5 Days in April

Five days of “His Holiness the Dalai Lama Live” is exhausting, even if you are NOT the Dalai Lama. The unprecedented Seeds of Compassion event brought His Holiness to Seattle for a singular purpose—to explore new and more effective ways to instill compassion in children everywhere. An amazing cadre of experts and thought leaders assembled to pursue this objective with the participation of over 100,000 on- site observers and millions more via the media. There is no doubt that minds and hearts were changed by this special gathering.

Public relations professionals and firms from all over town were tapped by uber-volunteer-organizer Pamela Eakes from the organizing committee to help get the word out during every step of this five-day journey. I was asked to take on some key responsibilities and, with me, I brought an experienced group of those I trusted most from DDB Public Relations and our client The Space Needle, along with some old and new friends who volunteered their expertise to our cause.

The whole experience surrounded each of us and, although our minds were distracted by the real world from time to time, Seeds of Compassion was a part of our lives each day. On the outside, it was an incredible string of workshops, forums and presentations that pleased the participants and awed the audiences every minute. On the inside, each day brought new opportunities and challenges to effectively communicate the magnificent happenings. Here are just a few of these indelible inside remembrances.

For me, it began with the assignment of helping make an opening statement that would set the tone for the entire event. It would be delivered by Lama Tenzin Dohnden, friend of the Dalai Lama since childhood and now his Personal Emissary of Peace. Drafting statements for Buddhist monks is seemingly no different than taking on that job for anyone. We all have our way of saying things and we found the right voice on this one.
Next we had to break a date for His Holiness with Ann Curry from the Today Show, who had come early to prepare for her exclusive interview. His Holiness made a 40 hour real time trip from India to Seattle and it was when he arrived that we all learned that he must have his 8 to 9 hours sleep each day. He was overdue for some sleep and his request was honored. So was the interview, the next morning, and NBC made use of it through the weekend and into Monday’s Today Show.

By the weekend, we were all getting used to working with the group of over 100 reporters and photographers who were assigned to this event. Experience pays dividends in these instances because each of us knew what the others job was and respected each other’s willingness to make it all work.
Saturday was “Public Day”. thousands of international participants, an amazing 11-year-old violin virtuoso and over 50,000 observers inside the Seahawks’ Qwest Field in the open, with no cover. The day before it rained and was 38 degrees. The day after it rained more and the temperature was about the same. On “Public Day”, it was sunny, clear and almost 70 degrees. I don’t know about you but I know who I want to thank for that.

It was while we were at Qwest Field that I got the call. We had all agreed that the five days belonged to Seeds of Compassion. Even though there was trouble between China and the Dalai Lama’s native country of Tibet, that subject was not on the table during Seeds. We wanted to protect the sanctity of the purpose. The call informed me that His Holiness and his countrymen on the national Tibetan council felt they could not avoid speaking about China and Tibet to this collection of media while he was here.

It was a tough decision to decide who would take on this responsibility. There were client conflicts all over the place. Because of my experience in both these countries, because I had been very transparent to my clients on both sides about my involvement with Seeds and His Holiness and, in spite of my work with upcoming Beijing Olympics, ultimately it was decided that I was the best choice to conduct this special news conference.

We chose early Sunday morning because it was the beginning of a quiet day and it fit His Holiness’s schedule. I don’t suppose I will ever send out another Media Alert where I sign it “Personal Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama”. But then the entire event was to become a personal highlight on so many levels.

We worked closely with the Secret Service, who protects foreign dignitaries as well as the President of the United States. I have worked with them in the past but, each time I do, I gain a new respect for this group of patriots who have an incredibly delicate job to do. This detail was no different as you will soon learn.
I gathered my crew of DDBers and Space Needle pros to help with this job. We staffed the room, got the media set in their places and waited. I had to give the media the rules and some hints about the Dalai Lama’s approach to interviews. Just remember not to stand up in his presence unless you’re called on.
When His Holiness entered the room with the Secret Service detail, I was to greet him. He walked straight to me and extended his hand. It was a warm two-handed handshake and he said very softly in my ear “Thank you for this.” Being touched by this is an understatement.

He took the stage, sat down in the overstuffed red chair that we were all getting used to by now, leaned forward, shook his head and said “I have nothing to say.” I immediately thought that this was going to be a very long moment in a very short morning. But, as you might guess, he went on to talk for over an hour, answering every question that was tossed up.

I was the moderator. Just me and him on the stage. If you ever want to feel small and insignificant then spend an hour and half on a stage with the Dalai Lama. Somehow I felt invisible. But it was about 40 minutes into the conference when we had an unexpected turn of events. With His Holiness in mid-answer, the room went totally dark. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. It was dark for no more than one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three. When the lights came back up, the two Secret Service agents who were sitting on either side of the room in folding chairs before were now standing next to each other at the ready in the center of the room in front of the Dalai Lama. I might have been scared enough but I could never have made that leap in less than three seconds.

When my heart stopped pounding, His Holiness was continuing his answer with his trademarked laugh. It was then we found out that one of the members of the security detail had unknowingly leaned against the light switch. He heard about that for the rest of the day, I’m sure.
Those 90 minutes that morning will be bottled in my mind forever. When he placed his matching cloth carrybag over his shoulder, I was told he would be ready to go, so I have gave him the sign that time was up and, suddenly, it was over. As we left the room, one of the media folks there said to me “You know the question I want to get the answer to that never gets asked? Does the Dalai Lama have a real life? Does he put on jeans and a t-shirt and go browsing at the video store or listening to music?” It would be interesting to know but somehow I can’t picture it.

From there, time seemed to become a blur. Sunday afternoon, I witnessed an “appreciation audience”. All the key volunteer leads gathered in one room organized together by our responsibilities. There must have been over 200 of us. With the event producer leading the way, the Dalai Lama and his Secret Service contingent passed by each group for a photo. At each stop, he would shake some hands. My wife Jane had her “Brush with Greatness” there because shorter people were in the front row and he reached her first. I looked at my watch when he entered the room. He gave a short “Thank You” to us after five minutes and in seven, he was gone. Though the contact was brief, we were all still touched by him.

His entourage led by Lama Tenzin had dinner at the Space Needle on Monday evening. After they were seated, I asked him if he would be having a vegetarian meal. He said, “No, I could use some meat.” In fact, more than half of the group had meat and they loved it!

The finale on Tuesday at the University of Washington was better than the best show-stopping Broadway number you can imagine. His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu sitting next to each other on the stage with a group of spiritual luminaries for two hours. They laughed, they cried, they talked about their mothers. They both have infectious laughs and when the Archbishop punched His Holiness and said “You should act more like a Holy Man!” he made himself laugh so hard that it took a minute for him to gain control again. His Holiness watched in disbelief until the Archbishop had settled down and then said quietly, “Thank you so much.” They were like Hope and Crosby (that’s Bob and Bing for you twenty-somethings)—only better.

And all of a sudden this groundbreaking enclave was over. Seeds of Compassion immediately began to revel in its success and evaluate its potential for changing the world. Our group rushed outside and waved as His Holiness left for the airport. We received a hand-wave back through the car window as it sped by with the motorcade. He was headed for Ann Arbor and I had to race to catch a plane to Chicago for a client event that night. As I settled into a coach seat on my newly-inspected American Airlines MD80, I put in my white earbuds and, on “Shuffle”, up came Bob Dylan’s “You Gotta Serve Somebody”. No kidding! When my mind began to decompress, I wondered what playlist His Holiness has on his iPod…IF he has an iPod! Maybe we’ll find that out the next time. My world is so different now.

Posted by Dan McConnell on April 21, 2008 4:06 PM Permalink