then to just kind of jump off what you were saying before, new technologies have really changed the way we're telling that story. Before we could do it through mail and television. Now we have the advent of cable, social media. And so now we've got to learn to tell the story in different ways and telling that same story in a way that resonates with niche audiences. What I was able to do on a national level was be able to find my niche with Latino electorate. So producing materials in Spanish language. And so being able to tell that larger narrative to the niche audience of Spanish speakers. But I definitely think in terms of what you all want to know and learn from us in terms of what skill set you need to be successful in this industry. First and foremost, and James taught me this, you need to be a good writer. You have to know how to write. It's amazing how many people don't know how to write and write in a way that you're a good storyteller. And James is a master at that. But really the number one skill I think you need in this business is you've got to be able to write. If you don't have that, there's nothing else. Also within this industry, it's not just about... You know, everybody wants to talk about TV, because it's TV, it's sexy, it's all this stuff. But now we have rarely specialized areas. So for instance, you could become the email person on a campaign. So all you do is you're in charge of just doing email correspondence to voters. You could do just simply fundraising, and all the communication that goes around fundraising. And then again, field. All the communication that goes around field and then social media and all of those things. I always love when I introduce myself to people and I say, what do you do? And I say, I'm a political consultant, communication consultant. And they're like, ooh. And I'm like, no, it's not that sexy. Trust me. Like I'm in sweats, tennies, meeting sign guys in the parking lot, exchanging checks. But we do have a joke that, you know, Albania is hard to rhyme. Have you all ever seen Wag the Dog? A movie? A must-see film, if you're interested in political communications, Wag the Dog is a great movie, because as we try to tell these stories, we often come up with challenges on how we can get past certain roadblocks of how we tell the story. And it's just a fabulous narrative about that challenge that we face. And just to add a few things. Stories are basically, you know, how we connect with each other. It's how we remember things. Every family has their stories, and you'll find that they're very common to other family stories, even though there's going to be nuances and color differences. So it is a way of kind of connection. It's how we organize, you know, the different ideas. We don't talk to each other in talking points or just in statistics.  But really, our job is to make sure that people do understand a candidate's motivation. And at various points, that's what builds trust. You don't know where they're coming from, you know, what are they trying to get out of it, because increasingly we're very cynical about politicians, especially, I think that's part of the Trump movement. When you're cynical about politicians, it's even more incumbent to express what your motivation is in an incredible way. You know, the buzzword, it's silly, of the moment is authenticity. So now authenticity is now a buzzword, making it slightly less authentic. But a dear friend of mine, back in the Ann Richards days, no longer with us, but Lena Garedo was this feisty state representative. And she played a large role in Ann Richards' campaign. And then in vacancy on the railroad commission, all of a sudden she got big East Texas hair, pearls came on, and her power kind of read, you know, dresses. And it was just, she became slightly something that she wasn't. And unfortunately, in the course of the campaign, you know, the knocks on her story when she talked about her own graduation was kind of reflective of not necessarily being herself. So you're trying to always kind of make that connection of who you are. But again, you put it into a larger story because it's more critical that you really tell people why you're doing things, so to get over trust issues. Can I follow up on that just a second? Of course. But I think there's been a shift, and I'm not sure what you're thinking is about it. But when I got to Texas, as James mentioned, I worked at the express news for a while and I wanted to be a reporter maybe instead of doing politics, but I didn't. And about that time, Dewhurst, David Dewhurst was getting into politics. And how he did that was with money. And he bought his way in, and he was elected land commissioner, and he had millions of dollars, and he was elected lieutenant governor. And he said policy long is a great guy, no comment there on that. But that's how he got in. He was able to blanket the state with television ads, and present people with a story self-made up from the bottom, made all this money. Writing on horse? Writing on horse, doing all that, all of the non-native text, I don't think. But maybe he was. But now, but then when Ted Cruz came along and beat him, by that time we had the Tea Party movement. So we have 175 Tea Party groups in the state. And that campaign went on for like 400 years. But all of those candidates had to, they couldn't do it with that. They had to go to every one of those meetings with people like you and stand there for an hour and answer questions. They had to be authentic, authentically authentic. And that kind of communication, I think, and that's what you also saw was in Iowa. That's of course what they do in Iowa. That's what happened, that the caucus is in Nevada. You really, that personal communication now becomes... And that year, because of redistricting lawsuits, you had those delayed run-offs, and the delayed election part of it, which really changed the rules for Dewhurst, gave Cruz really a chance to run a movement campaign. And so when the rules aren't in your favor, you look for ways to change it, and now it's the Dewhurst that can't compete in this new area. Yeah. And with the advent of social media, money's always important in campaigns. I'm not going to lie. It's always important. But we just finished working on a race, this last election cycle for a judicial candidate. It's the 408 here in San Antonio on the Democratic side. And we were outspent. I think he had, he spent maybe $160,000, and we spent maybe $50, and we ended up in the run-off, and he didn't. So while money does matter, you also have to be strategic in how you do it, and you have to be telling a story, as James mentioned, that really connects to voters, that they understand. And social media allows you to do it in a more economical way, to be able to reach voters. In fact, I'll sit with the first-time candidate, and they'll be like, oh, we don't want to do Facebook, because that's where all the young people are. And I'm like, yeah, right. Like the medium age of Facebook now is 55. You young people, y'all aren't on Facebook anymore. Y'all have moved on, right? Y'all are Instagram, Snapchat. Y'all are totally moved on. But as we know, the electorate is older. And so the reality is, Facebook is a really great way to say, I mean, as soon as my dad got on Facebook, I was like, okay, it's over. It's over. Facebook is now officially part of the electorate communication process. And I will tell you, if you can learn Facebook, you can work on any campaign. Right. Just as soon as I think I've mastered Facebook, they change the rules. Now they get to the little heart. I'm like, wow, where did the heart come from? In the angry face. In the angry face. I'm like, yeah, this is, you know. But they're always changing the ad sizes. But learning Facebook, in terms of what a live ad versus a dark ad, there's all kinds of stuff within the realm of social media and political communications that I think is yet to be discovered. And you guys are just poised to do it because most people think that's where y'all live. Well, I think it's interesting. Sherry and James talked a little bit about the personal communication, a lot of what we see happening in caucuses, candidates meeting face to face, talking directly to voters. And Laura, you're talking about social media. So is social media, can it be as effective as personal communication? And in some ways, does the advent of social media and of digital platforms more generally doesn't make your jobs more difficult? It's constantly changing. There's a lot to keep up. I understand that's a double barrel question. Yeah.  And that could be a little frustrating because, you know, Facebook is a great tool to use, but it's not the only tool to use by any means. You know, I think you do have to be careful with Facebook because it can consume a candidate's time. It can be like, it's like a gambling addiction, right? I just posted this. How many likes did I get? Well, I only got 50. All right, let me post something else. Oh, I got 160 likes. And so then it becomes this cycle where everything they post, they want to get more and more likes. And we don't know whether or not, you know, that's actually connecting with the voter. What my approach and my company's approach is always about using social media as a way to engage in a conversation. You want to have engagement on social media. You want people commenting. You want to be having a conversation with voters. And then also being able to show the authenticity, which is what I love about social media is periscoping and the voyeurism of online videos, right? Where we can show things behind the scenes so voters can see this authentic candidate. So it's not maybe a fancy slick commercial that we spent, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars showing them riding a horse. But rather, in fact, it's, you know, following the candidate while they're shaking hands and letting voters sort of see that aspect of the candidate that they wouldn't normally see on TV. It wouldn't be covered by a news. It wouldn't be covered on earned media. But that social media allows that sort of window of a peeping Tom, if you will, to look and see what the candidate's doing. Well, I mean, I want to say something about that, unless you're, I have every candidate that I deal with, I put them in front of a camera and they can talk so that I can see what they look like. And you have to, you can't bring, and every time I do it, every other consultant wants to be in the room because they don't want their candidates saying anything and they're very invested in the content what the person is actually saying. I'm not. I want to know if the person makes eye contact, if they stand up, if they speak with authority and confidence, because that's what people are looking for. Because I think that that when you go out and you're raising that money and you reach out there to shake your hand or you've got to go to your local, whatever it is, and talk to people, that's the key. That is the bedrock. And I don't care if you're running for governor or you're running for the 406th judicial court. So how your candidate presents themselves if they've got a tick, if they've got bad breath, if for some reason they're just not likeable, Ted Cruz. If. It's going to be, that's a challenge. That's a challenge. And he's in second place. So he's overcome some challenges that he's faced with that are pretty natural. But if you're just, and you might say the same thing about Hillary, if you're just not likeable, that's very hard to transcend. And so I want to see that. And if I can tell a candidate, open your eyes, look forward, stop talking, stop talking. Just, you know, the smartest candidates in my experience are absolutely the worst to work with. So they know too much. So would a candidate like, let's say Ted Cruz or Hillary Clinton, would they be more effective if their campaigns were more digitally run? They did more social media, less time in front of a camera and making an argument, look, it's the content of my message that matters, right? It's a substance of the policies I'm pushing forth, which is certainly, I think, something that Ted Cruz would argue, right? He is the orthodox conservative. He's the guy who's putting forth issues and policies important to conservatives. But he loses the sort of game in the debates in front of the cameras. So would it be better for him to do less personal appearances and try to run his campaign more digitally? I'd say, I think there's already a huge digital aspect to his campaign. And I don't think that was his ability to raise money. What he is is largely a movement guy. And social media, I think, works on two ends. I think it could be slightly overplayed. I agree that, you know, you're not going to have anyone with a following that's not a likable person who hasn't, who isn't known whatsoever. So it really all is all about integration and not kind of one or the other. But when you can tap into other communities and so those communities on the evangelical side already exist. Those communities on what you want to call the occupy or the income and the quality part of it on the left already exist. So what they've been able to do is kind of tap and then they continue to build trust. So it's an integrated campaign, but you kind of go to where the voters are and they've developed their base. And I think more ideological people are going to be more easy to tap online. I think I would just kind of argue or nuance your words because it's not really an issue-based and substance-based. It's going to be intensity and ideology that I think are the key factors. Sure. And one thing I'd like to add just with respect to Ted Cruz because he did bring up an issue with respect to political communications that I thought was very interesting and the press didn't really pick up on it too much. But he's really involved his two daughters a lot in his commercials, right? And we saw this video that was leaked of the B-roll footage of him doing multiple takes at the prayer, et cetera. And then what we saw then... And then the commercials where they actually appeared. And then there was a cartoon that showed Ted Cruz and he had the two daughters and they looked like performing monkeys. And he came back very hard and said, you can't attack my daughters, you can't attack my daughters. And I thought, you know, we didn't really have a good dialogue afterwards about that. The cartoon was sort of taken down and it just sort of went away. But I think there's an interesting debate here to say, you know, he politicized them, one could argue, by putting them in the commercial, therefore making them fair game, right? Or you could say, well, he made that decision. They shouldn't even be the product or the topic of satire because it wasn't their decision, it was their father's decision. So, you know, in political communications, we deal with sort of these kind of ethical issues all the time. Do we bring the children in? Do we use the children? Do I use the fact that my candidate's wife has MS? Do I make that part of the messaging? And so we have these ethical issues that we have to deal with in political comm all the time. So, where do you get your news? How do you stay informed? Well, I feel very strongly about that. I feel like you have to vary your news diet. You know, so I work on the conservative Republican side. So I watch an hour of box news every day. I need to do that. If I do that, I watch an hour of public television. On the left side. For your soul. If you don't do that.  If you don't, you'll lose your perspective. You've got to know the big narrative. And when I have a sister who's very much on the liberal Democratic side and she'll say, did you see such and such? Like everybody has seen this. I am. And the same thing we'll have, we'll say, well, did you read this indictment of Hillary? Oh no, she didn't see that. And just let me say one more thing. It's not enough to get the clips that the people in your tribe are carrying. I used to be quite amazed that the Daily Show and Limbaugh are the same show. Limbaugh comes up every day. He says, I've got this giant stack of stuff and he reads you liberal outrageous from the news. And the Daily Show would come on and they have a giant stack of stuff and they will read you conservative outrageous from the news. That is not a varied news diet. Go in, judge for yourself. And I find at the end of the day, it makes you smarter.  That doesn't happen every day. But they actually had a point or that's a good point, you know.  And we don't need partisan hacks in the communication business. We need people that can see the entire narrative and see where you fit in. So I have a digital subscription to the San Antonio Express News. So I wake up every morning and this is true. I wake up at 5.30 in the morning waiting for the email to come through and I'm ready. So the first thing I do is I read the paper, front to back, first thing I do. Because that's going to keep me apprised of what's going on here in my hometown. And if you don't have a digital subscription, I highly recommend it for a variety of reasons. One, because when you work in politics, you want to be one day ahead of the story. And oftentimes you have access to the stories that are going to be printed the next day. So I know what's going to be coming up and I can prepare for it from a communications perspective. I also, you know, if you're in this business, it's all about the tweets. You know, you've got to stay up to speed with Twitter. It's where, you know, it's what things are happening. Yes, I saw somebody just nudge someone. Are you a Twitter hater?  Okay, yeah. And unfortunately, I kind of hate it too. But it really is, that's where the media are. The media are on Twitter and the conversations that are going on about... Dan's just tweeting right now. Yeah, he's tweeting right now. That's what he's doing. He's literally tweeting right now. Yeah, yeah. And if you need a tweet, you know, selfish plug. I'm Biva Politics, by the way, on Twitter. Biva Politics. Anyway. So, but yeah, so you definitely want to look at Twitter. And then my other news consumption is I subscribe to a lot of news aggregate emails. So I get an email like every day that kind of says these are the stories that are going on. So that I kind of get just a quick overview of everything. I wish I read the New York Times editorial every day. I should and I don't. But I try to pick up the Texas Tribune, I mean, digitally obviously and look at that to see kind of what's going on. And then after I have my cup of coffee, then I watch the local news. So I watch the, here's what you got to know for today on the number one news station here. Then I go into my Good Morning America. I watch the first 30 minutes. And then I start flipping over to CNN, Fox, and the various news channels. And that's literally how I get my day started every day. And then by nine o'clock I'm ready to get my day started. So that's what I do. I'd say unlike most liberals, I don't even watch MSNBC. I don't really get much out of cable, television at all. I think Nate Silver's, the title of Nate Silver's book, you know, the signal from the noise is a good one. You really kind of want to look for what's substantive. So yeah, I do read the Times and Wall Street Journal kind of on a daily thing. I think having a sense of how other thinkers even from the other side are looking at things is definitely very informative. It doesn't, I don't think, broaden my perspective, but maybe deepens my perspective on things. And there are plenty of kind of news aggregators, I agree. Like New Stock was one, so I kind of keep up on Latino and immigration ones. My Facebook feed will really tell me what all my liberal friends are outrageous about.  I think you're always looking really for more long format for more insightful parts of it and to try to kind of get off just the hot thing of the day. Right. So my final question I teach you, and then we can open up to the floor, is to craft an effective political message to some extent you need to understand human psychology. So do you consciously think about when you're creating a political ad, a political message of what emotions you're trying to induce?  Yes. Is the simple answer. Absolutely. Yeah. I think the first thing is as you look at the different mediums you may be writing for, people take it in differently. So television still for the most part is your best medium because people take it in passively. They're looking to be entertained for the most part of it. Everything else, if you're like writing direct mail pieces, people are sorting through, they have their defenses on it because no one wants to be really persuaded on anything. And so you have to kind of break that barrier but you know that on a direct mail piece, they're going to be a little bit more cynical. You know, on TV that you can hit, you know, the score of music behind it to give it an emotional feel, that you can make it more entertaining, you have audio and visual kind of combination part of it. Radio to a certain extent is passive as well because typically you're driving. If you're actually listening to radio, you know, a lot more money is even going on Pandora to catch people really at work or more leisure hours and how you get those ads there too. But you're always looking for a connection, you know, that people aren't going to accept it unless it goes back to Sherry's original point, unless there's a point of trust. You know, unless you can kind of put people's natural defenses down, you don't get there. So yeah, I think there's lots to be learned really from open mic nights, from stand-up comedy on how people kind of break that silence of what jokes work and what jokes don't. You know, even just from a humor and a performance aspect, and those are kind of quick ones, you find where they have that human moment, sometimes it's a back door and then it opens it up to a broader point. So I'm going to disagree, despite my total respect for Sherry, in saying John Stewart is not Rush Limbaugh. And his insightful commentary would really kind of go way beyond those points to find that human aspect and tell something very intellectual and very deep. And he could get a very intellectual show through a bit of humor. And yes, often it was a bit of outrage, but then it would kind of come down a notch and you'd see that modulation. And I don't personally see that modulation on the Limbaugh part of it. Well, and then oftentimes too, we spend hours like literally writing a commercial, a radio commercial, a TV commercial. And I recall the story, James and I, I had the privilege of working with James when he had the Obama contract in 08.   And it was President Obama, he was going to be speaking Spanish.  See what she says. So I play it for my mom and I'm like, oh, mom, what do you think? She goes, I didn't know Obama spoke Spanish. And I was like, oh. And I thought, wait a minute, that's a good thing. Like, you know, we spent all this time like trying to craft the message and ultimately her takeaway was that Obama spoke Spanish. And I thought, well, yes, we got her. This is good. But so, you know, it's funny because we do spend a lot of time trying to craft the message and trying to connect the voters. And sometimes it's the things you don't expect that actually do end up making that connection. Yeah, it's at 55% that first seven seconds, the impression before they open their mouth. I think a lot of, in telling the stories, we kind of look at what we're doing with candidates. We're filling empty heads. We've got an unknown candidate. And we're activating latent partisans. Those are the things that we're doing in terms of political speech. This guy's on your team. And we have all kinds of code in which we do that. We're almost never persuading. Because that is the hardest thing to do in communication. For me to try to convince James that Limbaugh is as intellectual as Stuart, that's a hard thing. I'm not going to go for that. I'm not going to win that argument. So what we're mostly doing is getting that empathy, telling that story, which again is why Mario's father, with a bartender, why they tell you Mario's father, and why Ted is using that, those kinds of stories more so that you can understand what people's lies are like. Thank you. So I think we can open up the floor now. I have some questions. Yes, sir. Hi, my name's Sean. Hi, Sean. We're all here from ACC up in Austin Community College. So you mentioned a couple things throughout the panel discussion, and I wanted to kind of link the two specific issues that I was questioning. You mentioned social media use in campaigns and how that's affected how your job works. So with Jeff Bush, he was barely active with social media and very, very open and candid about what he was doing, where he was doing and how things worked behind the lines. With that degree and level of communication, he still lacked that connection. So I guess my question is, that part was obvious. So my question is, what could he have done differently with the use of social media so that he wouldn't have had to do that? You know, I don't know. He was carrying a very old brand. So he had, and you could see how he was trying to do that with the rainbow exclamation point. He was trying to create a new brand. So he was in the persuasion piece. He had to persuade you that what you already believed about a Bush was not true, and that he was somebody different.  I think, I would probably go back to mine, James May and Laura might have an idea about how to do it, but I would go back to mine as your principal product, I hate that word, is the candidate. And I would have advised Jeb differently. Jeb had a campaign since 2002. So that's like 400 years ago. So he had no really, no expertise. As a Democrat in Texas, you know, we never took much pride that George W. Bush came from here. But we always said that Jeb was a smart one, and now we're questioning that part of it. You know, I don't know that it was a social media thing that he could have done differently. I think that timespan that Sherry talks about was huge, that he was out of step with where the Republican Party is right now. In 2008, his name is not coming to me at the moment, but the chief pollster for Hillary Clinton got the wrap for not catching that it truly was a change election. And it wasn't an experienced election.  I said, in the end, patterns were reinforced themselves, and I still predicted it was Bush, and how wrong, pathetically, I was on that prediction. But the fact that there is that level of antitrust and in the coalition and where that intensity is, what you're looking for right now, and I think social media adds to this, on general market media, Sherry's right, we kind of fill in a thing, and we can make it, you know, an emotional connection. Really, on social media, to the large extent, you're increasing and reinforcing intensity. And on that part of it, you know, where the Republican primary is now, he was just out of step and uncomfortable as a campaigner, which I don't know that you can compensate for in social media tactics. Although the brilliant Mr. Al Grettinger might have had it, Jeff, the smart one. He could have gone that way. Yes, sir? One or two candidates that used the media the best, what would they be, and more importantly, what about their campaign and use of media so far in the main event? It's hard to judge, because it's always really about your strategic objectives and kind of the position that you're in. I'll say right now, while I'm working on the Hillary campaign, the Bernie Sanders campaign is putting out some very powerful stuff. The logic stand is because they're a movement campaign. And so if you saw the Erika Garner story, they get to do a long format part of it. They get to tell kind of long, really beautiful stories. And then how that's bringing in and making a connection with people that are less politically involved. So while he is not necessarily camera-friendly, he is, in that sense, very kind of authentic and is a movement person. My argument would be that he hasn't put enough skin in the game and there's a reason he can be that consistent. But if you're talking about media aspects to it, I think their campaign is doing some amazing stuff. I'm going to talk a little bit more about maybe the messaging, not so much the media portion of it. But I think Ted Cruz has done an excellent job and part of that is because he's using technology. I don't know if you all know this, but there's such thing as a Ted Cruz app, right? There's an app for that. So when you like him, you get the app and they ask you a series of questions. And essentially what they're doing is they're creating a psychological profile of you. So once you've gotten into the system, well, it's actually even more scary than that.  So they know, okay, when it comes to the gun message, I need to word it in this way if you're this kind of a Republican. But if you're this kind of Republican, we'll tweak the messaging on guns for you in this way. But what's even more interesting is what he's doing. It's once you've signed on onto the app, essentially what you're also doing is you're giving them access to your cell phone. So all the data on your cell phone, they're able to have access to. So they're really using technology in a way that's allowing them to really zero in on that message, really targeting. It's not just that it's a gun message, but it's a specific gun message about the kind of conservative that you call yourself and think of yourself. So I think they've done an excellent job in utilizing technology in that respect with the messaging. Yeah, I would agree with that. I think that Ted has really pushed the envelope. But I think the people that we deal with here, I mean, I think the governor's good. The governor has a huge operation, huge communications operation. And it's interesting to watch his strategy. The 10th governor is very good, but the 10th governor is a professional communications person. He's did television and radio for years. And that makes him atypical among politicians.  And most candidates, you have to tell him what three minutes is in one minute. All I hate is he's got that down. And the governor, I think, has been doing it for so long. They have good, good operations. There's just some candidates who have that je ne sais toi, right? They just, they got it, man. I don't know, it's just, like, I remember one time I was working with Henry C. Snettles, who's like the master of communications. So I was doing a commercial with Henry and I didn't have a teleprompter. So I had the script written out and I said, secretary, I don't remember just secretary at that time, but Mr. Secretary, here's the script. And, you know, we don't have a teleprompter. All right, okay, I'm ready. And I'm like, you know we don't have a teleprompter. Yeah, I'm ready. Okay, he freaking got it in one take. One take.  They're just some people who have that gift. And that's not to say that if you have a candidate, it doesn't have that gift. You can't teach them and get them the skills to get there. But they're just some candidates who innately just know. They're just good communicators. And that makes my job a lot easier. And I think we'll see more and more of that because as you watched the presidential field on the Republican side win, I mean, on the Democratic side, both Hillary and Bernie are good communicators. But, you know, we lost, what's his name? Who was that? Oh, Malley. Oh, Malley. We lost him. And who was that early governor who was going to win from Michigan? John? Scott Walker. Yeah, Scott Walker.  Hi, my name is Rebecca and I am a middle school teacher in Austin and currently working on a congressional campaign as well. My question for you is in regards to the different types of political communication. Is there a different way that you communicate with people who you want to vote for your candidate and people who you want to volunteer for your candidate? And if so, how are the strategies different and how does that make them effective? You know, I live in Travis County on every Democratic list. I don't sign up for it. You just kind of get spammed and they're asking you to volunteer every time. Like it just kind of comes out. And so people do just, I think, kind of fill up a lot of that email, especially aspect of it, without building that level of trust. So on the volunteer aspect of it, I don't know, it's kind of what you're trying for a voter but on crack. And unless you have connection, connection, connection, and you have to make sure that not every communication isn't asked. And sometimes there's a give and sometimes there's just a share and they don't always have to be, you know, a thesis but then you need some short things that just kind of keep them, you know, up to speed. And then you're looking for any way that adds personalization. You know, when you still, after even donating or whatever, if you get your friend or you don't even get a personal, you know, first name in there and it's just kind of an automated part of it, you're losing that ability. I think overall, even with voter persuasion, I think there will be continued movement towards personalization on the volunteer aspect unless you're feeling, unless you feel both connected and then appreciated, you're not going to be there. Yeah. And to kind of add to that and the personalization and volunteers, we kind of like to shame them. Shaming always works. So say for instance your candidate has a teacher's union endorsement. So then we'll start targeting, we'll do a volunteer push for teachers to say, you know, this candidate has fought for you, this candidate has done all these things for you, now they need you to step up for them. So, you know, you kind of tailor the message in that way so you're actually building off of relationships that they have and sort of that connection, right, with a specific group that may have endorsed your candidate. And that's always a good way to go. It kind of sounds tacky to say shame, but it works. I just, one last comment, Sergio, you always have to remind them why it matters and not assume that they remember why it matters. Right, this person voted this way during the legislature or blocked this bill and they've stood up for you, now they need you to stand up and then ask them to volunteer. And I've always found too that when you ask very specifically what it is you want them to do, not make a general ask, they'll say, just come volunteer.  But if you say, hey, come, we're going to be labeling postcards and we need you this Saturday from 2 to 5 or we need you to block walk for one hour and just come, we'll give you a t-shirt and water. So actually making a specific ask for the volunteer I think also helps because it takes off that what are they going to make me do? I don't feel comfortable speaking on behalf of this client, on this candidate. I don't know them that well. So kind of giving them that kind of specifics helps. And put the whole message in the subject line. Somebody's going to read it. And my friends do not send me emails and say dear friend. So don't do that. I think we have time for one last question in the back. I'd say I go back to often at least. And this is just a writing thing. I go back often to George Orwell and politics in the English language. So that's pretty much a standby for me. I think if you're really looking for, you know, on my side I think it's always you're looking to inspire. I think liberals or those to the left are looking for that inspiration and that larger sense of community. I think frankly there's any JFK stuff but Ted Sortsen, you know, are stand-bys. And I frankly even say that there's unique ways of listening to the current pope. And I learned I integrate that as well because he just has a new way of changing an old brand and connecting with folks that's pretty amazing to watch. I don't have this poster next to my computer but you know the poster with a little cat hanging in there? I read on the onion that he actually let go. So I thought that was kind of funny.  And sometimes on the liberal side we feel that way, you know. We know we're going to lose but you fight the fight anyway because you know it has to be done. I have a couple of things. One of them is don't believe you're on the press. Another is, and that's really important, the only relevant question in politics is compared to what? It shifts every time. A candidate that lost badly will win again. And I do have, and I have a sign over my computer that says what does God want me to do and often I look at that almost every day and it's like too tough a question. So just get back to the email but I do think you have to, it's too tough to answer but I mean I think you really do have to focus on what's driving you to do this work and see the bigger picture. And I also try to surround myself with people who love to do this work. I would much rather work with someone who's not as talented but enjoys doing the work and is fun and enthusiastic about doing it and I'll do a shout out to Pat Wallace in the back who works with me, wave your hand Pat. We laugh, we spend so much time laughing and we just love what we do and being around people that love what you do and I surround myself with people who don't have the same politics as me but we have great conversations and we respect each other but we really love the world of politics. Well this was fantastic and I think I could sit here all day and listen to your stories and your insight. I learned a lot and I hope you all did too. Please give our panelists a big round of applause. Thank you so much. We had a great time listening to the panel on political communications. We're going to break for lunch now. So if we can, we're getting the rest of the sandwiches here set up. We've got box lunches for you. If you will, please, when you finish your lunch, if you'll break your boxes down before you throw it in the trash, it'll help us coordinate that a little bit better. You're welcome to sit out in the student lounge.


How to put a YouTube link in your Instagram bio. Are you a YouTuber? Do you want to drive more traffic to your YouTube channel? Instagram is a great platform to promote your videos and gain more subscribers. One way to do that is by putting the link to your YouTube channel in your Instagram bio. Once you have uploaded your video to your YouTube channel, grab your YouTube link. You can find it by opening your video on YouTube, clicking the share button and copying the link provided. Next, open your Instagram profile. Click on the edit profile button. Under your username, see a section labeled links. Paste your YouTube channel link into the field. Make sure to click done to save the changes. You can add five links to your Instagram bio. A reorder button will appear and you can easily drag them to the top or bottom of your profile. Be sure your link goes directly to the specific video to ensure that anyone who clicks the link will be taken directly to your YouTube channel video. Instagram links are not private. Even if you have a private account, those links may appear for others to see. Add your YouTube video link to your Instagram bio to promote your videos and gain more subscribers. Read the full blog post by Lisa Sikard at Inspire2Thrive.com.