Robb Montgomery, Author, Mobile Journalism
Robb Montgomery is an American mobile journalism and documentary film expert based in Berlin. Montgomery trains journalists and TV correspondents in more than 30 countries for Reuters, CNN, WAN-IFRA, The New York Times, Journalism Co UK, Mediacorp, Radio Free Europe, Hindustan Times, Channel News Asia, BILD, InterNews, and VRT public broadcasters.
He is a former editor for "Chicago Tribune", the author of two textbooks: "Mobile Journalism" - 2020 Visual Editors, Chicago and "Smartphone Video Storytelling" - 2018 Routledge Press – New York and London.
He is listed in the U.S. Speaker's bureau as a mobile journalism expert and delivers workshops to journalism groups for U.S Embassies worldwide.
As a media development trainer, Montgomery leads programs in Video Reporting, Digital Transformation and Broadcast Television.
Montgomery also teaches seminars at universities in France, the U.K., Egypt, Sweden, Georgia, Denmark, the U.S.A., Austria, Germany, and Singapore.
His Smart Film School certificate courses and textbooks are accredited by more than 100 schools and universities.
Credentials
Former editor: Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times
Journalism professor
Digital Transformation consultant for United Nations, Reuters Foundation, Red Cross, IREX, WAN-IFRA, and HT Media.
Filmmaker/Winner of Film Festivals in L.A., Berlin and Moscow.
Chair, Mobile Journalism Awards.
Mobile Creator
Textbook Author
Smartphone Video Storytelling - 2018 Taylor & Francis, New York & London.
Videos mit dem Smartphone - 2019 dPunkt Verlag - German language edition.
Mobile Journalism - 2020 Visual Editors, Chicago.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
Twitter - it is publicly viewable and durable. I have been a @videojournalist on the platform for more than 14 years.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
I chair the Mobile Journalism Awards for the Visual Editors Non-profit.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
Having the privilege to be a teacher and help bring the next generation of non-fiction visual storytellers forward.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
The music is not on the violin.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
I am insanely and insatiably curious about a great many things. I have the rare honour to be able to follow my muses and act spontaneously to them. Usually, this involves a camera of some sort. The smaller, the better, I have found. I absolutely love the challenge of being able to observe something that few people may pay attention to and be able to produce a compelling story about it.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
Ten fingers, ten toes. Plus, most of my original teeth and hair. You did not take those for granted when you have filmed in the many dangerous places that I have over the past 40 years.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
In public. In a market, a square, a cafe… just anywhere where there are street musicians playing and artists hanging out.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
I have been willing to continuously reinvent myself as the journalism business experienced violent and disorienting disruption. I started out as a journalist in 1986 and remarkably have stayed true to serving people with non-fiction work. My social media feeds remind me that many of my former colleagues have not been as lucky.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
Oh, there is so much I still have to learn. I am a life-long learner and an eternal student of "what if?" and" 'what's next?".
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
The teachers. Their wealth and reward are not measured by crude calculations of income, assets, number of followers, size of a luxury yacht, shiny trophies, or other vanity metrics. Instead, a student's future success is the true reward for a quality instructor.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
I am lucky that my work allows me quite a bit of international travel and that I have a partner who pushes me to new adventure travel experiences. These stories, of course, I also film and then turn into movies, books, lessons, workshops and courses. We started doing that in 2011, and the #MojoTrek hashtag is the way to follow along on that crazy part of my storyteller's journey.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
I built the first course for my online teaching academy for CNN in 2014. By the time the pandemic hit, the Smart Film School was already well-established with clients like Reuters, WAN-IFRA, United Nations, and many schools. I was lucky - I had already built a video studio to record videos for my courses.
Over six years, I had built up a vast library of training content into certificate courses. I also have been 'flipping the classroom' for years as a university instructor, so it was easy for me to add Live Zoom sessions to my offer for clients.
During the Pandemic lockdowns, I trained 500 Indian journalists over six months without leaving Germany. It is wonderful now to be able to return to in-person training at media houses and also be able to offer instructor-led live training as well.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
Bring passion, a bottomless pool of energy and a willingness to get things completely wrong before you start to get them right. But above all, be correctable, embrace ambiguity, and work the hard problems that others shy away from.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
Lack of a stubborn streak. For example: I stubbornly refuse to believe that I need a cast, crew (or even a script) to make a high-quality documentary film suitable for the silver screen.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
I like to encourage my students to go out and "tell big stories with small cameras."
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
Not sure, but this is how I would know if they are trying. I would look first for where they are giving back and to whom. Do they support the Arts? Education? Students? The disenfranchised? The less well-off?
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
I am a bit of a malcontent in that I don't think I am really ever quite satisfied with my art. I have heard that is an oft-spoken complaint of successful people, but I am not really sure. I make every film and every lesson the best I know how. I am happy to take wild risks and keep growing, but I also know what my weaknesses are and where I could improve.That is really what I keep my focus on. To try to eliminate those rascals!