Upcoming meetings

First, John has reached out to his contact for the photography workshop and May was the better option for him, so we will continue to set that up. This will be a hands-on workshop to give you an overview or more information on composition, using natural light, etc.

With the busy award season and rush to graduation, we’ll forego an April meeting. If there is anything you would like addressed via a blog post, please just let us know and we’ll get information out.

Preparing for a new department template

Our goal is to deliver the new department template, based on the new college site, in the summer (most likely sometime in June). To prepare for that, here is what AgriLife Communications can offer for departmental sites:

• Content audit and information architecture (navigation) support and consultation. We can help you get started with a content audit and then review it and suggest a user-oriented structure to help make your site more easy to navigate.
• Fresh content. While we cannot rewrite your entire site, if there are a few areas that could use short stories/vignettes or an edit, we should be able to help you out with advanced notice. The best options for content writing are items that would benefit the main college site as well.
• Photos. We are continuing to explore options for getting freshened stock photography. If you have suggestions, we’re all ears! If there is an event in your department, we have some availability to capture the event, depending on the time of the year, students available and/or my schedule.

Please note that these services are for main department sites. We can help in a limited way, mainly information architecture, on additional sites for college or extension programs related to the department. We will be sure to send a prototype of the department template out for your feedback. I also have the list of plug=ins, features and functionality mentioned in the February meeting.

Download a content audit template spreadsheet to get you started.

Read more about the value of content audits from Kristina Halvorson, a leading expert on content strategy for the web. If you are interested in reading more of her book, we have a copy in our office we can loan you. I have several other books on content strategy if you have additional interests.

iModules

Through the Foundation and Michaela in the VC’s office, you can use iModules to create or update your newsletters to current students, former students and even staff. iModules is a browser-based platform, much like ConstantContact, that allows you to enter text and photos easily into a template.

Contact Michaela Muck, muck@tamu.edu, if you are interested in exploring your options with iModules. She works with Isaac Dovalina at the Foundation to administer iModules for the College. This is a great opportunity to transition from those old pdf. newsletters and make them more email-friendly!

If there are several of you that would like more information or resources on how to manage e-newsletter editorial calendars/other planning topics, just let me know. I’ve managed e-newsletters in each of my previous professional positions and learned a lot of lessons I’m happy to share.

As always, please let us know if you have suggestions for professional development topics or questions/topics you’d like AgriLife Communications to address. I’m happy to reach out to the other teams in our department if there is a non-web topic you’d like to know more about.

Here are the departmental lockups. Each zip file includes both versions in maroon and white in .eps and other file types. Branding and usage questions can be directed to John Chivvis at chiv@tamu.edu.

Key steps to remember:

Do not manipulate these in any way such as cropping, changing the color, etc. The only exception is if you are adjusting the CMYK Maroon to the TAMU RGB Maroon (it is slightly different than if you just “Saved for Web”).

If using your dept mark, the College still needs to be represented somewhere. Example: the front of a tri-fold brochure may have the dept, but the back panel can then have the College branding or the dept mark at the top of a website with the College mark somewhere in the footer.

• Ag Economics
• ALEC
• Animal Science
• BAEN
• Bio/Bio
• Entomology
• ESSM
• HORT
• Nutrition
• Plant Path
• Poultry Science
• RPTS
• Soil/Crop
• WFSC

New College Site — Considerations and help needed from departments

If you were not at the meeting today and would like to see the design mockups for the new site, contact Amy and we can set something up.

Featured stories: The new college site in development will provide more opportunities to feature students, faculty and staff that represent the 5 Grand Challenges and/or high-impact learning objectives such as field experiences (internships, etc.), service learning, international programs, honors programs, and student research. If you know of a student/staff/faculty that would be good to feature, please email the person’s name, email, and a brief description to Amy Wells at amy.wells@tamu.edu.

The Five Grand Challenges will also be used extensively in the upcoming capital campaign to compliment the university’s focus areas and emphasize the external effects of how the university bettering our world/society. The college’s Challenges are:

• Enriching our Youth
• Improving our Health
• Feeding our World
• Protecting our Environment
• Growing our Economy

Event Calendars: The new site will highlight college events on many pages. This means we need the departments to provide event information on an ongoing basis. If you already use a calendaring system, please send us the link and/or ics/ical feed. If you do not have a calendar system, please see the TAMU calendar to check if your department has a calendar set up or needs to create a new one. There is a getting help link on the left side of the calendar that should answer most questions. If you need help, let us know and we can put you in contact with someone.

Social Considerations: The homepage will feature a social aggregator and college social directory. Amy is developing the form now to submit your accounts and will email it out soon. If you are not the one who manages the social accounts, just forward it on to the best person.

Thank you all again for attending. If you have suggested topics for roundtable discussions or professional development topics, please send those to Amy. We’ll get the next meeting on the schedule ASAP.

Google Reader:
The Reader allows you to add multiple RSS feeds or content sources and see them all in one place. You can also have multiple folders to assist with sorting and filtering results. To add additional folders, select a feed and visit Feed Settings/Change Folders/New Folder.

Google Alerts was also brought up during the meeting as a great way to find content from other sources based on a keyword search. Alerts will pull articles from newspapers and blogs across the country and world. This is especially great for finding alumni stories.

Press It:
If you are using a WordPress CMS (either on our servers or your own) you should have access to the Press It tool. Visit the Tool section of the dashboard. On the main page for that section, you should be able to click and drag the gray Press This button into your bookmark bar at the top of your browser. Keep in mind that every Press It bookmarklet is specific to that website, so if you plan to use this tool on multiple sites you will need to get a different bookmark for each. I recommend renaming them as well to keep each straight.

The Press It tool will allow you to pull content from other websites and publish it to yours as a post. It will automatically include a link to the original source at the bottom of the post. Please do be mindful of where you are pulling content from and if they could consider it plagiarism or inappropriate. For the College, I only pull content from other TAMU sites.

To use the tool, highlight the text or story you would like to “press” and then click the appropriate Press It in your bookmark bar. A pop up window should appear showing your post and allowing for editing, tagging, etc. before you publish it. It does have a few quirks. I’ve found that on the initial copy/Press It, often any photos will not come through. To fix this, I will only highlight the text up to the photo and then copy and paste the rest directly into the pop up. Also, sometimes you will have to adjust paragraph spacing and such depending on how the original story was posted.

Social Media Scheduling Spreadsheet:
The final item I showed was the scheduling spreadsheet I adapted from an example from the U.S. Army. This is the tool we use to plan and schedule the majority of our social posts each week and allows you to easily add in a basic strategy based on university core values and college priorities. Of course, the nature of social media demands flexibility so we always leave some spaces and opportunities to post other items as they come up. And now that you can schedule posts directly through Facebook, you can complete your main posts all at the same time and schedule them to run throughout the week.

This template can be adapted for any number of accounts. You can even add in blog post scheduling or email newsletters so all your schedules are together.

Get my version of the Excel template that you can adapt.

View an example from the Army.

If you have any questions or would like tutorials on any of these tools, please feel free to contact Amy Wells.

Print/Branding updates from John Chivvis:

• Talked to Dr. Sams regarding branding and he’s on board with providing flexibility. Those of you who provided examples, thanks for that. They helped.
  • Departments will be able to use their own “departmental version” of the university mark — with caveats!
    • First, decide what identity/brand helps you out best, the college or the department, then use that mark.
    • For example, in most print pieces, if you choose to use the lockup with the aTm and your department, then you’ll need to make sure the College mark is located somewhere else on the piece, or type treatment.
    • On shirts and small collateral (name tags) use of the departmental mark will be fine.
    • Use of the maroon on white and white on maroon have rules too, and I’ll be documenting those as well.
  • I will put each departments mark out online on the communicators page as a zip file with EPS, AI, PDF, PNG and JPG versions in white and maroon. I’m still contemplating offering the “stacked” version, too. (These will be available soon and I will send an email out when their ready for download.)
  • Dr. Sams has mentioned using the Brand Guide site templates, so we will want to visit/survey those. I have modified a couple of the templates already. We also need to address how/where these will be printed. If on your own printers, then we can’t do bleeds. If using Copy Services, then we can run bleeds easily.
  • We will be making use of the university fonts, too. Frutiger and ITC New Baskerville if you don’t have them.
  • As for colors, we use the university’s Brand Guide but we’ve added the agency colors, too. Thanks to Michaela Muck in the VC’s Office for putting that together for us. Download the color palette here.

The best way to learn something new is to be fully immersed in it.  That is true for me with learning new languages, skills, or techniques – that is also how I learned to take complex, technical lectures and turn them into simple articles for anyone to read.

Within the past month, I was given the grand opportunity to sit in on two of the lectures hosted by the Blue Bell Lecture Series on campus.  The first was the lecture given by Chief Bioscientist of BP John Pierce about a month ago.

Pierce talked about the changing demand of energy and the future of biofuels in the current energy demands.  The lecture was filled with technical gibberish that was beyond my grasp of understanding.  To say the information went over my head would be an understatement.

I was blown away by Pierce’s knowledge on biofuels, energy, and bioscience, and his role in BP to maximize their benefit from the application of bioscience.  The way he spoke about the future of energy and what people are now looking at as energy sources was eloquent, yet scientific.

The biggest struggle was pushing past the technicality and science that composed his highly intelligent lecture. It took hours of listening to the recording of his lecture and taking notes to sift through the technical mush.

The next step was forming the story.  I learned a very valuable trick in story writing from my boss Amy and my fellow intern Hannah Rogers – find the quotes you want in your story and fill in the gaps from there.

The way I see it, it’s similar to a puzzle or a game of Tetris.  I have the pieces I need and all I need to do is fill in the remaining pieces.

With the quotes and the technicalities broken down into simple phrases, the story came together with ease (finally).

Just last week, I was at another Blue Bell Lecture by Molly Jahn, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who spoke about sustainability and agriculture. Again, the science that encompassed the lecture proved to be out of my area of expertise.

But with the same technique and practice, I was able to break down the technical talk and create a story for all to understand.

Had I not already been through this process once, I would have struggled just as much to write the article on yet another distinguished and intelligent person in the agriculture industry.

I am always up for a challenge and new knowledge, and the two lectures gave me just that.  But just as I said, the best way to learn anything new is to be immersed by it.

At the start of this internship I was not really sure what to expect. I had been using Facebook and Twitter for several years and thought I knew everything about them. My eyes were sure opened when I realized how much technical work goes into the posts.

Over the summer there were two interns, including myself, and we would rotate posting between two accounts every week. For example, I would post for the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Science’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and she would post for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension accounts. Each account had a different voice that we had to learn to write for. For example, the audience for the College is completely different than the audience for the Extension account.

For the College of Agriculture and Life Science’s account I would post things that your average Ag student or alumni would be interested in reading. Maybe a story of one of our great Ag students’ successes or a repost of an event that anyone can attend.

The Extension account was completely different. This was more for the every day Texan. I would repost stories, for instance, how to stay healthy, gardening tips and really anything else that I felt the every day Texan would be interested in. Different from the College account, the Extension account is more for an older audience who maybe is settled down with a family.

That is basically what I do everyday, and the best part is that it never gets boring! The social media world is constantly changing and there are always new surprises waiting around the corner for me. I am always interested to see what the next big thing will be! Be sure to check back and I will keep you updated on how my intern experience is going!

Thanks and Gig’em!

-Ryan Moroney

At the beginning of my internship in the spring of 2011, I was just looking for some extra course credit and something to spice up my resume, but honestly when I interviewed and was told that I was chosen to participate in the internship I was thrilled.

I really had no idea what to expect out of this internship but I did hope that I would at least grow more confident in my writing, which is what happened and more.

Working along side Amy has been a very enlightening experience. Her ways of teaching are exact to my style of learning. Since I was the first intern in the program, Amy started me out working in her office showing me what she does on a day to day basis.  As I watched her critique and study more about other social media entities I learned that constant contact with target online audiences was necessary in this profession.

As the internship continued I personally gained the confidence with my work due to Amy’s teaching and direction. I now have five published articles, two of which have been in the TAMU Times. I have gained extensive knowledge in WordPress, content creation experience and many more skills that because of this internship will present me as a competitive applicant when it comes to my job search post graduation.

Now we have added five other interns to the team, working as writers and social media assistants. It is very rewarding to me as the first intern in this program, to see the other interns learn and ask questions. They and anyone else who follows in their footsteps will benefit from this experience more than they know.

I always knew that having an internship to put on your resume was a must, but I believe that because of Amy’s excitement to teach and continuous mentoring I have gained more experience than most have the privilege to.

Working at Texas A&M AgriLife Communications under Amy has been a blessing that has left me prepared and optimistic about my future endeavors. I encourage anyone who is interested in building their resume and getting a unique hands on experience to participate in the AgriLife Communications internship.

Hannah Rogers is a senior Agricultural Communications and Journalism student. She is an online content and social media assistant at Texas A&M AgriLife Communications, from Boerne, Texas

By Meagan Ghormley, ’13

With one year left until graduation, my future was no clearer than it was when I enrolled at Texas A&M University. I still felt like a fish out of water. No real world experience to offer employers and didn’t know what my assets could offer.

So with my head bogged down with negativism, I went internship hunting. I found internships everywhere- California, New York, and Washington D.C. However I wasn’t ready for the distance so I went to a tighter search. I learned in my writing class that Texas A&M AgriLife Comminations was looking for internships and knew this would be a perfect step into the door.

I began working this fall, still feeling like I would be an underwhelming asset.  However, I was treated just like any other employee. I began interviewing people for stories and am currently working on a story that was my idea. Amy Wells, my internship head, let me pitch my own idea and run with it. I felt not like an intern, but someone who was actually part of a team.

The hardest thing for me during my internship has been staying on track. I am very much a procrastinator and this position has taught me better time management and how to work on a deadline.

Though I haven’t perfected the skill, I feel like this process will allow me to be more prepared for the work force.

In addition, I have learned that teamwork is a great thing. I have always loved working on a team and have been given lots of opportunities to work with other on conjunctive stories.

Throughout this internship I have been very optimistic for what this experience will allow me to do in the future. I have learned new skills and have perfected other skills that will carry me far in life.

I hope any students that need guidance will really consider this internship and all that it has to offer. You wont regret it, but will be thankful for the knowledge that you will gain.

Meagan Ghormley is a Senior Agricultural  Communications and Journalism Major from Madisonville, Texas.

By Avery Kelling, ’14

Howdy! My name is Avery Kelling and I am a junior Agriculture Communication and Journalism major at Texas A&M University.  This past summer, I had the privilege of working as a social media assistant intern for the AgriLife Center and it has been an incredible learning experience and has given me a great understanding of what goes into a job in social media.

Going into this internship, I knew that I would be managing different Facebook and Twitter accounts, but I didn’t really think I would be learning so many new things.  I mean, it’s Facebook, how much is there to know?  But there is actually so much more to social media than I ever expected.

Basically my job consists of managing two Facebook and Twitter accounts, AgriLife Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for Texas A&M.  This means that every week I find new things to post for the account that I am assigned to (me and another intern rotate accounts every two weeks) as well as managing Twitter lists and scheduling posts for the week.

To find posts for each account, I look on various news sites and Twitter feeds and try to find stories or tweets that I could post that the designated audience can relate to.  For example, for AgriLife Extension I try to find news stories relating to the “every day Texan.”  Stories that relate to this can be about managing money, improving the environment, eating well, staying healthy, etc.

For the college account, I find stories that relate to students that are part of the college of Agriculture and Life Sciences, whether it is a career fair coming up or an annual college tailgate that is happening before the football game, it gets posted on Facebook and Twitter for all students to see!

That just gives some insight of what my internship consists of, but there is plenty more that goes in to what I do every week.  I will be sure to keep you up to date on my wonderful internship and all the new things that I learn!

Thanks and Gig ‘em!

Avery Kelling is a Junior Agricultural Communications and Journalism major at Texas A&M University, from San Antonio, Texas

By Kristen Hudman, ’13

Hi, I’m Kristen and I’m a senior majoring in Ag. Communication and Journalism at Texas A&M University. This fall, I have the priviledge to intern with Amy Wells in the Texas A&M AgriLife Communications offices as the social media special projects assistant. My fascination and love for social media has driven me to pursue a career in this field. Social media can be used for all sorts of purposes ranging from personal to professional. I’d like to share my background experience with social media and what my internship with Texas A&M AgriLife entails. 

I’ve owned a personal Facebook account for about 5 years and a Twitter account for about 3 years. Within the past year or so, I’ve added Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and a Blogger to my social media platforms. I’ve also managed the content on my sorority’s website for the past two years and for a year I controlled our Facebook and Twitter. My gnact for engaging in social media has opened up many opportunities for me. Along with this internship, I have also interned in social media at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and I’m also currently interning with LTE Media Group.

As the social media special projects assistant, I get to work on exciting new projects that will encourage students to participate in social media. For example, the current project I’m working on is called, “How Do YOU put the #AgInAggie?” I’m in the process of developing a plan and strategy using social media to get students from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to post pictures on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag, #AgInAggie, to share how they contribute to the Aggie community. The photos will then be aggregated onto our Postano website. This site will be used to show prospective students what it’s truly like to be a student in the COALS.

I will also be drafting content strategy plans for social media for certain organizations or businesses within the college. In addition, I will be posting entries on this blog describing new social media techniques and content strategies I learn through my internship experience each week.

So far, I’ve really enjoyed working with social media and I will keep you updated on what I learn from this experience. Thanks!

Kristen Hudman is a senior from Frisco, Texas studying Agriculture Communication and Journalism at Texas A&M University.

By Cera Southerland, ’13

As a photographer, I’ve discovered the subjects that I enjoy to shoot and those that I don’t.  Through experience and trial and error, I’ve found my least favorite subject to photograph:  people.  However, as an intern and as a photographer I’m always ready to learn new skills.

Two weeks ago, my boss Amy Wells, online content social media coordinator for Texas A&M AgriLife Communications, presented me with the opportunity to take pictures at the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences’ 2^nd annual tailgate.  The College was celebrating the 150^th anniversary of the Morrill Land Grant Act, so I expected a pretty large crowd to be there.

The pictures would be placed on the College’s website to display the celebration and all the people who were involved.

Despite my doubts in photographing people, I chose to grab the opportunity to learn.  Amy ensured me that she would show me the ropes, that this would be a hands-on tutorial on how to shoot people and candid photos.  The best way to learn is by doing, right??

Saturday arrived, complete with rain and at least 30 people at the start of the tailgate at 8 o’clock in the morning.  I found a relatively close parking spot and made my way to the tailgate at the Agriculture and Life Sciences building.

I was ready – nervous, but ready.

I met up with Amy and she gave me a few tips before I started my adventure:  be low-key, incognito; I am a “camera ninja.”

I was off! I started snapping pictures of people eating, talking, cooking, and of the pig roasting as I walked through the muddy tents.  I occasionally crossed paths with Amy and she would offer up more tips, tricks, and reminders that would help improve my “people photography.”

The morning progressed and by 10 o’clock I was taking pictures of Dr. Hussey speaking to the entire tailgate crowd, followed by the Aggie Fight Song, in which all tailgate attendees sawed varsity’s horns off.  The tailgate carried on as the game neared, and in all the tailgate was a success.

I learned some very hands on skills in how to take good candid pictures of people, thanks to Amy.  This experience was one more way that I’ve improved upon myself and my abilities through this internship.

To top it all off, I even received a thank you letter from Dr. Hussey, vice chancellor and dean of the College.  Not only did I learn some new photograph tricks from Amy, but I also helped document the celebration for the College to look back on for years to come.  Now that is cool!

Cera Southerland, ’13, is an agricultural communications and journalism student.  She is chief student leader of IAAS and also serves as an Ambassador and Mentor for Study Abroad.