While people debate the effectiveness of Tiger Wood's public statement Friday, there's no debating technology impacted the message.Specifically, when the feed from the lone camera in the back of the room at TPC Sawgrass died, the final few moments of the nearly 14-minute talk by Woods lost a little something -- another chance for Woods to look directly into the camera, straight at fans, and offer his apology and request for eventual support.
Early on the talk, Woods looked straight at the camera to make firm points, especially about his family. The practiced and fairly well-executed talk seemed to come off well as Woods used the main camera in the back of the room as a partner when appropriate.
Throughout the first part of his talk, the only time the camera from the side of the room, which showed Woods on the right behind a small podium with family and friends in the first row of seats to the left, was used was to show his mother's reactions to what he said. (She was tough to read, too.)
Without the main camera for the final few minutes, Woods did not get to look directly at viewers -- and there were multiple millions of them because and every network and cable news outlet, as well as online sources, carried the event. He had that opportunity early in the talk and did fairly well, though, and it's really the message that matters more than the medium.
Still, it will be interesting to follow the feedback and responses and see if the way it was delivered, with an unplanned camera angle, had a lasting impact.