Media Events

Breaking into the literary dream that is New York magazine means you’ve got to offer something new, an interesting angle or exclusive access into a little-known subcultural scene in the city (or anywhere else in the world).

“A freelance pitch that provides unusual insight and access into a slightly more hidden world or scene has a better chance of becoming a story here,” said editorial director Jared Hohlt in How To Pitch: New York. ”Features that trend to get approved are narrative-focused and designed to engage the reader in good old fashioned storytelling.”

David Haskell, the magazine’s feature editor, agrees — but he needs more than just a good anecdote.

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Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

Our “Meet The Teachers” soiree at Stone Creek Bar & Lounge last night brought a rare opportunity for our students (past, present and future) to mingle with the fantastic mediabistro.com professors.

New and returning students had 24 courses to choose from, like the Stiletto Boot Camp — an online workshop on writing for women’s magazines. Instructor and freelancer Cara Birmbaum shares what she’s learned from writing for Vogue, Elle, Glamour and more. “It’s fast-paced, which is the appeal of this course. It’s a very efficient.”

And don’t feel like after the course ends that your teachers won’t want to keep in touch. ”A lot of the students followed up with us,” says Jessica Kleiman, this year’s keynote speaker at our Job Search Boot Camp. “Which was great! They really connected during the Boot Camp.”

For students like Luz Barbosa, it was enough just having the opportunity to improve with the help of an attentive teacher. ”My instructor was very knowledgeable and helped us understand. He was patient and answered questions thoroughly, said the communications consultant. “For me, it was worth taking the course.”

Missed the chance to get some face-time with the instructors? Then check out tonight’s online Meet the Teachers event! It takes place from 5-6 pm ET. Don’t forget to sign up here, and check out our full course list.

More pictures after the jump! Read more

Our year-end HR breakfast was a rousing success. HR pros from almost 50 media companies including BET, Disney and UrbanDaddy spent Tuesday morning squeezing in an extra two hours of mingling and networking before heading back to the office.

mediabistro.com held the festive gathering to round out another successful year and to thank those who continue to post on our ever-growing job board. Recruiting experts shared their tips while Resto dished out Eggs Benedict and bottomless pastry baskets. And some even got their own mini Elevator Pitch moment rubbing elbows with WebMediaBrands CEO Alan Meckler.

For the past two days, mediabistro has been conducting the Publishing App Expo, featuring discussions on everything and anything app. Yesterday alone there were talks on building apps, setting budgets, if the Kindle Fire was a good thing for publishers and much more. Some of the panel members included Alex Souza, founder of Kwiksher, Jordan Stolper, CEO of StoryDesk, Paul Canetti, Co-Founder of MagAppZine and Debbie Weil, Founder and CEO of Voxie Media.

One of the talks earlier today centered on business models for apps, and among the speakers was Craig Ettinger (pictured, far right), General Manager for Time.com. Along with other members of the panel, Ettinger offered words of wisdom on subscription methods and how to make an app work within a publisher’s business plan. Afterward he took some time to speak to mediabistro’s Publishing Editor Jason Boog.

During their talk, Ettinger said that it’s important for publishers to design for the tablet experience. He said magazines should use the platform to create something new. Ettinger also shared some advice for journalists who want to create an app, but don’t have the backing of a major publisher. What are those tips? Well, you’ll have to check back next week for the full interview.

The first thing you need to understand when discussing the Condé Nast luncheon yesterday is that it was just a lunch. Luncheon is just a rich person word for lunch. With that out of the way, let’s get to some of the more notable moments from the meal at the Four Seasons.

The New York Post reports that everyone was in pretty good spirits. Charles Townsend, the CEO of Condé, said, “We had a very good year — up in high single digits,” and said the company’s digital business was doing well.  Si Newhouse was sitting at a table with Scott Dadich, David Remnick, Brandon Holley and a few others. This seating arrangement can mean something or nothing. Feel free to pick one and spread those thoughts to everyone you know.

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This week Bon Appétit opened the BA Kitchen — an entertaining space to put it lightly, an insanely awesome kitchen, to put it correctly — in the Condé Nast building. Pamela Drucker Mann, the Vice President and Publisher of Bon Appétit, commented that the BA Kitchen is simply matching the food fury consuming the world right now. “No longer is food a discussion contained within a small group,” she said. “It is a major lifestyle.”

Chefs Tom Colicchio, Eric Ripert, and Marcus Samuelsson all contributed ideas for the creation of BA Kitchen, and the launch party featured “Quest Loves Food,” a new line of food from The Roots’ drummer, Questlove, and celebrities like Zoe Kravitz, Penn Badgley, Wyatt Cenac, Solange Knowles and Olivia Munn.

But enough talk, right? Here are some pictures. Enjoy.

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If anyone happens to find themselves in the Harvard area with nothing to do this afternoon, you should not miss this: Gay Talese and Chris Jones are going to be speaking about narrative journalism. The free event begins at 2:00 pm, and is being held at Boylston Hall in Fong Auditorium.

We’d love to go; they are two excellent writers. Here is some more information about the lecture.

Monami Entertainment and Bartenura Wines hosted a private dinner and screening for Season 2 of VH1′s Love & Hip Hop at Pranna restaurant Friday, and mediabistro.com was there as cast members Jim Jones, Chrissy Lampkin, Olivia Longott and Rich Dollaz fielded questions about life in front of the cameras.

The elephant(s) in the room? Will there be a wedding this season, and what the hell happened to make Chrissy attack new cast member Kimbella in the very first episode? Well, Chrissy was sporting a very large rock on her left hand during the event. (“What ring?” she said, turning the bauble away from the crowd when a reporter asked about it. “Watch the show,” replied Jim.)

And, as for that knock-down stomping she gave Kimbella (seriously, she sent the poor girl flying off her chair and then proceeded to kick her in the face), Lampkin says she had merely acted in the moment to defend her friend and cast mate Emily Bustamante. “It happened and I’m over it,” she said.

Peep more pictures after the jump, and tune in to VH1 tonight at 9 p.m. ET for Season 2 of Love & Hip-Hop. Read more

WeTV hosted a premiere party for its hit reality show Braxton Family Values at Tribeca Grand Tuesday. mediabistro.com was invited along with other members of the press to screen the first episode and attend a Q&A with the singing sisters. While Toni Braxton was notably absent, Traci, Towanda, Trina, Tamar and mom Evelyn more than made up for it with their usual candor.

Although the cast is still filming the final episodes, the show kicks off this Thursday, November 10. Here’s what you can expect this season along with more photos from the event:

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Top movers and shakers of the wedding industry kicked off the week by rubbing elbows with the lifestyle and cooking tycoon at the 10th Annual Martha Stewart Weddings Bridal Market Party. Guests had plenty to do with the 18 vendor booths set up all around the event space created in MSLO’s Chelsea headquarters. Make up by Vênsette, manicures by Essie, henna by Henna Studio and eyelashes by Paul Labrecque helped attendees touch up their already fabulous looks, while the candy buffet, wines and cupcakes by Edible Artistry, Creme-Delicious and Cake Power continued to fuel their energy throughout the night. Guests grooved to the live band provided by Elan Artists.

Behind the scenes tours of the editorial offices were given every half hour, and the guests also got a sneak peek at the publication’s test kitchen, personally presented by the food editors themselves. To top it off, a photo booth and flip book station gave guests something to upload to Facebook.

Among the sparkling crowd were celebrity wedding and event planner Colin Cowie, Randy Fenoli from Say Yes to the Dress, celebrity wedding designer and planner David Stark, Reem Acra, Amsale Aberra, Lela Rose and Darcy Miller, editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings. Check out more pics from the event after the jump.

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