Soaking Up the Knowledge: #CMAATL16
- Kyle Benner
- Nov 6, 2016
- 7 min read
The 2016 College Media Association Conference was held at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, GA. This conference was created to help student newspapers and media outlets improve their work ethic, skills, and experience by offering insightful sessions from those who have achieved success in media.
This past weekend (Oct. 26-29), I had the privilege of attending the 2016 College Media Association in Atlanta, GA with my visual storytelling class that is a part of the Owens Outlook Online Student Newspaper.
During the convention, I attended many classes, and below, I’ll bullet point them, give a description, and explain what I learned from each one.
Do Your OWN Serial!: The Case of AJC’s “Breakdown”
Bert Roughton and Richard Halicks from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution outlined their views on the famous “Serial” podcast, and outlined what’s needed for a good, substantial, and successful podcast with their experience from their own podcast “Breakdown”.
The main points I took from this session were that you must learn good audio practices before you start the podcast, you cannot write the same for a podcast as you do for a paper, and that it’s important to find and establish an intimate connection with each listener. They also outlined how to choose a story, and explained that it’s mostly based on if you believe your friends would find it interesting.
What Makes a Good Student Podcast?
Chris Thomas of Lyons Township High School (WLTL Radio) and Tyler Moody, a CNN Newssource, went over how to start a podcast most cost-effectively, and what way is best to get it out to the masses.
The most important things I learned from Thomas and Moody were that a podcast needs a mission and a purpose, and that if you set a schedule (weekly, daily, etc.), you should stick to it to keep up a professional look. One thing that stuck out above everything else was when they stressed that when podcasting, you should express your passion and use narrative storytelling to connect with listeners.
Chicken Salad 1: Suck Much Less Much Faster
Michael Koretzky, SPJ National Board, taught us how to use weak material to our advantage on a cover page, middle page, or ending page in a newspaper, and showed us how he fixed real student newspaper pages in less than 20 minutes.
This session really opened my eyes and broadened my horizons when it comes to page layout. As a commercial art major, I am always critically thinking about the ‘right’ way to lay out a page, but when Koretzky changed some of the student papers’ pages, I found myself shocked at his end result, because it looked so much better than before (for the most part), but it was very different than what I imagined the finished, fixed product to look like. Also, Koretzky was very refreshing in his ‘teaching’ style, because of his tenacity, attitude, and great taste in fashion (see picture in slideshow above).
How to Be Successful with Social Media Advertising
Matt Thome of Matt Thome Digital Marketing and Carthage College, taught us how interpret analytics, and outlined best practices for using social media advertisements through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
One part of the session that will help me (and stuck out) is that when using Facebook Ads, it’s a best practice to actually tag the opposite of what interests match your advertisement (for instance, cats and dogs). Another great tip was to exclude people who already like your page from seeing your ads, because you don’t need to sell to them anymore. My favorite part of the session, however, was when Thome spoke about Snapchat Geofilters. I have always been curious about how they magically pop up in Snapchat, and I had no idea that it was possible for me to make one and publish it in an area, which should come in handy in the future.
Make Your Social Media Page Stand Out in Crowded Field
Will Goodman from the page “Rockets Are Cool” told us how to properly start a social media page, and the best practices for getting a larger following in a shorter amount of time.
One aspect I never thought of until after this class was that you shouldn’t copy & paste posts from Facebook to Twitter or Instagram, and that you should instead cater to what each individual app offers. Another part that really stood out to me was his answer to my question about dealing with multiple admins on a Facebook page. His response was to find what voice works for your page best when it comes to interaction, then act as an editor when posts are posted to keep consistency up.
How Video Tells Your Story
Ryan Klee of OutdoorFlics told us about his public relations communications firm in Atlanta, and explained how he used video to tell stories of college tradition, to promote a company and its product, and to highlight a brand.
The main tips I got from this session that resonated with me were that to make a good video, you must first know your audience. If you don’t know who you’re speaking to, the video will fall flat. Secondly, you must find your own persona, which will help your videos stand out. Finally, the most important thing on which you should focus while creating a video is the connection of the story.
Finding the Subject, Presenting It Well: a Primer on Human Interest Stories
Matt Pearl of Atlanta’s 11Alive NBC News station told us how he became an all in one journalist for 11Alive, showed us examples of his human interest story work, and taught us how to find the heart of a story.
This may have been my favorite session. Since Matt Pearl tells stories and connects to strangers for a living, he made us all feel at home and comfortable. Also, the way he explained to us his process for finding the story and creating the focus was translated so easily. The biggest takeaway from this was his use of the three why’s. When figuring out what the focal point of his video is, he asks himself ‘Why is this important?’. Then he asks himself again ‘Why is that important?’. And for a final time, he asks ‘and why is that important’. This is an easy way to dig deep and find what will resonate most with viewers, and I believe it will help me as I grow in storytelling. He also brought up how teasing the best part but saving it for the end will help people stay interested, and how versatility in video is one’s biggest asset.
Finding Your Niche: How to Make Your Blog Stand Out
Catherine Lee, blogger of Asiancajuns.com, and Gavin Godfrey of CNN, spoke about their experiences writing blogs, and what worked and didn’t work for them. They also talked about how to promote blogs when just getting started.
The first thing I learned from this session is that personal and organic substance will help the blog be more relatable. They also talked about keeping consistency in the mix. Whether that involves setting a schedule or not is up to the blogger. I asked them about keeping consistency between different social media, and whether or not you should copy & paste across platforms, and they said that I should cater to each individual site if I have the time, but it needs to be creative, and not just for the sake of posting each day.
Don’t Be Your Own Kryptonite
Chris Brennaman, founder of AtlantaGeekScene.com, talked to attendees about his journey that led him to pursuing his passion not because he wanted to, but because he needed to.
This session was 100% the most inspiring one. Brennaman first talked about his life as a former college journalist, and how he felt like something was missing in his life. After dealing with depression, he told us that he was tired of just sitting around saying he would do something about it, and he created a website that focused around comics and wrestling, which are his passions. The most important things I learned included the following. First, you have to put the time in to achieve success, along with the money to keep you motivated. Secondly, you need to research and ask friends if your idea is original and good. That includes looking at sites that aren’t like yours, or looking at your favorites and seeing what they don’t offer that you could. Finally, keep at it. He stressed that if you really want to do something, and it’s your passion, then your determination will give you happiness, and I will take that advice with me wherever I go.
Adobe Premiere: an Advanced Tutorial
Gregg Stickels from CNN covered Adobe Premiere’s ins & outs, and used his skills as the Lead of CNN’s Training Project to teach us some efficient tricks
This workshop really helped me get more comfortable with Adobe Premiere. We use Premiere for the Campus Pulse videos on the Owens Outlook online student newspaper, and while I had used it before, I had to really concentrate to realize what was going on because the only other video editing software I had used prior to Premiere was iMovie. This was a whole other beast altogether. The most important piece of knowledge that I took from this session had to be the sound editing and the blurring tools. I had no idea that these tools were available, and now that I do, I may be able to use them in the future!
The College Media Association in Atlanta was truly a blast. After sitting through each session, absorbing all of the knowledge, and preparing to apply it in my life, I know that I learned much more in Atlanta than I would have if I stayed at school. While there were beneficial facts and figures that I learned, the most impactful and important knowledge I gained came from all of the seasoned professionals that shared practical tips, and knowledge they learned from their professional lives that I know will transfer to mine someday. I am so thankful that I was able to attend.
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