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!
No comments:
Post a Comment