Inside the Mind of Assessor and Communications Expert Chris Kosovich

Founder and president of Kosovich Media Group, Chris Kosovich has been working on a brand new service and told me this week that he is excited about the effects it can have for business. As I write this he is on his way home from  the Astana Economic Forum in Kazakhstan having given a presentation on how social media benchmarking can be used within the journalism industry to identify the most interactive content...he said that the goals are to identify measurable outcomes in context to help shape more highly engaging content. Can you put that more simply, please Chris?

At Astana, Chris’s talk was for a special segment involving the International Journalism Summit.

I first met Chris on Rhodes Island with Youth Time 2013. He was one of the expert assessors at the summit and is the first person to dance his way into an interview with me by heightening my awareness of him with his moves (he had just swept me onto the dance floor at the time) as well as his intellectual skills. He combines a techie background with communications expertise and has a really good way with Youth Time candidates applying for grants. He mostly reviews projects and has a special interest in internet media ones.

Seeking to help strengthen confidence, Chris makes sure that competitors recognise their strengths and focus on processes. Drawing on his own experience with non profits, he told me that he makes his decisions to grant or not grant awards by asking himself, “Would I fund this project with my own money?”

He helps candidates to balance out their ideas by asking them, “How are you measuring what you are doing? Who are the partners? How are they helping you build your project? How are you leveraging your strengths?”

Chris said that he likes to see the detail of budget proposals, as well as partnership and time schedule definitions.

He revealed that the more mature projects tend to win because “they think about their strengths.”

He supports anxious pitchers by saying, “I’m excited about your passion. I want you to shift your energy to the detail. It’s fun and challenging to be critical, tell me what you think about this?”

 Chris’s winners tend to be more evolved with measurable outcomes, defined times and dates. So this year’s Youth Time candidates, use these tips if you’re being assessed by Chris Kosovich!