Department-Theme Proposals

January 22, 2007

Each quarter POISEfashion devotes two weeks for content brainstorming in the form of departmental theme proposals and story-specific presentations.

Tonight, the first week of the two, was the chance for POISE staffers to propose their department’s theme ideas for our Spring 2007 issue.

This is how proposals work:

Each department (fashion, health, beauty, entertainment, and life&love) has a week to develop five themes for their section in the upcoming issue. Once they have created five themes, they have to develop broad content ideas for each of their five themes. These broad ideas demonstrate the strengths of their themes by providing possible editorial and visual concepts, and sources to be used.

Once the departments brainstorm and package their ideas, they have 10-15 minutes to verbally and visually pitch them to the entire staff. Whether it is through PowerPoint, appropriate dress, posters, etc., staffers are responsible for effectively selling their content to each other.
It's important that they effectively market their ideas, because the entire staff has the opportunity to ask questions, make comments and suggestions, and offer constructive criticism through a five minute open forum.

After thorough discussion, we vote (as a staff) on the three best themes for each department, which turn into the premise for the upcoming week's content presentations.

As always, the Fashion department started our meeting with their proposal, which was fully equipped with visual aids including a fashionable poster-board, layout ideas, and color palettes.

Check out their proposal outline (below):

Fashion, Spring 2007
Melissa, Jessica, Erin
Theme Proposal

1. How to Wear…
The How to Wear theme will be a guide for readers to try new styles and trends. Every fashion magazine features the newest and edgiest trends that leave the average woman wonder, could I wear that? Each section will guide readers to try the new trends from the runway that will look best on them, and how to coordinate the rest of their appearance around the style. We will offer the confidence necessary to try something new, without going overboard!
Page ideas include: Stripes, Bubble skirts, Metallic clothing and accessories,Sundresses, Layering

2. Dressing Up Spring
When the weather warms up, so do most wardrobes. After the sweaters and winter coats are put away, the spring weather encourages most to dress up their everyday attire after months of bulky layering. Our readers will spend most of winter quarter wearing hooded sweatshirts and not worrying about their appearances as much. This theme will bring them out of the winter blues and show them some quick ways to put a new touch on their appearance.
Page ideas include: Dressing up for class, but not over the top, Day to night wear – simple outfit adjustments, Pairing vintage with high fashion piecesUsing jewelry to perk up an outfit, Improving work-wear

3. Shopping Savvy
When most of us head to the mall or our favorite retailer, we are usually “just looking around” and do not have a shopping plan. This theme will give our readers an agenda to make the most of their shopping trips. By keeping this helpful advice in mind, they will be able to add to their wardrobes without adding much debt.
Page ideas include: Splurge vs. scrimp – knowing which pieces are worth the price, Wardrobe planning – making lists of what you “need” and “want”What to wear when shopping, Salesperson EtiquetteTaking notes – following the sales and learning about fabrics and workmanship

4. Sun Wear
With spring and summer not far away, this also means the sun won’t be far away for long either. Proper clothing and accessories for staying out in the sun could make a difference between a bad sunburn and healthy skin. Our tips will help our readers avoid the harsh consequences of the summer sun.
Page ideas include: Sunglasses, Hats, Sundresses, Beach cover-up, Day to night – when the sun
goes down

5. Funky Florals
After the 80s passed, it seemed floral prints were also out. However, New York Fashion Week proved that florals will be making a comeback this spring with a twist. We will be following designers who will be implementing floral patterns into their designs, and inform readers which affordable retailers will be carrying similar items, as well as show them how to wear it.
Page ideas include: Looking feminine, not girly, New ways to wear floral, Designers with floral collections, Floral apparel in Athens, How to put a twist on an old favorite

Staffers voted to see more of #1 (with elements of #2 incorporated throughout), #3 (presented in an original way - this was done in InStyle last month), and #5.

Health went next, presenting general ideas rather than themes, as health is a theme inside itself. Health's “themes” included “How to combat the common cold,” “Plan B/Birth Control,” “Alternate Forms of Exercise,” “Bad Spring Break Dieting Techniques,” “How to be Healthy on Spring Break,” “Myth v. Fact,” and “Fashions for a Healthy Lifestyle.” We chose to combine elements of “Myth v. Fact” with the health controversies of “Plan B/ Birth Control.”



After Health went Beauty. They created a wonderful PowerPoint presentation, which after much frustration, wasn't workable (due to technical difficulties with the projector). Alanna improvised by drawing content diagrams on the board - not as effective, but we've learned to work with what we can in times of need.



Beauty pitched ideas about “Braving the Weather,” in which different hair-styles and makeup tips for different types of weather would be presented, a “Hair IQ” theme that would provide a pictorial step by step of different hair styles that a lot of people don’t know how to do that have never tried, an exciting “Beauty Spread” that was florally focused, a “Word on the Street” survey of beauty essentials from OU ladies, and a theme that focused on “Getting Ready for Spring/ Summer break.”

The Hair IQ ideas impressed us so much that we wanted to see them as an entire Beauty IQ theme. The Spread was an obvious do.

Entertainment was next, and had the task of presenting the regulars (Eyes Off and the Quarter Calendar) in a new way, along with other original theme ideas, including “Music Features;” “Celebrity Look-a-likes;” “Reviews” of Latitude 39, Noir, Fig Leaf, The Other Place, CDs (March), DVDs (March), Books v. Movies, and/or Outer Glow; summer/spring “Travel;” an interactive Quiz; a survey of “10 Things POISE Couldn’t Live Without This Quarter;” and an introduction to the Creative Writing Contest.

Staffers enjoyed the ideas of reviews, and combined many of the themes together. We also really enjoyed the staff survey. We look forward to next week's in-depth presentations.
Finally, Life&Love presented a new and much improved proposal.

This was the staff's favorite pitch, as it really gets to the point of what POISE is about. We had a tough time eliminating any of the theme ideas because they were all absolutely fabulous. We tweaked them slightly, and came up with the following for next week:

“The New Socialite, which will focus on the fall in popularity of crazy party girls (Paris, Lindsay, etc.) and why the classic POISEd girl never goes out of style.”

“The Game of Life, based on the board game, discusses issues we will be dealing with in the very near future. These are topics that all POISEd girls are already thinking about, or should be. Page ideas include:Financial Know How, Gender Roles, and How to land the internship of your dreams.”
and the final theme was:“The Party Theme incorporates all aspects of love, life and relationship by using a party setting. Everyone loves a good party.”

We have such great content presentations to look forward to. Next week we'll get a deeper look into what POISE will hold next quarter.

Finishing School
Take another look at the proposals, and then look at what we chose.
-What is your favorite theme?
-Did we cut something you would have liked to have seen? What?

Board Meeting

January 12, 2007

Jen and I met for a very professional “Board Meeting” today at Perks. This is our self-proclaimed office, which works out nicely because I love smoothies and pastries, and Jen needs a bit of a pick-me-up between class and practice.

It’s crazy how Jen and I connect when it comes to POISE. We share the same goals, both current and future, and the overall vision of what POISE should be. Of all the staffers, I trust Jen without a doubt to lead POISE in the direction I envisioned two years ago when I started it. I wish she could actually take over for me, but unfortunately, she’s also a junior, which poses a question we talk about frequently: Who will take my place when I graduate next year?

We always discus this with hesitation, as we both have a deep connection to POISE, a connection and enterprise that we hope to continue together after graduation – with the help of my fabulously professional Uncle Mark. Both Jen and I have two very talented ladies in mind. Combined, they form our ideal Editor-in-Chief, as they share both the editorial expertise and leadership capabilities, along with the vision of and passion for POISEfashion. Individually, though, they are simply exceptional staff members, lacking one of the two components needed to carry on the POISE legacy.

“What if we just combine them?” Jen suggested.

After a bit of deliberation, we decided it wouldn’t hurt to try, but, we also decided that before we inform either of our staffers, we want to observe them from an interviewer’s perspective. So over the next few weeks we’ll be taking inventory as to how well they develop content and handle situations. Come mid-term time, we’ll have our answer.

We hope to have a lot accomplished (or at least started) by mid-terms. Our biggest (and what I consider to be the most exciting) venture is to expand the POISEfashion network. This is the first step (of many, I assume) to making POISEfashion a world-wide student-based Webzine, and professional print publication.

Jen and I decided that it would be best to target universities with accredited journalism and/or visual communication schools, as these would be the places students would a.) show the most interest, and b.) need the experience and portfolio opportunities. So we decided our first assignment is to compile a list of accredited comms schools and go from there.

Planning for Spring Training is also another major task we hope to prepare by mid-quarter. Because I'm leaving, I want to make sure that Jen isn't completely overwhelmed with managing POISE, so it's important that we organize next quarter's events. Assignment #2: create a list of workshops, speakers, and activities for Spring Training.

After light planning, we concluded that in order for Spring Training to really be effective, we'd need to make a general style guide for staffers to familiarize themselves with while preparing to work for POISE. We would like this workbook to function like a style-guide/ media kit, which will include our mission statement and dynamic; a general overview of what POISE is, how it started, and what it hopes to provide; editorial formulas and content guidelines; staff responsibilities and standards; and common grammatical mistakes and ethical considerations, among other things. Fortunately, both of us have already begun doing this, as we've spent countless hours planning for a future with POISE, and editing the work of our fellow staffers. Our final assignment is to create a style guide, along with a “how-to” book with examples and helpful tips.

We spent nearly an hour and a half discussing where we'd like to take POISE in the future. We have a ton of work to do, but with the help of one another, and a devoted staff, we're confident that it will be worth it in the end.

We ended our meeting with anticipation of what's to come - especially because our next staff meeting is when each section presents its content proposals for our upcoming issue. The fun (and work) begin from there - the amount of both is up to our staffers.

FINISHING SCHOOL
Jen and I hope to make POISE's network global.
-What do you think would encourage students to start an edition on their campus?
-How do you think we could spread the word about POISE and strengthen its popularity?

Proposals are when our staffers really show us what they're made of.
-If you were a POISEfashion staffer, in which section would you want to propose an idea (fashion; health; beauty; entertainment; life&love)? What would you propose?
-As a POISEfashion reader, what would you like to see in our next issue?