By Lookout Staff

October 21, 2021 -- How to open an animation studio and learning to evaluate benefits and compensation are the topics of Santa Monica College's (SMC) Business & Entrepreneurship Lecture Series next month.

The free presentations -- sponsored by the SMC Associates and the school's departments of Business, Communication & Media Studies and Design Technology -- will be held online as live virtual events via Zoom and include a Q&A session.

On Friday, November 5, at 2 p.m., the series presents "Know Your Worth: Compensation Conversations with Tristan Orford."

Orford, senior director of Global Compensation at Electronic Arts (EA), who will share his experience managing compensation initiatives at large companies, event organizers said.

"His interactive presentation is an introduction to the world of total rewards: how organizations think about the experience they create for the people who work there and the contracting they do with them."

"The presentation will explore total rewards concepts, then transition to applied frameworks that can be used to better understand this essential part of the job hunt process, and to help navigate personal career opportunities."

According to Orford's website, it is important to differentiate how we design and evaluate benefits and compensation.

"Put briefly -- compensation should focus on aligning the amount of value delivered to the employee with the value added by their work, and benefits should not," Orford writes.

On Monday, November 15, at 7 p.m., installation artist, animator and independent filmmaker Patrick Smith will present "How to Start an Animation Business."

A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Smith will talk about how to get started in the animation film business.

Smith is a former Disney storyboard artist and MTV animation director known for his "metaphorical hand-drawn short films and experimental stop motion films," organizers said.

He has made award-winning animated films for PBS, has a YouTube channel with more than 200,000 subscribers and is a fellow of the New York Foundation of the Arts and a curator for multiple international film and animation festivals.

A Zoom link to each talk will be available with the listing on the event date on the SMC Events calendar at smc.edu/calendar.

To attend the events, Zoom software must be installed on the viewer’s computer (free download available at zoom.com). All presentations are subject to change or cancellation without notice.