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One of my colleagues in the Music Business concentration expressed an interest in piggybacking off the NARM (National Association of Recording Merchandisers) conference taking place at the Hilton, right in Columbia’s backyard.  We decided to hold the event at Villains Nightclub in the South Loop to make it convenient for both students and professionals to attend.  I tracked RSVPs for the students and thought we would have a pretty decent turnout of students, but the industry professionals showed up in droves and gave the students a fantastic chance to talk to them about the state of the industry as well as the conference.  During the course of a two-hour event with very little pre-promotion due to the short time frame in which the event was conceived and executed, we had approximately 250 people come through a venue that holds 150 maximum.

We’ve already started brainstorming on how we can make our portion of Industry Night much bigger and better for next year’s Manifest.  It’s an exciting time.

Companies such as Island/Def Jam, Cherry Lane Publishing, Bergdorf Goodman, Condé Nast, Major League Baseball and  Madison Square Garden were generous enough to open their doors to talk to AEMM students.  Business cards were exchanged, and these students are well on their way to launching successful careers in New York City.  We started the trip off with an alumni networking reception on Wednesday evening, which actually led to another appointment for the Sports Management group.  Thursday and Friday were spent touring companies, with students grouped by area of study and interest.  Saturday was a free day for everyone to tour and enjoy the city, and we flew back to Chicago on Sunday.

The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive about this trip for many years, and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to organize many components of the trip and then accompany the students on this life-changing journey.  I worked closely with the touring company that books the appointments, booked flights for all the students and faculty and made sure payments were submitted to the touring company in a timely fashion.

There has been talk of making this trip the culminating experience of a career development course.  I can’t wait to see what next year’s trip holds in store!

The pilot group of 25 students and 2 faculty made their way down to Austin by plane and automobile, and are going to be participating in the conference as well as hosting a showcase of bands on their label.  I booked their hotels and conference badges and booked flights for the two faculty members.  I’m looking forward to hearing their stories when they get back!

*Update* Here’s a link to a great article about AEMMP Records on Gaper’s Block

When I first inherited this event, it was substantially more complex than this- I eliminated a lot of extraneous components and took the bare essentials approach.  Faculty and students gave me some very positive feedback and I have a boatload of suggestions to work on for the spring.

This isn’t the first of these case studies I’ve completed for this course- last summer, I interviewed the Marketing department at Lookingglass Theatre Company.  However, this year’s case study is different.  We decided to integrate the same case study across more of the graduate core curriculum than just the first semester seminar.  To accomplish this, I have been working with several colleagues from Columbia.  One of the Data Analysis and Statistics instructors has been working to create a survey and data set for use in his course.  In order to incorporate this case study into Accounting and Finance courses, I worked with the accounting coordinator’s assistant to manipulate CBS Corporation’s 10K report to reflect the needs of Accounting and Finance.  The interview script was drafted in conjunction with another of my Columbia colleagues who also works for Fresh 105.9 in order to make sure the questions asked in the interview reflect current situations within the company.

The ultimate goal of this case study project is to create case studies that are relevant and pertinent to the industries in which graduate students want to work.  CBS Radio and Fresh 105.9 chronicles an up-and-coming radio station and considers the future of the music industry.  The Lookingglass Theatre case study that was filmed last year considered the performing arts and live theatre industries, as well as marketing issues and subscriptions.  Next on the docket are Media, Visual Art, and Arts in Youth and Community Development.  This process has been fascinating as it has given me a great perspective on the arts industry in this difficult economy.  I am constantly learning how companies are struggling and creating paths around their struggles in innovative ways.  In difficult economic times like these, I am reminded of just how creative many arts organizations are, not only with their art forms and aims, but with their business practices.

Every brand should be as clearly defined as possible; most often, this is accomplished through a graphics standards or brand standards manual.  Often very lengthy and comprehensive documents, these manuals detail everything from fonts and colors to logo placement and treatment.  Most companies, both for-profit and nonprofit, have some version of a graphic or brand standards manual.

Building a website is a fascinating experience.  It is a combination of technical know-how, artistic perspective, marketing strategy, and plain old-fashioned communication.  Some of you may be as interested in the process as I am, so below are some happenings from this site’s development.

This post exist while the site is being reworked.  It will then be removed.  See below for the list of recent changes.

Recently Completed Changes:

• The pages in the top-right didnt load right.  Fixed that.
• Changed tagline of the site.  Like the little alliteration?
• Reviewed the copy on the portfolio pages.  It combines my recent experience with my perspective.
• Adjust template’s art files.
• Contact form implementation on every page.
• Changed the right navigation to say “pages” in the new font.
• Hid the portfolio pages from the right navigation bar.
• Added sample images throughout the site, reflecting the design of my business cards.
• Redefine the home page to introduce & segment audience.
  • May include creating a static page instead of articles up front.
• Created an “Articles” section to post project updates.
• Place video of portfolios on the respective pages.
• Redefine the main page: portfolio to introduce the subjects.

Top Todo Items:

• Redefine the about section to introduce the sub pages.
• Create a style to define headers of pages within copy.
• Fantastic content should be marketed: Create a blog to post key ideas as fully formed blog articles.