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When Sam Oches began working as a journalist, he introduced a pen and notepad to cowl occasions. Now, he additionally brings a digicam and microphone.
A lot has modified in media for the reason that early 2000s, together with the instruments he makes use of to do his job, however Oches’ love for storytelling has not.
“I bought a hard-knock schooling on what this restaurant trade is all about,” he says. After 15 years, he feels robust delight within the trade he has lined for a lot of his skilled life. “That is my trade. I do not really feel like I am a journalist. I really feel like I am a restaurateur. I simply occur to be within the media a part of it.”
On this interview reside from the 2024 Nationwide Restaurant Present in Chicago, the editorial director at Informa Connect’s Restaurant & Food Group shared insights into digital media’s position within the restaurant trade.
Podcasting, social media and different types of digital content material have exploded over time since Oches was a cub reporter.
At the latest Nationwide Restaurant Present, he helped produce podcast interviews, movies and extra digital content material to inform a well-rounded story concerning the massively fashionable annual occasion and the trade leaders who attend it.
“It is an unimaginable alternative to inform tales in the best way folks need to obtain tales,” Oches says about placing out new media like podcasts as a substitute of simply conventional articles and photographs.
“Immediately’s Gen Z is tomorrow’s CEO,” he says. “The CEO is our core reader. If we’re not adapting to their needs and wishes, we’ll be irrelevant.”
Launching a brand new podcast community
As the biggest occasion administration firm on the earth, Informa Join has turn out to be a associate for main trade occasions, such because the National Restaurant Show.
With this partnership, Informa’s experience permits for the execution of large-scale occasions, offering the restaurant trade with sources and alternatives for progress. Informa’s attain extends past occasions, encompassing a sturdy media presence with a number of publications devoted to meals service, reinforcing its position as a cornerstone of trade data and networking.
Along with his editorial duties, Oches and Informa are main a brand new initiative: making a podcast community beneath the Informa Join foodservice vertical.
This community will deliver collectively a group of podcasts, together with Oches’ personal Take-Away with Sam Oches, by which he interviews restaurant decision-makers, from unbiased operators to huge chain executives. It should additionally characteristic Extra Serving, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast the place Oches and his group focus on trade traits, and different reveals like RB Every day from Restaurant Business, which has been renamed Restaurant Daily.
Oches additionally stated they will roll out a joint podcast community of about 10 reveals. This podcast community will function a complete useful resource for trade professionals, providing numerous insights and discussions on the latest trends and challenges within the restaurant world.
“This is content material that may assist you do your corporation higher,” Oches says. “We need to inform them. We need to educate them and have interaction them. That is what we’re at all times speaking about.”
Concerning social media, Oches has discovered a distinct segment on LinkedIn, the place he actively engages with the neighborhood via each day posts, typically incorporating video content material.
“I feel [LinkedIn video] is the fastest-growing multimedia on the market proper now,” he says. “I am making an attempt to determine what that appears like for me, what sort of video, and what worth I present on LinkedIn.”
Oches additionally makes use of LinkedIn to spotlight his group’s work, showcasing tales and views that resonate with the trade.
Though he not writes as often as he used to, Oches stays dedicated to selling his colleagues’ work. He understands that social media is about sharing content material and offering private insights and views that interact the viewers.
“I’ve a tremendous group,” he says. “They’re all higher than me, so I simply allow them to do it. I am pleased to do all the opposite issues that I do, and I need to share my group stuff as a result of it is essential to me to spotlight them.”
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