Workshop I

After a brief introduction of each participant and a discussion about the planned projects, Anna Mauersberger (Editor-in-Chief of “Du hast die Macht!”) explained the concept of the youth information platform and showed some practical examples of their work. From audio-visual examples of Anna Mauersberger’s work, the participants noticed how items produced for a young audience, differ in terms of their presentation from those of traditional information media with an older target audience. The lack of distance and formality between the interviewer and interviewee was specifically noticeable as well as short, frequent cuts that cater to the youths‘ shorter attention span. When producing items for teenagers, this is a particularly important feature in order to keep them interested.  She furthermore gave the participants some valuable hints in how to make blog articles more attractive to young people by using relevant pictures, embedded Youtube clips and slide shows (created by kizoa.com, e.g.).
In order to further the popularity as a non-profit information brand itself, according to Anna Mauersberger, celebrity endorsement and the co-operation with TV programmes popular amongst young people have proven to create more traffic on the platform’s website and should always be considered when wanting to reach the target group.


Workshop II

In the second half of the day it was the turn of “Du hast die Macht!” Project Manager Tino Kyre to advise strategies behind targeting politically distant young people. In his presentation “At the Cooker – Why Cooking is Good for Media”, he motivated the participants by explaining that media production can be as easy as cooking, if the right ingredients are presented in the appropriate setting, in accordance to the guests. “Of course your team and timing are two invaluable factors to get right as well.”
Following points are important for journalists to reach young people, Kyre said:
Talk to everybody – on facebook, twitter, in real life, with other journalists.
Google is your friend – feed the bot (www.feddthebot.com).
And talk to your guests – they tell you, if you can!

In summary, the five most important points for a successful journalistic piece is exactly the same as for a successful menu:

1. Guests & Reasons
2. Recipe & Ingredients
3. Technic & Equipment
4. Schedule & Timing
5. Presentation & Communication

In allusion to the coming presentation of the results, he concluded “If you get everything right, we will enjoy our meal”.
The verdict on the presentation by Razvan Carcu from Romania was convincing “I think I learned more within the last hour than in three years of university”.
The participants then spent the rest of their day planning the practical items and rounded off the day in a networking event, sharing specialities they brought from their home countries.


Workshop III

The second day of the Youth Media Workshop started early with a presentation by Jens Best, who is a Senior Strategy Consultant, Tutor and Author in the fields of digital change, social media and ecommerce.
Not only did Jens Best explain how journalists can make use of the internet in order to find sources, finance and promote their work but he also made clear that nowadays it has become an invaluable tool to network with poorly educated young people. In targeting (young) people who are lacking the skill of information literacy it is important to appreciate their sense of fear and being lost. It is obviously not a simple task, but journalists constantly have to re-evaluate their work with questions like “Where does this sense if exclusion derive from?”, “How can we break down this border?” and “What stimulates the groups you want to integrate in the political sphere of your country?”. This is a given for the analogue as well as for the digital world. But certain challenges have been added by the digital advance.
Journalists nowadays have the function to curate opinions, moderate and create in an area where debate is also possible. He reminded the participants that “it is a huge challenge to be a professional information filter in a world where everything is just one click away” and it is crucial that, in order to comply to this task, journalists have to be on top of mastering the web. To stay on top of all the technical advance he gave the participants the advice to “always be aware that nerds are your best friends”.
The workshop then continued over lunch, where the participants queued up to find out more from Jens Best.


Workshop IV

The fourth workshop host, Henrik von Bodenhausen, Senior Content Manager of MTV Networks, explained the challenges that the network faced in the light of the audience transition from Generation X to Generation Y (or the Milllienials). “Studies have shown that the needs, the social and emotional perception of these two groups are completely different and we had to accustom our strategies in order for us to stay attractive to our audience.”
When targeting poorly educated and politically distant youths, the lack of interest in obtaining real life, “boring” information was identified as one of the biggest challenges by the young journalists. And whilst using marketing  tools might not be the most favoured option for journalists to spread information, it seems to be one of the solutions in times when young people identify themselves as individual consumers and are saturated with entertainment. “It’s all about to be the first who has the information. So your readers can then be the first to spread the word and get approval by their peers.”
Henrik von Bodenhausen was surprised that by the end of the workshop he had not received any LinkedIn requests from the participants. “Use what is out there. Network professionally and get on to Google+”, which he identified as the next big thing in social media.