As many of you know, members of EMC and GTV attended several conferences at Columbia University in New York City. This trip began on March 14th and lasted until the 16th. It was a very fun and exciting trip for everyone. The conferences were very educational and interesting. And there were so many choices to pick from! Here is a list of just some of the many that were available:

• Build a better portfolio (Photography)
• The Art of Storytelling
• Confessions of Former Journalism Nerds
• Humans of {your school}
• Memoirs and Personal Essays
• Step by Step Design
• Visual Storytelling
• Images that talk
• You sound, like, um…stupid? Ya know?
• “Journalism students are destined to be poor” and other stupid lies, debunked
• Dynamic Visual Images for Photos and Films and TV
• Beginning Photoshop
• Descriptive Writing: How to make your stories come alive
• Write stories with impact
• #FakeNews: Sorting the real info from the C.R.A.A.P.

As you can see, the conferences ranged from many different topics, from PhotoShop and photography to writing and broadcasting. Let’s see what others had to say about these conferences:

• Which conference was your favorite? Why?

Hannah Thompson: “Meter without stress” was very interesting. The speaker was a very intellectual poet. It was discussing different meters in poetry. It was super nerdy and specific which was really cool. I would really like to try it in my writing.

Jon Fajans: My favorite conference was the #BrosToPros because it showed a lot about how you’re supposed to look in the workplace and how to be professional. It has many uses outside of school as well. This knowledge can help you get a job when the time comes.

• Were you disappointed by any of the conferences? Maybe they weren’t as you expected, or the speaker wasn’t the best?

Siela Zembsch: I was disappointed by my last conference. It was called “The Authentic Art of Writing.” I was expecting it to be about how to write better, but instead we just talked as a whole group about classics.

Joshua Rumsey: The worst conference I went to was right after my favorite one, so the contrast was huge. My favorite seminar was based on speaking in a professional manner, and the lady that hosted the worst seminar needed that conference. She was an awful speaker, and her “about me” section lasted her entire seminar. I learned nothing and left ANGRY.

• What was something you learned from these seminars? How can this knowledge be applied to EMC/GTV?

Samantha Grant: My favorite conference was the one I definitely learned the most from. It was called “Strangers on the Street.” It was about how to properly interview your subjects and how there is no such thing as a bad subject. Instead the reporter must dig deep to get the interesting facts. That may get the subject to open up.  One of the ways this can be accomplished is by actually going out to interview someone, instead of hiding behind their computer and send the questions to the other person. NO BUTT JOURNALISM!! By this I mean, don’t have an interview… solely on the computer. Get up and interview somebody. Put them on the spot somewhat so you can get an honest answer. However, give them time to thoroughly answer. Also at the end of an interview, wrap it up by asking, “Is there anything else you would like to add?” You would be surprised by what a person may tell you at that point that they forgot to say earlier on. Josh and I will definitely incorporate this in This Week In Galway to make our interviews better and more realistic.

Molly Ryan: I learned a lot from many things on top of journalism. I enjoyed the seminar that discussed how men should dress in the workplace, but I wish there was one like that for girls as well. In regards to journalism, I learned specific things like how to cover tragedies, and how sometimes people sensationalize the stories to attract audiences. I also learned how to generally make stories more interesting and creative.

• What was your favorite thing to do outside of the seminars?

Natalie Zembsch: Definitely exploring the city, we really just got to, like, go out in the world. Ok well there was this one day where Hannah and I like saw this authentic “deli.” I guess and it was like a mile away from the campus so it was really fun to pretend to be New Yorkers and be independent.

Erik Matthews: My favorite thing on the NYC trip outside of going to the seminars was roaming around Little Italy, doing heel clicks in the streets, and taking a picture with an NYPD officer.

Hopefully you learned more about the NYC trip and all the interesting conferences you can attend. This was a great opportunity to learn more about journalism, photography, video broadcasting, and more. If you’re interested in going in the future, make sure to join EMC and be a diligent writer on the site! We will post NYC pictures on our next article. Stay tuned Eagle Nation!