Doesn’t it seem like you spend more time setting functions, turning them on and off, managing e-mail and notifications and blocking, deleting and relentlessly scrolling, sizing and filing with your finger? Taming technology to work for you, as against passively letting assets become liabilities that overwhelm, is often tedious, draining and time-consuming.
Balancing, integrating and making the best of today’s personal tech demands is the focus of my all-new summer course on social media. Among the lessons: safeguarding your reputation, managing expectations and posting pictures into their proper context. The course premise is to leverage social media to advance one’s self-interest.
Register Now
The 4-part series, Maximizing Social Media, runs from 6PM, Monday, June 5th through July 10th at Burbank Adult School’s San Fernando Valley campus near Bob Hope Airport. Though I can’t guarantee that your time spent using technology under certain conditions for certain purposes will immediately make you feel more fabulous than frustrated, I’m confident that you’ll have a better grasp of social media and, should you choose to use my lessons, look forward to your social media time and gain compounding value from it.
Maximizing Social Media is a concise, intensive course covering essential media management principles. These include how to make and cultivate an enduring, rewarding social network. Each class features visual displays or demonstrations, as well as opportunities for personal instruction and highlighted screenshots of social media sites, tools and apps. Register online for Maximizing Social Media here. I also teach a 6-part Writing Boot Camp this summer at the same campus.
Having recently finished teaching spring’s course on writing, the reviews are very gratifying. The class included adults who work and write as actors, lawyers and insurance agents as well as teachers, published writers, stand-up comedians, first-time novelists, studio script readers and others. The spring class gave me the best reviews yet.
I’m preparing six new summer lessons in my Writing Boot Camp, which begins at 6PM on Thursday, June 1st.
Register Now
This is an immersive and detailed study of the writing process in a progression of six steps. Students read their writing aloud in a structured, collaborative and purposeful classroom setting. I read and evaluate each student’s writing, providing thoughts, notes and feedback. Additionally, each student who completes my Writing Boot Camp gains admission to my closed writing group on Facebook, which is made for networking and sharing leads to publishing and production opportunities, resources and related events such as the LA Times Festival of Books and TCM Classic Film Festival.
The lecture-based course, with slide presentations, Q&A and writing assignments, takes place in a bright, intimate classroom at the Henry Mingay campus of Burbank Adult School in LA’s San Fernando Valley near Bob Hope Airport. Register online for Writing Boot Camp here. This summer, I also offer a new, four-part course titled Maximizing Social Media (details and registration are here).
Teaching continues this summer in Southern California. My six-week, general adult education Writing Boot Camp runs in night school. A new four-part course addresses today’s social media demands, such as building and safeguarding one’s reputation and putting pictures into a proper context, and using social media to advance one’s self-interest.
Register Now
The new series, Maximizing Social Media, and Writing Boot Camp, go from June to July in LA’s San Fernando Valley at the Henry Mingay adult education campus near Bob Hope Airport in Burbank (register online for Writing Boot Camp here and Maximizing Social Media here).
Maximizing Social Media is an intensive, all-new short course covering the essential principles of media management, including creating and cultivating your social network for maximum and premium value. Classes feature demonstrations, tutorials and screenshots of various social media apps and sites.
Register Now
Writing Boot Camp is an immersive study of the writing process in a certain progression of six steps. Students read what they write aloud in a collaborative, structured and purposeful classroom setting and each student’s writing is evaluated by yours truly with detailed notes and feedback. Each student who finishes either course is invited to join my new, closed adult education alumni groups on Facebook for networking and information about creative opportunities and resources and creative events such as the LA Times Festival of Books and TCM Classic Film Festival.
Additionally, and for the first time, I’m planning to teach seniors at Burbank’s Joslyn Adult Center. The city’s parks and recreation department asked me to build a media program on Mastering Social Media to help active older adults engage family, work and life. The three-part program includes: “Introducing Social Media” on June 7; “Understanding Social Media” on June 21 and “Activating Social Media” on June 28.
Joslyn Adult Center in Burbank, California
The first 90-minute workshop provides seniors—a segment of the population which I think is widely misunderstood and underestimated—with an orientation in social media essentials. The second session examines functionality on such apps and sites as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. The third and final workshop offers an opportunity for demonstration and personal instruction on social media accounts. Each session takes place at Joslyn Adult Center. To register, call (818) 238-5353. The Joslyn Adult Center, located in Burbank’s George Izay Park, is named for businessman Marcellus Joslyn, whose foundation funded its construction and capital projects.
Teaching adults, especially older adults—though young adults frequently enroll, too—is immensely rewarding. Writing is inherently introspective and solitary. The classroom is a wonderful place to instill, renew and affirm one’s lifelong contract to learn. Teaching what I know to some of LA‘s most engaged, productive and knowledgeable minds—mostly middle class working adults—is constantly enriching. Besides managing social media and various screenwriting, journalism and enterprise projects, I’ve enrolled as a student myself this summer in Turner Classic Movies’ online educational partnership with Ball State to study Alfred Hitchcock films. I also plan to attend Pittsburgh’s first Objectivist Conference.
Lessons for 10 Mondays and Tuesdays start next month in LA. All-new courses in writing and media include tutorials, exercises and extensive feedback. Classes are held on campus at Burbank Adult School.
Seating is limited and classes are filling up, so, if you’re located in Los Angeles and you’re interested, register soon (I’ve added registration links in this post). Last week, I gave a series of social media workshops which I’d developed with the district’s adult ed director, Emilio Urioste, for adult educational faculty and it was extremely helpful in pinpointing the challenges of providing a meaningful education to adults on so-called soft skills.
Media workshop | Burbank Public Library
Teaching LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter through a combination of data gathering, instruction and demonstration by screenshots helps me understand how today’s adults abuse, misuse and use social media. I’ve been offering guidance, including social media management for businesses and talent, in this new and rapidly changing media since 2012.
A class last summer, pictured here, helped me to identify certain problems people face, such as fear and fatigue of technology, introversion, low self-esteem and self-awareness and a tendency to minimize the impact and dumbing down of the onslaught of technology and media advancement upon on one’s own habits, work and life. My course on social media acts to remedy these deficits.
According to Larry, one of my recent students, who offered to recommend my work on LinkedIn:
Scott Holleran’s All About Social Media focuses on far more than the specific (and often spectacularly annoying) technical details of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more; rather, it focuses on how each individual can (and, in this day and age, must) tailor his/her use of digital media based on specific needs, goals, preferences and temperament. He stresses that one must first look inward before contributing to, and thereby shaping, their byte-sized slices of cyberspace.”
Register now
The All About Social Media course, which starts on February 27, is relatively small (these classes are intimate), allowing me to give individual attention with emphasis on how to improve what you produce or want to produce. Students listen, read, write, discuss and explore. Toward the end of the course, there’s an assignment to cash in on the whole course, which tests one’s ability to integrate one’s thoughts and goals with social communication and provides something of a springboard to capitalize, monetize and maximize social media using the new knowledge. Register for All About Social Media.
My all-new Writing Boot Camp also entails introspection. Through slide show presentations, with a relaxed, informal approach to question and answer, and rigorous discourse, reading aloud and writing exercises, writing is divided into steps, from what I call the pre-writing phase to post-completion of the first draft. Writing Boot Camp includes spot and assigned writing. Topics include identifying one’s habits, using resources and achieving the proper immersion in writing as an art and as a science.
Lee
The 10-week series is based on what I’ve learned during my career. So the course is grounded in my professional writing and I try to add to the classroom experience whenever possible. For instance, last semester’s Writing Boot Camp included a visit from a guest speaker, children’s author Lee Wardlaw, a Santa Barbara, Calif., writer who spoke about writing, editing and publishing.
Professional actors, comedians, poets, screenwriters, authors and anyone seeking to achieve clarity in writing. My students work as entertainment industry executives, songwriters, police officers, lawyers, teachers and entrepreneurs. Some attend for general education and practice. Others seek to refuel through an encouraging immersion in the art and business of storytelling. Writing Boot Camp starts on February 28.
Both courses are held at the Henry Mingay campus near Bob Hope Airport. If unable to attend, I may be able to help by appointment, video or telephone. Contact me for details.
This week’s job skills workshop, covering writing the perfect resume and cover letter and mastering the job interview, will be held in the auditorium at Burbank Unified’s adult school campus near Bob Hope Airport at 10:00 am this Friday, August 26. I’m excited to teach this new class, which the director asked me to create to help people find rewarding work.
The theme of this 90-minute class is that looking for work in today’s market requires explicit assessment, awareness and positive assertion of one’s record, experience and philosophy of work.
Social media workshop 8/16 | Burbank Public Library | Photo by Jeffrey Falk
Feedback from Monday’s workshop in social media, which I delivered in downtown Burbank, was constructive. One of my students suggested adding thematic detail to title slides, a good suggestion which I plan to incorporate, and I’m told that the LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter screenshots were helpful. Attendance at the Burbank Public Library-sponsored event exceeded my expectations and audience questions were sharp, serious and insightful.
This area north of Los Angeles is a diverse economic mix of artists, entrepreneurs, professionals and crew that represents the Southern California industrial blend of media, movies, technology, retail and manufacturing. I covered a wide scope of functions and editorial best practices in major social media and I was impressed by how attentive and knowledgeable today’s readers and communicators are about the nuances, details and complications of branding one’s presence on social media.
Social media workshop 8/16 | Burbank Public Library | Photo by Jeffrey Falk
I plan to add aspects of this class to this fall’s 10-week course on social media, which starts on September 12 (follow this fall’s All About Social Media on Facebook here). Space is limited, so if you’re in Southern California, sign up because the course is filling up. The new fall course includes live demonstrations and tutorials in social media. Computer laboratory instruction for each student’s social media profile(s) is an optional part of the fall program this semester, too, so expect to get individual attention with emphasis on how to improve what you’ve made or want to make. Look for updated lessons based on the newest trends, tools and failures, including experience from my projects, campaigns and branding. From Joss Whedon quitting Twitter after negative reviews for Tomorrowland to Brian Williams losing his stature and Robin Williams‘ daughter Zelda Williams reclaiming social media as her own domain, my course covers today’s terrain.
This course is an editorial orientation. In other words, this is not a course on every detail or feature of Instagram, Twitter or YouTube. My approach instructs the student in how to engage social media based on one’s goals, values and self-interest while exploring certain uses, tools and functions.
Touch/Click to Register
The same premise goes for my fall 2016 Writing Boot Camp, which breaks writing into progressive steps, from before writing begins to after completion of the first draft. Writing Boot Camp includes spot and assigned writing and notes. Course subjects include habits, resources and immersion in writing as an art and as a science.
Selecting the format, designating the topic and formulating a theme are studied and both writing and editing are practiced, both one on one as well as in collaboration with other students in class. Students are asked to read aloud. The 10-week series is based on what I have learned and fundamentally grounded in my professional writing background. I am enthusiastic about Writing Boot Camp. I plan to introduce the course’s first guest speaker, a published author of dozens of books, this coming fall, too.
Who enrolls in an adult writing course? Poets, screenwriters, published authors and anyone seeking to achieve clarity in writing. Students are entertainment industry executives, songwriters, police officers, lawyers, teachers and entrepreneurs. Certain students attend for general knowledge and practice in a disciplined approach. Others seek to refuel the creative supply through my encouraging immersion in the art and business of storytelling.
Writing Boot Camp starts on September 15. Both courses are held at Burbank Adult School near Bob Hope Airport. However, if you’re unable to attend and you want help, I am available by appointment, video or telephone. Contact me for details.
Here’s a roundup of my new communications studies this summer and fall.
Breaking writing into progressive steps, from before the writing begins to after you’ve completed the first draft, whether a screenplay, manuscript or blog post, Writing Boot Camp features assigned and spot writing opportunities and my detailed feedback. Course topics include pre-writing habits, tips, tools and resources and immersion in writing as an art and science. I instruct in selecting the format, designating a topic and formulating the theme of what you aim to write. Writing and editing are studied, examined and practiced, both one on one as well as in collaboration with the class. Students are tasked with active thinking, writing and reading aloud. So, it’s called boot camp for a reason. I introduced the course last year after creating a 90-minute workshop on assignment and, while it is structured based on what I have learned in classes I’ve attended, the course is proprietary and fundamentally grounded in my own professional writing experience. I’m enthusiastic about the new material and I hope to have my first guest instructor, a published author of dozens of books, this coming semester. I plan to expand Writing Boot Camp in the future (follow the fall course on Facebook here).
Touch/Click to Register
Who takes the adult education course? Everyone from screenwriters, poets and published authors to police officers trying to improve clarity in reports and lawyers, doctors and other professionals. Past students include songwriters, teachers and entrepreneurs, also a studio executive in charge of writing talent, a social media manager aiming to improve his storytelling and a celebrity actor’s manager seeking to better ascertain quality scripts. Some students come for acquiring knowledge and practice in a disciplined approach. Others seek to replenish a creative supply through immersion with other writers in an encouraging, guided environment. Register for this fall’s Writing Boot Camp, which starts on September 15 near Los Angeles, by going to the link included here.
My social media series starts that week, too (follow this fall’s All About Social Media on Facebook here). Space is limited for both of these 10-week courses, so if you’re in Southern California, mark your calendar and sign up soon as enrollment has started and both courses are filling up. Improving the social media course based on student feedback, I make time for new, live demonstrations and tutorials and plans for computer laboratory instruction. I want to include guest instructors for this course, too, and I’ve already updated lessons based on the latest social media trends, tools and failures, including experience from my own client projects, campaigns and branding.
The course remains a general orientation to social media with emphasis on best editorial practices, so I want to be clear that this is not a course on every feature of Instagram or Facebook. This approach leads to interesting exchanges as you can imagine. Students often come expecting me to tell them what to do in each part of the social media experience. But, as advanced users know, you learn by doing, too, and trial and error is integral to mastering new technology. Also, the downside of social media stems from plunging in without purpose, direction or clarity in one’s highest goals, which feeds drift, distraction and aimlessness. So, I’m careful to instruct students in how to guide social media based on their own decisions while pointing to certain uses and specific features. Past students include adults who want to know more about this amorphous new industry, from filmmakers and artists seeking a better grasp of distribution means to grandparents, activists and merchants seeking to better connect, persuade and cash in. To register for All About Social Media go here.
Touch/click for details of “Making Sense of Social Media”
Additionally, I’ve been asked to help individuals who are looking for work, so I’ve created a new 90-minute workshop on writing the resume and mastering the job interview. This one-time class is scheduled at the adult school for August 26 and it’s free to the public (details below). So is another one-time 90-minute class I’m giving on social media in downtown Burbank on the upsides and downsides of social media. “Making Sense of Social Media” also examines a range of recent social media examples, trends, success and failure.
Go here for details and here to follow “Making Sense of Social Media” on Facebook.
Jobs, Resume & Interviews
Writing the Resume
Mastering the Job Interview
10am-11:30am | FREE admission
Friday, August 26, 2016 at Burbank Adult School | Call to register: (818) 558-4611
Of course, let me know if you are unable to attend the classes, which are offered in downtown Burbank at the library and at the Henry Mingay campus of Burbank Adult School near Bob Hope Airport. Otherwise, if you want help, I can probably work with you remotely or meet if you’re in LA. Contact me to schedule a private session. Follow my events on Facebook and feel free to connect and follow on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
I write fiction and non-fiction. Read my blog at left for informal posts on news, ideas and the culture. I am available for contracting, so if you're interested, please start here.
I welcome feedback. To let me know your thoughts, please feel free to contact me.
