Response to pitch comments

Before we edit and pitch our business ideas, we were asked to look at what our classmates said about we have so far. I was surprised about how everyone supported and liked my idea. As I've posted before, my idea is a video game news outlet that that reports on video game news and actually develops small games based off of big news stories. The idea is a stretch, but I guess a lot of people like it!

As for the strucutre of the pitch, my classmates had a lot of positive feedback to give. Mostly everyone said that the slides were very informative but text-heavy. When I revise my pitch the first thing I'll do take care of that. Now that I'm planning on actually presenting the idea, I'll save the words my actual spoken words. I'll also split up some slides into multiple slides to save space. A few people noted that the template for the pitch is kind of bland. As a video game news company, it would make sense that the presentation is fun and colorful. One response noted that I only talk about the video games at the beginning; I have to make sure that I'm running a news company that makes video games, not the other way around.

The structure of the pitch needs the most attention, but I also need to think about some aspects of the business itself. One person wanted to know how I would make people aware of my company, and another suggested that I change the amount of articles before a paywall is reached.

All in all, the comments were very helpful. I'm really glad that people like my idea, and it looks like the structure of the pitch itself only needs a little tweaking. The only thing I'm dreading is making sure I have enough to say when I talk to the class. Public speaking has never been my thing.

Response to "Inside Forbes" article

One of our reading assignments for Monday was a Forbes article titled "Inside Forbes: Journalists Need to Understand the Ad Business, Not Sulk and Go Home." It's basically just an informative article about the different types of advertising, but I'm the exact type of person that this is aimed at.

We talk about advertisement pretty frequently in our entrepreneurial journalism class, and I tend to zone out or loose track of what we are talking about. I'm a journalist after all, why should I care about this stuff? Just leave it for the business guys.

While I still think there's some truth to how I used to think (I certainly don't plan on managing advertising), the article proved that I need to learn some of the basics. If I don't know at least something about how newspapers make money, I can't contribute to discussions about the industry.

I like how the article related to Terry's discussion last week. The old business models of the industry don't work anymore; we have to find ways to adapt to the digital age.

Response to Terry Williams' visit

Terry Williams, the president and Chief Operating Officer of Keene Publishing Corp. came to our class to talk about what we should be do to prepare for our future and the current state of the journalism industry. Terry was my favorite guest speaker for one reason: he was optimistic. 

Right when he started he had good news and bad news. The bad news was that ad revenue is extremely low and that there are fewer jobs in the journalism industry. This is far less worse than I thought; we hear about this all the time in journalism classes, so I'm used to it. The good news was that the only way is up. Sixty five percent of publishers are optimistic about the journalism industry, Terry said, and news outlets all over America are figuring out ways to survive and survive well. We did talk about Patch.com's failures for a little bit, but the conversation was mostly about the industry's successes.

Two of the most interesting examples he gave were those that sold extra products in addition to magazines (like cowboy gear) and the newspaper that is completely free. I've never thought about the extra products business plan before. It's kind of like my semester project idea for the video game developing company but at a different level. I might add this to my business plan.

Overall, Terry's visit was positive and inspiring. I've wanted to go into newspapers for a while know because I figured the industry experienced it low points. Based on Terry's presentation, it looks like I was right. The industry had it's low points, but now things are getting back to normal, and I can't wait to see what it looks like in the next few years.

Powerpoint reactions 2

The second powerpoint I looked at was Focused Fencing by Corinne. My first reaction: it looks amazing. I know looks aren't everything for a pitch, but when I read through it I could tell Corinne put a lot of effort into it. I also really liked how she explained the sport and why her magazine would benefit readers. I was very impressed that she came up with hard numbers; I thought it was impossible to do for my pitch.

I really can't give much criticism for Corinne's pitch. It sells the product well. If I had to give one bit of advice, it would be to shorten the sentences on the slides to bullet points. The sentences aren't long and complicated, but anything that's not a few words looks long and cumbersome on a powerpoint. The powerpoint itself should just highlight key facts; the speaker can do the explaining. But like I said, I really liked her pitch.

Powerpoint reactions part 1

Part of our homework assignment was to look at our classmates powerpoint pitches and comment on them. The first one I immediately thought of was Breanna's project: See the News.

Her Project revolves around photo journalism and how stories can be told purely through photos. I love the idea and her powerpoint. It's simple, but that's what's so great about it. When we were making them last week I looked to my classmates' power points for inspiration, and I Breanna's blog gave the me the inspiration I needed. I was overcomplicating everything, but her pitch made me realize that a powerpoint shouldn't be so intense. Her pitch gets to the point fast, and it tells us exactly what she's striving for. But I'd like to know why she thinks her idea would better journalism. I personally think it would; we don't have enough photo journalism out there, in my opinion. But what does she say?

What I learned from Meg Heckman

Last week Meg Heckman, I fantastic local journalist, came to speak to our class about what it's like in the journalism industry right now and how important it is to keep coming up with good ideas. Meg focuses on hyper local journalism, so all the entrepreneurial examples she gave were based on that. My favorite example she gave was Chicago Talks, a hyper local site that reports solely on the poorer areas of Chicago. City news seems so focused on the industrial district that the majority of the city is overlooked. I've never thought about it before Meg showed us the website, but it's such a fantastic idea. Imagine how many stories newspapers overlook because they are too focuses on "bigger" things.

If Meg taught us anything, it's that coming up with new ideas in the journalism industry is critical. It moves too fast for us sit still and watch. As my editor at my old internship told me on my last day of work, zig where others zag. If you see a good idea, think of something even better.

Stateless Media: another unique news outlet

Ever since I've started this class I've been looking for news outlets that stand out from the crowd. Our first lecture was that entrepreneurs need to bring something new to the table, so now I'm curious as to what others have done.

I recently stumbled upon Stateless Media, a news outlet that brands itself with its "shortreals," short, journalistic films about popular news stories. The shortreals aren't 30 second clips that you'd find attached to an article; these are full video features that dive deep into a story and pull out facts.

What's great about Stateless Media's videos is that they can be humorous and journalistic at the same time. A video can dive into a controversial topic and pull out things that a newspaper or magazine would never use. The videos are longer than your standard feature, but they are entertaining and extremely well-made. I've always been a fan of video stories, and these are the best ones I've seen so far.