Internship Update: Seek the Peak Recap (Finally)!

Needless to say, it's been a busy week! Hence why I haven't found time to post my long-awaited, much-anticipated recap of the Seek the Peak event on Mount Washington last Saturday. But hopefully this post is worth the wait!

Sarah and I left the station around noon and arrived at the base of the mountain by early afternoon. Almost immediately, we were greeted by the event coordinators and summoned for a pre-event meeting with Eric Fisher of WBZ to review the game plan.

Eric and Sarah spend the majority of the afternoon mingling with attendees and emceeing the fundraiser after-party, while I was tasked with using Sarah's work iPhone to grab as many pictures, videos, interviews, and web teases as possible. Between conversations with hikers and observatory donors, I found myself scaling the Sno-Cat to get crowd shots (like the one below) and weaving between vendors to get video clips of Sarah at the mic. Talk about a lively afternoon!

Sarah and Eric then took the stage during the dinner reception to help with awards and sponsor prizes, so that meant more pictures and videos for social media. I also pre-wrote several posts with important event info for Sarah to share on her accounts, such as fundraising numbers and interesting snippets (including a marriage proposal on the summit!). That way, she could focus on the event while still providing relevant and timely info on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

All in all, it was a great experience that presented a lot of networking opportunities and firsthand lessons in the field. In addition to meeting and getting to know Eric, I was able to connect with numerous Mount Washington Observatory employees, photographers from other media outlets, and on-air meteorologists from The Weather Channel and CNN.

And, of course, it was a social media hotspot! I'm proud of the fact that many of my ideas produced engaging content that got a lot of online attention (event-related posts generated a big spike in likes, favorites, and retweets).

You can check out more of my work from Seek the Peak on Sarah's Facebook and Twitter pages.

Enjoy!

Internship Update: Road Trip to Mount Washington

Today's internship assignment takes me across state lines into the mountains of New Hampshire!

Sarah and I are headed up to Mount Washington for Seek the Peak, an annual hike-a-thon fundraiser that supports the Mount Washington Observatory.

Sarah is emceeing the event, so I'm tagging along to grab some pictures and video for her social media accounts. I'll also be helping her with networking and posting updates to my own social media pages to drum up interest.

The forecast isn't looking ideal at this point, but then again, clouds and showers at the site of some of the world's worst weather seems like a decent deal in my book.

More details to come in a follow-up post after today's event! In the meantime, be sure to check out my Twitter account and the event website for more info.

Happy Saturday!

Internship Update: Holiday Weekend Edition

What's the best way to cap off a great Fourth of July weekend? Writing a much-needed internship update, of course! Since last posting on here, I've been busy sending Sarah content for her accounts and doing some serious online research.

I finished compiling the summer events calendar about a week ago and Sarah and I have since used it to build forecasts and drum up viewer interest on social media.

In terms of work in the field, I've had my phone at the ready every time I've attended a big event, checked out a local attraction, or simply spent an evening at the beach. I usually take a few pictures or shoot some video and send it to Sarah, who then puts it up on Facebook and/or Twitter in an effort to better connect with the community.

I'm constantly looking for interesting and engaging material to pass along. And because I like to spend a lot of time soaking up the ocean sun, kayaking on the river, hiking in the mountains, etc., my blurbs often have direct ties to Sarah's weather reports. Along the way, I've learned to keep the content as current as possible and always include information about location, what's going on, and anything unique that will give the post additional appeal.

You can check out one of my (Sarah's) Twitter pictures here. Many more of these to come throughout the summer!

In addition to my social media contributions, I've spent a lot of time analyzing the newscasts and social media accounts of other TV stations across the country. By doing this, Sarah and I hope to pick out trends dictated by market size, intended audience, web presence, and a number of other factors, as well as potential ideas to use on her WMTW accounts.

I regularly analyze the weather graphics and general broadcast format and try to determine how those pieces relate to social media engagement. I also evaluate the on-air journalists and meteorologists to determine what works, what doesn't work, and what could be adapted to best fit our strategies for social media, web, and on-air content.

Last week, I checked out several stations from the Seattle broadcast market and found that they have a heavy emphasis on news first and weather later, which is generally the opposite of the markets around here. I have yet to determine what city or stations I'll be researching this week, although I plan to use a market size comparable to that of Portland's #80 ranking for results that are more easily transferrable.

I'll leave it there for now. After a weekend of family, food, and fireworks, I'm ready for a good night's sleep before another full week. Until next time!

Internship Update: Events, Events, & More Events!

The past few days featured a lot of work outside of the station, particularly in front of my computer screen. Admittedly, the title for this post is a bit misleading, because I haven't actually attended a plethora of events... yet. But my work for the week involved a lot of online digging similar to what I do when planning an on-air story and all of it had ties to local events.

My first big internship assignment was to research and create a schedule of events throughout Maine this summer. Sarah and I plan to attend many of the events in-person and share them on her social media accounts via pictures, video, etc., or, at the very least, profile them online as a part of her forecasts.

I combed through a variety of websites about Maine events in an effort to find and include as many noteworthy, appealing, or just plain bizarre festivities as possible. Events that made the cut ranged from town fairs to lobster festivals to free farm days (and everything in between). The end result was a 13-page document filled with ideas for social media content that will have local appeal.

From here, Sarah and I will use the calendar as a reference point, especially when prominent news and weather events are hard to find. Beyond that, viewers like to be able to relate to TV personalities, and connecting with them by showing interest in local events is the perfect opportunity to do just that. And, of course, who doesn't like fair food?! All around, it's an assignment I could get used to this summer!

Summer Internship: Getting Started at WMTW-8

After a month-long hiatus, I'm finally back in the newsroom and couldn't be happier about it! This past week marked the start of my summer internship at WMTW-8, which broadcasts out of the Portland, Maine, market.

As a part of my internship, I'll be doing social media and web work for my longtime mentor, Sarah Long. Sarah is a meteorologist and web coordinator for WMTW who operates professional accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and the station's web pages. My role will involve updating and maintaining her accounts, as well as accompanying her to noteworthy events for the purpose of grabbing social media content.

Sarah and I met at the station this past weekend to discuss the plan for the summer and it quickly became apparent that we both have a lot of big ideas. Over the next week, I'll be researching interesting events and functions throughout southern Maine and putting a calendar together for us to refer back to throughout the summer.

I also met the weekend news/production team while visiting the station and immediately felt like part of the crew. They're a really welcoming group and I felt at home right away, which can be hard to come by at times in the TV news industry. In addition to the social media components of my internship, I'll likely have the opportunity to shadow the weekend anchors and reporters as they research and pursue story ideas. More to come on this later!

All things considered, it was a great first week and, more importantly, nice to find my way back to a live TV studio. And any first day that ends with pizza is certainly a win in my book. Here's to a great summer as the newest intern at WMTW!

LSC talent on display at annual AMS Club fundraiser

Lyndon State’s AMS Club has nearly $275 to work with following last week’s talent show fundraiser, which included a variety of musical acts.

Half of the money raised will cover annual conference fees, while the other half will be put toward the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund, according to club spokesman and event organizer Stephen Decatur.

The newly-formed musical duo of Jacqueline Laviolette and Kyle Gadapee took first place in the annual competition. The pair performed a cover of Beyoncé’s "Listen," with Laviolette signing and Gadapee accompanying her on piano.

Both said they were very pleased with the performance overall and look forward to collaborating again in the future.

They also collected a set of prizes totaling $250, all of which was donated by local businesses.

Newcomer Drew Cathcart finished second after performing a song he wrote just the day before.

“I only messed up once or twice,” Cathcart said while laughing when asked to talk about the quick turnaround.

Third place went to repeat performer Alyssa Rovella for her rendition of "Clean" by Taylor Swift.

Local meteorologists Kerrin Jeromin and Steve Glazier emceed the event, while a panel of five judges evaluated the talent.

Other notable acts included a dance set by Sarah Burnett and a rap performance by Steve Neas and Trevor Richmond.

The show featured 11 acts in total.

Many of them can be seen at other Lyndon State music events and at The Stage in Lyndonville.

Final Project Outline

For our final project, Louis and I will be creating a piece that highlights the upcoming AMS Talent Show. Our idea is to shoot video and take pictures of the event, create a podcast with audio interviews of the winners, and write up a brief accompanying story with additional information about the acts that will be performing.

The plan is for Louis to record video and take pictures, while I will be writing the accompanying article and conducting the audio interviews for the podcast. We will both be working together to combine all of the components into one finished product.