Grad Thanks Journalism Department for Jumpstarting Career and Party.0

By: Jake White

(@JakeAveryWhite)

My name is Jake White and I am a professional storyteller… well I guess most people call it motivational speaking.  So before this  weekend’s ceremonies, I want to share a short story of how the Journalism Department at UW-Oshkosh launched my career before I even graduated.

To give you an idea of what I do… I basically travel to schools and conferences, meet awesome people, and talk about the importance of depending on ourselves for our own happiness. Others might call me a health educator, substance abuse speaker, or hopefully even a peer educator.

This all started because my freshmen year I got involved in clubs and organizations. I was so involved that the staff asked me to speak to hundreds of incoming freshmen each year about student leadership and involvement. It took me awhile, but I finally realized that this could actually be my profession. So I decided that I would use my journalism classes to build a business. Here’s how I did it:

• Step 1: Gather Materials

In order to spread the word about my service I needed marketing materials. My friend Michelle (also a Journalism major) took some killer photos for me, and my other friend Nathan (Radio TV Film major) helped me put together a demo video.

• Step 2: Create Marketing Basics

I used the materials to create a website in my Online Publishing class. I had learned some basics from my Worldwide Web Site Development class and this one gave me a broader skill set. The main project was to publish our own website. While working toward an A, I was contacted by a school that found my site on Google and wanted to book me for a speaking gig!

• Step 3: Build a Platform

Since the website would be good to reach administrators and those who booked me, I needed a platform to connect with students who I hoped to influence. I started a business called Party.0 Sober Parties with my buddy and built a strong social media presence in my New & Emerging Media class. After just a semester we had a blog and Facebook page that was reaching people from all over the U.S. (and even Australia!)

Now this doesn’t pertain to my current career direction but I owe the proudest moment of my life to Dr. Hansen from the Journalism Department as well. Her projects always have pushed me and expanded my network. The summer of my sophomore year I traveled across the country to take an internship I wasn’t given, hopped from house to house each night for a place to stay, put on an amazing music festival, and had the best experience of my life. I found this opportunity because of an interview we had to do for her Principles of Public Relations class.

Thanks UW-Oshkosh for having a sweet Journalism department and great people to keep it growing! I couldn’t have done all this without you!

 

Jake White

-Alcohol Safety/ Motivational Speaker

-Co-Founder of Party.0 Sober Parties

-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence Winner 2013

 -Call or text me at 920.216.1827

“Life After College” Panel to Explore Career Insights – 3 p.m. Thursday

Are you wondering about how to navigate the job market after graduation and as your career evolves? Journalism students are welcome to hear three recent graduates speak about “Life After College” from 3-5 p.m. Thursday in Sage 3420.

These professionals, all 2009 graduates from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Department of Journalism, will discuss their experiences during the last five years. They will discuss what to expect in job interviews, how to get an interview, when to think about changing jobs and when to consider graduate school.

Via a panel format, students may ask about concerns or issues. The event is particularly geared for students graduating soon.

The panelists include:

Craig Bollig – Digital asset management advisor, Widen Enterprises

As a student, Bollig participated in the Bateman campaign and Advertising Club, and also served as president of the Dr. Julie Henderson PRSSA Chapter. He held internships with EAA, Zeppos & Associates, and E-Power Marketing. After graduation, he was hired as a search engine marketing specialist for E-Power Marketing. In 2010, he joined Widen Enterprises, where he consults with companies like Mercury Marine, the Atlanta Falcons and Trek Bicycle, to deploy cloud-based solutions for marketing managers.

Jessica Faris – Account executive, Clear Channel Media & Entertainment

Faris also was active in department groups and events, including the National Student Advertising Competition, PRSSA, SPJ and the Advertising Club, for which she served as secretary. She held various internships, including social media roles with Reeve Student Union. After graduation, she worked at Coalesce Marketing as an account coordinator / social media specialist. She moved to Madison in 2010 to work as an account manager for Florida Communications Media Group. In 2012, she joined Clear Channel Media & Entertainment as an account executive.

Jason Disbrow – Online marketing specialist, Acumium

While at UWO, Disbrow worked in internships with Career Services for graphic design and Clarity Care for marketing. After graduation, he worked as a sales representative for AT&T until landing a position as marketing brand manager for Walnut Hollow in Dodgeville, Wis. He helped launch a new product line, while also engaging in promotional work related to the web, advertising, public relations, social media and SEO marketing. He recently started a new position as online marketing specialist for Acumium.

All journalism students are welcome to attend.

NSAC Competition 2013

By: Eli Drljaca (@edrljaca)

 

The 40^th annual National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) is coming up! On April 12-13 the campaigns class will be traveling to Minneapolis, MN to go head to head against other “agencies” from many universities in the nation.

 

Okay sounds exciting, but let’s back it up and see what NSAC is all about! NSAC is an annual competition where a brand will provide students a history outline of a product they sell along with the target audiences the students must advertise to. The students have a limited amount of time to study the product and the competition and find any problems they may run in to.

 

Tyler Kerns, a student currently in the campaigns class said, “This class truly shows how much work goes into an advertisement. It most certainly isn’t about being the funniest. It’s tracking trends, building and reading research and then executing a creative plan to make the audience feel their needs are being fulfilled.”

 

Then once the students complete the research, they must build a series of ads and place them into a booklet and perform a presentation for the audience, and more importantly the judges to see. The judges are made up of professionals from the communications industry. I couldn’t even imagine the amount of stress built up for that presentation!

 

This year the product is Glidden paint, specifically the Brilliance line exclusively at Wal-Mart. The Ad Club has been putting forth efforts to come up with ideas for the campaigns class. As being part of the Ad Club I was able to work with the campaigns class and go through the creative process to come up with the final pitches.

 

One important part of the class is making sure the ads that are being created are unique. “Well we made them from scratch.” Kerns said, “Much later in the competition we got a memo saying we were supposed to use the original ‘Glidden gets you going’ tagline but we obviously didn’t get that. So we came up with (from scratch) an idea to fit the individual needs of each target segment in a quirky way.” 

Wayne Parmley: Thoughts on Creative Process

By: Eli Drljaca (@edrljaca)

Wayne Parmley spoke at UWO to Dr. Lee’s ad copy layout class to give the class his thoughts on the creative process recently. Wayne Parmley was once a freelancer in northern Wisconsin, and now is the creative director for ACP, a business located in Neenah.

Parmley did a great job of explaining to the class what all goes into making finalized products or ideas in the creative scheme of things. He told the class that the major characteristic that CEO’s are looking for in today’s age is “creativity”, and stressed just how important it is to add your creativity to the project at hand and not to worry about multi-tasking because that will add stress and reduce the efficiency of the creative team.

Taking time is crucial in the creative process, not everything is going to come to mind at ease, so it’s okay to go ahead and take time, imagine and daydream and let the creative juices flow naturally and let the ideas come to you, versus rushing the concepts and losing full potential.

He made the point that there are three questions you should be asking yourself when it’s typing up a resume or heading into an interview.

1. Who are you?
2. What do you do?
3. Why do you matter?

Question number three is the one that will really help you succeed and hopefully set you apart from other competition. As far as asking questions goes, “Make sure to always keep asking them.” Parmley said to the class.

Listening to Wayne Parmley’s speech was nothing short of motivational, it surely helped me think more about my future and how to separate myself from others and I hope by reading this it also helped you learn the same.

Digital Marketing Insights From Tom Wolf

By: Kaila Kissinger (@KailaKissinger)

Digital marketing is one of those careers that most journalism students may not completely picture.  The New and Emerging Media class recently hosted Tom Wolf as a guest speaker to talk about his career at Rocket Clicks, a digital marketing agency located in Milwaukee. According to Tom, “Digital Marketing is exploding.”   Tom graduated from UW Oshkosh in 2011 with a Journalism degree in Advertising and Public Relations.  He was able to shed light on what he does in his career and what he did to end up where he is.

Tom is a digital marketing professional.  “What is that?” may be a question you would ask.  Tom’s answer is simple – “We make stuff show up on Google.”

Rocket Clicks is a company that helps businesses develop an online strategy and improve SEO (Search Engine Optimization), PPC (Pay-Per-Click Advertising), CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization), and UX (User Experience Design).  All of these things are ways to track, improve and measure how many people see web content along with how often and how high that content shows up in search results.  They measure these things on sites like: Google/Bing/Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, and other major online ad exchanges.  They use Google AdWords and Google Analytics to help them measure and keep track of searches and key words.  Here’s a funny video to help visualize what these sites do.

Tom talked about his time at UW Oshkosh.  Through his classes he learned a lot of fundamental skills that he is constantly using in his career.  But he brought up the fact that a lot of what he is doing now, he didn’t learn in school.  He’s constantly adding to the foundation of his knowledge through either training or online research.

One of his last pieces of advice was to become a “Utility Person.”  A key talent for digital marketing is to be a problem solver, and be good at a little bit of everything.  These skills make you more appealing to employers.  Also it’s important to be able to figure out new media as it comes along – it’s a fast moving field that is constantly changing and you need to keep up with it.

Students ask Tom some questions after his presentation.

Travel and Documentary Photography: Study Abroad in London, England

By: Kaila Kissinger @KailaKissinger

Document your personal experience through photography!

Every two years, the UW Oshkosh Journalism Department offers students a great opportunity to study abroad during spring interim.  As it turns out, 2013 marks the next experience abroad! This spring, students will join professor Dr. Timothy Gleason on his Travel and Documentary Photography trip to London, England.  In London, students will focus on documentary photography, the photographic study of places, people and rituals.

So let’s get this straight…the study abroad is all about taking pictures in a foreign country?  Well…not exactly.

On this trip students will learn and develop photo techniques and video skills all while gaining firsthand knowledge about the English culture and how to use ‘the Tube’ in London.

Piccadilly Circus in London, England Photo credit: visitlondon.com

Here is a taste of some places and activities that are on the itinerary for 2013:

• Piccadilly Circus
• Portobello Market
• Trafalgar Square
• Buckingham Palace
• Blenheim Palace
• Cambridge walking tour – Oxford train trip
• Suggested punting on Cam

With all of the amazing sites to see in London, Dr. Gleason has incorporated a lot of free time for students to explore the city on their own.  The most popular must-sees include: The London Eye, The Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

Aside from being a great experience for students, study abroad is something to put on a resume when applying for jobs or internships. For aspiring photographers, the photos you take while on this trip can be included in your portfolio.

Pre-requisites for participating in the course are Intro to Journalism (JOURN 141) and Media Photo I (JOURN 239).  This unique experience is available for all students; not just journalism majors or minors. Students without the pre-requisites noted above can be accepted into the program by the instructor.

Already signed up for this program? Check out some of Dr. Gleason’s travel trips here!

For those who are interested or are unable to sign up for this year’s trip, be sure to look for it again in Spring 2015!

Things to Remember: Advisory Meetings

By: Eli Drljaca (@elidrljaca) Well, it’s that time of year again, snow has covered the ground on campus and the sidewalks are nearing the consistency of an ice rink. This is all a good reminder that second semester is well underway now and we as students need to start planning ahead for next year. It’s time for advising meetings! The Journalism advisors are great at listening and really getting a feel for what you want to do with your career. These professors take that knowledge, and help build a plan for you. They help place you in classes that not only are required, but also fit your emphasis and your interests. An important thing to note: An advisor must sign you up to actually get into most of the Journalism classes. So you want to get an advising appointment early by signing up for a time slot on sign-up sheets hanging outside professor offices ASAP. Be sure to bring a printout of your STAR report to your advising meeting. There are three classes that you can take just by signing up yourself: Introduction to Journalism and Mass Communication (141), which is a required course to start your journalism path, Principles of Advertising (250) and Principles of Public Relations (211). A great place to begin is right on the Journalism website where the procedure for advising is easy to see. As well, if you know your advisor, you can just go to your advisor’s office, enter your name on the sign-up sheet and then plan to meet during advising weeks. On the journalism page you will find a curriculum sheet on which classes are needed for which emphasis, such as advertising, media studies, public relations, visual or writing/editing. Also, if you’re a Journalism minor take a look here for your curriculum sheet. So what are you waiting for? It’s first come, first serve for a meeting with your advisor so get on over to the third floor in Sage and sign up today!