Eric Alkire Visits Student Training Session

Students who attended TeleProductions’ student training on March 6 received professional insights from Eric Alkire, a remote graphics interface coordinator at ESPN.

TeleProductions hosts training every Friday, giving students hands-on experience with video production and high-quality equipment. TeleProductions staff members usually teach training sessions, but Alkire’s visit gave students a glimpse of the television industry outside of the Kent State campus.

Alkire gave students a tour of an ESPN production truck and had a question and answer session with all trainees. Alkire was on campus working on the production of the Kent versus Akron men’s basketball game for ESPN2.

“It was great for the students to get the opportunity to see a large production truck up close and personal,” Josh Tanner, Media Specialist, said. “Not only did they get to take a tour of the truck, they got to see it as the crew was preparing for the evenings game.”  

Alkire has been with ESPN for the past seven years and has worked in the television production industry since 1991, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“The best advice he gave students was to get experience wherever they can… it doesn’t matter if they are pulling cables for ESPN or running camera for our scoreboards, experience and practice matter,” Tanner said.

“Having someone like Eric speak with our student training crew was great,” Mark Warzinski, Production Manager, said. “We really strive to give students as much hands-on experience as they can get while they work for us, so having Alkire reiterate the importance of that experience was definitely a good thing for our students to hear.”

Free student training is hosted every Friday from 2-5p.m. Any inquiries about training can be sent to Mark Warzinski at mwarzins@kent.edu.