Phones, Notes, Yelling Across the Newsroom, & Sign Language: Communication at ATVN

One of my producer goals for the midterm was communication, so this blog topic is quite fitting. Being the graphics teammate takes a lot of communication, particularly because the Lead Producer doesn't necessarily advertise when a story has been reformatted or floated - so double checking with Olivia about graphics was something that I needed to vocalize throughout the day. Cutlines were also something that Olivia, Haley and I communicated about, because there was some confusion as to the latest information in some stories.  I wanted to make sure the cutline reflected the best information the story had to offer.

Also, as the graphics teammate I have a close relationship with the Graphics Artist, and this week Sarah Sax was really helpful with artistic guidance, advice, and suggestions. I am by no means artistic, so having Sarah help me along with the creative aspect of graphics ordering was super helpful. Sarah also made sure that I wasn't using any taboo words (like statement, phoner, etc), and she made sure that there were no repeated words in the images and cutlines.

I also had to communicate with another person outside of the producers team - our Web Supervisors Kayla Colins and Chanelle Yang. I had to let Kayla and Chanelle know when elements of stories arrived and were ready for the web - like the video about the Israeli President visit, and International Women's Day. 

Lastly, and this sounds a little odd, but I had to communicate with myself! Writing myself notes and doing personal check ins on the graphics requests, OTS numbers, and twitter updates are all things that I had to remind myself of. I was developing a system as I worked today, so now I know for next time how to organize my thoughts and what system works best for me.

Now, it is time for SPRING BREAK!!! Thankfully the solar flares (or 'Flare Scare' as I cleverly named my cutline) didn't cause any delays on my parents' flight to Los Angeles...