What are the skills that editors, designers and publishers will need in future? How to plan to develop and train them? Practical tips from Riva Elliott of PMA
Kenya Coconut Production Presentation by Dr. Lalith Perera
Skills gaps for media teams
1. Skills gaps and training priorities for magazines in 2010 Riva Elliott Managing director, PMA Group
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Notes de l'éditeur
How to maintain leadership in communicating news and views, using all the new tools, and still make money. What do I need to learn?
What you know now is key to what else you will need to know in the future You know that the game has changed, and sales aren’t what they used to be. Will they ever be again? Timing is everything. It’s all change. But where are the opportunities? Don’t panic, it’s not too late, but it’s also nearly too late.
Most people have moved on from print only, but aren’t sure how to change again. It’s cheaper than ever to redesign a website. And it’s about time this is taken in-house. So there’s some learning to do there. Multimedia publishing doesn’t have the old editorial and advertising rivalries. Search engines are precision tools and writers need to use their skills to grow readership and attract ads. Today’s news is everywhere. You’re in the game of thought leadership. So blogs, tweets, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn all play their roles
Working time and cost-effectively is the new balancing act. There’s software out there to make this easier. CS5 Editorial teams, art directors and production departments all have some of the skills for tomorrow, but it’s patchy The software exists to bring new skills in-house Social media marketing is a growing skillset. Start learning now. Motivate your team, don’t let them feel they are falling behind.
As I said cutting corners shows and damages your brand and thought leadership. You can’t expect editors to know how businesses run. They want the responsibility. Give it to them. It’ll pay off. Invest in new web skills. Make sure someone has an understanding of HTML, even though they shouldn’t have to use it very much. I once saw a prestigious magazine’s attempt at a web video, dodgy wigs and all. ‘Nuff said. Get to grips now with social media. It’s here to stay.
CS5 is one great new integrated package. If you’re still on CS2, then take a look at this. It’ll mend all those annoying quirks and help you integrate your multimedia office. The iPad. It’s pushing us all to up our game. You’ve probably got around 18 months to 2 years to get it right. There are plenty of new skills to learn to make the most of the new technologies. Perhaps the trickiest to get right is video. But its also the most fun for creative teams. Plenty of new ways to interact with audiences. Stay the leader of the pack. And measure, measure, measure. You’ve no excuse for getting it wrong. It’s grow your own business time.
A publisher who wishes to remain anonymous, has led the way forward and taken their staff on this exciting new journalism journey They use content management systems to produce their titles for the web and print. They engage with readers and audiences. They use web-based methods to identify who they want to target, and they use their time efficiently to shoot and edit video people want to watch. Getting it on their sites in super-fast time They have an efficient team of video editors who use their studios and outside broadcasts to craft the videos for the web (or even branded TV channels) Their reporters know how to plan, script and interview for video, as well as get the best shots and sound effects and soundbites. Not only that, but they are now giving them stats lessons to avoid the pitfalls of bad reporting, and to help them analyse the figures fed through from the web. Now they can understand company reports, know where to go to check out government information, and feel empowered as multimedia publishing pods with many diverse revenue streams.
More opportunities to earn But more skills needed to achieve this The future of advertising is probably mobile and probably using artifical intelligence to create psychographic avatars to replicate brands We still don’t know where all this is going to end up But it’ll be some years yet, if at all, before we lose the printed magazine Learn to shoot creative videos You’re already used to working harder and faster with fewer people. Polish up your brand. Make sure you are the thought leader Expect to be criticised. Don’t do a Nestle KitKat. Debate and entice. Be nice. Training will pay off and you’ll share the joys of profiting from hard work.