New Media Weekend

Core Instructor and long time supporter of UMEM Mike McGinley was joined the weekend of April 10 and April 11 by first time Noah Brier and first time visitors Pazit Levitanand Justin Kalifowitz. The weekend was a blend of a lifetime of experience combined with new era perspectives, technology and innovation.

McGinley, a Montana native, who has always been an advocate for taking chances, began his career by moving to Los Angeles after graduating from The University of Montana. With no contacts and no resources, McGinley recalled walking up and down Sunset Boulevard handing out his resume. The rest is history, since McGinley has been able to become a successful consultant who has worked with various industry leaders such as Best Buy, DirecTV, The Rolling Stones, and Tony Hawk.

Pazit Levitan, originally from Israel, has worked all over the world; from Israel to London to New York. Pazit is a woman who speaks with a very complete world perspective of the entertainment industry. She began her career as an independent film maker as well as a producer and had her films featured in several independent film festivals across the globe. Pazit is currently co-producing an independent film that is being shot in New York City.

Noah and Justin are both innovators in the entertainment industry. The two combined have a very youthful and technology based approach to the ever changing industry. Noah currently works for The Barbarian Group, a media based firm as well as being a web entrepreneur who has started several mini web companies such as BrandTags.net. Justin Kalifowtiz is president of Downtown Music, a company based out of New York City. Kalifowitz has been working in the industry since he was sixteen years old and could easily be seen as having veteran experience in the industry for only being in his early thirties.

Pazit kicked off the weekend by giving an Easter themed presentation on what she believed the "Ten Commandments" of web marketing and networking are. The commandments covered just about every aspect of what a successful website should embody while also making the presentation very relatable. Pazit stressed the importance of team continuity and reliability as well as fan loyalty while also keeping your image consistent. Staying true to your product and brand will separate the effective websites from fake websites.

Brier and Kalifowitz followed up, with each man giving their own presentation. Briar’s presentation was centered around viral marketing and website building. He demonstrated how to use html as well as stressing the importance of just "surfing the web." He spoke about how many resources are squandered on the web due to people simply not knowing that they are available.

Kalifowitz’ presentation was centered around music publishing and the role that it plays in the entertainment industry. He got into the specifics regarding sync licensing, the internet and record labels. Kalifowitz especially emphasized the amount of opportunity that is becoming available in the industry, "The music business is much broader than the record company, this is a time of merging music and filling in the blanks."

Later Pazit, Mike, Noah, and Justin assisted the students in applying these principles to the student produced Spring Thaw, an annual event encompassing a Festival on the Oval, a concert, and a Casino Night.

This year's Casino Night will be held Sunday, May 3, at The Broadway Inn and Conference Center.

The Festival on the Oval, followed by the Concert, will be Friday, May 8.