Chasing Peter Shankman

The following blog is a true story about how far someone will go to get the company he works for and cares about, promoted through a highly influential player in the online market, Peter Shankman of HARO. This story is written with admiration, and respect for all mentioned.

Back in January 2009, Steven from Voice123.com, was sitting in a public relations luncheon at the RTV-Incubator in the heart of the financial district. Very new and very green to public relations, and armed with a positive attitude, Steven listened intensely as a young PR rep explained who Peter Shankman was, and how he was incredibly influential.

Steven put two and two together:
Peter Shankman + Influential= He needs to know about Voice123.com.

Steven has an amazing talent for remembering names, so he suddenly became obsessed with the idea of having Peter Shankman promote Voice123.com for being the most amazing place to find voice over talent. He knew nothing of what would be required, or how it would be done, but he knew it had to happen.

The very same day Steven decided to follow @skydiver on Twitter, and start seeing if he could think of any ideas. He also signed up to receive 'queries' from helpareporter.com, and see if there was anything that would inspire Steven to get involved. The key was...Steven had to keep Peter's name in mind at all times.

No sooner than a week later, a talent on Voice123.com named Wayne Pyle, mentioned to Steven that he knew Peter in a customer service email. Steven put two and two together once more when he found out that Wayne was a skydiver, and operated out of upstate New York, not too far from where Steven's mother-in-law lived. The question loomed in his mind:

'Should I jump out of a plane for the possible chance to meet someone that can promote Voice123 on a higher scale than ever before.'

To Steven the answer was, 'Yes! Of course!'. To Steven's wife, the answer was, 'Not if you still want to remain married to me!'. Alas...back to the drawing board for Steven.

Several months pass, and no leads. Steven finds no way to connect to Peter and is growing discouraged. Then one day, out of mere coincidence, Peter Shankman writes a tweet about a Staten Island Ferry accident. THIS was incredibly promising for Steven because he lived only two streets away from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Steven was home from work that day, but reading Twitter for Voice123.com. When he noticed the tweet, Steven immediately wrote back via email, 'I live very close to the ferry! Would you like me to take a look and tell you what happened?'. He was going to help this reporter/influential player/Peter, get the story first!

To excited to wait for an answer, he threw on his shorts and sneakers on the hot June evening, and went running down the hill to the Staten Island Ferry. He noticed that there were TV camera crews and police. As Steven lived near the 120 Police Precinct, he knew some of the cops, and asked what happened. He was told, 'The boat lost power and hit the dock. About 15 people hurt...nuttin' to worry about!'. Armed with this news he ran back up the hill to his apartment and jumped back on Twitter, and re-tweeted what he knew to Peter. He had found that Peter had written him a small reply, 'Sure, go ahead.', followed by, 'I remember the 1987 crash.' This was getting extremely promising! Steven was now feeling like he was getting connected in some way. Steven replied that he was also in the same crash, which was true! There was one last re-tweet of what Steven said to @skydiver, probably by someone chasing him as well, but then nothing materialized. Back to the drawing board.

A month later, Peter announced that he was going to Bogota, Colombia to visit a company. THIS was my 'in'. Voice123.com has an office in Bogota, Colombia, and Steven has come to know the city very well! He emailed Peter Shankman, and recommended some great places to eat, and Peter replied and said 'Thank you!', but there was more to this...

Peter was going to visit a company that had ex-employees of Voice123 that were friends of mine, so Steven did what anyone would do who remembered names...he name-dropped. This did no good, and received no reply, but Steven followed Peter's trip via twitter and replied whenever possible about such places to eat like Andres Carne De Res. Peter's query, 'Yeah I could live here' edition, about his trip in Bogota was right on the money. Steven felt the same way! He loves Bogota for the coffee and chocolate, the people, and their hospitality! He could live there, too! So, he had to tell Peter...but there was no reply, and the trail died once again.

Until...a couple of days later...Peter announced he was going to Chicago, and was looking for great places to get coffee. Just by chance, the company Peter visited in Bogota has employees in Chicago, and Steven was friends with one of them. He was a former co-worker with Steven, so he had him on Skype contacts. Steven begged him via Skype to connect with Peter to show him a place to get coffee. Steven wrote Peter and said, 'I know a place you can go!', and gave him the name of a place to get coffee, and the person who could show him how to get there. Peter wrote back, 'Have him meet me here.' This was great!

Big problem...Steven's skype friend came down with stomach flu, and nothing ever materialized...

To date...this is where the story ends, as Steven has run out of ideas, but recently read an article about people who accidentally find themselves 'tweet-stalking'. Rather than be part of something extremely negative, I am giving up on chasing Peter Shankman...I mean Steven is giving up.

Thanks for reading,
Steven
Voice123.com