Join us
for this summer’s virtual workshop,
July 19-30, 2021.
#Mega21
Check your track for its specific schedule.
- Reporting
- Digital storytelling
- Design/redesign
- Managing all digital
- CMBAM: student business managers
- CMBAM: business advisers
The bedrock of media, even as it becomes more and more digital, is still basic news reporting. Your audience wants someone to find facts about the world around them and help them make sense of it.
We’ll take the time to give you practical tips you need to become a better reporter.
Instructors: Elizabeth Smith, Victoria St. Martin & Chris Whitley
The world is visual, social and mobile — and your publication should be, too. Learn how to tell stories through social media, photos, video, data, analytics and digital tools, all while enhancing reader engagement.
Instructors: Patrick Howe & Vince Filak
Guest speaker: Patti Piburn
The platforms may be changing, but strong design remains crucial. We’ll focus on print-design fundamentals and discuss trends — making the most of your format and moving into PDFs and beyond.
Instructors: Gary Metzker, Emily Sendin & Randy Stano
Some organizations began the transition to all-digital publications pre-pandemic. Others have been forced into the decision in the past year.
Regardless of timing, adapting journalistic mindset, staff structure, production processes and revenue streams to the digital workspace can be daunting.
We’ll give you a practical set of tips to make the transition to a digital production structure easier.
Instructors: Tamara Zellars Buck, Chuck Clark & Marcie Young Cancio
The student manager training workshop is an excellent way to get your incoming student manager the upper hand when it comes to training, motivating and managing their peers.
We’ll cover best practices and how to develop and implement new ideas in your organization.
There will also be time for managers to network and learn from one another in roundtable discussions.
Instructors: Jacob Horton & Alessandra Pintado-Urbanc
The business adviser training workshop will provide training for new and existing advisers that need help starting or developing a business team at their student media organization. Topics may include hiring & training staff, products & prices, resources and how CMBAM can help your organization succeed.
Instructors: Katherine Ross, Allen Vaughan & Charlie Weaver
Check your track for its specific schedule.
Because of our time spent in a virtual newsroom this year, one of our biggest challenges is recruiting a staff and leadership team for next year.
This track will look at various recruitment opportunities and techniques, as well as a training plan to aid retention. This track instruction will provide information for a recruitment plan and a model to develop your own staff and training manual.
Instructors: Peg Achterman & Sandra Combs
The workshop motivates, sharpens photographic skills and develops visual literacy and personal vision. Whether it’s a single photo or photo essay, this track will address how to maximize your visual storytelling skills.
Instructor: Bradley Wilson
Check your track for its specific schedule.
Today’s journalists are not only nonfiction storytellers. They’re also organizational ambassadors and public relations practitioners charged with building relationships with their various audiences.
In this workshop, we’ll teach you strategies to promote your own content and engage audiences in positive ways that elevate your personal and organizational brands using digital platforms.
Instructors: James Wilson & Roderick Wilson
The key to successful visual storytelling is neither the app nor the equipment — it’s adherence to the principles of visual production.
In this workshop, we’ll teach you the basics of storyboarding, lighting, shot selection and composition, voice-over and editing.
Instructor: Will Murphy
Check your track for its specific schedule.
If you’re a new editor-in-chief, managing editor or section editor — or an aspiring leader who’s ready to learn — the organizational leadership track is for you.
Prepare for your new job by delving into leadership topics, including organizational tactics and policies, staff motivation, conflict resolution and media law and ethics.
Instructors: Jackie Alexander & Mark Witherspoon
Yearbooks and magazines may not be the same, but they share foundational elements: excellent organization, great photography and a focus on storytelling.
This interactive workshop will prepare staffs by discussing continuity, spread development, storytelling and photography.
Instructors: Linda Puntney & Laura Widmer
High-quality audio storytelling and podcast programs can greatly expand an organization’s audience and marketability.
This workshop will teach you the basics of audio reporting and podcast production techniques, including scripting, interviewing, sound-gathering and multi-layered audio production.
Instructors: Carol Terracina-Hartman, Kyle Miller & Bryce McNeil
This four-day advertising sales training program is designed for new and returning reps.
Reps will become familiar with the difference between being a salesperson and a consultant.
There will also be a focus on selling college media products in a rapidly changing environment. We will learn and practice sales basics & how to implement them with new strategies and technologies.
Instructors: Tami Cindea Bongiorni, David Graham & Rick Nichols
Check your track for its specific schedule.
The pandemic has been difficult for the sports world. But as the stadiums and arenas fill back up, sportswriters still need to capture a game’s energy, reveal players’ personalities and detail the ups and downs of a team’s season. We’ll show you how.
Instructors: Fred Batiste & Steven Chappell
Social-justice reporting is not a new concept, but it is growing as a niche as reporters seek to tell under-reported stories and promote community discussions about issues such as access to resources, equity, political activism, diversity and human rights.
This workshop explores how student-media organizations can effectively produce social-justice reporting.
Instructor: Arvli Ward
Check your track for its specific schedule.
Everyone has an opinion, but it takes journalistic skill to develop, report and write commentary that engages and challenges readers.
We’ll focus on staff editorials, editorial columns, entertainment reviews and short-form commentary in social media.
Instructors: Chris Evans & Lara Weber
When print editions stopped, email newsletters started becoming an essential tool for college media to reach their audience and gain much-needed advertising. This session will show you how to start from scratch on building your own newsletter or taking your current one and making it better.
Instructors: Chris Richert & David Simpson
Guest speakers:
Leen Obeidat, flytedesk, and Farhan Mohamed, Overstory Media Group
Why this workshop?
The College Media Mega Workshop has trained hundreds of collegiate journalists and advisers.
It’s a collaboration of the leading associations in collegiate media. That means you get the experience, expertise and common-sense advice you need going into the year ahead.