Tyler Pisani, 30
Digital audience and engagement manager, The Spokesman-review Spokane, Wash. Education: Grand Canyon University, master of business administration, marketing (currently); Full Sail University, master of arts, public relations; bachelor of science, sports marketing and media
What advice do you have for other young professionals in the news industry?
Get into the meetings. As Lin-manuel Miranda wrote in “Hamilton,” you want to be in the room where it happens. Even if you aren’t contributing to the meeting, the knowledge you can gain by simply being in the room will become invaluable to your success moving forward. Being in the meeting room as stakeholders and decision-makers are actually making decisions, helps you understand the thought process and reasoning behind their choices and will help you become better prepared to provide input in future decisions. These meetings will also help you understand how your work is viewed by other departments or how you can assist with weaknesses in areas that are outside of your typical purview.
What current digital trends should our industry pay close attention to?
Every generation approaches and consumes technology differently, so each generation needs to be approached in different ways. The content that will appeal to a millennial, like myself, is completely different than the content that will appeal to my parents or even my bosses. This is not just true of content, but of presentation as well. A physical paper or replica of such may work for an older audience who is used to reading a curated format, but millennials like information in bite-sized pieces of news and entertainment, as evidenced by the success of Tiktok, Instagram and Snapchat. A younger, more digitally focused audience wants to consume information in a variety of ways like quick-hit newsletters, podcasts, videos and experiences. The growing number of social media platforms outside of Facebook and Twitter have become de-facto news and entertainment sources for the younger audience. Publishers should work to find ways to speak to these audiences in the spaces that the audience already exists.