Sport Communication Spotlight: Everett Delorme
I first met Everett at Madawaska Camps as campers in high school. A former OVA club and Algonquin Thunder player, Everett spends his time in Toronto attending Ryerson University and coaching at both George Brown College and the Toronto Pheonix volleyball club. He is one of the top contributors to Canada's national volleyball magazine (named aptly, Volleyball Magazine), and sat down with Lancer MVBlog for a look into his start in the sport communications industry.
Lancer Men's Volleyball Blog: How did you get involved writing for Volleyball Source Magazine (VSM)? Is this your first experience (or elaborate on your first experience) working in the sport communications industry?
Everett Delorme: I’ll answer these two questions together. I started working in the sport communications industry when I was working at Volleyball Canada. I had originally been hired as just a general aid for all the events they were running, and was pretty much only hired because I was bilingual. Since I was the only person who knew how to run Facebook and Twitter and I was able to write in both languages, I was put in charge of all social media. I gradually took on roles like writing press releases and one-pagers, and by the end of the summer, I was running all communications for VC. Volleyball Source is mostly paid for by VC, so I already had the relationship. It was also a slight factor in my moving to Toronto, knowing that if I was living here, I would be able to have a major role in the magazine.
Lancer MVBlog: What is your exact role at VSM?
Everett: I’m the primer writer for the website, I write for the magazine, manage the website and social medias (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), as well as running our weekly podcast where I have to book guests and stay in touch with everything that’s going in with Volleyball Canada, the CIS, the CCAA, as well we the FIVB. It’s my role to know everything about Canadian volleyball.
Lancer MVBlog: What do you like most about both working for the magazine and working in the sport communications industry?
Everett: I like that I’m creating content that is getting people excited about volleyball. If people are talking about our content, then they’re going to be that much more aware of what’s going on in the volleyball world, which is something that’s dearly needed in the sport. I love the sport communications industry simply because I love sport. The media has become a part of at all; it adds to the drama and to the intrigue of the story line. The media helps shape the narrative that is competition.
Lancer MVBlog: What do you see for the future for the already innovative VSM (tech-wise VSM is an electronic format (e-magazine))?
Everett: We are planning to expand in both what we cover and the way we cover it. We feel as though we’ve barely scratched the surface with what we can do. We are looking to expand our Live Streaming service which can hopefully be revenue generator, as well as adding more visual content, like video updates of National Championships or longer feature documentaries to our website and magazine to tell stories in a different way. We want to tell the stories of the entire Canadian Volleyball community. This summer, we’re also looking to cover all of our National teams in a way that has never before been done in Canada.
Lancer MVBlog: How involved do you think you'll stay with VSM in the future or do you have any exciting future plans or plans that involve sport communication?
Everett: There’s no doubt that I will be with Volleyball Source for a long time. It’s not something that’s going to be an over-night success, and it’s a long process. We are limited by many factors, and it will take time to deal with them one by one. In the meantime, I will be broadening my horizons in the Sport Communications industry by attending Ryerson University’s brand new Sport Media program. I believe the mix of my work with Volleyball Source, and my education at Ryerson will provide me with the opportunity to become one of the best in the industry.
Lancer MVBlog would like to thank Everett for his time and the best of luck with his academic and professional career and also to the Pheonix heading into playoffs.
(posted: February 25, 2013)