This week's seminar focused on the writing aspects of the media industry. It was especially relevant to those who interested in seeking a career in Journalism and for those who loved writing as a passion.
Pre seminar: Seminar started on time and the emcee did a good job of introducing the guests. The lighting was great, but the sound of the mics could have been better. It sounded as if the guests were speaking up and not using the mics to project their voice. Also, the emcee seemed not confident to be on stage. He also seemed not prepared for the role, as evident by his scrambling of notes and not being smooth in his speech. Perharps it could have been his style of emceeing as a means to make the audience to feel at ease, but it did not come across to me as such.
Seminar: The guests invited were excellent. Out of the four guests, three (Catherine Deveny, Paul Verhoeven and Jo Walker) had bags of experience and were all enthusiastic in sharing their stories of their careers. Their use of language, both coarse and entertaining, made the audience feel very much at 'home'. The energy of the room was very lively. Jo and Paul were, in a word, frank about sharing their stories. But Catherine was exceptionally exuberant, inspiring us with her career story and leaving us with an inspiring quote. It was 'you gotta be prepared to get burnt, get screwed, get whooped.. because if you don't, you're never gonna get anywhere'.
If we were to look at the negatives, Catherine dominated the 'talking' and did not give allowance to her other speakers. I would have very much liked to hear about what the three speakers had to share and advise.
Tom Cowie seemed a little reluctant to talk. Perharps it was his recent graduation that made him 'inferior' to his fellow speakers. Nevertheless, his story of his shameless act of self-promotion on the blogosphere greatly inspired me. I felt compelled to do the same.. my gut told me that this could be the making of my career!
Post-seminar: I actually did not want the seminar to end because the quality of the content was that great! It was seen at the end when some from the audience went up to the speakers and have conservations with them. That spoke volumes of the seminar as it had a lasting impact on the audience.
Overall, it was a refreshing, insightful and brilliant seminar. The guests were very relevant to the topic and had quality content to share. Other than the sound systems and a mediocre emcee, it was an inspiring session. Hopefully, we'll see equally solid seminars in the coming weeks!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
making it in melbourne critique
Today's seminar invited a panel of guest speakers from different media fields i.e Television, events and digital media to talk about their experiences in the Melbourne media industry. At the same time, they gave us invaluable insights on how to make it big in the competitive Melbourne working world.
Pre-seminar: Powerpoint slides were hard to read. They had black font against a colour background which were non-pleasing to my eyes. Refreshments were little as well, but this could have been due to the wastage of the (excessive) refreshments last week. However, it is only my personal opinion that it is better to have a generous and reasonable amount of refreshments than to have little.
Seminar: The guests invited were relevant to the topic. They were good in their content, explaining the ups and downs of the Melbourne media industry. They were also inspirational, stressing that nothing but hard work and persistence were the key to succeeding in their respective careers. Dwayne Thompson, promotions co-ordinator of youth focused company Future Entertainment was the most engaging amongst the speakers. Perharps it was his age that 'bonded' us with him, which only made us strive more to one day succeed like him. The only problem I had during the seminar was the emcee. He spoke well, though I felt that he was not engaging enough and was very distracting with his fidgeting movements.
Q&A session: There were some good questions asked from the audience and good answers were returned. All 5 speakers shared personal stories during their careers, which I felt was interesting and relevant to the topic.
However, there was a particular answer to a question that I felt was weak and perharps, ignorant.
There was an Indian student who asked (who spoke in a Singaporean accent): 'From your own experience in your own fields, do you think international students have a chance of making it here in Melbourne? What are your thoughts?' There were 5 speakers, all of whom who surely had some experience working with non-locals in their jobs (most notably Sabrina Jansz, production assistant from Sportsbrand). Yet, it was only Dwayne Thompson that spoke but the answer he gave was a standard answer that one would expect from any working professional.
To my memory, Dwayne answered: 'Well, we've worked with internationals before.. Europe.. Asia.. India *points to student*.. when it comes to succeeding, you know, you have to network and do alot of research.. sit people down and really talk to them about how you would go about making it...'
What Dwayne answered was relevant, but it was a generalized answer. More importantly, he did not give a clear indication of the 'chances' that international students would have of having a career in Melbourne. Given that international students (anywhere in the world) have lower priority of working in foreign countries, we were keen to know the answers from the 5 professionals sitting on stage. Instead, they had little to offer and it was disheartening. Also in my personal opinion, it would have been wise if Dwayne was more sensitive and asked the Indian student of his country of origin instead of assuming that he was from India.
Pre-seminar: Powerpoint slides were hard to read. They had black font against a colour background which were non-pleasing to my eyes. Refreshments were little as well, but this could have been due to the wastage of the (excessive) refreshments last week. However, it is only my personal opinion that it is better to have a generous and reasonable amount of refreshments than to have little.
Seminar: The guests invited were relevant to the topic. They were good in their content, explaining the ups and downs of the Melbourne media industry. They were also inspirational, stressing that nothing but hard work and persistence were the key to succeeding in their respective careers. Dwayne Thompson, promotions co-ordinator of youth focused company Future Entertainment was the most engaging amongst the speakers. Perharps it was his age that 'bonded' us with him, which only made us strive more to one day succeed like him. The only problem I had during the seminar was the emcee. He spoke well, though I felt that he was not engaging enough and was very distracting with his fidgeting movements.
Q&A session: There were some good questions asked from the audience and good answers were returned. All 5 speakers shared personal stories during their careers, which I felt was interesting and relevant to the topic.
However, there was a particular answer to a question that I felt was weak and perharps, ignorant.
There was an Indian student who asked (who spoke in a Singaporean accent): 'From your own experience in your own fields, do you think international students have a chance of making it here in Melbourne? What are your thoughts?' There were 5 speakers, all of whom who surely had some experience working with non-locals in their jobs (most notably Sabrina Jansz, production assistant from Sportsbrand). Yet, it was only Dwayne Thompson that spoke but the answer he gave was a standard answer that one would expect from any working professional.
To my memory, Dwayne answered: 'Well, we've worked with internationals before.. Europe.. Asia.. India *points to student*.. when it comes to succeeding, you know, you have to network and do alot of research.. sit people down and really talk to them about how you would go about making it...'
What Dwayne answered was relevant, but it was a generalized answer. More importantly, he did not give a clear indication of the 'chances' that international students would have of having a career in Melbourne. Given that international students (anywhere in the world) have lower priority of working in foreign countries, we were keen to know the answers from the 5 professionals sitting on stage. Instead, they had little to offer and it was disheartening. Also in my personal opinion, it would have been wise if Dwayne was more sensitive and asked the Indian student of his country of origin instead of assuming that he was from India.
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