During the NATO 50th Anniversary Summit, leaders from 44 countries convened in Washington, DC, in an international gathering of unprecedented scope. Tom Gorman led a team responsible for managing events and directing communications for all aspects of the Summit.

In addition to the tasks associated with any large-scale diplomatic event - relating to security, logistics and foreign language interpretation - the NATO Summit presented an array of unique challenges: The event occurred during a time of military action (NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia); it was the occasion for welcoming three new Eastern European members to the alliance; and it was an anniversary celebration, and thus a chance to redefine and reposition NATO for its role in the twenty-first century.

To sharpen the focus of the Summit we developed three broad themes: “Safeguarding Freedom with American Leadership,” “Celebrating Democracy” and “Meeting the Security Challenges of the 21st Century.” These themes helped guide the development of all Summit materials - from logos, scenic elements and video graphics to brochures, posters, credentials and tickets. NATO’s event themes also guided our creation of video and audio segments produced by an award-winning documentary team containing historical and biographical information about NATO and its leaders. These segments were digitized to make them adaptable for a variety of formats and easily accessible across all media, including scores of websites that were collecting and promoting content related to the Summit.

With the themes set and rich imagery at the ready, the final step was the creation of a powerful delivery system. This took the form of “NATO TV” a flexible broadcast architecture that we crafted to meet the varied needs of 19 different nations. The system served first as an electronic journal of record, but it also broadcast both “mixed” and “isolated” feeds of NATO cameras. This two-tiered approach allowed media from around the world to choose broadcast- quality images of individual leaders and editorial perspectives that fit their coverage needs. The end result was not only wider, more comprehensive coverage of the Summit by news organizations across the United States and in 64 other countries, but coverage built around themes and images that conformed to the Summit’s overall message.