Bulletin to ThinkTech Hosts - Week of July 31, 2022

Dear ThinkTech Hosts:

Host Bulletin, Week of July 31, 2022

Binge ThinkTech

Starting Sunday, July 17, ThinkTech introduced its new binge-worthy event “Our Special Sunday Collection” featuring shows covering a unique topic of the week. Shows are selected from our videos over the past nine years (including our very first videos), airing 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Last week's theme was the crisis in Ukraine, and this week's theme is gun violence and policy. See our Stories of ThinkTech post for more information. Enjoy!

Weekly Advisories

Our Weekly Advisories are now published on Mondays, the same day that we broadcast the Top Five and Staff Pick of the week. The broadcast times are listed in the ThinkTech Daily. We strive to celebrate the Top Five and Staff Pick winners and showcase their shows through the broadcast day on Mondays.

Virtual Backgrounds

When you don't have a green screen, virtual backgrounds don't work at all - they result in distracting artifacts around your head and shoulders. If you do have a green screen, you should wear clothing that distinguishes you from the background, and avoid white or seersucker clothing. Ideally, please use the Blur function in the Virtual Backgrounds video settings in Zoom. Blur will help us achieve better and more consistent video quality. In any event, please refrain from leaning back and forth or swiveling in your chair during the show - this also creates distracting artifacts. Note that changing your proximity to the mic will mess up your audio signal.

Vocabulary

When using acronyms, terms of art, or important names -- "collective bargaining”, “HPU” (Hawaii Pacific University) and "Sidney Powell", for example -- take a moment to define and explain them to your viewers, or ask your guest to do so. The host should represent and address the curiosity of the average viewer, who may not be familiar with your subject. Make sure we don't lose or confuse them with jargon. Science@SOEST excelled in this.

Promotion Tip

Use our resources! ThinkTechHawaii.com is our most valuable resource and is full of information about our platforms and productions. You can send prospective guests a link to our Hosts page, Press Kit, About ThinkTech, and A Brief History of ThinkTech to let them know more about you and about ThinkTech. You might also let them know that if they appear on your show, they may be eligible to run for Distinguished Guest.

Questions, please contact hayley@thinktechhawaii.com.

Bulletin to ThinkTech Hosts - Week of July 24, 2022

Dear ThinkTech Hosts:

Host Bulletin, Week of July 24, 2022

Live to Playlist

Thanks for making our transition to the Live to Playlist system a big success! With this system, we will improve production values and provide more punctual starting times. And now it's easier to see yourself on the air - just watch your episode when it premieres the next day. This will help you review and improve your style. Note also that with LTP you should avoid referencing the day or date during your show, because the episode is aired the following day.

Contact Info

If you want viewers to be able to contact you after a show, we can display your email address and/or phone number on screen. This could be helpful since we no longer accept questions on air. Just add the contact info in the Website to Display field on our Show Information Form.

News Hook

After a brief introduction of the subject and guests in the show, you should ask your first question. This question should include a "news hook," that is, a reference connecting the scope or guests to something in the news. You only have a few seconds to grab the viewer's attention, so get to it right away. Also, make sure to include the subject of your show in your episode title, and include words that viewers are likely to search for. An episode about the Ukraine invasion should have "Ukraine" in the title. To stimulate out-of-the-box discussions, ask thought-provoking, hard-hitting questions. For example, "why would X union want to endorse you," is more interesting than "did X union endorse you." Ask yourself, if you are only asking soft-ball questions, are you actually "raising public awareness"?

Promotion Tip

Remind your guests that they can help promote the shows you do with them. Ask them to share the links we send them after the show, using their email, text messages and social media. The best result is when you promote them, and they promote you.

Questions, please contact hayley@thinktechhawaii.com.

Bulletin to ThinkTech Hosts - Week of July 17, 2022

Dear ThinkTech Hosts:

Host Bulletin, Week of July 17, 2022

Live to Playlist

Reminder: our Live to Playlist (LTP) system starts tomorrow, June 18. Talk shows we used to play live as they were being taped will instead be played the following day and so on through the week. This will give our engineers time to edit every show for technical issues before they're viewed by the public. As a result, viewers will have a better viewing experience with improved production values and prompt starting times. Click here for more information. Hosts will tape new promos for your shows with updated airdates. 

Distinguished Guest Election/Survey

Last chance to vote! This month's Distinguished Guest election and Current Events Survey ends tomorrow,  July 17. Click here to cast your ballot. Vote only once, but feel free to share the link. The results will be announced in our email advisories on July 20.

New Studio Manager

We're pleased to announce that our broadcast engineer Michael Pangilinan has accepted a full-time position as our Station Manager! Michael Headshot.png He has been working hard on our transition to the LTP system, and he will continue to maintain our broadcasts across platforms. Congratulations, Michael!

Graphics

Please be sure to include a completed permission form when submitting graphics, so make sure to send them in the same email or at the same time. We will not be able to accept late graphics or permission forms; they are due 10 pm HST the night before the show. If you need any help figuring out the form, let me know at hayley@thinktechhawaii.com.

Promotion Tip

Include popular but relevant search keywords in your show information. These draw viewers to your videos by increasing the chances that your video will show up when people search on Google or YouTube. For example, effective keywords for the episode "Covid is Surging in India" would be covid, India, pandemic, variant, mutation, masks, vaccines, surge. 

Questions, please contact hayley@thinktechhawaii.com.