Middle School gets on Oprah; why can't you?

Let me tell you the story of how Ocoee Middle School here in Central Florida created a video that Oprah played on her show. After seeing the Black Eyed Peas 'Flash Mob' video of their song "I Gotta Feeling", the Middle School reading teacher decided to make her own video based on it to promote reading. They got permission from the Black Eyed Peas. The teachers wrote new lyrics and called it "Gotta Keep Reading." Full Sail, a local media training school, supplied the video equipment and editing services. A PE teacher created choreography, a music teacher sang the song and created a professional recording. With the support of the principal and administrative staff, the entire school turned out on the grounds in December, each holding their favorite book, and joined in the dance.

The video premiered at the school to much acclaim from the parents, and was posted on the school web site. The students loved it, and were inspired to double the number of books they read over last year. That's where it could have ended -- except that one of Oprah's researchers found the video on line. Last March Oprah aired the video on her show and interviewed the principal and reading teacher via satellite. In addition to garnering great publicity for the school, Oprah convinced some corporate donors to fund a new media center for the school!

This story should be inspiring and instructive for you as you create your own programs. Here are some things I'd like to point out:

1. They didn't wait for some big company to fund their idea. The faculty and staff went ahead and worked with the resources they had on hand.
2. They thought big. Maybe the Black Eyed Peas won't give you the right to their music for your idea, but you don't know until you ask.
3. They didn't wait for the distribution pipeline to work. They put their finished project on the web, where it went viral.
4. They kept true to the original vision throughout the creative process, and remained passionate about their project.
5. They did it for the right reasons -- they wanted to create something to inspire kids to read -- getting on Oprah was just an added benefit.

If a Middle School in Florida can do this, so can you.