The vice president of talent development and outreach at Nickelodeon, Karen Kirkland, spoke with Oswego State students on Sept. 29 about being a successful writer.

Kirkland told students they need to put in the work and not waste time when it comes to networking. She said students never know where they are going to end up and making connections with everyone will be beneficial.

“Time is your most valuable non-renewable resource,” Kirkland said. “You will not get it back. Do it today or it is gone.”

Kirkland discussed the importance of networking and keeping a strong relationship with contacts students make. She walked students through how they should keep in contact with professionals they meet.

“You’ve got to get out there,” Kirkland said. “Put yourself out there. Establish that connection when you network and make sure you nurture and maintain that connection.”

Kirkland stressed the importance of preparing for everything, even if it is just getting coffee. She told the audience to come to every meeting with between five and 10 questions that will help push their career forward.

“With those 10 questions, you should narrow it down to your top three,” Kirkland said. “Tell yourself, ‘If I never see this person again, I would want these three questions answered.’ All of the questions need to help push your career forward in some way.”

Kirkland gave audience members homework to be completed within one week of the discussion. They had to email Kirkland and establish some sort of connection with her and work to maintain the relationship. Audience members were told to stay in contact with Kirkland through her Twitter, in addition to her email. Kirkland said she tweets every day about her travels and often tweets tips for writers.

When Kirkland spoke at Oswego State last year, she gave students the same homework. She said that nobody did their homework last year, but that she is determined to make sure everyone contacts her this year.

Kirkland said that by maintaining connections and doing that work, breaking into the business should be easy.

“How to break into the business, it is not hard,” Kirkland said. “The problem is you won’t do the work.”

Kirkland had everyone in the audience write their own pitch. She said the goal of the two-minute pitch is to tell potential employers a little bit about themselves, what they want to do and why they want to do it. Multiple students stood in front of the audience, giving their personal pitch and Kirkland critiqued each one.

“I learned so much when she had people give their personal pitches in front of everyone,” sophomore Ryan Cobane said. “As nerve wracking as it probably was for them, it gave everyone else examples of what to say and what not to say.”

Kirkland is one of the speakers traveling to Oswego State from around the country to speak as part of the Living Writers Series.

“During her time at Nickelodeon, Kirkland has expanded the writing program’s efforts worldwide,” professor Juliet Giglio said. “[She] has helped launch the careers of many creative and successful visionaries.” 

Kirkland helped launch the career of the creators of Nickelodeon’s top-rated live action show for kids, “Bella and the Bulldogs.”

Kirkland is the vice president of talent and development and is in charge of identifying, developing and staffing writers onto Nickelodeon network productions. She has spent the last 11 years helping launch careers of aspiring writers.

“Just because you make a decision today doesn’t mean you’re going to do that for the rest of your life,” Kirkland said. “This is a race, that finish line is not going to move closer to you, so you have to move closer to it. That’s why I am here urging you to do this. I don’t care if you crawl on your hands and knees, just move.”