Alright, so admittedly I did an awful job of posting regularly on my blog during the conference, but I see this as a positive because it means I was either too busy networking, or too tired from a busy day of exploring the horizons of the profession I wish to enter. Now that I have been back for a couple of days, and able to collect my thoughts and opinions on the conference, I'm ready to write a post that will most likely seem long and boring to most anyone who didn't attend the conference themselves. But nevertheless.
On an educational level, I learned more about the profession of journalism in one week than I have in the five years that preceded the conference, the time during which I was certain that journalism would be my path in life. The conference has done nothing less than make me completely and utterly certain, but the difference now is that I am more prepared to make this ambition a reality. The most valuable experiences from the conference were definitely the wide array of successful and qualified speakers that I was able to learn from. The most notable of these figures was probably Chuck Todd, chief political correspondent for NBC, and the list continued through political correspondents for the AP and Politico, editors for msnbc.com, USA TODAY, and The Washington Post, foreign affairs correspondents from several news agencies, and my personal favorite, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, senior correspondent and associate editor for the Washington Post, and author of the book Green Zone. This list is not complete either, but the point is that I am now more prepared than ever to pursue a career in journalism thanks to these people and many others.
On a personal level, I never imagined that I could become so close to a group of people in such a short amount of time. I sincerely hope that my friendships with these individuals will continue for a long time to come, and it was with great sadness that I had to wish them farewell three days ago. With all of the different avenues of communication available to us, in this day and age, there is no excuse not to remain close.
In closing, I will say that the Washington Journalism and Media Conference was as memorable and valuable an experience as I have encountered. It has taught me much, and inspired me to push harder than ever to find and achieve whatever it is I choose to do in journalism. Now is the time to put what I have learned into action, and I begin that endeavor knowing that I have prepared myself fully, with much help from WJMC.
No comments:
Post a Comment