Young Professionals of Amherst

Amherst Media hosted an open house for the Young Professionals of Amherst. We had 25 or 30 people who came to mingle and see Amherst Media. We had several displays set up, including some local game developers, a demo using Google Cardboard, and I manned a table for Makers at Amherst Media. The event was catered by Haven Foods which had some really delicious paleo foods laid out.

Toward the end, I was asked to make a few remarks as President of Amherst Media. This is close to what I said:

I'd like to thank the Young Professionals for coming to Amherst Media. It's been a pleasure to have you here.

If Amherst Media were a person, I'm afraid we wouldn't be considered very young. In fact, this is our 40th year as a local media center for Amherst.

Originally, we were Amherst Community Television, but we rebranded as Amherst Media because we've grown beyond just doing television programing with streaming and internet production as well. We have equipment, facilities, training, and other services to help members do all kinds of media production, which I think everyone recognizes is important in today's environment.

Although we may not be young, I'd like to recognize our staff that help add a layer of professionalism to everything our members do. We are a membership organization and I would like to invite you to join.

Amherst Media is a unique place because it's an intersection of the many disparate communities that compose Amherst. If you look at our recent shows they include not only current news, education, politics, and technology — like our Makerspace — but also history, religion, and culture. Everything and everyone in Amherst eventually shows up in Amherst Media.

We invite you to be a part of Amherst Media and take advantage of our staff, our services, and our community. And we thank you again for coming!

I was pleased to show off Amherst Media and our Makers initiative to an interested and receptive audience.