Speaking in front of a little over 250 teenagers can be nerve wracking. However, the speakers at MediaNowStl have managed to grab and maintain the attention of their adolescent audience. Though their topics have varied from events such as the St.Louis Post-Dispatch’s covering of the unrest in Ferguson to the best way to shoot an interesting video or how to use curiosity to get the most interesting content. The subject matter may have covered a wide range but the way in which speakers, such as Sarah J. Nichols and Matt Raz, kept their audience at rapt attention held many similarities in their presentations.

1. Funny Visuals

Matt Raz began his keynote presentation with a video entailing a goat over a popular Taylor Swift song. By beginning his talk with a viral video, Raz was able to catch the attention of a majority teenage audience. Raz was not the only speaker to use interesting or humorous imagery. One of the teachers of the Social Media Class, Erica Smith often encorptates silly cat photos to keep her students engaged.

.@Matt_Raz kicks off day 2 @MediaNowSTL. His preso began with Taylor Swift & goats. Solid start to the day. #mnstl15 pic.twitter.com/0i5EG6kKgd

— Aaron Manfull (@manfull) June 22, 2015

Done with my first presentation, and I already had a cheeky #mnstl15 student ask how much I like cats. pic.twitter.com/umUgoy4XjN

— Erica Smith (@ericasmith) June 21, 2015

 

 

2.    Memorable One-Liners

With a camp as connected to social media as MediaNowStl is it is vital that speakers include “tweetable” quotes that help highlight the main points of their speech.

"Curiosity is the ticket to everything" @SarahJNichols #MNstl15

— Media Now STL (@MediaNowSTL) June 22, 2015

A blog is a dry-erase board. An article in the paper stands on its own, @dgoold says. #mnstl15

— Erica Smith (@ericasmith) June 22, 2015