I love Mass Comm Week. It always happens right at the perfect time in the semester. Right when you’re burned out and exhausted and starting to wonder if you actually hate communication/digital media/learning/everyone, Mass Comm week comes around and a) gets you out of class and b) reminds you why you’re studying what you’re studying. I always leave this week wanting three different careers and actually planning out tweets and feeling energized enough to get through the rest of the semester.
This year I got to go to some pretty awesome sessions. The first session I went to was about entrepreneurship and the mindsets and habits of entrepreneurs. The speaker, Chris Perez, started a digital magazine for Austin called Citygram Austin. They have a pretty cool app and pride themselves on their design skills. Perez’s talk was really inspiring. He focused on the importance of knowing ourselves and taking the skills and passions we have in our future businesses and careers. He gave a lot of practical tips to get started, such as writing down all of our interests and deciding which are most important, finding a mentor, and asking friends for feedback on ideas. One interesting thing Perez said was that our generation will see more people identifying themselves as entrepreneurs than ever before.
Another panel I really enjoyed was #BetterOutside, featuring Earl Nottingham and Whitney Bishop of Texas Parks and Wildlife. Nottingham and Bishop work on the social media for TPWD. They focused on the ways they’ve used photography and videography to connect to people on social media. I thought it was really cool that a government parks agency is interested in creating that kind of relationship with people.
I also got to hear from Nicole George from St. Arnold Brewing. She was super fun and talked a lot about the importance of networking and Twitter. And I went to a session by Ana Toro on the importance of multicultural PR. Toro was really passionate and a super interesting speaker. I really enjoyed all of the events I went to this year, it was a great last MC Week for me.
I agree, mass comm week comes at the perfect time in the semester. It’s a nice break from all the stresses of the semester and it’s so fun to have the opportunity to hear success stories from different Mass Comm professionals.
I’m jealous that you attended the Chris Perez session. I really wanted to hear about Citygram Austin, but it was at the same time as a class I had to attend. I’m glad I read your post and got to read some of his tips!
That is extremely unfortunate that I missed out on the Texas Parks and Wildlife panel… I didn’t even know that was happening. I wonder what all goes into their jobs there?
This was my first real mass comm week experience and I couldn’t agree more with what you said. Definitely brought me out of my funk. I was impressed by the people the university brought in. All very inspiring.
I can definitely relate about mass comm week reminding you why you’re studying what you’re studying! I’m kinda bummed I didn’t get to see Chris Perez, according to everyone he had some pretty inspiring things to say.
Hey Sarah,
I’m glad you got to experience so many different aspects to Mass Comm week. I wish I could of spoke to Nicole George from St. Arnold Brewing because that just seems like it would be an interesting panel. I love hearing about how companies utilize social media and the benefits it can bring.
Texas Parks and Wildlife was an awesome panel. I really had no idea just how connected they were with the Texas community. Even the media analyst was educated on the wildlife around the area.