Post-presentation thoughts on speaking at WIU
Here’s a short list of assorted thoughts after my AngryJournalist.com presentation at WIU. You can read the essay my presentation was based on here and the student newspaper’s coverage here.
1.) I had a blast spending time with the WIU faculty. They were all really nice and it was great to be around educators who understood the need for students to get themselves motivated and working to develop the skills they’d need to be competitive. Also, I was pleasantly surprised to find that several of them read comic books, too!
2.) Meeting with the student newspaper staff of the Western Courier highlighted a problem that I recognized while working at the Daily Illini: recruiting students from the journalism school to work at the student paper. It continues to shock me how many journalism students completely ignore one of the easiest ways to get experience on campus and never pursue this opportunity.
3.) Not enough students realize how difficult the job market is, or why it’s so competitive right now. A few students did mention that what I had to say was an eye-opener to get motivated to learn new skills as a leg up.
4.) I need to improve my public speaking skills and get more confident with my delivery. I don’t think I did a poor job, but I definitely didn’t hit it out of the park either. It’s really tough to gauge an audience’s reaction, especially when your presentation tends to bring up facts that are pessimistic about industry the students intend to enter and that they’ll have to work hard to be successful. I worried that I’d sound too much like their parents, but hoped to provide a level of honesty they might not hear elsewhere.
5.) There are still students who want to do journalism as a career. The passion is still there, but it’s unfortunate the industry they’re about to enter isn’t as welcoming. Every round of layoffs and buyouts isn’t inspiring confidence. Newspapers need to prove to students that a future does exist by finding ways to stay in business that doesn’t involve cutting staff.
6.) When I asked for suggestions and advice journalists would give to students to include in my speech, a lot of it surrounded the topic of wages. I put an emphasis on this during my presentation, breaking down how far a $30,000 salary goes each month after you subtract expenses. This seemed to surprise the audience the most and I think is something that needs to be more openly discussed. Going into debt in college to only go into debt further when you start a job doesn’t make sense. I don’t believe enough students have thought about this seriously.
7.) Macomb’s downtown layout was really cool. It was a courthouse surrounded by stores in a square. The sense of a small-town community was there and I really wish the suburbs copied this model. I think a lot of suburbs lack personality in this way.
8.) I need to get personal business cards printed with my personal e-mail and Web site on them.
9.) Smartphones won’t kill the newspaper. While traveling on the Amtrak train, it went through several deadzones. Until every inch of this country has broadband mobile technology, newspapers will be around. Mobile technology infrastructure still has a long way to go (and so does rural broadband for that matter).
10.) I was told later after my presentation that one of the students who asked a question had previously asked his instructor why he should come to listen to what I had to say. I’m glad he attended and hope that he took away something valuable, but this got me thinking: In everything we do, we should provide value either for ourselves personally or for others. Personal time management is important, but we also have to respect the time we expect others to pay attention to us — especially if it’s something we expect to profit on.