This mass comm week I attended three different speakers. The first speaker I attended was Trisha Espinoza, vice president with BET, and she spoke about programming and the competition with streaming. To start of I really enjoyed knowing she is an alumni, and she incorporated that into her panel. I am currently in a programming class so I was especially eager to hear her address how cable/networks are addressing streaming. She told us the competition is still with other cable networks, and the focus isn’t necessarily with streaming. She said one important part of cable is having a specific target audience and staying true to it. She was a very informative lecturer, and was sweet enough to take pictures with students.
Then I attended Nicole George’s panel, a multi-platform specialist, speaking on convergence. Nicole’s panel was actually my favorite, it was a smaller audience which allowed for a more personal conversation type environment. She is also a former bobcat and public relations major. Nicole spoke about how St. Arnold Brewing Co. pursued her after creating relations via twitter. She talked about how at the time her experience with social media was more a boost for her but now has become a requirement. One thing I really admired about Nicole was her honesty with us. She was a student just like us and was worried about finding a job after graduation; it was comforting to know you can not have a plan and still be successful.
Lastly I attended David Brindley’s panel on story telling on a multiple platforms. He is the managing editor for National Geographic, which is published all over the world. Although David was in charge of the print form for National Geographic he still was fully capable of explaining the relations with other mediums. One part of her lecture I enjoyed was all the images he provided in his slide show; National Geographic is absolutely know for the photographs it publishes and it kept me intrigued during the lecture. Another part of David Brindley’s lecture I really enjoyed was when he explained how the cover changed for the same story depending on how it will be published. The print version might focus on the eyes where as the tablet publications provide an image of a full head. It provided different options for different consumers.
Overall mass comm week was a learning experience for me. All the speakers were extremely friendly and so helpful. One funny thing all three speakers had in common was they chuckled when they saw our faces after they told us they received hundreds of emails a day.