Keynote and going home
The Keynote for the last day John Burnett. He did a great job in his speech. If you left early you have no idea what you missed out on. Mr. Burnett is a from NPR. He talked about some of the big stories that he covered like going to Iraq for a while and traveling through there. He shared his experience of Hurricane Katrina which he thought would just be another hurricane. This one turned out unlike any other. Then he talked about covering the war at the Mexican American boarder. He summed up the stories and gave details like a reporter would and since that is my field of study it was really inspiring to hear.
I got the chance to talk to him after and I told him what I wanted to do. I told him that I would love to do what he is doing and be able to just pick up and go to Iraq and cover a story. I also told him that I wanted to be able to travel and do a documentary on something like poverty. He told me how he got started and how I should not just expect to be able to pick up and leave, especially since I will be the newbie in the business. Many need to start out at the bottom and work their way up, which I expected. Just shows what a lot of hard work can do.
Anyways, it was a great way to end the conference. Congrats to all finalists and winners in the Pacemaker Awards. Good luck and have a safe trip back home!
critiques
I went to a session today, almost on accident which turned out to work to my benefit. The advisor did not show up to the original session I planned on attending so I jumped over to another session that was held. It was critiquing others production samples and DJing styles. I thought it was very interesting. Just hearing what everyone else around the country is doing. One of the girls who was brought on as a guest DJ to one of the FM stations did a fantastic job. I honestly thought that she was a co-host and then I found out she just won a contest to be on air it was crazy. She did awesome. She was so confident and hyped up about what she was doing. It was refreshing to hear.
Another guy came in from NC. He brought in a lot of the production samples. The techniques they used worked really well. Their effects added a lot to their station whether it was lines, ID’s, or whatever…it was good. They also used an example with a great band they had on so safe to say, I will be contacting Nova Stella ASAP and I’m listening to them as I’m writing this. They were great.
Another great sample that I heard was from Ithaca. For their “rush”, which would be our recruitment day, they made a promo that said everything that they did at the station. Usually, our station just gets up and gives a speech about what we do but this station is taking that next step and actually incorporating what they really do at the station into their “rush”. I thought that was a really good idea. They had their liners, a few examples of promos and things like that in the tape with a little bit of their history. GREAT IDEA!
Everyone have a fun and SAFE Halloween and see you at the closing tomorrow!
The Last Day
It’s our final full day in Austin. So far I’ve been to two round table discussions for radio: Traffic and News.
The traffic session turned out to be very beneficial. Contrary to what I thought, it wasn’t about congested highways and construction, but rather about the traffic within a station and who controls what is played when. It was interesting to hear that other stations have specific directors that have the job of programing everything, like the PSAs, music, sales ads, etc. At 89.1 the Point the job of scheduling is broken in to little bits that everyone takes part of. DJs have to make playlists, the Sales Director schedules sales ads, and Production schedules promos and PSA, with the Programming director overseeing it and making sure everything is cool.
The next session I went to was the News roundtable for radio. A few of us talked about the differences in our departments, which was cool. A lot of other stations do feature news shows and broadcasts, compared to our station’s 2 minute hard news reports. I found out that every station seems to have the problem of motivating their news department, so we brainstormed for a bit on how to get everyone more involved.
Something that was discussed at both roundtables was software called i Media Touch. This program records everything that goes over air digitally and separates the voice sections from music as well, from what I could understand. We don’t have anything like this really, so I definitely want to look into it!
I’m just hanging out now with Christy as the session we wanted to go to (How To Make A Promo When You Aren’t Creative) was cancelled. We’re hoping our next session (Rock and the Vote) will still be scheduled at 2:30! After that I plan on going back to the hotel and catching up on all the homework and election night coverage stuff that I’ve ignore the past few day, then Christy, Koz , and I are off to an Austin Stars hockey game! Should be a blast!!!
Happy Halloween everyone!
making the best first impression
So, I went to this session today on making the best first impression on a job interview or just in general to future employers. Great session. The session taught us everything from where to put your hands after you give a handshake, to how to sit during the interview. These are things that not many of us think about when we are at the interview. It was extremely helpful. Let me give you a quick rundown of what we covered:
Alright, so starting off with a firm handshake, we all want to know what to do after. So do this right now… stand up. Place your feet in line with your shoulders and make sure you aren’t toppling over. Put your elbows to your sides so it kind of looks like you are holding candlesticks. Then, just touch your fingertips together. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO MOVE YOUR HANDS, just don’t make your arm motions too wide or extreme.
Another thing that I heard was girls, we are not allowed to cross our legs. This is going to be hard for me I am not going to lie. I cross my legs all the time. I’m a girl and the girls can back me up… its a habit. Also, sit all the way back so you aren’t slouching.
It is the little things that we do not think of that we should do.
She also gave an example of a student who originally got booted out of the running for a job. Turns out the guy that got the job in the first place did not take it. The employer then called Jason back. Jason came in with something along the lines of telling the employer they realized that they made a mistake about letting him go. It was not those words! I’m guessing you do not want to say that to a possible employer but along those lines. The little cockiness and confidence that he had landed him that job.
Alright now that I bragged about that one so much, I also went to a session about fixing our station. I would reccommend these to anyone. I am a radio girl and it was great. Critiquing our website and just our station in general gave us a lot of ideas.
Finally, Congrats to all the finalists and winners for the CBI awards!
Remember: tomorrow is the last day so make the best of it!
You Want Me To Run A Contest??
First session of the day: “Contest? You Want Me to Run a Contest??”. I absolutely loved this session! I got so many ideas on how to to update my station (WBSU-89.1 the Point) and our contests. Three that I thought were fantastic and really want to try to do are:
1. Media contest: Have high schools (or people in general) submit DJ tapes to the station and have them win a chance to DJ for a shift (and win prizes/money) These not only allow us to have a fun, unique contest, but gets the station name out there and lets people see what we do. We did something similar for a little bit last year, a promotion called “Teacher of the Week”. TOTW had high school students submit a name from schools in the area and then they voted for the winning teacher, who were allowed to come in and DJ for a while. While that plan fizzled out, I still think we could do something similar and have success.
2. Online contests: Have listeners submit photos or videos each month and then let them comment on them as well. There could be a winner for best picture and one for best comment. If we require our logo to be in the picture, I’m guessing there could be some crazy results.
3. Find the logo: Put our logo all over our listening area (chalking, using acetate to “write”, stickers, etc.) Whenever people find them, have them take a picture and submit it to our Facebook or have them Tweet it. Have different prizes for the level of difficulty of the hidden logos, new ones added each week; the options are endless.
This session was definitely my favorite so far and I’m excited to get back to Western NY and share these ideas- but only if I can bring the warm weather with me!
more coming up after the General Session with Steve Outing (now-11:20) and lunch…
end of day 1
Alright. So day one is done. Great start to the rest of the weekend. The seminars were interesting. The session about 100 promotions ideas was AWESOME! Even as he was talking I got a few ideas that branched off of what he said. I can’t wait to get home and share some ideas with the rest of the radio station! Dunk the DJ sounded cool and pie the DJ. I am a DJ and I would join in both since I think it would be so much fun. I actually did a pie in the face before and it was very successful so some of you may want to try it out too. I’m hoping that we will.
I also went to the general seminar at 3:30 in the ballroom of the convention center. It was nice to hear that even though the economy is not the best right now, there is a possibility we may not be as “in trouble” job wise as we all may think. He made a good point; we are all going to be fresh out of college, whether it be in may or in 4 years from now, and we will be desperate to take anything we can get pretty much. Employers are going to be looking for cheap labor and we pretty much got a neon sign hanging around our neck saying “pick me”. I am a senior now and I am willing to take what I can get, anywhere. This session gave me a little bit of hope.
Now onto the really fun event (not that the others weren’t great). This one was a chance to relax, hang out, and meet people. That is exactly what I did. I met Devin from right here in Austin, Grey from Idaho and Alex from Michigan. Great ideas from each person. We all got the chance to sit down and talk about what we do as a station or a newspaper, listen to music and just relax. the difference between each situation in the schools is almost amusing. The stress on different areas is amazing. Also, hearing about the transitions that are being made combining all the mediums just like what was talked about in the sessions. For example, making the newspaper website more of a reporting job when someone goes out and records and reports on events. I just thought it was very interesting to hear about how stations and newspapers are adapting to the transition from print to more Internet based reporting.
Stay tuned for more on tomorrows happenings! Good night!
Day 1- SCAD
“To Tweet or Not to Tweet”
I’ve frequently asked myself this question. Is it necessary to keep everyone constantly updated? Should we have a Facebook group or a fan page? How can I use social media to benefit SCAD Student Media?
Andy Dehnart used his time to discuss these social media tools and how to use them effectively. He discussed using Twitter to keep the audience engage, sing facebook fan pages in order to organize information and direct viewers to your website, and using Google aps (Like Google Docs and Picasa) in order to streamline productivity.
A lot of this was things I already knew. At SCAD Radio we use our Twitter constantly. We update each new DJ shift, new blog posts and will update hourly during events. We are looking to start running contests solely for our followers (Shameless plug here: twitter.com/scadradio). Dehnart explained that a twitter is only useful so long as you are keeping your viewers engaged, which I feel is an important part of any media. Facebook works pretty much the same way. Don’t overload it with unecessary data or updates. One web site that really stuck with me throughout the entire discussion was quoteurl.com. This web site allows you to take a bunch of Twitter posts and assemble them in one page. That’ll make reposting a hilarious twitter rant a heck of a lot easier.
Google Docs was the next topic for discussion. Our online news organization scaddistrict.com uses google docs to assign stories, submit for edits and keep track of when everything is getting updated. Dehnart explained that this is very effective and is how he tracks the stories he writes. So Travis (E.I.C. of District), yes, you are a forward thinker.
Next was the session titled “What Employers Want”. We discussed the future of broadcast radio, the future of jobs in that area, and the differences between AM/FM and Satellite. Dan Knight also talked about tailoring a cover letter to the specific job, and how what you do and the effort you put into your college work really affects how one of the hiring managers will think about you- generally they’re thinking of what you could do for them down the road.
Today I also attended the Round Table for Management and the Sports Play-by-Play announcing. The sports one was by far the most fun session I’ve been to- I think I learned a lot from Mike about play by play announcing and hopefully can bring a lot back to my team.
If you have any suggestions for sessions I should attend tomorrow, or would like to know more about any of the sessions I visited let me know!
100 Plus Promotion Ideas….
Just attended the “100 Plus Promotion Ideas in 50 Minutes” session. We learned a lot about unique ways to promote our stations on college campuses and in the community. One idea I really liked was the “pie a DJ” event. What a great way to get attention and have fun!!! One main thing that was talked about was the need to have unique promtions alongside the normal ones. There’s all sorts of wacky “holidays” each month, like Dental Hygiene Month in October or Be Bald and Be Free Day on October 14th.
Before that I went to the Photoshop session, highlighting Photoshop CS4. Jason Levine did another great job showing people of all technology skills how to get the most out of the product. Apparently now in Photoshop you can insert and manipulate video as well as pictures, which is pretty cool! We also learned how to add logos to 3D objects and make them blend in with the lighting and shadows.
I’m currently in Ballroom A in the Convention Center for the first General Session meeting. Although it was tricky to find, we made it to the room finally! This General Session featured some awards, but the main part is a presentation by Rich Boehne, President and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company. This presentation focuses on what the future holds for local media and I’m excited to hear about it.
Day 1
Hello CBIers! Alright, so we are in day 1 of the conference… must say, going very smoothly. I went to a few that I really liked, then one so far that I LOVED! Career Wise: What employers are looking for…by far my favorite so far. So much insight on what everyone is going to need to do when applying for jobs. Since I am a senior in college, this session gave me a little information that is going to help me come May. Dan Knight was the professor from University of Texas that ran it. He was honest, answered everyone’s questions with what we NEEDED to know not what we WANTED to know. A little tip from him that I thought was the most helpful was that cover letters are not for reiterating your resume. They are for explaining what you learned from doing the things from your resume. For example, I did an internship with a news station in Rochester, NY. I would not just restate that in my cover letter. I would say that I learned communication and interviewing skills from this internship and so on. GREAT SESSION!
Another session that I really enjoyed was Twitter/Facebook one with Kristin Millis and Jason Manning. They gave great information on how to attracted viewers/listeners/readers to these sights. I would recommend one of these kinds of sessions if you can. Very beneficial.
Alright, enough for now. Keep checking for more!
CBI- Day 1
The first session I went to was “The Big Picture” which was for journalists, but still related to radio in my opinion. The keynote speakers brought up the idea that young adults think that “if news is important, it will find me.” This is interesting because it is forcing news updates to be minutely, rather than daily.
Now, live from the Adobe Audition 3.0.1 session.
A Q&A sort of discussion, this session disscused the newest version of Adobe. We started off with an overvew of basic Adobe uses, including Equalizing tracks and saving sessions AND audio sessions, not just the session. One key point Jason Levine made was to click “Save copies of all associated files” when saving. This feature automatically saves the session plus all the media, making it more organized and easier to find all aspect of a promo. Also, when mixing down, if you highlight a section and click mixdown, it will mixdown JUST that section, not the entire thing (as long as you select “highlighted selection” in the save window)
Use metadata. That was a major point Levine made. Metadata allows time stamping, adds copyright info, and basically brands your media. An example is the stuff in iTunes where the composer, artist, etc. is shown. All that info is through metadata. I feel that this is something to look into more, as I don’t know exactly how to use it to help radio. ctrl+P takes you automatically to the metadata, allowing you to insert information like Artist, Genre, Name, etc. There’s a specific Radio Industry tag that has information about advertiser, etc. The MP3 tag section also adds this info, so I got the impression that either work. Broadcast Wave is important as well because it adds stuff like cue marker information, time references, etc. Also included in this section is Cart information. I feel like this could be implemented at my station in the future. Levine made it very clear that this is important because it makes your media last. It’s “branded” by this, allowing for all the info to show up if it’s imported, etc.
While a lot of the technical aspects of this session went over my head, Levine explained the terms and functions in a way that it didn’t matter if you were an Adobe expert or new to the scene.
More coming up in a bit, after I hit up the Photoshop CS4 session.
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