I will give the second annual  How to Become an Outdoor Communicator Seminar at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center near Mansfield, Georgia, on March 7, 2015.  The even will start at 9:00 AM and formal presentations will conclude at 4:00 PM followed by a question-answer and networking period until 6:00 PM. Among the topics to be covered are newspaper, magazine and book writing-publication; radio broadcasting and PodCast radio; Video and TV production; Social Media, including Twitter, blogging, Pinterest and Facebook; and Lecturing and Performing Stand-Up Comedy. The objective of the Seminar is to demonstrate how outdoor communicators should employ several methods to disseminate information to the widest possible audience.

My intellectual burden is that I have never been satisfied to work in only one media – say newspaper journalism, although that is how I started. I have progressed through all of the things that I have mentioned and produced thousands of news and magazine articles, 18 books, 1.5-years of radio, 400 YouTube videos, commonly posted on Social Media platforms, and delivered numerous lectures and comedy bits for social and industry audiences. The modern consumer audience has become increasingly segmented. Younger media users tend to rely on one or two media types for 70 or more percent of their daily informational intake. To ignore YouTube videos is to block out what is becoming the most commonly used search engine. Any creator of outdoor content needs to be on that platform while not neglecting traditional print media which is still a significant part of modern communications.

It has never been easier to take a picture, but it is as hard as it ever was to take a good picture. It has never been easier to publish a book, or more difficult to sell one. The flood of media being unleashed is enormous and somehow, the important information that you release must rise above the rest.  The first objective is always to produce compelling content. The second is to morph this content into several platforms so that it gains a higher ranking on search engines, reaches a larger audience and provides you with increased opportunities to deliver your message or service.  I do this quite commonly, and I may cover aspects of the same subject material in books, magazine articles, blogs, videos, radio and social media. In narrow topics, this quickly establishes me as the go-to guy for that information. Not only have I written, etc., about it; I have also done my field work and physically demonstrated the item or concept.

Entertainment always has a part in my materials with some pieces being more outrageous than others. Always, I try to put in the unexpected or unusual in what otherwise might be a fairly dry topic. A little performance art does not hurt. Life is full of follies, and I am not reluctant to talk, or write, about mine.  Unusual for business-related seminars, I will be doing some demonstration wild-game cooking during our lunch break. Anyone who wishes may eat, but bring your own drinks or you may go to Mansfield, some 5-miles away and dine there. Regardless, the seminar will resume promptly at 1:00 PM. Many of last year’s attendees thought that this meal was the highlight of the event.

Attendees will also be provided with a detailed workbook of the presentation which will be E-mailed to them prior to the Seminar. Please print out and complete the first sections of it before attending. Do your homework. I will only have a few extra copies at the event for $10 each. The more time you are able to put into the workbook prior to the event, the more you will get out of it.

There will be a $50 charge. This fee is to be paid to the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center. The event will be held in the facilities’ Discovery Center and attendance is limited to 25 participants, so make your reservations early. Rooms are available at the Center, but these also need to be reserved. This facility is somewhat isolated, and is about 40 miles south-east of Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport. The nearest motels are located on I-20, about 20-miles away.

Reservations may be made for the Becoming An Outdoor Communicator Seminar by Wm. Hovey Smith on March 7 by calling  (770) 784-3059   or E-mailing Amber.Mooney@dnr.state.ga.us.

For more information on the Center and their activities go to:  http://www.charlieelliott.org

Or look for them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/charlieelliottwildlifecenter

The Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center

543 Elliott Trail

Mansfield, Georgia 30055                                                                        .