GETTING THE MOST

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GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR STUDENTS
EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT IN STUDENT
PRODUCTIONS
amy grill
manager, emerson television channels emerson
college
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• ECTV is
• Three Emerson Channels - 3, 56 Emerson Info 57
• and
• Online Streaming www.emerson.edu/emerson_channel
• ECTV is a professionally managed, student
  operated closed-circuit television network. ECTV
  is a sub-department of Television, Radio and Film
  Productions (under IT).
• ECTV has a student paid staff of 30, volunteer
  crew and staff of over 80

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Emerson College Communications and Performing
Arts School of the Arts Visual Media Arts, Film
and TV/Video, Media Management, Audio Musical
Theatre, Theatre Tech Writing Literature and
Publishing School of Communications Broadcast
Journalism, Communication Sciences and Disorders,
Political Communications
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Channel 3 56 Programming Emerson Channel
Productions Good Morning Emerson, Speechless,
Ladies Room, Tracking The Emerson Channel (also
airs on Boston public access), Event coverage,
Comedy shows, specials Emerson Co-curricular
Student Productions Emerson Independent Video
(EIV), National Broadcasting Society (NBS),
Frames Per Second (FPS), EVVYs Classwork and
independent productions compiled by ECTV Back Bay
Cinema, Student Showcase, Documentaries
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Channel 3 56 Programming (continued)
Feature films National Lampoon Museum of
Television, Radio Satellite Seminars
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• Work with available resources
• Classroom projects - short films and videos
• Film, video production organizations
• Academic sponsored events and panel discussions
• Notable visitors to campus
• Use content sources as an opportunity to train
  students (programming, production and basic
  communication)
• After quantity comes quality -- you have to build
  your program library before you can start weeding
  out some of the lesser value material

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• Recruit the best students.
• Find good graphic designers (motion and print)
  -- hip, and current style, not institutional
• Find smart production assistants and
  coordinators, programming, promotions, and web
  coordinators
• Find videographers and a still photographer with
  a good eye and steady hand
• Find organized, confident student producers that
  have good communications skills
• Find editors that already know an editing program

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• Use creative tactics for advertising job openings
• Design flyers advertising open positions
• Use your electronic bulletin board channel
• Set up a table at job fairs
• Talk to professors - get recommendations
• Post on job bulletin boards
• List with Career services, student employment
• Use your website
• Encourage the most effective tactic word of mouth

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• Good news travels fast, and bad
  news travels even faster.
• Be conscious of what the students experience
  working in your department.
• If people love working for you, they will tell
  their smart friends (hopefully).
• If people hate working for you, then the better
  students often wont apply or pursue involvement.

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Challenge your students. If they feel like
administrative assistants, theyll act like
administrative assistants. Cultivate an
atmosphere of growth and opportunity. If they
see others getting promoted and challenged in new
ways they can look forward to being in a position
of more responsibility in the future.
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• Be clear about what a job entails before students
  are expected to start.
• Write up clear and detailed job descriptions.
• Create a handbook with production guidelines,
  delivery requirements etc.
• Follow up, follow up, and then follow up some
  more.
• Encourage your students to follow up with you.
  Show them by example that following up gets
  things done and makes things happen.

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Dont drop the ball try to be one step ahead
of your students students (esp. gen y) lose
respect for authority very easily. If you do
drop the ball acknowledge it and create a new
plan of action.
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Be cool, but not too cool leniency will get you
nowhere. The students should respect your
integrity and consistency, still be intimidated
and motivated by your talks when they mess up,
but comfortable enough to enjoy working around
you. Make work fun, laugh at yourself, laugh
with students. Always follow up with them about
what to do in the future when they make
mistakes. Be honest with students, but never
too honest. Find your boundaries.
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• If you are too busy, find students you trust and
  delegate responsibility to those students.
• Have them do first drafts of documents. Let them
  try it!
• ECTV students created the first draft of the
  following documents
• Form letters and information requests
• Interview requests from celebrities or notable
  campus visitors
• Form letters to professors seeking content or
  assistance with acquiring submissions
• Excel spreadsheets measuring programming hours
• Survey questions for measuring audience
• Payroll tracking
• Articles for the monthly newsletter
• Delivery requirements
• Job descriptions
• Editing scripts

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• Documents that are created and maintained by ECTV
  student staff
• Contact sheets
• Calendar production schedules
• Production day schedules
• Show rundowns
• Programming schedules
• Programming support documents
• Master control support documents (excel
  spreadsheets calculating timing for automation
  system)
• Movie timing and information matrix
• Movie descriptions matrix
• Programming filemaker databases (program, block
  and feature film)

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• Identifying with and respecting your students
• Try to understand where your students are coming
  from
• Recognize their strengths, verbalize your praise
• Set realistic goals with your students
• Hold them to high standards students want to be
  challenged and respected. Communicate your
  expectations, dont compromise
  if their excuse
• is lame, but be flexible
• if there are legitimate obstacles.

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• Dealing with problems
• Praise first, criticize last
• Confront problems when they occur
• Save big talks for an appropriate time a time
  when they seem receptive to talking/or when they
  are seeking your advice.
• Dont criticize too much when they are already
  completely stressed out (finals, final projects
  and working for you can be a lot for a 19 year
  old). Get them through it then have a talk
  later

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• Find ways to unify the group
• Have weekly staff meetings where you acknowledge
  examples of teamwork
• Publicly acknowledge students when they do a good
  job
• Evaluate students at the end of each semester

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Evaluations are the key to running a successful
operation Make time for evaluation/interview
meetings even if you dont have time for written
evaluations. Meeting at the end of each
semester to discuss successes and shortcomings
builds teamwork and job ownership. Re-assess each
students role - promote them, grow them or let
them go. When you notice a students performance
they are more likely to take pride in their
work.
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NUMBER OF ORIGINAL EMERSON CHANNEL PROGRAMMING
HOURS PER WEEK
(Espan, Celebrity Spotlight, Emerson
Productions/ECTV Co-Productions, Ladies Room,
Speechless, GME)
2000-2001 1 hrs per week
2003-2004 8 hrs per week
570 increase in original Emerson Channel
programming hours
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NUMBER OF ORIGINAL EMERSON COLLEGE PROGRAMMING
HOURS
(everything except Feature Films, National
Lampoon, MTR)
2000-2001 20 hrs per week
2003-2004 41 hrs per week
103 increase in Emerson College Programming
Hours
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NUMBER OF ON-AIR HOURS PER WEEK
2000-2001 51 hrs per week
2003-2004 117 hrs per week
126 increase in on-air hours
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Nothing is permanent in student production. With
each new year there is opportunity for change,
growth and improvement.
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Amy Grill Manager, Emerson Television
Channels 120 Boylston Street Boston, MA
02116 617.824.8085 Amy_Grill_at_emerson.edu www.emers
on.edu/emerson_channel