Final Project - Taking Advantage of Disruption and Opportunity - Due May 8th

We've talked a lot about the impact that technology is having on various industries, which means that there will be career opportunities for you that are probably a lot different than we're used to.

Your project will be to research what these opportunities look like and to create a plan for yourself as to how to achieve success in these fields using the tools we talked about in class.

You need to space this project out over a month, otherwise you will likely not be able to complete it.

Step 1 - Identification - Due April 17th

Select one of the following industries: (NOTE... Or a company... you can select a single company of interest as well... must be a large player in any of the following industries.)

Music

Television

Advertising

Journalism or Newspapers

Venture Capital/Technology Entreprenuership

Feel free to focus on an area within those fields... (e.g. Sports television, business journalism, Ad sales)

Identify:

- Key companies in your space... large incumbants, startups with the potential to create change

- Blogging thought leaders

- 5-10 People within your LinkedIn network who work within these industries

- Key conferences and speakers in your space.

Step 2 - Interviews and article gathering. (Continuous...Due May 8th)

- Interview (by e-mail, in person or by phone) 4 "insiders" about these industries.

-Sample questions:

-What is your job and background?

-Why did you pick this company and space?

-What has changed about your job or the company or industry in the last 2-3 years and what changes do you expect in the next 2-5 years?

-What skills do you find most useful for your job?

-What skills would you recommend that a college student gain before entering this industry?

-What small companies do you think are poised to affact change in your industry?

- Indentify 10 Jobs of varying levels of responsibility that you might be interested in sometime over the next 5-7 years.

- Using del.icio.us Tag 10 articles about change and disruption in your industry of choice.

Step 3 - Recording

- Write three well thought out, well researched blog posts of 3-5 paragraphs in length about the following:

- Feedback from interviewees.

- Changes occuring in your industry.

- Your opportunities and career interests.

Step 3 - Keeping a record

- On May 8th, e-mail me a Word document with

- Links to your posts

- A page of links + the text of the job posts you found.

- A page of key companies, figures, and conferences you found.

- Notes from your interviews.

Also on May 8th, please e-mail me your assessment of yourself in this course.

- Did you learn anything?

- Did you change or think differently about your approach to your career?

- Do you think differently about the industries we discussed and how you consume media and advertising?

- Attendence.... did you show most of not all of the classes?

- Blogging... How did your blog come out? How much effort did you put in and what was the result? Did you keep up with it in a timely manner and do your best?

- Reading... Did you find the readings interesting? Did you keep up with them? Think about them at all when blogging?

Please give yourself a letter grade from A-F, and feel free to use all the +'s and -'s in between. This will obviously not be your final grade, but I think an honest assessment of what you accomplished will help me put your work in perspective.