D.C. Departure.

Leaving D.C. was physically easier than arriving, but many of us found it hard to leave. The sun shone brightly on our last day in the District, a bittersweet ending to a waterlogged but wonderful trip.

We began our stay in D.C. having dinner together. We closed it with a leisurely al fresco lunch before heading off to the airport.

Diversity and Opportunity

I was highly disappointed in this session. The speaker was Marion O'Grady, a 19-year veteran of The New York Times. I thought she would be a great speaker and I was really excited. She ended up being late, and her partner was unable to make it.

She basically gave a general overview on diversity and the importance of opportunity. She told us to embrance each other's personality as a way to keep things interesting. We need to be open to change and differences and to take advantage of opportunities. She says to take advantage of multiple forms of media both print and digital.

It was very repetitive and basically explained topics I already understand.

Brittany Byrd

Sex, Love, and Rock of Ages: Handle with Care

This session focused on the importance of reporting on touchy topics and how to do so tastefully. Topics like sex and love can be awkward for some reporters to write about, but they are newsworthy and we owe it to the reader to cover these stories.

It is important for reporters to be able to rise above pressure and internal conflict. "Hot issues" are interesting to the reader, and ignoring these issues can cause a loss of credibility. Even Christian magazines cover these types of issues because there is a call to understand sex/sexuality more.

Be sure to talk to experts, faculty (because they have more than likely done research on the topic) and health officials. The point is to make sure you have good sources. Administrators usually find these topics uncomfortable so it is important that you are prepared for some confrontation.

These types of stories don't always have to be covered in the opinions section they can be features also. Look for positive vs. negative angles or conflict driven pieces. Use a small group of friends as a focus group to get story ideas.

There are several things to avoid though. Do not use these types of stories for shock value -- that defeats the purpose -- and avoid clichés, hypothetical stories, and condescending (preachy) stories.

Address these topics as news, an important, truthful story that you worked hard on.

Brittany Byrd

What's New on the National Advertising Scene?

Three national rep firms spent about 20 minutes each with our group discussing what they predicted for the upcoming year.

Alloy Media and Marketing

This company represents a lot of government branches, like the Coast Guard, Bank of America, K-Mart, AT&T and (new this year) Walgreens. They did have two large accounts, McDonald's and Wal-Mart, not renew contracts this year, but they believe that they will be back next year. An interesting fact about this company is that they developed the hit book and television series "Gossip Girls." They also worked on the development of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

Campus Media

Significant Accounts: Sprint, Blimpie's, and Carl Jr.'s

This company is expanding and in the beginning stages of working with magazines. There are also job opportunities here. The company is looking for young graduates to fill open positions.

This company prepares a PSA pro bono for a non-profit group each year for college campuses to use. I passed this information on to Lauren so she can look into it for KNWD.

College Media Network

MTV recently purchased this company. They placed over 2000 ads this semester and are ahead from last year due to several major accounts and acquisitions. MTV is moving into the college media market, as well as utilizing MTV U.

Brittany Byrd

Ins and Outs of Resumes and Portfolios

This session was not what I expected. It was set up as a question and answer session. The information was useful and informative, but it could have been more detailed.

The panel emphasized proofreading your resumes several times; as a senior, I know to do that. I am aware of the fact that mistakes on a resume can be a dealbreaker. I was looking for more in-depth information.

The panel also discussed how technology is becoming increasingly important when applying for a job. They suggested creating an electronic portfolio/resume and explained the necessity of listing technological skills so that it can be determined where you stand when you do get a job. The panel even went as far to say that they have not hired applicants because they did not have a Facebook page. They explained they did not want to hire someone who was not up with technology.

They also went on to discuss portfolios. It is important that portfolios look neat. Be sure to use a high-quality copier, adjust the toner, and remove all staples. Limit your samples to five because no one has time to look through a book of samples. Make sure to include a variety of samples and that you can talk about each.

When networking, be assertive and show that you want the job.

The panel also mentioned a Web site similar to Facebook called Linked In. It is a grown-up version of Facebook and can be very beneficial when applying to jobs.

Brittany Byrd

How Do I Get an Internship?

I was so excited about this session. Katie Curcio, director of the CBS Internship program, was the speaker. The session was very informal with the eight people in the room sitting in a circle, just talking. She explained the internship program at CBS and the different departments. There is only one PR internship available and three available within the advertising/marketing departments. During the fall and spring, broadcast interns only work two days a week, and during the summer they are full time. The internships are not paid, but she has set up a partnership with a dorm building to provide low rent housing for interns. Curcio said that sometimes it is hard for participants to balance holding a paying job and getting the full experience of working with the media.

She told our group that the most important qualification to have was to simply love the news! She explained that experience was a Catch-22. Interns need experience, but at the same time sometimes it's best if the experience you have is what you are taught at their station.

Curcio also discussed resumes and interviews. She advised students to research the company that you are applying to before even beginning your resume. When preparing your resume, keep it to one page and include relevant work experience but try to avoid including extracurricular and awards that are insignificant. It is important to include your computer skills as this is becoming increasingly important when applying for a job.

She went on to discuss interviews and the importance of being prepared. In her experience, an interview can make or break an applicant. Curcio emphasized having ideas/story pitches that are relevant to your market lined up for an interview. She also said to keep your options open when applying and not to close yourself off. When asked about areas of interest, be open to any position and just touch on specific areas of interest.

Curcio concluded by summarizing again the importance of the application process and the internship experience and stated that the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it.

Brittany Byrd

Writing the Effective News Lead

At the conference I wanted to be sure to go to several writing sessions. I thought this one would be good because I have trouble coming up with good leads. I was not the only one to think so. This session was packed, and students were standing out in the hall.

The speaker, Steve Ames from California Lutheran University, basically told the audience to lay it on the line and don't tease or summarize in the lead paragraph. He emphasized following the order of the lead and using discretion when deciding details because readers are busy.

He also talked about the importance of newswriting before feature writing. First things first: you have to know how to write the facts and the importance of not being biased. He advised students to also double-check numbers, especially if they are used in the lead.

To conclude the session, Mr. Ames told students to never settle for the first lead. Students should read and rewrite because every word serves a purpose and its important that it is just right. It is important to read your lead aloud to hear the rhythm of the sentence. If you stumble over a word, the reader will too. Don't use general/vague language, and do not repeat the story subject.

I found this session to be one of the more informative sessions. The speaker was animated and interesting and provided the audience with useful information.

Brittany Byrd

Slick work- how to break into magazines

During this session, on Saturday morning, the sun began peaking through the shade, and I became very mad. This session was very good and I learned a lot, but it would have been better received if I wasn't steaming from anger for the weather.

Three women represented different ways to get into magazines. One started, and still works, in teen magazines. Another started as a copy editor, and the third began working for organizations with in-house magazines.

It was stressed by all three to gain as much writing experience as possible and learn many different writing styles. It was also said that it is never too early to start submitting work to potential publishers.

When creating a cover letter for your resume, it is a good idea to research the magazine and emulate their style. Also, don't oversell yourself and find your own voice.

Online resources such as Craig's List, idealist.org, journalismjobs.com, www.mediabistro.com were given for query tips and job applications.

It is important to follow the application guidelines very carefully, since some are different.

Also, if sending your resume electronically, it is best to save the cover letter as a word document so it may be opened and read easily.

I also learned that a perk of the magazine industry is its variety. One is less likely to burn out if one does not stay at a publication for very long.

Kera Simon

Easy Breezy Journalism

On Saturday morning at 9 a.m., Easy Breezy Journalism was being held to a room filled with an almost even amount of editors and advisers. This session had some important key points about how to teach journalism to not only journalism students, but also young writers on a newspaper staff.

Her first suggestion was to bring food. Where there is food, there is fun. She also suggested praising quite often for little things.

The lecturer suggested creating mini-lessons during meetings, which I've been meaning to do.
She suggested a book that was very useful to her. "Inside Reporting" by Harrower was said to have small chapters that can easily be turned into short lessons.

As a means to recruit writers, the speaker suggested talking to English teachers about announcing meetings or adding extra credit(I know that will never happen, but it would be nice...)

I asked how to target the adult learners, a group of students The Current Sauce hasn't been able to reach. She suggested having a few feature articles on outstanding adult students and distributing the newspaper during night classes.

Staying ahead of the Digital Curve

College Publisher hosted this session at 12:30 p.m. on Friday and introduced the new edition of College Publisher. The College Publisher 5.0 Beta will be slowly added to newspapers next year.
The biggest news about this version is it will no longer be issue based! This means that the site can be updated as things occur (like a real newsroom).

Another important highlight is that users will have more control of their site's design. Before, you'd have to get in touch with a design expert with College Publisher (which took a while for them to answer their phones) and they would change the site for the user. Now the user can do as they please, with no html knowledge necessary. In the administration screen, all one needs to do is drag and drop. Content can be added to any column.

College Publisher teamed up with a company from Sweden to completely redesign their product. They realized that while their initial product was good, it was not offering college media all that it needed.

Kera Simon

Portfolios and Resumes

On Friday at 11 a.m., I attended a session designed as a question-and-answer panel about portfolios and resumes. This was very helpful for someone like me who has time to improve their resume.

The panel's strongest tip for resume writing was to proofread. They all agreed that the worst thing to see on a resume is common misspellings. They said it is even worse if a person lists "pays attention to details" and has misspellings. One of the panelists said if a person lists that as a quality and then makes spelling errors, "Well, then it is obvious that you don't."

They also emphasized that the copy quality was important. They suggested making a high quality copy to keep and make copies from.

It was also quite emphasized to have an online resume or personal professional website. They said it was very important to show that you are online-savvy. Also, they hinted that if a person doesn't have an online site during this drastic electronic age, it suggests that you are behind the times.

Also, when discussing a portfolio, their suggestion was to be very picky about your selections. The employers want to see your skills as a reporter, so pick the best.

Kera Simon

Living the Dream

One of the sessions directed to Literary Journals was "Living the Dream" It was led by one of the co-founders of Red Morning Press, a poetry publishing press. The leader was a graduate of Poetry, having received his M.F.A. He said how afterwards he and two other friends were tired of writing, but they wanted to stay involved in the literary world. So, they began a press of their own and began attending AWP conferences and the like. He made the process sound easy, but the money very bad. (In the literary world, that's normal) He was very excited and informative. He broke down details of budget and all the legal standards that have to be met. He offered a very different possibility, and even a future, for literary magazine editors and I found the session one of the most helpful and exciting for me.

-- Andi