Hi everyone,

So, here we go again…

The story so far

Firstly, a huge thank you to the whole team at LSUTV for a fantastic 2011 conference & awards ceremony. NaSTA couldn’t have asked for better from the 2011 host station. It was a great event that (amongst many other things) showed the breadth of quality in student television across the United Kingdom, with some amazingly talented, innovative & energetic people producing first class engaging and entertaining television.

Also, thank you to those of you who emailed me back from the weekend, I’ve tried to get back in touch with you all on the wide variety of issues & concerns that we discussed (particularly from my workshop/sun drenched balcony chat – call it what you will). If you’ve got any questions or concerns that you want to chat about, please don’t hesitate to get in touch either via facebook or email: marketing@nasta.tv.

This means you El Gingero of SparkTV! We shall get that video of Gandalf out unto the masses!

In the wake of this years conference & awards it’s also been pleasing to see some Universities (Leeds Met and Nottingham Trent to name but 2) taking the time to applaude the success of their student television stations at NaSTA. If your University has taken the time to celebrate the work that you and your station have done (NaSTA related or otherwise) please wing me an email at marketing@nasta.tv as they’ll feature in something we have planned in the near future.

All in all the bar has been set pretty high for 2012, but if anyone is capable of meeting the challenge & exceeding expectations it’s the 2012 NaSTA host station – NUTS – Nottingham University Television Station.

Youtube & NaSTA – the story so far

As I announced over conference, NaSTA had been approached just prior to the awards weekend about the “Becoming Youtube Stars” one day conference (run in conjunction with the British Film Institute) with a view to a NaSTA/Student Television presence. The purpose of the event was to bring together producers, directors, writers, artists, video and media professionals under one roof (specifically the roof of Ravensbourne College) to discuss how Youtube can help them promote, develop and monetise their content as well effectively distributing content through the Youtube partnership programme.

So needless to say on the back of feedback and enthusiasm I received from many of you about pursuing a relationship with youtube, I went along.

Now unlike previous events of a similar ilk I had attended, the overall effusive atmosphere was surprisingly good and extremely engaging, as was the wide ranging free lunch/tea/coffee and cake Youtube had so graciously provided – they clearly knew I was coming.

With a panel of experts & content makers alike ranging from Patrick Walker (Senior Director, Content Partnerships for YouTube/Google EMEA) Ben Relles (Head of Creative Development at the YouTube Next Lab) through to members of the team behind “Simons Cat” (sadly Simon Tolfield himself couldn’t be there) it was a great opportunity to engage with people who you might otherwise not be able to directly talk to, certainly if you’re from a student television station.

As I said to the panel during the Q and A session towards the end of the event, sometimes talking to Google/Youtube is like trying to hold a conversation with the talking clock, so an event like “Becoming Youtube Stars” was as refreshing as it was insightful.

*Thankyou to everyone who responded to our nastaUK twitter request directed at the #becomingyoutubestars hash tag. Student television dominated the screen with questions & discussion points and this helped us massively in proving the point about NaSTA and the scope of student television in the UK to work with Youtube.

It was also great to see that I wasn’t the only face representing student television at the event, with LUST, SUSUtv, YSTV NU:TV and UniTV all in attendance in some guise or another. So a big shout out goes to Rosa “Lucy” Liu (LUST) Alastair “Moggy” Mogford and Andreas Day (SUSUtv) and the eponymous cupcake escape artist, Mr Michael Miller of YSTV fame.

The overall aim of attending this event was to establish a dialogue with Youtube with the aim of developing their relationship with student television & NaSTA, and I’m happy to say that as a result of “Becoming Youtube Stars” we have secured a face to face meeting with Youtube to discuss all things NaSTA and student tv related on May the 18th at Googles London Headquarters.

I’ll be in touch after Easter with how you can all get involved and contribute to this meeting.

Keep em peeled.

Promax UK – an opportunity not to be missed

After “Becoming Youtube Stars” had finished I moved across London (to Covent Garden) to meet up with Kathy Reeves and Kerry Spring Rice from Promax UK who wanted to offer NaSTA the opportunity to take part in their student competition. Promax themselves are an international association for entertainment marketing professionals whose patrons spread far and wide across the media and broadcast industries alike.

More specific information about the competition can be found here: http://nasta.tv/2011/04/promaxuk/

Promax UK are keen to strengthen their relationship with NaSTA & student television, and to this end actually (after our meeting) extended the deadline of the competition (August 26th) to try to cater for NaSTA stations to take part in the event.

Personally I think the opportunities on offer are amazing – if I could enter I certainly would!

And finally…

NaSTA have been approached by the NUS to assist them with their Sabbatical Officer training over the summer months. Hopefully the work we started to build a more healthy and productive relationship for NaSTA and the NUS will continue to develop. It’s clear that for some of you still, there is a gulf of understanding and supporting between you and your Student Unions and it’s our duty to work for you to bridge this gap & help educate Sabbatical Officers about the benefits of a well supported student television station.

Any particular issues or points you want us to expand upon are always welcomed, as per feel free to wing me a message on here or send me an email: marketing@nasta.tv

I hope you all have a great Easter & enjoy the good weather (for however long it lasts) and best of luck with the inconvenience of all the exams & dissertations you may have.

Capone