Recently, I was able to attend the sixth annual Modern Media Conference at Georgia State University as a part of my internship with , Oglethorpe’s student communication agency in聽University Communications.
This year’s conference featured keynote speaker聽D.W. Pine, creative director for聽TIME Magazine,聽and panels like 鈥淟et 鈥榚m Know It鈥檚 YOU: Develop Your Own Media Personality,鈥� 鈥淲riting Your First Novel: Advice From Someone Who鈥檚 Done It,鈥� and 鈥淩adio as a 21st聽Century Career,鈥� just to name a few.
The Georgia State campus welcomed attendees—like me—from other universities and organizations from around Atlanta. The student center buzzed with energy and excitement, and the hallways and classrooms were lined with people with cameras bigger than I had ever seen (and most likely more expensive than my college tuition!). Students crowded around media luminaries, such as CNN correspondents Ciara Frisbie and Nick Valencia, Atlanta-Journal Constitution political reporter Greg Bluestein, and of course, keynote speaker D.W. Pine.
One of the most influential panels I attended was 鈥淵our Film, Your Vision, Your Time,鈥� with director, writer, and entrepreneur Dontell Antonio,聽who spoke about his latest film The Hopeless Journey. Although the panel’s centerpiece was the film itself, the discussion among attendees included everything from entrepreneurship and how to finance independent projects, to the writing process and how to edit your own work, to the importance of coloring in visual media.
As someone who is minoring in the broad field of communication, it was interesting to see how expansive nearly all careers in the field are. Although you may focus in a visual medium such as film, there are prominent aspects of writing, editing, and photography that you must also practice regularly. And as someone who has yet to choose which career path to take, the fact that practicing one passion doesn鈥檛 necessarily exclude others was comforting.
My experiences at the 2017 Modern Media Conference made post-college life as an English major / communications minor seem a lot less scary and uncertain. As a student who admittedly gets caught in Oglethorpe’s 鈥淥gleBubble鈥� at times, it was energizing and inspiring to be among so many professionals out in the real world practicing the professions I’ve dreamed of—and succeeding.
