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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear MCAers:
At the MCA-I Leadership Conference, which was held right in St. Louis this year, much discussion time was spent on how the MCA chapters and international can help media professionals negotiate the changes in media production and the use of new media delivery streams. Of course, we continue to provide education and to model best practices in media communications, but how else can we help?
Everyone thought that providing a place to help people to find work would be an excellent addition to the services we provide to our communities, even though the FIND A PRO link on the MCA-I website provides a very similar service to members on a national and international scale.
Consequently, MCA St. Louis is launching a monthly MCA ST. LOUIS JOB SEEKERS article in every newsletter. The service is open to every media communications professional from seasoned pros to new graduates.
Job Seekers should write a short resumes of 100 words and will not include their name or their personal contact information so that the Job Seeker not need reveal they are looking for a job or their personal contact information. Each resume will be assigned a number which will correspond to an email address. Employers who reference the resume's number in their email subject line will get their emails forwarded more quickly to the Job Seeker.
Although legalese isn't my favorite thing, the MCA St. Louis will have to CYA, so here are the parameters:
1. At least, initially, and for the foreseeable future, the job seekers must be looking for full time employment in the media communications fields.
2. Each job seeker must submit a short resume of no more than 100 words; the resume should be anonymous. Employer wishing to contact the Job Seekers will respond to stlouismca@gmail.com, and their email will be forwarded to the Job Seeker. Job seekers will need to be specific and direct in selling themselves and their abilities, talents, and experience. Job seekers are limited to two resumes per month, and the resume must target different potential employers.
3. The service is free to MCA members; however, nonmembers can purchase a short resume for $10 per month. Don't forget that an MCA-I membership is only $80 and $40 for students.
4. The short resumes must be sent to stlouismca@gmail.com by the 15th of the preceding month. This includes confirmations that a member's a short resume should continue to run in the next MCA St. Louis newsletter.
5. By using the MCA ST. LOUIS JOB SEEKERS service, members and nonmembers agree to let MCA St. Louis know if the service helped them find a job, so we can track the usefulness of this service and look for ways to improve it.
6. MCA St. Louis reserves the right to edit or delete resumes which are deemed inaccurately written or inappropriate.
7. Short resumes should be anonymous and follow the rules of good taste and professional behavior. If the MCA St. Louis deems a resume to be inappropriate and refuses to run the resume, no refund will be made of the monthly fee.
8. If problems arises with a resume that is easily correctable, but needs the input of the Job Seeker, attempts will be made to contact the job seeker to make the changes needed by the monthly deadline; however, if the attempts to get a response fail, MCA St. Louis is not liable.
9. MCA St. Louis reserves the right to amend, abridge, or change the rules as necessary to improve, continue, or suspend the MCA ST. LOUIS JOB SEEKERS service.
10. Employer wishing to contact the Job Seekers will respond to stlouismca@gmail.com, and their email will be forwarded to the Job Seeker. The employers should reference the number of the short resume in the subject line so that the emails can be forwarded more efficiently and quickly. Employers should be aware that the transfer of emails will not be a fast process.
Make checks payable to MCA-I St. Louis Chapter.
Please mail check to:
Jim Trevor
Ameren Services
1901 Chouteau Avenue; MC 512
St. Louis MO, 63166-6149
If you have any questions please call Jim Trevor, 314-554-3765.
Despite the legalese, it is our hope that MCA ST. LOUIS JOB SEEKERS helps our members and fans make the job transitions that the changing economy and industry have necessitated for many media communications professionals.
Sincerely,
Sandra Olmsted
MCA-i President, St. Louis Chapter
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JOIN THE MCA AT ST. LOUIS' BIGGEST BUSINESS NETWORKING EVENT: THE BIG BASH ON JULY 12!
The Big Bash -- St. Louis' premeire business networking event -- will be bigger than ever this year. It will held indoors, at the Fox Theatre in midtown St. Louis. The event is being held indoors, so there will be no worries about excessive heat, rain, or tornadoes. What's more, parking will be FREE, safe, and close by at the Fox's parking lots.
For the third year in a row, the MCA is joining forces with other professional groups taking part in the Big Bash. These groups include the St. Louis chapter of Yellow-Tie International, Public Relations Society of America, the American Marketing Association, Metropolis - St. Louis, and the Missouri Venture Forum, among others.
The cost is only $20 online ($30 at the door). That includes all the beer, wine, and food you want -- and the Fox is providing the food, so you know it will be delicious. Those who attended last year gave the event rave reviews. It's a great opportunity to meet and mingle with people, not only in your own industry, but outside of it.
Several St. Louis television stations likely will be covering the event. If there's ever been a must-attend business networking event in St. Louis, this is it. You'll have the chance to meet and mingle with hundreds of others.
To register -- and get the low $20 ticket -- simply go to www.bigbash.org. Be sure to select Media Communications Association when you scroll through the list of sponsoring organizations, and then follow the prompts to get to the great $20 rate. You can pay using any major credit card. All funds will go to cover the costs of the event, and any extra will go to a local charity.
Parking is available FREE at the Fox Theatre's parking lots, which are on Washington Street, just west of Grand. You'll receive an e-mail just before the event which will have all the information.
Business attire -- meaning whatever you wear to work -- is the dress of the day. So, anything from shorts to suits is appropriate. Reserve your spot today, and be part of the premier business-connection event of the season!
DATE: Thursday, July 12
PLACE: Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd, St. Louis, 63103
TIME: 5:30 PM until 8:00 PM
COST: $20 in advance; $30 at the event
To sign up in advance, or to find out more, go to www.bigbash.org. Advance registration will end at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, July 10, so make your reservations now!
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LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE IN REVIEW
by Vanessa Roman
 St. Louis was thrilled to have been chosen this year to host the MCA International Leadership Conference. We got to meet the International Leaders and other chapter leaders from New Jersey, San Diego, Southwest Missouri, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin. On Friday we were treated to two guest speakers, Ginger Routh, demonstrating some innovative products from AVI and John Nickel from Switch who talked to us about experiential marketing and branding. We would like to thank both guests for fascinating and informative presentations.
We also got to experience a Pro Camp, which has inspired all of us to do a meeting where we delve further into this kind of interactive learning and sharing kind of round table discussion. A panel of experts was present, we chose the topic we wanted to learn more about based on what the experts had to share with us, broke into groups and had 40 minute discussed the topic in depth and asked questions. We discussed film financing, crowd sourcing and private investors. We discussed advertising and branding, editing and many other topics. What topics would you like to talk about in a pro camp?
On Saturday, we had an all day meeting with the leaders about where MCA has been and where we are going. We're having a membership drive right now, so now is the time to become a member or renew your lapsed membership.
We were treated to a discussion about what was working at other chapters and how MCA was helping others network and create opportunites in other states. Our St. Louis chapter got some great tips and was able to give some as well. The exchange of fresh ideas was helpful for everyone.
Don't worry, we included some "afterglow" events that were thoroughly enjoyable for everyone so that our guests had a great time networking at Paul Mineo's and Trainwreck and even enjoyed some blues and jazz later. The Sheraton Westport Hotel was a fabulous host, two swimming pools and a terrific staff, comfortable beds and even a Club Lounge made it all a perfect weekend.
If you're looking for a little break, take a weekend at the Sheraton, you will sure feel spoiled!
We are working hard on making our membership benefits be beneficial for all our members. Check our website for the newest benefits. We had a long discussion about how to make MCA-i work for you.
Thanks to everyone who showed up and was able to meet our leaders and enjoy the networking. We hope to see our MCA-I board again very soon!
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Feeling Re-energized after the MCA-I Leadership Conference
by Mike Ketcher
At the MCA Leadership Conference you are thrown together with 30 or 40 people, many of whom you don't know, coming from different parts of the country, all of whom have a shared passion: Telling stories and communicating their ideas visually. It's an intense weekend of networking, learning, and sharing ideas with new people, as well as renewing some old acquaintances and friendships.
I arrived a little late, but not too late to hear Ginger Routh, Sales and Systems Design Rep at AVI Systems, Inc. tell us about some of the latest developments in cameras and lighting and demonstrated the Sony PMW-F3 camera, and the Litepanels Croma. According to Routh, AVI is having a big equipment show in Chicago in the Fall, October 17-18, 2012. So please mark your calendars now for AVI Systems upcoming Technology Showcase in Chicago, IL! We are working hard to gather the best line up possible of technology manufacturers, products and educational seminars." Not being a gearhead, but needing to keep up on such developments, I found Ginger's brief and too-the-point presentations perfect.
After that things got a little deeper as we learned more about SWITCH from its president, John Nickel. SWITCH is a world-class branding firm, based in St. Louis, with 130 employees and major international clients. He showed us some of SWITCH'S work to illustrate the company's approach to branding. According to MCA Board Memeber, Marla Stoker, of Marquee Media and Marketing, " I really enjoyed the presentation by SWITCH and learning further how their business works and what exactly experiential marketing is." It was a great opportunity for the group to pick the brain's of one of the country's leading experts on branding.
After John's presentation, we reviewed some of the Golden Reel winners. It's inspiring to see corporate videos that rival Hollywood in their production values. And even those videos that didn't have the budget of a major hospital, bank, or oil company found a way to tell their stories with style and emotional impact on a limited budget.
Another aspect of the meeting was the Mini ProCamp. Although I've been hearing of ProCamps for years, I never knew what one was until this year's conference. A ProCamp is an improvised meeting designed to zero in on those topics most interesting to the group. People throw out a bunch of topics -- web streaming, editing, financing, writing -- it could be anything you're interested in or want to learn more about. The topics are written on a white board and narrowed down by combining topics that appear similar. Then the group votes on the two topics they like most, and we split up into those groups. According to MCA St. Louis President, Sandra Olmsted, "The number of groups and topics is dependent on the number of people who attend. The more people who attend the more topics that can be covered."
The one that I was most interested in was financing. One interesting comment made by an out-of-town producer (whose name, unfortunately, I do not recall) is that she finances all of her projects. She seeks grants, donations, and other funding. Of course, this is becoming easier to do, in some ways, with crowdfunding, like Indiegogo and Kickstarter. However, I learned some things I didn't know, such as the existence of a library on the UMSL campus for those seeking grants. I also learned of a website, http://www.foundations.org/, run by Foundations Online: A Directory of Charitable Grantmakers which has links to many funding sources. And don't forget the St. Louis Public Library's Grants and Foundation Center which also has a website: http://previous.slpl.org/netsrc/grantlinks.htm One of the individuals in this group gave me a lead to a potential distributor for a documentary I've produced.
According to Olmsted, "Having been through one ProCamp, which was really a great way to share knowledge and generate ideas, the MCA St. Louis chapter has decided to hold a full day ProCamp later this year. The full ProCamps which chapters are holding in 2012, will be sponsored by Panasonic Solutions Company."
On Saturday, a meeting was held to discuss ways to grow the MCA-I on a national and international levels, including how to address the changes in media production and to attract the growing number of freelance media professionals and the professionals who work in the growing areas of internet, intranet, and social media while maintain the connections with corporate media professionals. Mirroring the changing trends in media brought on by the internet, much time and energy was spent on the MCA-I website and how the organization can better use social media to connect with members and potential members.
One of our newest Board members, Renée P. Hirshfield of RPH Communications, LLC, who is, according to her, "new to the Media Communications Association - both in relation to the local chapter and to the organization as a whole," jumped right in and "offered to provide some help in developing a press-release template that members everywhere can use." Although Hirshfield felt a little overwhelmed, she said, "Still, I picked up a lot of information about MCA-I member benefits. . . . By the time the next Leadership Conference rolls around, I hope to have learned more and done more to help MCA-I - particularly our own chapter."
One new item under discussion was the pending changes to the MCA-I's health insurance program, which has subsequently been put in place. According the MCA-I website, "We have partnered with Association Health Programs (AHP) to bring you an exclusive health program. Due to this relationship, we are pooled with over 300 national associations (2.5 million members), which allows us the opportunity to provide A-rated insurance companies, knowledge of products, rate stability, buying power, and hands-on service otherwise not available. Offerings include: Health Insurance, Long Term Care Insurance, Life Insurance, Disability Income, and more! Considering the high cost of insurance today and the changing landscape of healthcare, this program is just right for our membership. Even if you currently have insurance, we feel it is important for you to take a look at what you have and compare it to what is now offered to see if AHP can enhance your situation." Additional information can be found at http://www.mca-i.org/insurance/#health This is a members-only benefit.
All-in-all, the weekend was well-spent and productive -- a great way to recharge your batteries. Next year, they're talking about having the MCA-I Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, perhaps in January or February. That could be a great way to escape the cold St. Louis winter in 2013.
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An Extra Special Hug and a Hearty Thanks for John Nickel of Switch
by Ray Killebrew
A highlight of the MCA-I Leadership Conference held at the Sheraton-Westport in June was the informative "Brand" Presentation featuring John Nickel, President and of St. Louis based SWITCH.
With a catchy front-line and tag-line of "Liberate your Brand" - John traced SWITCH'S growth centered around its experiential production; customized fabrication; creative design strategy; mobile operations (field marketing and sampling); superb client services; and second-to-none digital development, motion graphics and video.
The agency's philosophy of "brand liberation" sums it up.
Switch's national and international include hearth-care and beverages - including Dickies, Savvis, Rand-McNally - as well as Coca-Cola and Muscle Milk.
Again - thanks to John Nickel of Switch for an informative hour at the MCA-I Leadership Conference. We hope this is just the beginning of a great friendship with MCA - St. Louis Chapter!
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MEMBERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Mike Ketcher reports that three feature films he worked on will be playing at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase July 7-12. The thriller, "Fatal Call" (previously titled "Call Me On Tuesday") which was produced by Srikant Chellappa, co-produced by Judee Sauget, and co-produced and directed by Jack Snyder, will be playing at the Tivoli Theater on Thursday, July 12 at 7:00 PM. It stars Hollywood veterans Kevin Sorbo ("Hercules"), Jason London ("Dazed and Confused'), Lochlyn Munro ("The Unforgiven"), and Danielle Harris ("Halloween") . Mike worked on the film as associate producer, production coordinator, St. Louis casting director, and as an actor. You can see a trailer for the film here: http://vimeo.com/31672458
Mike is also one of the producers of a documentary on the Joplin tornado, one of the worst tornadoes in history. It is being co-produced by Donny Blake and directed by Chip Gubera. George Noory, host of Coast-to-Coast AM, the second largest talk show in the U.S., is also a producer and narrates the film. You can see the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WlsYH9Pefg&feature=youtu.be Both the director and Mr. Noory will be attending the screening and will answer questions afterward. It will screen at the Tivoli Theater on Monday, July 9, at 7:00 PM. Another feature film that Mike worked on as casting director, "Casualties of the State," will also screen at the Showcase. "Casualties" is a political thriller directed by Jeremy Cropf, who grew up in St. Louis and graduated from the prestigious film program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. You can see the film's trailer here: http://vimeo.com/27582435
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Congratulations to Board Members Vanessa Roman, Sandra Olmsted, and Denise Ward Brown
Roman, Olmsted, MCA President, and film editor Brown's film, "The Inheritance," won 2012 Best Experimental Film at the Female Eye Film Festival in Canada. "The Inheritance" screened on Sunday June 24th at the Toranto festival, which Roman attended. Roman received the award and made the acceptance speech at the closing award ceremony at the Novotel
Nominees for Best Experimental included "Suspended Animation" director Adaeze Elechi, "Underground" director Sandra Lim, "Forms of Identification" director Kristen Tieche
"The Inheritance" directors Vanessa Revard Roman and Sandra Olmsted and "Mermaid" director Joanne Doughty.
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