Media skills for media people

Archive for March, 2009

2012 – taking advantage of the Games

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

On Monday we brought together a number of companies that went on a trade delegation to Beijing and Shanghai at the tale-end of the Games. The open conversation was captured, and a more accurate description of the thoughts will appear, but here is my take on how the UK creative media industries can make hay whilst the Olympic sun shines.

Understand who the customer is

Most  people think of the Olympic Games as 8000-odd hours of sporting excellence. With commitments from many broadcasters to show all of this, it’s a significant amount of content. But it’s not the only show in town. During 2012 – before, during and after the Games, the appetite for capture, manipulation and transmission of media will be massive. London (and hopefully the rest of the UK) will be the epicentre of a what can be described as a media feeding frenzy.  The cultural Olympiad, the visitor experience, PR, advertising, news (both accredited and un-accredited, official and unofficial), sponsors, international and domestic businesses, overseas trade missions – all of these are potential clients of the UK creative media industry. (Have a wonder through some of the sponsor links to see how much potential business there is in just helping these international brands maximise their investment with some media!)

An example – most G20 countries use the timeslot of the Games as an opportunity to promote and foster business links between nations (we did it in Beijing with London House and other nations had their equivalent). And all these events (a fashion show, a design fair, a discussion around hospitality, etc) required media, from cameras and sound equipment and the talent needed to operate them, through to editing, graphics, vfx, to publishing on web, tv, press, etc.

Are you ready to find this whole planet of potential new customers that 2012 will bring to our doorstep?

Back-fill

Whilst most of the focus will be on Games-related activity, there is still a need for a huge amount of media for those that are not interested. The pressures  to ensure that the money-machine that is the Games runs smoothly will put immense back-fill pressure on other parts of the industry. The BBC have claimed – though I doubt it – that they will utilise every OB truck in Northern Europe for the Olympics- what about other activity – arts, culture, events, etc? And whilst much of the key talent capturing the games will be parachuted in just for the Games, many international broadcasters and media organisations are already claiming they want to use UK talent (think of the cost of accommodation alone in London and you can see why).

Are you ready to sell yourself to this new client base?

Technology change

2012 is a fantastic opportunity to guess where technology will drive change to the way we create and consume media. File-based workflow ,semi-pro user generated content, the need for rich meta-data, automated translation services, mobile capture, aggregation and delivery, etc, etc. Many called Beijing the first “digital” Games – I think 2012 will be the first truly digital, interactive Games, with an explosion of media (and data) available across all platforms.

Are you brave enough to gaze into the crystal ball and take advantage of these new technologies?

Pricing strategies

One of the more interesting discussions had at our meeting was the area of sliding pricing strategies for clients. If you book now it’s cheaper – wait until the last minute it’s much more expensive. Or from an equipment point of view – how to spread the risk of investing in new kit. These require coordination and collaboration across the industry.

Are you ready to work with your competition to ensure mutual benefit?

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So what practical, next steps can be done?

One area was to start selling UK creative media industries as a pillar-to-post, soup-to-nuts , A-to-Z service to all and any potential clients out there who may want to use our services. UK Screen could provide a focus for this collaborative approach, or even an honest portal to point to services. More lobbying is needed to all the organisations and agencies that are involved in ensuring the 2012 is a success (from the IOC, the OBS, ONS, LOCOG, ODA, LDA, Mayor’s Office, etc) understand clearly what the UK industry can offer. More case-studies needed to demonstrate what an opportunity might look like. More work on getting  UK creative media companies ready for business (much has been done in the construction industry to do this). Make sure we are all registered on Compete For.

We are making sure that we have the right new talent coming forward (more on that soon) to take advantage of this through an Apprenticeship programme. But what more can we do? What skills issues does 2012 highlight for you?

It’s only 1219 days to go – let’s make sure that it’s the best ever Games – for all of us!

The Newspaper Education Trust’s ‘Save the NET’ campaign

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

I visited The NET last year. Tucked away in a national print works in Docklands, they’re an educational charity that provides a real-life newsroom for pupils so they can be a journalist for the day. Schools can book either of two editing suites: one for Primary and one for Secondary and Post-16 student groups. They also do a guided tour of the print works (trust me, if you love printed paper and you’ve never been around a printers before, it’s amazing to see a real printing press!) You can get a feel for what they do from the following video.

Sadly, they are struggling with the recession and are having to campaign for additional donations to keep going. The irony is they provide a popular and valued service for schools and pupils. The programme inspires children who might never consider a career in journalism. It helps them engage with what goes into a news story and at a time when there are massive changes in the industry, provide real inspiratin for the future generation of journalists. It would be a shame if they couldn’t keep going.

If you’d like to find out more about the fundraising campaign you can contact Anna Pangbourne on 020 7531 5079 or anna@the-net.org.uk.

Guest Blog from Neil Garner – Training vs Education

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

Neil Garner is a professional trainer I have known (and respected) for over a decade. He used to train the trainees I looked after at the BBC – and was a perfect judge of character as well as a wonderful communicator, enthuser and sage. Here are his thoughts on the difference between education and training.

As a freelance trainer of many years standing, I work with both Universities and people in our industry (running bespoke training events for them) and would like to point out that the aims of the two are almost mutually exclusive.

HE and University is about education… this means that courses have to have academic value and rigour, and the college/university authorities guard this rightly, because it is a heritage which goes back centuries. It means thatundergraduate life about personal development and discovery. The courses require the students to study and learn independently, without massive amounts or intervention from anyone, just a guiding hand from tutors. The result is that university education is about asking questions… and the students will be given time in which to explore and develop their ideas and themselves. In due course they may find the answers for themselves.

Training on the other hand is about achieving commercial goals… getting a person to a point where they can do something they are required to do, by the most cost effective means. Bearing in mind that time is possibly one of our industries most valuable commodities, it probably means as fast as possible. The result being that a training course provides answers…  it will spoonfeed information, skills, knowledge or concepts to the trainees as required to achieve the desired outcome. Through this training, the trainee can go away and immediately put the learning into use. With time and practice of doing what they learned, the trainee will also gain experience and therefore develop personally.

I suspect that in real terms our industry will always need both… the universities to provide people who can prove (by their degree status and the work they have done) that they have the ability to be self starters and to learn quickly and effectively and take initiative.

Industry trainers and training bodies to provide the specific skills and knowledge which industry needs. To take the graduates and non- graduates alike to the professional level required.

Over the years, in my role as a trainer, I have seen large numbers of new recruits to the industry, some of whom have come with ‘relevant’ degrees, some with ‘other’ degrees and some, of course, who have neither. In practice I have found that actually, there is almost no difference between the categories and that those with ‘relevant’ degrees have only a marginal advantage at the beginning. Often however, this is more than offset by the drive and enthusiasm of those without, who may have spent large amounts of spare time getting involved with similar activities and the feeling that they have a disadvantage to overcome. I believe, that where the graduate benefit shows through, is at a much later stage, when they are better prepared to move to the higher level jobs, but this is a legacy which much harder to quantify and may only seen at later stage when training, time and experience have also been given.

In real terms this opens a debate which other more ‘mature’ industries probably had many years ago… what can we realistically expect from the HE and Universities sector and how does our industry intends to
provide training. It is worth pointing out that, for example, a degree in accountancy will only shorten the training period for Chartered Status by 6-9 months and be the equivalent of a ‘foundation’ course. The other 2-3 years and all the professional exams still need to be taken… Many other ‘professions’ are similar.

Bearing this in mind, does it matter whether our employees have degrees in media studies, medicine or management accountancy? Do we value the label of BA, BSc, etc.? Would trying to change degree courses to be much more ‘training’ focused actually ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’?

Consultation launched to strengthen skills in UK publishing

Monday, March 16th, 2009

Last week saw the launch of the draft skills strategy consultation for UK publishing. We are encouraging those in the industry to read and provide comments on whether the strategy resonates by Thursday 9 April.

The strategy aims to ensure that employers in publishing can recruit people with the right skills for the job and to strengthen the global competitiveness of UK publishing by using skills as the route out of recession. The strategy, which targets both the existing workforce and new entrants, was developed with detailed stakeholder involvement through the Publishing Skills Council.

The draft strategy covers the Book, Database and Directory, Journal, Magazine and Business Media, News Agency and Newspaper Publishing sectors. It:

  • provides a coherent framework to inform education, training and development provision for the publishing industry;
  • identifies key shared industry priorities at the same time as recognizing more sector-specific skills needs; and,
  • offers a basis for developing an action plan to meet industry needs: drawing together existing good practice, effective on-going activities and new initiatives.

The results of the consultation will then be incorporated into the final strategy which will be developed into a Publishing Sector Profile and Action Plan in May 2009. These reports will define the priorities and actions that Skillset and partners will focus on to improve the skills of the Publishing workforce.

All interested parties are invited to submit their feedback no later than Thursday 9 April.

Copies of the draft strategy can be downloaded at http://www.skillset.org/publishing/consultation/.

A print copy is available on request by emailing Louise Franklin at louisef@skillset.org or calling 020 7713 9849.

CONCEPT – CONSTRUCT – CONNECT: a different way to look at the creative media industry

Friday, March 13th, 2009

Traditionally the creative media industry is split into different categories – Film, TV, Radio, Photo Imaging, Publishing, Computer Games, Advertising, etc. The boundaries and divisions of these seemingly stand-alone sectors are based output; the final format or product. They have historically had their own supply chains, their own workforce, and their own audiences.

The merging of these sectors is often called “convergence”.  But the true impact of the digital technology is much deeper and more profound than the meshing of content or platforms. The increasing ubiquity and shrinking cost of this technology is leading to a rapid merging of the processes, products and profits of these sectors.

In the attached .pdf I point to a different way of looking at and describing the creative media industry to examine, explain and foresee these changes currently happening. Your thoughts, comments and discussion are, as ever, welcome. Click the following link to download the document: Concept – Construct – Connect

This work is the product of conversations with dozens of colleagues and friends. However, discussions, thoughts, visions and debates with four key people brought it to fruition: Chris Chilton, Dan Gable, Andy Gibson and Fiona Kilkelly. (more…)

Skillset blog has been set up to stimulate and encourage debate around skills issues within the Creative Media Industries. The individuals who post at Skillset blog work at Skillset. The opinions and ideas expressed are their own and are not necessarily reviewed in advance by anyone but the individual authors. Neither Skillset nor any third party necessarily agrees with them.

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