The hard work was over. The ten-hour session was now behind us. The commercial for PBS.org was complete. We had survived the Kay Shaw critique and created a great video because of it. Danielle and I left the PMC office tired but full of energy, for we had finished the project. All that was left was for PBS to judge which video would be the face of their new PBS.org site. We parted ways and I promised her I would not be late tomorrow, although I knew I might. We talked about what this would mean if we won but that wasn’t the concern at all. We just wanted to get our point across and create something compelling.

The winning video would be the face of the new PBS.org but the magnitude did not hit me that night. As I rode home in the cab I sparked up some conversation with the cab driver about PBS. I wanted to see what it felt like to take some ownership of the brand and its direction. When I arrived at my house I uploaded the video to facebook, tagged Danielle, and let all of my friends know something big was happening tomorrow. I was proud of our video and was ready to see what PBS thought.

I woke up later than I planned and called Danielle to tell her I was going to meet them at PBS. I timed it perfect and was the first one there. I know right. How is “Mr. running late” the first Fellow here? I sat down and scanned the room. I looked at the agenda and saw that we were second. When I looked up I saw Kay and the fellows walking in.

Danielle was presenting today and I could sense a little nervous energy. I made small talk to take her mind off it. Before she went up to present I gave her the thumbs up. It’s corny but effective at making folks smile and feel at ease. She was still nervous but she did well and it felt great, watching my teammate shine. All of the fellows had great commercials so the judges had no easy choice to make.

We waited for them to come back with the verdict. I just look up at the ceiling. All of a sudden I wanted to win. Those ten hours asked for a chance to live forever. The craziest thing happened and we were announced the winners!!! All I could think of is how I started this week with an “ uh oh” meeting about me being too busy to compete and now I had won the competition. Kay knew I would be perfect for this competition and I was so happy to deliver to her, Jacquie, and Danielle.

Danielle and I still sat there for minutes like what just happened? Your commercial is the face of PBS.org, that’s what just happened.