This past week was UT’s fifth-annual Social Media Week. Thanks to the hard work of all those involved with the planning and execution, it was a success. I think it was one of the most interesting social media weeks to date.
#UTSMW16 kicked off on Monday with a mayoral proclamation by Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett. The remainder of the sessions focused on social media’s role in politics and crisis communication. I was not able to attend any of the sessions on Monday but heard great feedback-particularly on the Politico talk.
Tuesday’s theme was “The Importance of Creativity in Social Media.” I was able to attend one of the panels and the afternoon workshop. I attended “Music, Murder, and Entertainment: How to Kill It in Social Media,” which featured Deborah Allen, the VP of Programming and Executive Producer at Jupiter Entertainment; and UT alums Mike McCloud, CEO of World Food Championships; Paul Jankowski, Founder and Chief Brand Strategist at New Heartland Group; and Erick Baker, a local singer/songwriter. WATE’s hilarious and entertaining Tearsa Smith moderated the panel. I thoroughly enjoyed this panel. Paul and Mike, in particular, had their shit together (excuse my French) and seemed very knowledgeable and authoritative in their respective careers and fields. I also attended Tuesday’s Content Creation Workshop in which UT Knoxville’s Social Media Manager assigned us, in groups, to generate ideas for Snapchat.
“The Business of Social Media” was Wednesday’s theme and I had the opportunity to sit in on the Sports presentation featuring Nate Bain, the Digital Media Manager of the Los Angeles Rams, and Adam Moussa, ESPN’s Programming Coordinator for XGames, and moderated by WATE’s Michael Spencer. This was definitely a fun presentation to be sitting in on. I’ve always dabbled with the idea of working in sports early on in my career before I settle down and have a family, so this just renewed that spark. It appears that both gentlemen have jobs that they love, despite the time commitment required of the sports industry.
Finally, I was fortunate enough to be present for Adam Brown’s keynote address. Y’all. His talk was incredible. I wish they had been allowed to record it because it featured some really interesting (aka nerdy) information about the big data powered by social media. Of course Adam is a great speaker – he’s only worked for Ketchum, Coca-Cola, Dell and now Salesforce. He challenged those of us who use the right side of the brain (creative side) to tap into the left side and be comfortable with data science. Adam is also the generous donor for UT’s Social Media Command Center, which will provide CCI faculty and students with the resources necessary to track crazy in-depth social media analytics.
Ok, I’m done nerding out now. I thoroughly enjoyed #UTSMW16 and wish it wasn’t over yet. Shoutout to the organizers of the event – they did a fantastic job and executed a truly great event.
Till next time,
CW
The Blonde Blogger 