Revolutionizing the Future of Media & Education

Pablo Herrera I'm I the founder and CEO of teens media Network which is a youth Network where young people learn through a handson experiences they create the content for the network with the help of uh mentors um and helping them to break into the creative Industries especially which is a very very difficult uh Market to enter uh and also providing them with a real good opportunity that they need in order to be successful right in the creative Industries so um the very important Point uh and this is this here we can see some uh youth

creating content with tmn uh when people see this is ah it's mobile journalism I don't know it's for me it's just journalism and that is one of the way that things are changing and we have to really adapt right now or education um programs to what is happening and it's unbelievable because your students already have the tools that 20 years ago for us my generation was very very difficult to access right H just for have an idea um right now in the creative Industries employers are complaining that uh students and graduated students they don't have

the real skills that they need in order to perform the jobs um and and that is something that we have to the educational system is not taking Pace on that um and at the mean in the meantime the creative Industries are going to hit3 trillion doll by 2028 only here in United States and we are not preparing the student for that rather than that we are Banning phone mobiles instead to incentivate the use of or fostering the use of uh content creation um and the solution to this is handson opportunities and mentorships handson opportunities giving

real War opportunity with the students that many times happens outside of the school and we don't have to be scared to find those opportunities uh and second the war with mentors uh is proof the numbers say that students working with mentors have 130% more possibilities to land in creative jobs uh at the same time real world opportunities improve um uh career Readiness by 85% so those number are absolutely astonishing and I think that we are not really the educational system in general are more worried about banning fonts mobile no that see how we can use

it for uh for to Foster the creativity and try to put that young people in the market on this Market of3 billion dollar by 2028 so um instead talking I want to share a video with you uh about what is the the the work that we do with tmn and what these young people say about uh the work that that we are doing with [Music] them network has helped me in more ways I can even describe it's brought my photography to a bigger level allowed me to share my photos with new audiences and it's connected

me with others would help me go further in my journey I think one of the most powerful Parts about this program is the ability to connect with and learn from other young creatives being able to go to the festivals with the past with other photographers that are my age you know you feel like a like a professional you feel like a real photographer I photographed the DC jazz festival which is a huge festival and I was able to photograph at a bunch of different venues there which is an opportunity I would have never had and

along with that I was also mentored through that opportunity so I didn't feel alone or scared I've met countless other photographers not only in the US but also all around the [Music] world Fork just meet other people who are passionate about the same thing and striving for the same goals as you can be really powerful and really inspiring that sense of community gives you a lot of motivation inspiration I'm just I'm so thankful for everything that the Network's done for me [Music] okay uh I think that that the the you know what people young people

is saying here is pretty much clear but for you to have an idea for the last year in only in one year we involved over 100 creators in Spain and here in the United States uh covering 250 events and reaching an audience of more than one million people that audience is a real numbers okay it's not something that is supposed to be or numbers that are trying to reach a standard that is abstract that is going to fill a paper but it's not going to give you the skills that you really need in order to

succeed in the creative Industries um so um I want to now go to the more practical and insightful part here giving you some tips in how you can leverage in that Real World experience with a students uh starting by um the first point that is appear appear to be very clear but I think that we have to insist on this that is uh T the use of mobile devices okay the the tools that students already have in something that is uh creative and can give a meaningful experiences to them okay so put them to produce

content here uh and here I want to share with you one example of Alex a 18 years old students in Barcelona he went to cover with a mentor the coner of par smth in Barcelona and let's see what the video that he was able to create his first video we're coming from England we're from Manchester just for py [Music] Smith have you ever seen Patty Smith before I've never seen it before but I do have a I do have a Patty Smith tattoo she just means the well to us I just felt like she's got

such an energy that we connect with she completely changed the way that music and poetry and punk was done especially as a woman like she's just unbelievable because she's always she always like speaks up for what's right and she's always has a presence that is off ically hair people always are going to relate to that forever she started out with no money and we can all relate to being a staving artist and going after our dreams and goals and not stopping until we get there I think any generation can relate to that so I can

do the favorite book that's just kids that's just like one of the most important books I've ever read my favorite song is probably Redondo Beach okay so here uh you know so should we have to B funds or should we have to Instead try to Foster with real opportunities for young people to create the things that matter to them so I think that promoted devices created tools is absolutely Paramount right now the second Point um use the diversity to Foster critical thinking you see the the the questions were not just silly questions where why p

m is relatable to different Generations right uh talking about the books that she wrote the albums that uh the lyrics that can resonate with with the with them so also using relatable topics and engaging topics for them are very important when I went to school I remember I love music and I created this prod because I love music one of the things and I have my teacher Banning me to listening I don't know rock band because that was related according to them with bad things right so I think that we have to stop that um

and we have to ask our students okay let's talk about the lyrics of of Taylor Swift and why you like it right so you will see how the students are much more engaged with those topics and ultimately uh ensure a meaningful impact in the videos that a students are creating so they can really see the result this video has 35,000 hits only in um uh on Instagram and I think that that is um that can absolutely put an student in a real world experience and can feel what is about to create content for a network

right with 18 years old um the second tip uh I think that is very important that we also especially in classroom settings we forget that is try to um create youth friendly spaces here we have two pictures the first one is uh here in the United States a group of adults trying to mimic right adult roles a group of students trying to mimic um adult RS and we have a real war experience by the Sky News in langland uh and that is how they create the news for young people right so um we have to

stop mimicking adults and we have to listen to Young people because they bring fresh perspect perspective and understand that the techn the the technological part all this part is not going to change if we instead to put a table and pretend to be CNN put a couple of coaches right and and see and say the news in a way that is going to be reliable for them create those safe spaces for sharing for they to feel comfortable okay and talk the topics that they want to talk and we have to stop once again pretend that

they are going to be anchors and CNN right and finally raise nontraditional broadcasting platforms don't be a scared to use YouTube don't be a scared to use WordPress don't be a scared to podcast use everything that is in your hands to connect your people with real world experiences because they need to learn how those tools work work um another short video here as a tip number three three is expand learning Beyond classroom uh that is another important point because uh let's take a look at this example how we do things with tmn and even with

the students that are in classroom in schools and the schools that we partner and the our work is discover the community organizations that are already doing things in the neighborhood and take to uh try to take advantage of that this is a video from a music festival in Washington DC a community music festival and this is what the students have been able to create hi my name is Pablo Herrera from dmn and we are here here today to cover the pedw porch Fest 2024 it is raining it is going to be a challenge but we

have an amazing group of young people that is going to be covering this event so keep watching and [Music] enjoy I'm gabos and I'm the executive director of an organization called pet Worth Main Street and every year we organized this event called Petworth porch Fest so it takes a volunteer hosts and volunteer bands to come to our neighborhood to play in people's porches I'm will bar um I am putting on uh offer my house up to people to perform at for porchfest here in Petworth um I just like that it brings the community together that

it brings all the neighbors out I really like that I think that's my favorite part of the day when you see everybody that you lived around my name is Justin sued this is my buddy Liam McCormack who played leag guitar for me I'm a local singer songwriter you know so often in life we get distracted with our phones and our day-to-day that we kind of ignore our neighbors and stuff but it really helps bring the community together this is a very diverse neighborhood cultural diversity and age diversity is a perfect combination for an event like

this because it's appealing to everybody be around everybody and have all your neighbors out and have that sense of community that we're all looking for in the city bring the community together that is the most joyful part of this is so many people coming together to enjoy the music seems like it's going to be tons of fun lots of really different types of music which is super cool um and yeah I hope people enjoy us thanks guys okay here's another example of how we can uh really engage Community organization to design projects and go and

partner with them because the real world opportunities are not happening in the classroom are happening in many organization plus this organization need that help okay there are many nonprofit that they don't have photographers right what cool is to go to this to bring your students to those organizations and propose them to create content to enance those those organization Communications right and they are really connected with the mobile devices that your students are already using with uh real opportunities right um the T number number four that I will say is Embrace multimedia it is not anymore

about a newspaper or uh just um TV okay is much more than that is writing is video is photography is podcasting and is who know what else in the future right all these elements together Drive communication distribution and marketing that is what the creative Industries are really needing right now it is not just to taking the picture but is how we are going to frame that picture in a story okay that is going to resonate with the a the audience that we want to reach for you to have an idea many of the partners that

we have are music festivals that need young people to communicate the message for them to sell tickets right to young people so can you imagine this didn't happen 20 years ago right so we have to start leveraging on those things and detecting what are the organization doesn't matter if it are nonprofits or for-profit and put our students in contact for them to start creating content for them in in uh in an environment that are going to make them thri in their creative career and industries this way I'm sure that a just graduated high school student

is able as we saw with the case of Alex 18 years old he can totally create a video for social media for a brand right so um that are my four tips that I want to share with you based on the almost one year that we went working with tmn we started producing content here in SAS West last year covering the edu and also of the music of the film festival and it was an amazing experience for students to have the possibility to be in a red carpet and share that experience of taking pictures of

actors ER and all the crew right and talk with photographers for I don't know the New York Times big newspapers um and doing and learning side by side so I think that really really is what need the cre the creative Industries right now H to prepare our students so please Join the Revolution go to Team media.net we have a bunch of H learning resources music photography broadcasting videos that you can use with your students or we can partner so um I would like to now open this to a de a debate and you know let

me know your thoughts and and question that you may have so if you have any questions just go up to the microphone in midle so we can hear you better hello um I'm C curious um what conversations you're having with parents to bridge the gap with having and building confidence with students because there's still very much is the narrative that content creator is not a real job so I'd love to know what conversations you're having with parents to kind of get them on board yeah that is that that is a thank you so much that

is a very good question and it is a challenge always it is a challenge but I think that the conversation with especially with parents is exactly on that having a conversation and showing the results of one impactful piece of content but curiously many of the young people that apply to be part of tmn their parents already watch the work that we do and they really encourage their participation because they understand content Creation in a totally different way right I think that we have to also Foster a some level of communication and it's normal that a

parent will say content creation is bad or social media is bad everyone will say that uh but we have to be in the process like to adapt the new generations to understand that that is what is now and even the future right I think that that is a very very important conversation to have Mar yes um I was wondering is there a pitching process so do the young people pitch an idea to you or is there like a a filter is there anything that would be acceptable or unacceptable to to put on them yeah well

that is a really question a really good question is there are different levels of complexity as at every media o do we have a um you know an editorial board that decide in base a security safety space and and everything that is regulated that is a very important point and regarding specifically the type of uh that is absolutely diverse because we work for example with music festivals and we may need content creators for that particular Festival right or for example the case of the Porche Fest right that we do did an open call for all

Washington City and all the DMV area right um and there is no really other goal more than go and cover a music festival and take pictures and give the the student the possibilities of creating the picture or creating the content and do the interviews right um and then there are many things that we are also learning confirming we are advancing because this is something new and for us it was very difficult at the beginning for example to set up the business model for this because there is no model to follow so it is a media

outlet and that you go and cover an event and then put the news the the the news in a website and sell advertisement and that is your business model easy to understand right this is a little bit more complicated than that so students they enroll in the mentorship program to be part of the of the of this creative environment and from that there are different levels of students with different particular particularities each student is war in in um a very particular war and we pretty much follow with the mentor what are the potential and the

possibilities and also the the necessities of each particular student and they are open also to present ideas no so for example at the beginning with us it was more more music and film but thanks to Alex that he loves um fashion we start we started also covering fashion events so I'm doing the Fashion Week in Barcelona Paris or those sort of things so I think that is pretty much open and we are learning confirming we are going um but in in terms of editorial um standards yes we have set standard to make sure there is

a safe space and by the way to AR right to this part not like a this idea came and okay let's go there it was very complex to put into practice and we work one year with focus group with the students here in the United States and in Mexico City um during six months Gathering every week to try to shape how we can put how can we really start to create content in a way that is going to be meaningful so it was a long way to get to this point um so yes I mean

this is this is a process like everything any other question is this on okay perfect um for so I did School news um in high school um who pays for the equipment for this program like once you're inducted do you like do you cover it as an organization or yeah another good question one of the when when I started with this project one of the challenges was okay who is going to finance the equipment and then we say we had to Ray on equipment that students already have that are social that is the the the

devices right uh and then I think that solidifying partnership is super important okay but the very important thing as we saw with the example of the kids trying to mimic CNN stuff right with the others and Sky new doing a real war experience I think that we have to leverage on the on the creativity that they already have okay and we I I personally I didn't want to spend time writing grants for someone to finance us the equipment especially because our project is also Global we work with people all around the world and that it

made things much more more challenging but we can create a youth Network now because the devices and the technology that we have the devices and the platforms and the distribution um networks that we have 20 years ago would be absolutely impossible to do that uh so I I have this idea for 15 years and and it was it wasn't until the technology mature enough to say okay let's now leverage on that it is important the sound that they are catching in the video should we fix an standard for that for social media I'm not sure

about that right we can tweak the s a little bit but it's not the important part because when they go to work for a media let's say CNN or whatever it is they will have another level of knowledge and plus this is not an activity necessarily for them to have a a college graduate graduate diploma no is is more to allow them to have the real work experience right and the techniques they will improve they will then you know they I we have a student of themselves that invest in them mic you know $15 mics

in Amazon so they can catch better better S but that uh initiative of the student saying I will invest in the $50 Amazon mic to have a better sound in the video that I'm doing it is amazing because it's the realization that they are taking by themselves no by a teacher they say these are the standards that you have to follow to have a good sound and what for so I think that that in education is much more interactive and give us that possibility to try try different things as well and we have to leverage

on those sort of things wonderful thank you so much of course more questions okay though thank you so much for being here uh it's been a pleasure and please visit the platform and let's work together if you your feel that um we can be a help and thank you so much again for being here enjoy the conference