The Virtual Interview

CNN found a story I wrote on GreenPrint last week and decided to interview me, as a user of this product, for a green story they were putting together. For those of you who get interviewed by news organizations every day, you might not be as impressed as I was... this is one highly-functional virtual organization!

Here's how it worked. I got a call from a producer in Atlanta putting the story together. She then sent a local camera crew and reporter from their DC bureau to my office where they asked some of her questions, and a few of their own. The camera crew probably had instructions from the producer as well, but I noticed they captured several impromptu shots. It took one hour exactly.

I'm not sure how they interviewed the head of GreenPrint, but I wouldn't be surprised if a local crew in Portland did this.

Six days later (yesterday) the story aired. Miles O'Brien did the voice over for the story (by the way I never met him, which is a bummer because I really wanted to ask him what it's like to be a space correspondent!)

So how many people worked on this story? I'm guessing with the producer, camera staff, reporters, editors and the like, maybe 8 to 12 total. Very few of these people saw each other (I'm sure some of them have never met) and they pulled together this story without a hitch. If a high-pressure, high-stakes organization like CNN can pull off a project like this virtually in six days, we can certainly learn something from them about remote work.

There was a purpose, a deadline, clear lines of accountability, a deliverable and NO TRAVEL! Now that's a good green story.