Blog « Clemson University's NetworkBash

NetworkBash is getting close – Operations Team Update

Wow…Almost 2 weeks away. NetworkBash will be here before we know it. November 4^th is right around the corner. The Operations Team is excited and in full swing with all preparations, such as flow of traffic, the setup of rooms, coordination of industry professionals, and most importantly, making sure STUDENTS have a great experience. We are making good progress and working hard to make sure this thing goes smoothly.

Our main focus at this point in time concerns the flow of people from place to place. It will be a normal Wednesday at the Hendrix Center, and we want to make sure people know where to go, when to go, and do not get confused. This thing can be a big success, and we want to make sure that happens. Plus, as an operations team we want to work out every possible kink before November 4^th. From the littlest thing to the most obvious, we want to cover all areas in between. Also, we want to have all the rooms set up in a way that will:

1) maximize our space
2) help to position the rooms in the best way possible for their specific purposes.

We are projecting 18 industry professionals to help with our pitch sessions, which is very exciting. We certainly thank all of these people for helping to make NetworkBash what it is. Our three part pitch sessions include practicing, training, and actually recording a pitch to be put on video. This is where the student gets the opportunity to SELL himself/herself. This video can then be used in the future when applying to jobs. Finally, don’t forget about the After-Party following NetworkBash in the Ballroom at the Hendrix Center. We have been working hard to coordinate lots of great FREE food and drinks to cap off this wonderful day.

Check out our Facebook Event Page and RSVP to let us know you are coming!

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE ON THE 4^th!!

Chris Harmon
NetworkBash Team Member
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What’s all the chatter about Twitter?

If you haven’t already jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, you’re behind the rush. And if you’re skeptical about ‘following the crowd,’ you’re missing out! It seems like you can’t go a day without hearing a reference to some famous cultural icon’s ‘tweet’ update. And with the ability for anyone to ‘follow’ anyone else (unless they have locked their profile), you can literally keep up to speed with the day-to-day life of your favorite NCAA basketball coach, NFL football star, pop star, college English professor or best friend.

On October 14, 2009 University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calapari wished former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden a happy 99th birthday. Cincinnati Bengals wide-receiver Chad Ochocinco even used Twitter as a medium to stage the ‘Lambeau Leap’ against Green Bay on September 20, 2009, by connecting with four fans and purchasing them front row tickets near the end zone of his touchdown reception. You can even find out when your best friend is eating lunch and sometimes where or with who!

Aside from all the quote ‘entertainment’ unquote Twitter can provide to its users, it is also proving to be a beneficial business strategy for reaching customers on a completely different level than ever before. Many businesses are beginning to hire support staff to monitor social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook to handle the specific needs of valued customers and stop problems virtually before they even start. You see, a lot of the consumers who are using Twitter are considered to be early adopters with major influence in the success of new products, largely in part to their influence over the web via word-of-mouth information.

Take for example the success story of communication empire Comcast. During a time, when many changes were occurring in the communication field, Comcast began facing difficulty in customer satisfaction which ultimately meant bad news to their revenue growth in the market. To the rescue came staffer Frank Eliason, who joined Twitter in April of 2008 as @comcastcares in a means to connect with consumers who referenced the company whether it be positively or negatively. Whenever the company was mentioned, Eliason would tweet a response with encouraging tidbits of advice. Some customers really enjoyed the direct interaction, while others found it awkward. Whatever the case, Eliason’s proactive efforts propelled Comcast’s all-time low customer satisfaction rating to a manageable level among its competitors in the cable/satellite market.

This is just one of many success stories in the world of business. If you want a great read on other inspirational stories regarding Twitter success, check out Julio Ojeda-Zapata’s book Twitter Means Business.

So whether your using Twitter to catch up on the latest gossip, keep up with your favorite star, stalk the girl sitting next to you in class, or manage your company, taking part in this cultural social media shift has the potential to be one of the most beneficial, yet fun ‘investments’ of your life! Set up an account today at www.twitter.com and/or sit in on Twitter101 at Clemson NetworkBash! on November 4, 2009 from 2:15-2:45pm in the Hendrix Center. Hope to see you on Twitter and at NetworkBash! on the 4th!

Twitter 101 – Learning the Lingo

Following: ability for Twitter users to keep up with their favorite people and have a continuous stream of their ‘tweets.”
Tweet: a 140 character status update posted by a Twitter user meant to inform followers what’s on their mind.

@username: when a user makes reference to another user, they add an ‘@’ symbol before their tweet to acknowledge them.
Twitterverse: entire scope of Twitter users that understand and partake in Twitter activities.

DM or Direct Message: a private message sent exclusively to the users involved.

RT or Retweet: reposting another users tweet with an ‘RT’ before your tweet in an effort to agree with or share cool ideas with other users.

#Hashtag: categorizing topics on Twitter by posting a ‘#’ sign before your tweet.

Tyler Morey
NetworkBash Team Member

So what is this site made of anyways? Thoughts from a site creator with no formal instruction.

Are you an aspiring blogger or just somebody who wants their own website for whatever their heart desires? If so, then you are just like me. Throughout high school, I got caught up in the MySpace fad. My favorite thing to do with MySpace wasn’t even communicate with my friends, but rather tweak my layout. I sought to have the coolest looking layout of all my friends. In order to have something unique and original meant I had to venture away from the generic “copy and past this theme” method that most people did. I had to dig deep in the codes and alter them, using Google as my number one tool to figure out which parts of the code did what and of course which parts were absolutely vital unless I didn’t mind complete and utter chaos (which sometimes worked to be benefit since they were “unique”). Myspace was my entry and what peaked my interest when it came to working with what I consider “more mature” sites such as Blogger and eventually Wordpress.

Due to MySpace becoming a “digital graveyard” around senior year in high school, I basically quit using it and went on to the more popular and less personable Facebook. I pretty much didn’t mess with any codes or other confusing arrays of odd characters until freshman year at Clemson. A friend of mine talked me into starting a blog on Blogger. It was pretty cool and straightforward. I could edit the codes if I wanted to but there really wasn’t a need, everything was just click and save.

Well, eventually I grew tired of the boring plain text header and decided it would be better if I Google how to add a header to a Blogger blog. Wouldn’t you know, it required altering the code. No problem, it was easy enough and it looked good once saved. I had a bit of confidence and ended up altering more than just the header. I had a pretty nice looking blog. Well, wouldn’t you know, after I made the blog look pretty nice instead of a boring basic text site, I began getting many more blog views. Nothing too high, but any leap was encouraging.

After becoming a little annoyed by some of Bloggers features (or lack there of; photo importing was terrible), I decided to export my posts to Wordpress.com since it was free, easy, and seemed more “professional” in appearance.

Once I began using Wordpress , my blog really began to take off. I went from around 20 views a day to at least 150 – 200 a day on a regular basis within a month or so. That success was huge to me and made me decide that it was time I took my blog once again to a new level, a self-hosted Wordpress.org blog. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

I thought the main differences would be that I would be allowed to embed music players and change my themes colors. Those were definitely true, but the means to accomplish that almost scared me away for good. The whole hosting setup through GoDaddy had me worried for a while. Sure, it said it may take 24 – 48 hours to set up, but I couldn’t understand why. I wanted it set up now like it had done through my other experiences. I worried for the entire 48 hours that I had done something wrong and that my blog would be forever lost.

Well, eventually setup went through and did exactly as GoDaddy said it would. That was great, but then a new problem arrived – I had no idea how to access my files or what an “FTP editor” was. Thank God for Google. Once again, it saved my butt and within a day my blog was up and running again, except now it was tweaked exactly as I liked it. I had succeeded!

Using the Firefox plug-in “Firebug” to experiment with my codes without having any permanent effects and by using my handy tool of Google, I had successfully created my own website, just how I wanted it. It was time to take this knowledge that I had gained from doing something for me and do something for somebody else.

My dad needed a website for his business, my church youth group needed a website, and eventually, my business writing class needed a website (the one you are on ). So many sites for somebody with no training at all. The sites I have created aren’t the best-looking sites in the world, but they aren’t half bad looking either, or at least I think so, and so do my clients. They are certainly basic, but they function and do all my clients need them to.

I tell you this because I am an average kid who has never taken any sort of web design course. I just spent the time at W3 Schools and Google to figure out how to accomplish what I wanted without hiring somebody. I have even made some extra cash from just helping create basic Wordpress sites, who doesn’t want that? Wordpress has made this super easy once gaining a basic knowledge, that is for sure.

If you look at this site or any of the others and say “wow I could never do that, I can barely customize my Twitter avatar” then I just want to tell you with all respect that I believe you are mistaken. I honestly feel like anybody could do this with just a little bit of practice and some Googling.

I am currently happy with how my blog looks, but I am sure that eventually that complacency will go away and I will want to take on a new project full of challenges. Until then, I just want to spread the good name of Wordpress and tell you that if you have ever wanted a website for any reason at all but have no prior knowledge to this sort of thing, this is a great place to begin.

I wish you the best of luck in your site endeavors and if you ever need any help, feel free to mail me at sroark@clemson.edu. I am no pro by any means and may not know the answer to your question, but I am sure together and with the help of Google, we could solve it.

-Stephen Roark

The 10 Best Ways to 'Kill' an Interview

Finding a job after graduation in our economy right now can be a daunting task. When you factor in our nation’s unemployment rate at 9.5% of the current labor force (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), a college graduates probable lack of on-the-job experience, and just plain interviewee nerves, landing that perfect job can be near impossible. In the recent Yahoo! article, “The 10 Biggest Interview Killers,” Joe Turner looks at ten specific reasons why getting a job can be such a barrier for so many people — most of whom could conquer the task if only they knew how to handle an interview situation. So instead of walking into the interview with butterflies in your stomach and enough fear to scare a zombie let me propose to you “The 10 Best Ways to ‘Kill’ an Interview.”

Recognize your aim. If you don’t even know what you want out of a career, how can a prospective employer find your worth for their company? Have a goal in mind before you go through the interview process. Stick to this goal and envision the path you need to take to reach it.
Know your needs. Don’t settle for less than you’re capable of! If you feel like a job is not going to satisfy your ultimate need of self actualization, don’t accept the position (unless you sense that the job will ultimately lead you to this state). You NEED to find out during the interview if this job is right for YOU.
Communicate nonverbally. Act interested. Give a firm handshake. Sit up straight in the chair. Make eye contact. Engage yourself with smiles and nods. Take notes. BE CONFIDENT!
Engage the Interviewer. An interview is not designed to be a one sided survey-response session. The purpose is to interact to see if the job is right for you. In order to do this…you must engage the interviewer with specific questions.
Make it a dialogue. Instead of just answering the questions with yes/no answers, show your interviewer you are interested in the job by telling him stories and asking related questions. After all, an interview is a conversation…treat it like one!
Be precise. You can tell an interviewer a story, but make sure it relates to the topic of the interviewers interest. What you don’t want to happen is boast about yourself for 30 minutes and come off as self-centered.
Use a professional strategy. It is important to not let your guard down and become too comfortable with the situation. You should be relaxed and prepared, but make sure you understand that it is a business meeting. Enjoy it, but keep things in perspective.
Understand the question before you respond. It’s okay to ask an interviewer to expand upon what he is asking or even repeat the question so you have time to think. You definitely don’t want to answer a question from the wrong perspective. Ask!
Stay calm. There may be times in the interview when your interviewer may test your patience or say something that you don’t agree with. In these instances, don’t overreact…think it through and respond calm and collected. This may be a role-play for what you may expect in the job.
Get the FULL picture. If you are going to take the job, you need to know the entire scope of the position. Don’t make assumptions about what the job is like. Ask about the work environment, colleagues, pay, working hours, and the specific job description. Take ownership in the opportunity!

Alright, so now that I gave you ten tips to help you dominate your interview, you may be asking how YOU personally can apply them and translate my advice into successful confidence. I have just the solution for you! On November 4, during the Clemson University Networkbash!, there will be a “pitch” crafting session, specifically designed for students to tailor their personal pitch into a professional self-summary introduction. Many students have the knowledge it takes to “pass” an interview, but lack the ability to successfully communicate this knowledge to employers. By taking advantage of this one-day opportunity, you can gain an edge on your fellow peers (who will also be applying for jobs as your competition) and apply the tips I’ve presented into a practical job-getting strategy! Don’t miss out…

Tyler Morey
NetworkBash Team Member

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So what is this site made of anyways? Thoughts from a site creator with no formal instruction.

The 10 Best Ways to 'Kill' an Interview

What is NetworkBash? Presentation to Clemson’s PRSSA

Clemson’s NetworkBash Overview

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