Story Pitch Update on NCV Night

Since I last wrote my original proposal, there are a few key things which have shifted in my strategy. The first and potentially most important is my form of exploratory platform. The second is the single event that I’m planning on covering instead of an entire semester’s worth of work.

I’ve decided to create a podcast because they are growing in popularity among younger adults and even teenagers. Podcasts allow to casually engage in stories that are news/ feature worthy by nature but in a much more approachable way.

I took into consideration that StartupTree might be something that is being pushed too hard by the University and is not specifically designed with students in mind. This is an extra platform that takes the most useful aspects of Facebook and just refigures them in another way. Ironically within the innovation track at CU, we discuss something called “design thinking” heavily. Design thinking is a concept which takes user interaction very seriously. It centers around the idea that whatever we create should cater to the user and making life easier. Or, in other words, getting to the core purpose of the product and eradicating unnecessarily features or confusing aspects. Though this is typically an engineering term, it can also be applied to tech like apps or websites.

Instead, I have been learning how to produce podcasts for my audio production class. On music apps like Spotify and SoundCloud, podcasts are actually starting to trend. According to Forbes, 112 million Americans have listened to podcasts at some point. Podcasts are accessible, approachable, and a relaxed form of entertainment. Much like a casual conversation with a friend, they are interesting and a way to provide deeper context about a subject rather than just reading a news story with facts. Podcast allow people to visualize a situation and understand social context. Unlike a youtube video, you can listen to them while doing other things like driving, housework, or other mundane tasks.

Though it was a hard decision, I decided to cover the New Venture Challenge Pitch night instead of the whole Innovation Initiative as a whole. If I had tried to do the whole thing, my coverage would seem incomplete and scattered. Instead, If I only cover this whole night, I can do things like pre-interviews and b-roll of the venue. I plan to do brief profiles of at least 5 teams of everyone competing for the 100k prize.

Before the event, I am working to reach out to CU students who have ventures associated with NVC. I already have 5 interviews with teams completed and can use these to create follow up questions when the event is over. These clips will go towards my podcast material.

During the event, I will be live streaming though Facebook and doing live Twitter updates. These tweets will include important announcements, the feeling of the audience, and pictures from the night. I will also be doing short Instagram videos for their story feature story section at the top of the page. These videos will be 30 second interviews with the participants, team mentors, and community members.

I hope these additions will help to make my social media coverage complete and user friendly. With one event, it will be easier to reference and cross-promote like we learned how to in class.