Blogging from Austin: Day 1

ACP National College Media Convention: Day 1

(Hilton Austin-Austin, Texas)

When someone talks of the city “Austin,” the first thing that comes into people’s minds might be quite different depending on what kind of person you are. Some individuals may think cowboys, others may think steak, and some may simply think that Austin is in Arizona. (Trust me, it already happened.)

But just to confirm it to all the readers, Austin is indeed in the Lone Star State of Texas, and it is also the location of the Associated Collegiate Press’ annual College Media Convention. It also just so happens to be the place that I am blogging to you live from right now.

Every year, the Flat Hat sends several of its staffers to this annual conference (all expenses paid except food) to learn the intricacies of journalism and to improve the overall quality of the paper.

The conference hosts over 53 long pages worth of speakers and presentations over a span of three days. Topics that speakers talk about include all things as diverse as ethical journalism, to the design of certain yearbooks or

The ACP College Media Conference started today as university publications all across the country converged on Austin, TX to learn the trade of journalism from the pros.

magazines, to making a J-school teacher eat a bug if he cannot rewrite a lede in 60 seconds or less.

Usually, the people who go are the top editorial staffers at the paper, thus, serving as news editor this year, I was finally able to convince someone up there that I was worthy of going.

The day started out very VERY early. We left Williamsburg bound for the Richmond Airport around 4 in the morning to catch our 6 a.m. flight. After switching planes in Atlanta, by the time we arrived in Austin, it was around 10 a.m. and we were quite tired.

By the time we actually had registered and signed-in to the conference, we decided to go our separate ways in terms of what speakers and talks to attend. For me, I decided to attend a series of speakers that I felt would help me do a better job of getting the news out to the students of WM.

Thus, I attended such talks as “One Newsroom” (creating a more coherent and organized newsroom), “Chicken Salad” (creating an existing newspaper and transforming it into a better, more user-friendly piece of work), and “The Eyes Have It” (using body language during interviewing).

Most importantly though, I connected with a lot of people here in Austin that share the same stresses I do, and often worry about the same deadlines I worry about. For example, I met an EIC from Birmingham who was stressing about the recent scandal of their mayor. This form of networking between peers is a fact that I feel to be one of the most valuable experiences one can gain from this conference.

As much as I love my news team dearly for all the hard work they put into an issue, it’s nice to know sometimes that beyond the Campus Center basement, all around the country, are other fellow students who are stressing just as equally to try to get an issue out with a deadline.