Oct 20 Forum on Content Marketing Features Student Access to Communications Industry Experts

Fairfax, VA, October 13, 2015 --(PR.com)-- Keynote Kathryn McCarthy, Chairman & CEO of ThinkGeek and GeekNet,
Complemented by Panel of Industry Leaders

Focused on the fastest-growing segment of communications today, the Insight Committee of the George Mason University Department of Communication is hosting its 5th annual Communication Forum for students on October 20, 2015: "Content Marketing: The Art of Storytelling Across Media Platforms.” The event is being held from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Johnson Center, Lower Level, DewBerry Hall. Included in the program is a unique opportunity for participating students to rotate to “speed mentors” where they can interact directly with communications professionals.

Associate Professor of Communications Michael Dickerson cites the Columbia Journalism Review definition of content marketing as including “essentially any form of content (a Facebook post, a celebrity Q&A, a feature-length documentary) created on or behalf of a brand with the hope that it will attract an audience on its own merits – as opposed to traditional advertising, which has the far smaller ambition of gaining notice from a captive audience before the ad break ends, or the page gets flipped, and the real content begins.”

Specifics of the program include:

9:30 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. Introductions & Defining Content Marketing
Michael Meyer, senior writer, Columbia Journalism Review

9:50 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Keynote address
Kathryn McCarthy, chairman & CEO, ThinkGeek and GeekNet

10:35 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Panel discussion
Bill Aydelott, director-producer-cameraman, Waverly Motion Pictures, LLC
Gary Goldhammer, storyteller and digital communications strategist, H&K Strategies
Linda Smith, digital marketing strategist, Sage Communications
Kathryn McCarthy, chairman & CEO, ThinkGeek and GeekNet

11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Speed mentoring Q&A session with students

An annual event, the Student/Industry Communications Forum is sponsored by The Insight Committee, a volunteer advisory board to the Communication Department. The committee is comprised of leaders in communication in the Washington, D.C. area and is chaired by Tom Hoog, vice chairman, Hill+Knowlton Strategies.

For more information on the event, contact Mike Dickerson, 571-228-3967.