Digital Future Scholars Annual Meeting Takeaways: Julianne Lamsek (KCTS 9)

By Josie Keller, PBS Interactive

Julianne Lamsek, Technology Director for KCTS 9, attended this year's PBS Annual Meeting in Denver, CO as one of four PBS Interactive Digital Future Scholarship winners. See her takeaways from the conference in this video blog.

…I’d like to express my thanks and sincere gratitude towards PBS Interactive and the sponsor Three Pillars Global for enabling me to take advantage of this amazing opportunity…  - @jlamsek

What were Julianne's takeaways?

…In addition to the great networking, I found the conference to be thought provoking, inspiring, and informative…

 Primetime Programming Preview (0:55)

...In my community in Seattle when I tell people that I work for KCTS9, I often hear them say ‘oh you work for KCTS; I love KCTS 9. I watch Masterpiece, or Nova, or Frontline, or Nature, or whatever programs they happen to watch -- they share that with me. And it means a lot to me to work in public media… It is incredibly meaningful to me to work in a place where the programming matters and it’s valued, and it’s making a difference in people’s lives...

The Digital Future with Jason Seiken and Create, Prevail and Thrive: PBS in Tomorrow’s Media Landscape with Jim Collins (2:56)

…[Jim Collins] asked a question that I thought was pretty interesting. The question was, “If PBS were to disappear, who would miss it, and why? And what his answer was? Well, the answer probably has something to do with local…

Please post questions or comments for Julianne in the comment box below.

Wordless Wednesday: WVIZ/PBS ideastream Rocks out with Big Bird

By Josie Keller, PBS Interactive

Big Bird rocked with WVIZ/PBS ideastream at the GuitarMania 2012 kickoff at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio this Memorial Day weekend.

Is your #localPBS station participating in community events? Send images via email or Twitter using hashtag #WordlessWednesday, and we’ll share one on the blog each week!

Is Your #localPBS Station Prepared for Bento?

By Josie Keller, PBS Interactive

Have you been asking yourself: What can my station do NOW to prepare for Bento's release this fall? Answers await you below...

Questions or comments? We're always happy to hear from you: Comment below or send us an email.

The Weekly Debrief, 25 May 2012

By Josie Keller, PBS Interactive

Welcome to the Weekly PBS Interactive Station Products & Innovation Debrief, designed to give PBS stations a rundown of product updates and opportunities announced this week on our blog.

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! PBS offices will be closed on Monday, May 30 in observance of the holiday.  We hope you all have a safe and wonderful holiday.

Teresa Peltier (@tpea), New Media & PR Specialist at WSKG, and Nathan Gibbs (@nathangibbs), Interactive Product Specialist at KPBS attended this year's PBS Annual Meeting in Denver, CO as PBS Interactive Digital Future Scholarship winners. Check out their video blogs to see their takeaways from the various Annual Meeting sessions.

“Amplification is the concept of taking a positive action – a purchase, a light-touch interaction or full-on review – saving it and then sharing it far and wide.” Learn how member stations can best understand and use this knowledge to their advantage in social media strategy.

Wordless Wednesday Call Out: The SPI team is looking for station input for our Wordless Wednesday blog posts. You’ve seen what’s happening at PBS headquarters -- now show us what the world looks like from the #localPBS perspective. Send images via email or Twitter using hashtag #WordlessWednesday, and we’ll choose one for the blog each week.
 
Follow the links below to keep reading:

• Digital Future Scholars Annual Meeting Takeaways: Teresa Peltier (WSKG)
• Digital Future Scholars Annual Meeting Takeaways: Nathan Gibbs (KPBS)
• Amplifying Your Local Station's Social Media Reach

Digital Future Scholars Annual Meeting Takeaways: Teresa Peltier (WSKG)

By Josie Keller, PBS Interactive

Teresa Peltier, New Media & PR Specialist at WSKG, attended this year's PBS Annual Meeting in Denver, CO as one of four PBS Interactive Digital Future Scholarship winners. See her takeaways from the various sessions in this video blog.

…Since I’ve returned, I’ve spent a lot of time daydreaming, and sometimes it’s just about sunshine and bison burgers, but more so it’s about all of the wonderful things I saw and learned at Annual Meeting…there’s nothing more powerful than seeing the really incredible, incredible content that’s coming from PBS this year...

What Stuck Out to Teresa?

Half the Sky, Presented by ITVS and CPB (1:03)

…I am exceptionally proud to be at a station that’s going to air this this year, and it’s going to be consequential. It’s going to be influential on anyone who watches it…the number of people crying in that room as we watched video clips was kind of staggering, and I just can’t wait for it to come out -- to see the full film. I think everybody’s going to be blown away -- in the public media system and beyond…

The Digital Future with Jason Seiken and Create, Prevail and Thrive: PBS in Tomorrow’s Media Landscape with Jim Collins (1:51)

…I loved their pedal to the medal attitude. They really set the stage for what the media landscape is now, and especially how PBS fits into that. But more than that, it wasn’t any sort of attempt at scaring us, it was an attempt at calling us to action. To letting us know that this is our chance, we are positioned very well to make a really big impact, and to really move forward in an exciting and different way than we have before.  Again, as somebody who’s in digital, I know that this is somewhere that my team and I are going to absolutely thrive, and I can’t wait to bring some of those skills to my group…

Future Proof: Get Ready for What’s Next (3:14)

...what Jim Collins says is that you should take lessons from your station -- what's worked and hasn't worked, and obviously from the whole great PBS, greater system, whether it's national or local stations, to see what they've been doing, what precedents have been set, and how you can incorporate that into success at your station. So I'm hoping that as we move forward in this fiscal year, really defining our digital strategy, that we keep collaboration in mind, and it's not just something that's randomly thrown into our work flow or unintentionally incorporated. We don't want to just imply collaboration, we have to intentionally incorporate collaboration into our digital strategy...

Big Think on What’s Next in #PubMedia (4:13)

…My biggest takeaway and I think the biggest elephant in the room, often, no matter which department you’re in, is the big bad word, consolidation. I find that it doesn’t come up very often when I meet with other people from the system or other stations…but I think it’s something that we need to talk about more as a system and I was really encouraged by the fact that it was brought up at Big Think…

What were your Annual Meeting takeaways? Let us know in the comments section below or tweet us @SPI_PBS or Teresa @tpea.

Digital Future Scholars Annual Meeting Takeaways: Nathan Gibbs (KPBS)

By Josie Keller, PBS Interactive


Nathan Gibbs, Interactive Product Specialist at KPBS, attended this year's PBS Annual Meeting in Denver, CO as one of four PBS Interactive Digital Future Scholarship winners. Check out this video blog of his takeaways from the various sessions.

"I really want to thank PBS Interactive and Amazon for the opportunity. It was really a fun and fantastic week. This happened at the end of the fiscal year for us, so my department didn’t quite have the travel budget to send me, so ultimately this was the only way that I was going to be able to go. For what I got out of it, and how great it was, this was a really big deal."

What stuck out to Nathan?

Big Think on What’s Next in #PubMedia (2:16)

 ...I was able to lead one of the tables that we had during the session, and you know it was just really nice to be able to get that raw perspective from these different stations, and also to be able to throw in my own ideas and be able to get that rich discussion going…I think for me that was probably the best session because I was able to interact as a part of it. It seemed to be pretty productive...

Create, Prevail and Thrive: PBS in Tomorrow’s Media Landscape with Jim Collins (2:42)

...there were a lot of practical things that I took home. One of them comes from a presentation that Jim Collins made. He gave us a new way of thinking about our work in terms of agile development or moving quickly. But also in terms of how we frame failure and success, in the sense of failing forward...I think that actually helped in...the Big Think session because we were able to use that metaphor in terms of how to approach failure...

News You Can Use: Election Tools for On-Air and Online with Hari Sreenivasan (4:35)

...He showed us some really impressive maps that they’ve produced, and they’re all embeddable. They’re things that we can use at the station level. Here at KPBS we really have a huge news presence in the community, and these maps will be a big bonus to us in terms of how we can serve our community...

Primetime Programming Preview (5:51)

...Just seeing what kind of powerful storytelling was being done, and the really important stories that only PBS can show. Really kind of just brought me back to the core, brought me back to the basics of why I work in public media...

“It was fantastic meeting the PBS team, PBS Interactive group… to share ideas with station leaders about the types of solutions that they’re coming up with for the same sort of problems and challenges that we face as a station as well.” -- @nathangibbs

What were your Annual Meeting takeaways? Let us know in the comments section below.

Amplifying Your Local Station's Social Media Reach

By Josie Keller, PBS Interactive

In a world of limitless entertainment options, how do you choose which are deserving of your time? Are you more likely to watch a show, see a movie, eat at a restaurant, or buy a product that a friend has tried and loved? Of course you are! This post will describe how member stations can best use this knowledge to their advantage.

“Amplification is the concept of taking a positive action – a purchase, a light-touch interaction or full-on review – saving it and then sharing it far and wide.” It’s the buzz word behind the success of popular social purchasing sites such as LivingSocial and Groupon. The theory is that consumers are more likely to purchase a product recommended by friends than one which they hear about through other outlets.

The same is true for #pubmedia. While increased viewership may be the end goal for your local station, the purpose of any station’s social media presence should be to encourage amplification on the web – to get people talking about your shows.

Why?

When your content spreads into networks beyond your own, your measure of influence grows exponentially. The beauty of social sharing is the ability for your station to reach new and varied audiences through the shares, likes, replies, and retweets of your followers.

How can your station achieve this?

McKinsey Quarterly explains, “’Amplification’ involves designing your marketing activities to have an inherently social motivator that spurs broader engagement and sharing.’

Yes, absolutely promote your showtimes and video links, but do so in a manner that excites your audience and encourages them to share with friends. Rather than simply making video available to viewers, focus your social media efforts on generating conversations and building up excitement about your local station, your shows, and your community events.

Social media is a great platform to address viewers on both personal and social levels, connecting them to the station and to each other. People love talking about their favorite shows and events – all you have to do is put your station brand at the forefront, get the conversation started, and continue to engage and respond to your growing audience.

What is your station doing to increase amplification probability? Please post comments and questions below.

The Weekly Debrief, 18 May 2012

By Josie Keller, PBS Interactive

Welcome to the Weekly PBS Interactive Station Products & Innovation Debrief, designed to give PBS stations a rundown of product updates and opportunities announced this week on our blog. 

Thank you to everyone who took part in this week's 2012 PBS Annual Meeting. We will provide a full run down next week, but in the meantime, take a look at the photos and Twitter buzz from all three days at the Meeting.

Congratulations to this year’s PBS Digital Future Scholarship winners: Julianne Lamsek (KCTS 9), Teresa Peltier (WSKG), Kathy Smith (WGTE) , and Nathan Gibbs (KPBS). The winners attended the PBS Annual Meeting in Denver this week. Get an inside look at the winners and their expectations for the meeting.

A guest speaker at the Annual Meeting Half the Sky general session displays her crafts in this week's Wordless Wednesday.

Tumblr, previously recognized for its ad-less slate, now plans to include advertising links on its dashboard. We explore how this will change the blog platform and how member stations can best utilize Tumblr, given these changes.

 Follow the links below to keep reading:

• Day 1 #PBSam Photos
• Day 1 #PBS am Storify
• Day 2 #PBSam Photos
• Day 2 #PBSam Storify
• Day 3 #PBSam Photos
• Day 3 #PBSam Storify
• Meet the 2012 PBS Interactive Digital Future Scholars 
• Wordless Wednesday: 2012 PBS Annual Meeting 
• Update: Tumblr to Include Advertising Incentive

Wordless Wednesday: 2012 PBS Annual Meeting

By Josie Keller, PBS Interactive

The baskets and jewelry in these images are made by women at a refugee center for abused women in Kenya. One of the artisans was a guest speaker at a moving PBS Annual Meeting session on the upcoming program Half the Sky.

Stay up to date on the 2012 @PBSAnnualMtg through Thursday by following #PBSam & #PBSinvent.

Meet the 2012 PBS Interactive Digital Future Scholars

by Joy Loving, PBS Interactive

Congratulations to this year’s PBS Digital Future Scholarship winners: Julianne Lamsek, Teresa Peltier, Kathy Smith, and Nathan Gibbs. Each recipient was nominated by their local PBS Member Station.

The scholarship winners are attending the PBS Annual Meeting in Denver, CO this week. Continue reading to learn more about the Digital Future Scholars and their expectations for the meeting.

Julianne Lamsek, Technology Director for KCTS 9:

“I am grateful to PBS and its sponsors for the opportunity to attend PBS Annual Meeting this year.  I am most looking forward to participating in the session:  Big Think on What’s Next in #PubMedia.  This session will provide an excellent opportunity for attendees to discuss and learn how stations can evolve their digital strategies to grow their audiences and remain relevant to the communities they serve.”

Teresa Peltier, New Media & PR Specialist, WSKG:

"I am very excited about the Big Think on What’s Next in #PubMedia session from PBS Interactive! We had a very robust conversation around the same topic at this past December's PBS [Station and Producers] Summit 2.0, and I am very eager to get perspectives from throughout the system. I also have a secret, undying crush on Alfie Boe, so I expect that will be epic."

Kathy Smith, Director of Early Learning and Outreach, WGTE:

“I look forward to meeting and reuniting with Ready to Learn and outreach professionals who share my passion and energy for school readiness and lifelong learning.  One of my favorite parts of the meeting is getting a peek at what's in the pipeline.  That session always starts the wheels turning about projects and potential partners!”

Nathan Gibbs, Interactive Product Specialist, KPBS:

"I'm looking forward to brainstorming how public television can expand its reach through new forms of digital video delivery and presentation."

If you have questions or comments for the Digital Future scholars, please leave them in the comments box below. You can follow all of the @PBSAnnualMTG action using #PBSam.

The Weekly Debrief, 11 May 2012

By Josie Keller, PBS Interactive

Welcome to the Weekly PBS Interactive Station Products & Innovation Debrief, designed to give PBS stations a rundown of product updates and opportunities announced this week on our blog. 

The importance of communication: This was the theme for this year’s PBS TechCon, held in February 2012. In this interview, Kevin Ruppenthal, from PBS’ Technology Strategy department, answers questions about this year’s conference and what stations can look forward to next year.

If you are headed to PBS Annual Meeting next week, be sure to check out the PBS Interactive’s concurrent sessions. Alternatively, take part in the discussion using #PBSam on Twitter. The @SPI_PBS team will also be posting educational tidbits over the course of next week.

For the past several months the SPI team has been working on improving our station services documentation solution, infamously known as Station Remote Control (SRC). We found a solution that is crisp, clean, easy-to-navigate and sustainable: The PBS Interactive Station Guide.

As the SPI team continues the process of COVE 2.0 and Mobile Publishing training, we wanted to show stations how much they can do with their updated video content. This post provides an overview of the benefits of using social media to promote your local station and video content.
 

Take a look at the lunchtime (mis)adventures of PBS Interactive.

A few months ago, we updated you on a project called Bento. Now, read the latest on where we stand and what’s to come with the project.

Follow the links below to keep reading:

• Kevin Ruppenthal Talks TechCon 2012
• 2012 PBS Annual Meeting: Digital Future Preview 
• Introducing: PBS Interactive Station Guide 
• Making the Most of Your COVE 2.0 and Mobile Video Content 
• Wordless Wednesday: Good Stuff Eatery
• Update -- FYI Corner: Checking in on Bento

2012 PBS Annual Meeting: Digital Future Preview

by Kelsey Savage, PBS Interactive 

If you are headed to PBS Annual Meeting, be sure to check out the Interactive Team's concurrent sessions. Alternatively, take part in the discussion using #PBSam on Twitter. The @SPI_PBS team will also be posting educational tidbits over the course of next week.

Introducing: PBS Interactive Station Guide

By Jen Carter, PBS Interactive

View a short clip to learn more about this guide

For the past several months the SPI team has been working on improving our station services documentation solution, infamously known as Station Remote Control (SRC). We spent time talking with stations and listening to their experiences using the site. Some of the major issues included confusing navigation, outdated technology that caused usability problems, and most importantly a digital wasteland of documentation (a common pitfall of most documentation-based sites).

With all of these complaints in mind, we took time to really dig into the documentation archives and collaborate with other departments. During this uprooting exercise we began shopping around for a platform that would best serve Member Stations. While making a decision, we took into account user experience, editorial and Web best practices. The solution had to be one that was crisp, clean, easy-to-navigate and sustainable.

Once the solution was chosen and the bulk of the work was completed over the last several months. This work has resulted in a new and improved documentation site for station products and services. Thanks to the suggestions from #localPBS, as a result of call outs in our newsletter, use of our blog and other various social media outreach; and from within the halls of PBS, we made a final move towards completion of this first phase, we picked a name. Now, without further ado...we are proud to present the:

PBS Interactive Station Guide

Keeping in mind that this is still a work in progress. What do you think of the guide? Comment below or reach out to us directly and share your feedback.

Wordless Wednesday: Good Stuff Eatery

Happy Days Aren't Always Here...

Has this ever happened to you at your station, #localPBS? Commiserate or comment below.

Making the Most of Your COVE 2.0 and Mobile Video Content

By Josie Keller, Station Products & IInnovation

You’ve attended the COVE 2.0 Admin Release webinar and  completed (or scheduled) your COVE 2.0 and Mobile Publishing training. You’ve uploaded your content and published to your local website and PBS.org through Merlin.

Now what?

This post provides an overview of the benefits of using social media to promote your local station and video content.

Americans now spend nearly 25% of their time online browsing social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn each day. The number one thing that any social media guru will tell you about breaking into this market is that followers don’t want sales pitches; they want relevant, engaging content.

HERE’S THE GOOD NEWS: You already have the content!  

When it comes to video on social media platforms, most social media “tips and tricks” stress the issue of developing useful and interesting content. Luckily for PBS stations, video is your specialty: content problem solved.

According to Forrester, video content is 50% more likely to appear on the first page of Google search results than text-only content. Additionally, since most videos are not SEO-friendly, optimization can further increase these chances.

MORE GOOD NEWS: PBS Interactive’s Merlin helps optimize COVE content for search engines. 

You can further improve SEO of your video content by establishing good editorial tagging practices. Tagging is an essential step if you want your content to be easily discovered and search engine optimized. 

For tips and best practices on Tagging and Topic Taxonomy, visit the PBS Station Products & Innovation Guide

Awesome content + search optimization = your station ahead of the social marketing game. This means you can focus on engaging your online community and amplifying brand awareness to inform, inspire, and educate through your social networks. 

Questions or comments, please post below. For more information on social media strategy and best practices for #localPBS stations, follow us on Twitter @SPI_PBS

Kevin Ruppenthal Talks TechCon 2012

By Joy Loving and Jennifer Carter, PBS Interactive

We recently sat down with Kevin Ruppenthal, who works with PBS Technology & Operations in the Technology Strategy department, to talk about his experience at this year’s PBS Technology Conference (TechCon). The conference took place April 11-13^th in Las Vegas, NV. Kevin helped facilitate areas of the event and gave an in-depth look at the role of stations at this year’s conference, and topics that are of most interest to stations.

Was there an overall message or theme associated with this year's TechCon?

The theme we were going for this year was connecting stations to other stations. 

Certainly we have email, we have Connect – we have the tools—[but] sometimes it’s just a matter of saying to someone, “Look, I’ve got this problem… have any of you faced this?” One of the ways we addressed this was with a Birds of a Feather Networking Lunch, where people could sign up to discuss topics important to them that maybe weren’t covered by an entire session. One topic that I helped out with was a table for first-timers to sit at, and the topic was: “It’s my first time at TechCon, what do I need to know?”

How was this year's TechCon different from years past?

Something we’re really proud of is that 40% of our speakers this year were from member stations. We’re starting to get them involved in the call for papers and getting them thinking about presenting and communicating what they’re doing with their fellow stations.  I’ve been involved with this conference since 2004, and this year’s roster had the most speakers from stations we’ve ever had. The rest are naturally going to be from PBS staff, as well as some experts from the industry.

What were some of the main topics up for discussion during the sessions? Anything station related?

While the conference was going on, the NEA story broke about the drop in their funding of PBS programs. Funding is always a concern for stations, especially in terms of technology and upcoming refreshes that they may need to do. Sessions about doing things such as live and/or automated production on a budget were very popular, and early feedback indicates more sessions along these lines would be desirable. 


Any thoughts for next year’s TechCon?

I’d like to see even more station speakers than the 41% we had this year; that sharing of solutions is a trend we want to continue. Between the feedback forms onsite and the post-conference survey, we have a ton of input to sift through, and that’ll guide us as we begin planning TechCon for 2013, which is already underway. The Call for Papers will open around Labor Day of this year.

Did you attend TechCon this year? What was your experience like? Please leave comments below - we'd love to hear your thoughts!