The makings of women speak.
meet the team. meet the program.
Paying close attention to the notifications and data collected by social media sites is a job the Women SPEAK Team's must take seriously and must react to appropriately. The Team decided to establish specific programs to cater to the needs the Team thought necessary in order to start up the organization. Utilizing media and technology, the Team was able to stay connected, develop new programs, and find ways to network with other organizations and people otherwise unobtainable via traditional modes of communication.
Below is an examination of how Women SPEAK came to be through media.
Below is an examination of how Women SPEAK came to be through media.
Part 1. comm-unityCreating the Team-a sense of community-was one of the first and main goals of Women SPEAK.
By building the community, we believed it would foster a safe space for dialogue and a space for women to openly discuss issues that affect them. Media usage through social media, webcamming, and e-mailing allowed the Team to reach out to women beyond the Los Angeles area for mentors and mentees eager to participate in the organization. Below, Women SPEAK Mentor Mandara Hogarth, mentions how media played a role in shaping her relationship with her mentee. |
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Mandara Hogarth Women SPEAK Mentor |
Part 2. Making the pathThe media also helped shape Women SPEAK's name. As college-aged students, the founders believed that it would be easy to cast aside the organization if the organization did not act quick and did not act professionally.
With Women SPEAK's mission statement, statuses, e-mails, and posts, the Team was well aware of the grammar, language, and tone that they were using. With the need for speed and urgency in the media, the Team found that the organization's focus should be shifted away from that mindset and directed towards the quality of the work. To launch the organization in the world and give the organization credibility, the Team organized their first major event: the 2014 Leadership Summit. Simply by word of mouth, several people were already e-mailing the Women Speak Gmail about they can contribute and/or participate in the cause. The spread of news about the organization proves how connected the world already is. Media makes contacting those networks that much more easier and more efficient . That was how the Team was able to contact a commissioned poet, entrepreneur, and millennial and arts education advocate, Azure Antoinette, as their keynote speaker for the 2014 Leadership Summit. After two months of intense preparation, the Summit attracted over 100 participants. Together, the Team and Antoinette put Women SPEAK on the map. We were ready. |
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Part 3. staying connected
Grabbing the attention of people is just one part of a multilayered system. Maintaining viewership and attention is the hard part. A way to have a constant presence in the media, #MentorMonday and #WisdomWednesday are posted on Instagram and Twitter. These motivational posts serve the purpose to stay connected with the audience while reaffirming Women SPEAK's mission and message of community, support and leadership. Without this constant connection, people lose interest quickly and forget about the organization altogether.
However, having a constant is not always enough. When posts and ideas become too worn out, people tune out and start to lose interest in the issue and the organization. To combat this problem, Women SPEAK decided to put a face to the posts that was being put online. Our goal was to make the organization more personable, open, and relatable. Here we created the Monthly Webinar.
Using Google + Air Hangouts, the founding Team of Women SPEAK would speak about a featured topic while encouraging their audience to engage and participate in the live open discussion. When the webinar goes offline, the video is automatically posted onto YouTube where viewers who were not able to attend the live session, can go back and view the webinar.
Media allows for the preservation of people's work to be documented, saved, and accessible to thousands of people around the world regardless of whether or not the host is online or not. This breaks the boundaries that traditional communication would impose.
Using Google + Air Hangouts, the founding Team of Women SPEAK would speak about a featured topic while encouraging their audience to engage and participate in the live open discussion. When the webinar goes offline, the video is automatically posted onto YouTube where viewers who were not able to attend the live session, can go back and view the webinar.
Media allows for the preservation of people's work to be documented, saved, and accessible to thousands of people around the world regardless of whether or not the host is online or not. This breaks the boundaries that traditional communication would impose.
part 4. all of the lights
What media and technology has done was break the boundaries of space and time. What used to take months and years is now able to be done in a matter of milliseconds with the use of technology and media. With only seven months after first creating Women SPEAK's presence on the Internet, the organization was already recognized by influential people in the political and entertainment world.
One of Women SPEAK's greatest milestones to date was being recognized by Chelsea Clinton and Jessica Alba. Social media websites like Facebook and Twitter are the leading reasons why Women SPEAK was able to be recognized and shared.
After being recognized by Clinton and Alba, we noticed that there was a spike in the number of likes on our page and the number of new followers on other social media platforms. That goes to show that who you are on the web really matters. The prominence and influence that Clinton and Alba allow for them to reach a larger audience who are more willing and eager to listen to what they have to say. Having that power is an incredible thing and being able to witness the direct response and affect of simply being recognized by famous people was remarkable. These milestones would have been nearly impossible without technology and media.
One of Women SPEAK's greatest milestones to date was being recognized by Chelsea Clinton and Jessica Alba. Social media websites like Facebook and Twitter are the leading reasons why Women SPEAK was able to be recognized and shared.
After being recognized by Clinton and Alba, we noticed that there was a spike in the number of likes on our page and the number of new followers on other social media platforms. That goes to show that who you are on the web really matters. The prominence and influence that Clinton and Alba allow for them to reach a larger audience who are more willing and eager to listen to what they have to say. Having that power is an incredible thing and being able to witness the direct response and affect of simply being recognized by famous people was remarkable. These milestones would have been nearly impossible without technology and media.