About Blogging at Northern Illinois University’s “Digital Days”
Program brings in practitioners from the business world to provide business students with real-world perspectives on digital marketing techniques and job opportunities
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. April 10, 2018 In keeping with its commitment to helping to develop the next generation of PR professionals, Amendola Communications, an award-winning healthcare marketing and public relations agency, today announced that senior account and content director Ken Krause recently was a guest lecturer during Digital Days at Northern Illinois University (NIU).
Krause, an award-winning writer across several disciplines, presented “My Life As A Blogger” to the Marketing 370 class at NIU’s College of Business on the DeKalb campus. It was a homecoming of sorts, as Krause is an NIU graduate, where he majored in speech communications.
Amendola Communications Ken Krause (second from right) is shown here with the class and instructor Mike Nikolich (far right).
The presentation covered two primary areas. One was Krause’s experiences launching and maintaining the award-winning Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog, which is focused on maximizing the experience of playing fastpitch softball for coaches, parents, and players. Life in the Fastpitch Lane is one of the top-rated blogs in its niche. The second was his work for Amendola Communications, creating content for the agency’s healthcare IT (HIT) clients as well as managing the agency’s own blog. The presentation concluded with Ken’s guidance for the students regarding careers in the digital marketing field, aided by input from Jenna Warner, digital communications manager at Amendola Communications.
“We were happy to loan Ken to NIU for the day,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “We’ve always felt a sense of responsibility to help students learn about various aspects of PR and marketing, whether that’s through our Shadow Day program for local high schools, internships for college students, or speaking opportunities such as this one. Ken is a natural teacher, so I’m sure the marketing class learned a lot about blogging and creating content for digital marketing, and had an enjoyable time listening to him.”
NIU Digital Days was created by Mike Nikolich, instructor and director of NIU’s Digital Marketing Program. Before teaching graduate and undergraduate students at NIU, Nikolich spent 30 years as a PR professional, including founding his own agency. The objective of Digital Days is to bring in active professionals across multiple aspects of digital marketing to share their knowledge and experiences, giving students insights into what it’s like to work in the field and help them correlate what they’re learning in class to the real world. It also gives students opportunities to network with the presenters.
“Ken and I have known each other since we were kids,” said Nikolich. “We worked together at several agencies, so I’m very familiar with him as both a writer and presenter. He has done an amazing job of building one of the country’s leading fastpitch softball blogs, and we appreciate him sharing his expertise with the class. I hope to expand Digital Days in the future, and build more ties between NIU and the business world. Ken has a permanent invitation to participate in this event.”
Media Contact: Marcia Rhodes | mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com