Two Elon University students, a staff member and an alumnus all presented sessions at the Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Advisers joint national college media convention Oct. 26-30 in Orlando, Fla.
Senior journalism major Sam Calvert and sophomore media arts & entertainment and information science major Jeff Stern, both executive editors at The Pendulum, were part of a panel discussion with an editor from the Daily Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that focused on how student media groups use social media tools.
Editors from both news organizations talked about how their newspapers effectively manage their social media networks and then engaged in a larger conversation with other students in attendance. Stern works as the online editor of the Pendulum, and Calvert serves as the online managing editor.
Earlier in the convention, alumnus Alex Kreitman ’06, G’10, now the new media director at WCSC-TV in Charleston, S.C., led a session titled “Let Social Media Run Your Newsroom.” Kreitman, who was an inaugural graduate of Elon’s Interactive Media master’s program, presented his tips for how journalists can integrate social media tools like Facebook and Twitter into their coverage.
According to the convention program, his session provided “guidance for questions like ‘When should I tweet?’ ‘How do I tease a story?’ ‘How can I generate news tips or photos to use?’ ‘Should I have a professional page?’ ‘Are people seeing my tweets?’”
Directly following Kreitman’s presentation, Brad Berkner, the coordinator of interactive projects in the iMedia program, hosted “Are You Accessible?” Berkner focused on how to ensure Web content is available to anyone who may wish to access it.
His session description read, “In the age of information, accessibility is often overlooked. Technology has made creating content as simple as 140 characters. … We will uncover Web standards, investigate tools and leverage techniques that will make your content accessible.”
All three presentations were organized by Colin Donohue, the coordinator of student media in the School of Communications, who serves as the chair of College Media Advisers’ New Media Committee. Donohue helped book more than 10 sessions for this year’s convention.