As much as I can hardly believe it, graduation day is here! As my fellow business school classmates and I take part in Vanderbilt University’s commencement ceremonies today, check back here for some live clips and photos.

A few notes on what you’re going to see here….

• I’m going to tell you now that these are going to be clips of my “on the ground” experience.
• If you want the FULL live stream of the event, you want to check out Vanderbilt’s Home Page where they’ll be streaming the event live starting at 9 AM CST.
• You can also follow my text updates of the event on my twitter stream.
• If you like what you see or want to join in, use the comment section of this post.
• If you want to know more about me and why I would do this, click here.

LIVE CLIPS (click here to see more)

Flickr Shots

As I  have mentioned multiple times, I am working with a talented team of MBAs here at Vanderbilt to better understand the economic impact of social media.  As we draw to the last phase of the project – we need your input as a practitioner in the world of social media marketing & development.

We have a survey that should only take you 5-10 minutes and aims to discover and understand your thoughts and opinions on Social Media and the role it plays in the context of larger marketing strategies. Completing it will not only give you the warm and fuzzy glow of helping four aspiring Social Media minds, but also a copy of an exclusive results report once we compile the data.

To begin the survey – use the link below:

http://owen.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_bqNr6GcxPezDOq8&SVID=Prod

Please feel free to forward this post and link to any of your colleagues that can offer input on social media marketing and development as we would love to expand the reach of our study to as many marketing professionals as possible.

Again, as a small token of our appreciation for completing this survey – make sure to include your e-mail address when prompted so we can share with you the results of the survey.

Thanks!

Best Wishes,
Jared, Marie, Lawrence & Ellery

Aren’t we photogenic? Why wouldn’t you want to help us with our research?

The very fact that we spend 60% of our time as “new media professionals” explaining what the heck new media is got me thinking: when new media becomes a forgone conclusion, what will the “new media professional” look like?

To respond, send us an e-mail or call 202-552-1575

Listen To Episode:

Download audio file (MDSingleCup_The%20FutureOfTheNewMediaProfessional.mp3)

Download Episode:

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Technorati Tags: marketing diner, MBA, new media professional, new media projects, new media ROI, Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management

Yes, the headline is shameless but trust me, you’ll want to read this.

If you’ve kept up with the blog, you’ll know that I am an avid fan of doing work, for free, as a part of my MBA coursework here at Vanderbilt. This year, I am working with a program that will not only allow me to directly engage a new media firm for a real-time project, but will also allow me to bring along several of my talented MBA cohorts from across the disciplines.

THE PROJECT

Here’s the deal; I would like to find an opportunity with a new media firm that will allow me to merge the latest in new media theory and applications with the MBA skill set. This will allow me and my team to analyze everything from market research to financial data and come up with tools and creative projects to deliver a needle-moving project for a firm.

THE SCOPE

The project could range from working on developing a particular service line to measuring the market impact of an existing set of client solutions. The only real requirement is that the scope be broad enough that we can work with the firm to reall deliver value in the engagement.

COMPANY COMMITMENT

The best part of the project is that it that the firm would get the MBA talent for free, with little to no financial commitment and minimal time commitment. Below are the basics of what a firm can expect:

Help develop the scope and goals of the project

Sect a point of contact for the MBA team, usually a c-level executive

Prove access to information which could include a preliminary list of company contacts, access to project data, an organization chart, meetings with company employees and any other resources deemed relevant by the partner company/MBA team lead

Participate in regular project updates, typically conducted on a weekly basis

Complete three online project/team assessments during the course of the 4 and a half month time line

GET US WHILE WE’RE STILL HOT!

If your new media firm (regardless of size) is interested in linking up for this kind of a project – shoot me an email at show at marketingdiner.com. I’d love to chat and see what an impact we could potentially make.

Technorati Tags: MBA, new media projects, free mba talent, Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management

It’s safe to say that there isn’t a single one of my MBA cohorts at Owen that expect an easy road this year when it comes to landing full-time offers. In fact, most of us agree its going to take us pulling out all the stops to really get things going in our job hunt.

Though I typically reserve these types of posts for people more dedicated to career management than I – see Susan Strayer or Jason Alba – here are my personal picks for the three best ways to use new media tools in your job hunt.

• Indeed.com: Indeed brings the power of aggregation and RSS feeds to the job search process. This comes in handy when you’re trying to sift through the jungle of job search sites and company job listings for something very specific – like a job ripe for a newly minted MBA.My advice is find out the job titles you want to go after and input them in a search string, along with any geographic preferences. Once it runs, save the RSS feed that it outputs in your RSS reader. This way, you can actively deploy your resume as soon as new jobs are posted and increase your chance of getting that first interview.

• LinkedIn: Research is really one of the top make-it or break-it factors in that first interviews. That being said, no site enables you to get degree of detail on companies and your potential interviewers like LinkedIn does.Jason Alba is probably the foremost authority on LinkedIn and when I met him at a presentation at Owen a week or so ago, he pointed out that a LinkedIn profile, if managed correctly, can also really help marketing, business development and general management MBAs position themselves for the hundreds of recruiters that use it to source potential candidates.

• Professional Portfolio Sites: For marketing MBAs as well as any other MBA that has some sort of tangible deliverable they might be able to show off, having a place to put it is potentially huge. In fact, I have spent a ton of time combing through my work and getting permission from my previous employers.Using mine as an example (http://portfolio.jareddegnan.com) you can see how it might work.Now, I have to admit that this is my own tactic and I am still working on how to best deploy it but you can see for yourself how it might be able to help create a better picture of what you’re capable of.

Job searches can be one of the most stressful aspects of an MBA experience. Using these new media tools are just a few ways I have found that can help you make the best of your time and maximize your opportunities.

If you have more that you want to suggest – let’s get a list started on the comments section!

Technorati Tags: indeed.com, Jason Alba, LinkedIn, MBA, OwenBloggers, Personal Portfolio Sites, job search, Susan Strayer, Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management