14 June 2011
I'm back after spending last week in Australia.
My first stop was in Brisbane where I got an opportunity to spend time with the Australian Regional Media Online team particularly with Heidi Costello (Online Day Editor) and Steve Zeppa (Group News Editor) and got a really good insight on how they operate and the way that content is loaded for the 27 websites that fall under their department.
I also got a chance to talk to Belinda Reilly (Managing Editor - APN Online Aus) and share some insights on the project that I am working on at the moment with regards to content loading and management. We also agreed to share information and I look forward to completing my report and send her a copy (with Jeremy's permission, of course!)
From there, I moved on to Sydney where I had booked a few meetings with people to introduce myself and get to know them a little bit better.
First on my agenda was David McGrath (Head of Content). I had done some work for David and we had exchanged emails and a few phone calls so i took this opportunity of meeting with him in person. It was a great meeting and hopefully, i will get a chance to work on a project with him in the near future.
Then I also got a chance to meet with Katrina Stone (in charge of Corporate affairs). We had a pretty candid chat about my experience thus far and shared my thoughts on what a person on the coal face probably thinks but doesn't have the avenue to tell the decision makers. She is a wonderful person and was very encouraging in the interaction. She has asked me to elaborate on some ideas and I will get back to her on those.
With these meetings done, it was time to get ready for the assessment centres for the Fast Track recruitment program.
There were 2 assessments in total in Sydney and included both internal and external candidates. They were all from a wide variety of backgrounds from practising lawyers to teachers to sub editors and ranging from Brisbane to Perth to Tasmania!
It was a very enjoyable experience albeit a difficult one as there was a lot of things that needed to be done precisely and each of us had to play a part in it.
In two days time, the third and final one will be held in Auckland and should give Rob and Tracey with enough firepower to get Fast Track 2 underway for this year.
To all the assessment centre participants thus far, best of luck. The hard part is now done.. time to sit back and wait for the results.
As I write this up, the country is reeling from another aftershcock in the Cantebury region and this was measured at 6 on the richter scale. More damages have followed and some people are looking at rebuilding their houses and property for the third time! Keep the faith Christchurch. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you.
Showing posts with label editorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editorial. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
It's elementary my dear.....
19 May 2011
My investigation has continued on for this week as well where I have now had a chance to sit down with key people involved in the loading of the content as well as key people in the creation of content.
One of the people I got a chance to sit down with was Shayne Currie (Deputy Editor of the NZ Herald) and pick his brains on how stories are created and why certain stories make it and others dont; which stories are front page news and which aren't; and also what the relationship between nzherald.co.nz and the NZ Herald print product is.
It was very heartening to find out that ALL reporters are expected to file their report with online to make sure we capture the breaking news as quickly as we can.
I was also invited to the afternoon news brief where the chief reporters meet with Shayne along with a representative from Online (Nik Dirga -NZ Herald Production Editor) and Newspaper Sales & Marketing and they go through the stories that are being worked on to prepare for the next day's newspaper including what should make the front page and headline. A very interesting meeting where I felt like I was from the future since I knew what the front page of the paper would look like next day. A bit far fetched i know but it was fun!
So the reason why I am doing all this is to be able to deliver certain things to Jeremy Rees as part of the project.
The Project deliverables include:
• An assessment of the current systems and processes; including step by step guide on how to load content in each area (herald, regionals and magazines)
• Noted strengths and weaknesses of the above
• Recommendations for ‘quick wins’ that come out of the assessment
The NZ Budget is being announced today and it is going to be streamed from a box set up on my desk so I am currently operating out of half a desk and right in the middle of it. Exciting times, if you're into the budget or wondering about how live streaming works!!
My investigation has continued on for this week as well where I have now had a chance to sit down with key people involved in the loading of the content as well as key people in the creation of content.
One of the people I got a chance to sit down with was Shayne Currie (Deputy Editor of the NZ Herald) and pick his brains on how stories are created and why certain stories make it and others dont; which stories are front page news and which aren't; and also what the relationship between nzherald.co.nz and the NZ Herald print product is.
It was very heartening to find out that ALL reporters are expected to file their report with online to make sure we capture the breaking news as quickly as we can.
I was also invited to the afternoon news brief where the chief reporters meet with Shayne along with a representative from Online (Nik Dirga -NZ Herald Production Editor) and Newspaper Sales & Marketing and they go through the stories that are being worked on to prepare for the next day's newspaper including what should make the front page and headline. A very interesting meeting where I felt like I was from the future since I knew what the front page of the paper would look like next day. A bit far fetched i know but it was fun!
So the reason why I am doing all this is to be able to deliver certain things to Jeremy Rees as part of the project.
The Project deliverables include:
• An assessment of the current systems and processes; including step by step guide on how to load content in each area (herald, regionals and magazines)
• Noted strengths and weaknesses of the above
• Recommendations for ‘quick wins’ that come out of the assessment
The NZ Budget is being announced today and it is going to be streamed from a box set up on my desk so I am currently operating out of half a desk and right in the middle of it. Exciting times, if you're into the budget or wondering about how live streaming works!!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Custom Publishing
19/05/2010
Had my catch up with Sarah yesterday and it was quite good. She asked me not to be afraid to challenge her department’s way of working. The discussion then turned to styles of getting work done, basically influence v authority. And since I currently don’t have any authority to get my work done, I need to be using and building on my influence skills.
We discussed a few scenarios in which certain approaches would work better than others and Sarah also shared some examples where she used a certain method which worked for her.
The outbound project was also discussed and I bounced a few ideas off her around the customer offer and it was great to see her challenge my line of thought.
Today has been a very different day altogether. I got a chance to sit down with Jo Elwin, the Custom Publishing Manager, who gave me a very good insight on what she does and what her area works on. Jo has over 16 years in publishing and she is what is commonly called a ‘generalist’.
A generalist is one who has a rounded approach to publishing having usually had significant experience in all aspects (editorial, advertising, production etc) of publishing. As it sounds, there are very few generalists around so it was quite a treat to pick her brains on different things. She has also been as kind as to ask me to join her in some editorial meetings which should help give me a better understanding of how things work in her area.
Tomorrow I take on another step in my quest to learn more about editorial as I have been invited by Pamela Stirling, the Listener editor (kinda forced myself upon poor Pamela really!) to join her team at their team meeting.
Had my catch up with Sarah yesterday and it was quite good. She asked me not to be afraid to challenge her department’s way of working. The discussion then turned to styles of getting work done, basically influence v authority. And since I currently don’t have any authority to get my work done, I need to be using and building on my influence skills.
We discussed a few scenarios in which certain approaches would work better than others and Sarah also shared some examples where she used a certain method which worked for her.
The outbound project was also discussed and I bounced a few ideas off her around the customer offer and it was great to see her challenge my line of thought.
Today has been a very different day altogether. I got a chance to sit down with Jo Elwin, the Custom Publishing Manager, who gave me a very good insight on what she does and what her area works on. Jo has over 16 years in publishing and she is what is commonly called a ‘generalist’.
A generalist is one who has a rounded approach to publishing having usually had significant experience in all aspects (editorial, advertising, production etc) of publishing. As it sounds, there are very few generalists around so it was quite a treat to pick her brains on different things. She has also been as kind as to ask me to join her in some editorial meetings which should help give me a better understanding of how things work in her area.
Tomorrow I take on another step in my quest to learn more about editorial as I have been invited by Pamela Stirling, the Listener editor (kinda forced myself upon poor Pamela really!) to join her team at their team meeting.
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