Recently I spoke to a group of undergrads in the communications school at my alma mater, the University of Central Missouri — something I always imagined doing but wasn’t sure how or when it would happen. As it turns out I was speaking at the Integrated Marketing Summit in Kansas City two days before UCM homecoming. I didn’t know what to expect when I reached out with an offer to share some insights from my career with the students, but the idea was warmly received by Tricial Hansen-Horn, public relations professor in the UCM Dept. of Communication.

My comments centered around things I’ve learned throughout my career that I would have like to have known sooner or felt would be relevant and helpful to these young people who are about to walk out of the halls of UCM and into the “real world” as I did nearly 20 years ago. 

Key points of my talk included:

1. Learning to cut bait sooner and the art of saying “no” (including a rare public display of my “no card”)
2. The art of “pitching,” the perception of public relations and the radical shifts in PR over the past 10 years
3. The difference between product and service businesses and the importance of scale
4. Partnerships and the value of imbalanced ownership 49/51%
5. The importance of salesmanship and how to ask for (and get) what you want
6. The importance of relationships and distinctions between friends and contacts
7. Knowing what you want and creating a mission statement for your life 
8. Why knowing yourself and your core values matters most
9. The importance of learning to think critically
10. Life is short, so thrive

While my talk was in the spirit of “giving back,” I did so knowing the fulfillment I would receive from doing it, something made even more meaningful by the feedback I’ve recived from both students and faculty who have followed up with me since then. The process was also cause for an introspective look at my career accomplishments, not judging good or bad, but rather taking a moment to reflect on several years of hard work and the value of those experiences. In sharing them I hope to have inspired a few of the students who turned out to hear me speak that rainy morning in October and that you too will consider doing the same and seeing what it does for you.

View my photos from UCM homecoming

I’ve been thinking a lot about the economics of online entertainment lately, in part based on a June 15, 2009 LA Times article entitled ‘Hollywood hits the stop button on high-profile Web video efforts.” Despite many failed attempts at monetizing online entertainment content, ranging from DEN, Icebox and POP.com in the late 90s to Stage 9 Digital and 60Frames in recent months, I’m not convinced there isn’t a profitable model for making the studio model of the future a reality.

Whatever the successful combination, it is certain to be as complex and dynamic as the changing media landscape itself. It will include both traditional and yet untested advertising and sponsorship models, but it won’t be fully reliant on them either. It will include brave new brand extensions and cross-platform integration and ways to interact with audiences that result in them eagerly spending their hard earned money on e-commerce and subscriptions and engaging with sponsors.

It will also include strategies with no intent of directly driving revenue, but still being accountable to some other practical revenue stream — offline purchases, participation in events, engagement in online communities, etc. Or for large media carriers to support membership/subscription-based services and any myriad of other business objectives.

Making quality online entertainment content is hard, but building an audience for it from scratch is even harder. This reality has been part of what makes it difficult to monetize the emerging category of web video content with any scale. The model that works will include an innovative way for content producers to attract and retain large new audiences in a way that presents clear value for each of the key stakeholders: content creators, distributors  and consumers.

Many more layers of this oninion to be peeled in the weeks ahead I’m sure.

Speaking of identifying good online entertainment content, as a fan of Weeds, I was interested to learn from Tubefilter about University of Andy, a series of short videos in which Andy Botwin (played by Justin Kirk) lectures on various life skills that are not likely to be offered at the local community college, but are guaranteed to make you laugh.