The date was set for Wednesday, September 20th. The time, seven until eight-thirty a.m., the height of rush hour. The place, none other than inside the famed, Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena. Press releases were sent out.

Okay, now for those of you outside New York, who might not be familiar with Chock Full O'Nuts, it is known as the classic New York coffee. They've been around since 1932, and are soon celebrating their 75th anniversary (yeah, I know you can do the math). Anyway, their coffee is sold nationwide in stores and they have about 100 cafes located around the country, anywhere where there are transplanted New Yorkers (that would be Florida and the likes.) You may have even frequented their cafes if you go to the movies, because a good percentage of them are located in the Loews movie theaters.

Being a native New Yorker, I had always heard their commercials as a kid. They have one of those jingles that stick in your head. What I didn't know though was they had more than one kind of coffee. So to be an effective spokesperson, I felt I needed to try out the blends. The Chock people were nice enough to send me a "coffee gift basket" so I could sample all their wares. Turns out they have a classic coffee for each part of Manhattan; Soho Morning Roast, Upper West Side European Roast, Upper West Side European Decaf, 100% Colombian, Midtown French Roast and Greenwich Village Hazelnut. In the cafes they also have cappuccino, date nut bread, smoothies etc. I felt like one of those secret food testers trying out all the coffees.

The winner, for my fast talking mouth, was the nutty blend from the Village and of course the cappuccino. When I mentioned to Stacy, from the PR firm, that cappuccino had a special place in my stomach, they got approval and made arrangements for that one day, to name a cappuccino after me it was called, Capo - Cappuccino. (Has a nice ring to it, and quite honestly I say it makes you talk faster). The cafes at Greeley and Harold Square had my once in a lifetime coffee available to patrons. (Hey, maybe if we start a petition it can be sold in stores nationwide with the tagline, " For a quick pick me up try Capo-Cappuccino the official coffee of the world’s fastest talking female!)

Anyway, as with all good campaigns as the date got closer, the press started calling in. In this case, Good Day New York (Fox) was planning not only on coming down to the event, but following it live all morning long with about six segments, with the first segment going live at 6:38 a.m. Yup, another early morning event. These TV people apparently are very fond of the crack of dawn.

So instead of driving down there in the morning, and getting up in the middle of the night, Stacy thought it best to have a limo driver come and get me the night before. Nice plan, but the poor driver got lost coming here. He called me a few times from the road. Between his heavy accent and me not knowing my way around town yet it was a miracle I got him here before sunrise.

"Hello, this is your driver. I'm at the corner of Peekskill Hollow road and Church street."

"Hmmm. Not sure where that is. What do you see?" I said.

"Trees and darkness."

"Good, keep driving."

Eventually he found the place.

I was put up at the Paramount hotel (kind of like the W hotels) with very modern and funky looking furniture. I went to bed practicing the jingle just in case I had to say it on air.

The next morning I was up at 5:00 a.m. The limo was outside by 5:30 (luckily, I get ready as fast as I talk) and we were at MSG by 6 a.m.

The event was taking place by the main entrance at Seventh Avenue between 31st and 33rd, by the ticket booth. Security guards were there, an extended version of the production team of Coyne PR was present and of course Andrew and Esperanza, representing the Chock Full O'Nuts gang.

Anne Craig, from Good Day New York arrived shortly after with her camera crew. We went over what we'd cover in each segment. I got miked up and in minutes we were on air challenging New Yorkers to come on down before work, drink some coffee and try their hand at winning $3000 bucks and a year supply of coffee from Chock Full O' Nut's for being the fastest talking New Yorker.

Brad Blanks, the Australian stallion, okay, the on the street reporter from WPLJ radio's morning show, was there also. WPLJ had been promoting the event all week on their show.

By 7 a.m. sharp we were ready to start the auditions. The stage was set. The members of the team where all in place. We had two people behind the registration table, an official time keeper, a recruiter keeping the contestants flowing, the contestant regulator to make sure all the rules were being followed, a computer analysis logger to keep track of the contestants time and scores, camera people, engineers, MSG security, sound guys and plenty of Chock Full O' Nuts staff handing out cups of hot coffee from their Ghost Busters carry on packs to contestants, observers and those just passing by hey it takes a lot to run an event and keep people happy.

When the contest opened up we had a wide range of contestants; secretaries, musicians, firemen, actresses, business people, computer geeks, librarians, teachers all gearing up their mouths to move at lighting speed. Many claimed the java helped aid their energy. Each contestant told me their names, where they were from and their favorite blend of Chock Full O' Nut's Coffee. Of course some tried to butter me up by saying they loved all their coffees - which could be true, but none the less was a smart answer.

Being the official fast talking judge, my job was to check for clarity (as much as I could anyway without a tape recorder and playing it back.) As they spoke I would often have to look at their lips to make sure they were saying all the words and not slurring or mispronouncing them. For example many said, "Better coffee a millionaire's (instead of billionaire's) money can't buy." If they did that, that passage was discounted. Hey it makes a huge difference, would you want a million or a billion in your bank account?

Anyway, while I was checking for accurate lips, an assistant would run the Chock clock stopwatch and another assistant would count the number of times in a minute it was said correctly. All of us judged on overall performance.

As the hour ticked on we were determining who the top ten finalists would be. Four people stuck out in my head. One guy (who ultimately wasn't in the finals because he slurred each passage) was a musician. This guy was determined though he would come up during breaks and try to come up with new jingles for Chock Full O' Nuts. He went around drinking the coffee, smiling at the camera people etc. I liked his enthusiasm but I think this guy thought he was trying out for American Coffee Idol competition.

The three other people were all finalists; there was Maria, an actress with a great personality who was very fast, but just a bit too monotone. Then there was there was Belton Burton, who belted out the jingle with so much passion and enthusiasm that I thought I was watching a quick morning rendition of the "King and I" and finally there was Brian Mak from Manhassett, who was clear, quick and had some bounce to his words.

At 8:30 a.m. we made them all do a final talk-off. The clock was ticking and we had to announce the winner by 8:39 on Good Day New York. The computer was flying, the clock was ticking and finally the tally came up. I announced it live for the home viewers, "And the winner of the Chock Full O' Nuts Fastest Talking New Yorker contest is Brian Mak". The crowd cheered, I said some fast congratulatory words on camera, the Chock team handed Brian a giant check for $3000, and Brian said some quick parting words. The segment closed, everyone was happy and we all stood around drinking coffee.

As for the other nine finalists (including one New York City Fireman) they were pretty happy themselves. They all got checks for $200 not a bad earning for a minutes worth of talking.

After we wrapped up the equipment, did some final interviews with the media, and thanked each other, we each went to our perspective offices to see how the contest faired on television. To our pleasant surprise the contest and clips from it aired in 44 markets around the country, from Honolulu to Boston to Philly not bad for a day's work. I guess that proves one thing, that the fast-talking mouths from New York, although some say are a tad abrupt, still hold a funny fascination for people around the country. Well, I'll drink to that! Now where's that Capo-cappuccino?