Stay Tuned!
So recently, I’ve began to framework for actually making Newstweak come to life. It’s very exciting for me - and I think this week, a colleague and I, will finally start putting plans out for the first Newstweak meeting (hopefully in Novemeber.)
This will require a lot of work (and marketing) so hopefully - no not hopefully - I know it’s gonna rock.
I can’t wait to hear all the amazing ideas for journalism! :)
Here are some main points:
1. Eventbrite will be the site I use to book events. For starters, Meetup.com charges you $70 to make an event. I don’t have $70 to create a simple page. I mean, I could do this through facebook for free and reach quite an audience, meetup.com! I don’t know - that really put me off because I love meetup.com - but I don’t love it that much and neither does my wallet.
2. Friends have totally come to my rescue. A colleague, Guia, whom I’ve worked with since my first day of college has decided to tentatively come on board with Newstweak and help stir the pot with me. This helps me a lot because it’s another eye to read, another mind to collab with and just overall - I honestly love Guia - she’s intelligent, a great writer, and totally in touch with a lot of journalism alums as she’s attending grad school. She’ll be a great addition.
3. Business Plan is in the works. I know as of right now, this is not what you’d call a “business” - but I need a plan. I also think it will eventually evolve into a business in some way so I want to line my ducks in a row. Interestingly, writing business plans for online businesses is very new. All these sample plans I see online are for coffee shops and tea stores. It’s kind of fun to write one for mine because it’s not set in stone - I can be a little creative with it. There are apparently people that will write one for you - for a whopping $1000 - and the stress is gone. That sounds more stressful for me…
4. Newstweak Meetings are still going to be an open-mic style forum, with a strict 10 minute discussion following for questions and criticisms, but I’ve also decided to add a fun element to meetings for the brave attendees who really think they got it. It doesn’t even have a brilliant name yet but the jist of it would be I give you a challenge or prompt of some sort and you ramble off on what you would do. Again, glad I have Guia coming on board, because she can help brainstorm, you know, these challenges, but I’m thinking I prose a problem and you prose a solution. It can be as simple as: ‘how do we pay for journalism’ or complex as ‘why do hyperlocals work and don’t work’ — something of that nature. I’d imagine I could have people submit their own to be asked to the populous. That could be so much fun, right? Imagine the dialogue that could go on.
I think that’s it for right now, please stay tuned (to whomever stumbles across this) and soon you’ll have information on how this whole thing is going down.
Thanks!
