I am a firm believer of bringing in some of the leading voices and professionals in the field for my classes, especially for my social media class here at the University of Louisville. Today, we had the pleasure of having two great professionals come and speak to our class today from the Kentucky Derby Festival.
Robert Young (VP of PR for KDF) and Gary Stinson (Digital and Social Media Manager for KDF) came to class and truly did a great job today in their presentation.
If you haven’t followed KDF on social media (ex Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram), you definitely should. They have really done some strategic, creative, and impactful work on the festival and created a true online and offline community for various events here in Louisville. There are so many events associated with KDF like the Pegasus Parade, KDF Half and Full Marathon, Thunder Over Louisville, and many more! There is so many events, accounts, and planning that goes into this event – I am truly amazed and wowed with what Robert and Gary are doing to manage all of these duties and roles.
Another highlight for me from this presentation were all of the stories and tips the students got to hear today. Robert and Gary were able to share stories, insights, and strategies they have implemented for KDF on social media that really has been successful and noteworthy for the organization.
One of the things I also look for when I bring guest speakers is to see how students respond and engage with the speakers. Alan wrote a great post about Robert and Gary on his personal blog and his takeaways from the presentation.
I tried out a few things today during the guest presentation that I thought was pretty cool and may do again for other guests. Here were some things I did today that I have not done before when guest speakers come to class:
- Capture quotes from speakers using WordSwag app. Essentially, I was live tweeting the presentation, but instead of just having text updates on Twitter with the class hashtag, I decided to create these same updates and give credit to the speakers with images. Was only able to do a few of these – but I thought this was a good start. 🙂
- Use Twitter’s new video feature to share soundbites from class: I am really glad and happy about this update and it was awesome to share video directly to Twitter. I was able to share 15 sec soundbites that captured some of the main points associated with Robert and Gary’s talk.
Overall, it was a great presentation and I have to give both Gary and Robert a huge shout out and thanks for taking the time to share their insights, expertise, and experiences with my social media class. These are two of my favorite professionals in Louisville – not only are they great professionals, they are wonderful friends! My students were thrilled and are already talking about the festival. Looking forward to seeing what you all do this year for #KDF2015!
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
