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I recently had the pleasure of speaking at one of the hottest digital media events held in 8 cities around the world - Social Media Week - about some of my favourite topics - media, broadcasting and the Internet. Marie (my partner-in-crime on NatandMarie.com) and I lead a conversation called “Engaging Entertainment.” Needless to say, this was a pretty exciting milestone (and experience) for our team. I love getting to chat to people about online video and how it’s evolving. But adding livestreaming and true engagingement into the mix was truly inspiring. Here’s the description of the talk:

“What if you took any camera that could stream, free services, inexpensive tools a supportive circle of friends and hedged a major bet on a motley crew of statistics sourced from several online sources? You’d see a batch of new talent and new growth emerge that blur the lines between radio, television and social media engagement. Live streaming entertainment is on the 2011 docket for the team behind NatandMarie.com. From the technical to the marketing, from the production to the delivery, the show’s team will share some behind-the-scenes tips and overcoming challenges on creating engaged entertainment for the 21st century.”

You can watch the LiveStream of the talk here (it doesn’t ACTUALLY start until around 20 minutes into the recording).

As seems to be customary these days for those who have blogs (or are generally into social media and being transparent) the beginning of the year is a great time to look back at the previous year’s successes, meditate and be grateful for them, and to start working on goals in the year to come.

Inspired by my good friend, Irene’s, 2010 re-cap, I thought I would write down some of my 2010 highlights as well. Take it from me, putting it all in writing like this sure puts things into perspective and makes it a whole lot easier to give yourself that pat on the back that perhaps you don’t do often enough.

So let’s reflect, shall we?

-Perhaps my biggest achievement this year was planning and implementing Women’s Post’s 2nd Annual Charity Fashion Show. Proceeds went towards the Women of Baycrest (an incredible organization focused on women’s brain health that REALLY should be getting more press in my opinion) and it was a glamourous and fun evening full of vintage fashions, high-end catering, tons of swag and a whole lot of schmoozing for 400 people. Coming from a journalism background, event managing wasn’t something I was entirely confident in when I was hired to do the job, but considering how much I learned about building business relationships, negotiating deals, promoting ticket sales, managing employees and interns and simply making sure the job got done as smoothly as possible regardless of inevitable bumps along the way, this event was the most challenging yet most satisfying thing I’ve done all year. I am so proud of myself for successfully throwing my biggest party ever:)

-Last but not least, my partner-in-crime, Marie, and I started “Nat&Marie,” a weekly live streaming talk show focused on online and pop culture. Ever since meeting her through Twitter almost 2 years ago, our creative energies have come up with numerous project ideas from female-oriented scripted-reality shows and portals, to travel shows, to marketing campaigns and now to a project that I believe has the potential to go very far based on the traction and interest that has been stirred in such a short period of time. Nat&Marie has grown very organically and has great plans in 2011 that involve engaging show ideas, unique social media marketing and much much more.

All in all, 2010 was a pretty awesome year. More grandiose than I thought, to be honest. As the good Doctor once said, “Will you succeed? Yes you will indeed! (98 and three-quarters percent guaranteed).” And with advice like that, how can you not look at 2011 with a grin. Excelsior!

I have had the wonderful fortune of getting to blog for the CBC. I guess all this cross-platform reporting I do is paying off if it’s getting me sweet gigs like this:)I was one of eight people who were hired on CBC’s Street Team to report on the ins and outs of the Toronto International Film Festival 2010. Our only mission was to bring to light the stories of TIFF outside of generic movie reviews and celeb interviews and we could do this through writing, video and tweeting. Fun challenge.

Some of the angles I covered were more along the business side of TIFF, like gifting suites and what TIFF offers for emerging filmmakers. I even pulled out my handy ol’ FlipCam (my fave!) and hit the streets asking people about their fave celeb sighting stories.

I’m glad networks are moving in the direction of cross-platform reporting. It’s so dynamic and ends up offering audiences a feast for the senses:)

Although the hustle to get freelance gigs is tough, this one with BlogTO was one I was pretty pumped to hook up. Mostly because it involved doing interviews and profiling people, which is one of my FAVOURITE things to do. And it involved a pretty sweet photo shoot by James Kachan highlighting some of my fave indie filmmakers.

Check out my interviews with:

Dean Bajramovic

Jason Hildebrand

And, last but not least, The Campagna Brothers.

This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for a while, and it’s only in the last week when I had a conversation about this with a friend that I decided I had to put these thoughts into words. Over the last half decade of interviewing hundreds of different people ranging from C-level execs, tech startup entrepreneurs, Hollywood actors, politicians etc. I’ve become quite aware of when I’ve done a remarkably good interview and when an interview has fallen flat.

The Art of Interviewing. It’s a skill set all journalists have to learn, whether they enjoy doing it or not; it’s the backbone of every story. It’s possibly even something they’ve always done without realizing it. If they’ve always been the type to be curious enough about people and the world around them to ask questions constantly, chances are, they have the right basis for conducting a good interview.

Interviewing is more than just asking questions, though. Any journalist will tell you you should be throughly RESEARCHED about the person or topic so you avoid any redundant questions and can dig deeper than the information you can simply Google online. That is if you’re doing a more in-depth feature or profile. Hard news usually asks you to stick to the five Ws and one H: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How (if it’s relevant, of course. Don’t be afraid to use your common sense).

On the topic of questions, you should go into an interview prepared with a list of five or six of them. But AVOID READING them to the interviewee. The key to a good interview, in my experience, is to make it a conversation. It makes the interviewee much more comfortable and at ease, which usually leads to better responses. A level of professionalism is important to maintain, but if you can chat to your interviewee like a close acquaintance, you’ll be pleased with the gold you’re able to get out of them.

Quite possibly the most important thing to remember is to LISTEN. It might seem straightforward, but it’s something a lot of journalists, including myself, have had to practice to become comfortable with it. Yes, as an interviewer you’ll have a certain agenda (even though we’re all taught to be objective) with the list of questions you want answered. But if you really listen (like a conversation with a good friend) you’ll be able to follow up on tangents you may not have even considered, that add a unique (or even more relevant) angle to your piece. You may end up telling the story that REALLY needs to be told instead of what’s been assigned to you.

The final thing to remember (mostly if you’re doing an audio or video interview) is to NOT be afraid to interrupt your interviewee. No one wants to hear/watch an answer that goes on for 10 minutes. Again, this is where listening plays a role. Listen to what the interviewee is saying and if it’s going on for too long, take the lead again. It’s YOUR interview, after all. Take control. But don’t be a douche about it, of course. Do it elegantly:)

Note: Absolutely feel free to forwarn your interviewee of how long the final piece is going to be so they know to keep their responses concise (again, specifically more useful if it’s going to be an audio/video interview).

These are all little bits of etiquette that I have found to be of use over the last few years. Of course, not everyone does it the same and different journalists will have other techniques that work for them. But if you can keep these in mind, I can guarantee you’ll have a pretty great starting point.