I have read over most of the posts about experiences at Converge South. While they all seemed to agree that it was a good experience, the responses differ as far as the content. It does seem to me that everyone got at least something out of the experience, even if they don’t agree with all of the speakers.
I arrived in time for the keynote speaker and then followed the non profit track. I produce a lot of freelance videos for non profits, so I thought it would be helpful information to learn. The ones that come to me generally have no money for media, including videos, and really need help in marketing, social media and fundraising. The sessions I listened to offered sort of a best practices on what to do, and how to do it. Since the majority of organizations I work with are always asking my opinion for help, I now feel I can at least either educate them, or tell them where they need to go for help.
The keynote speaker was interesting, and this is where I heard the majority of gripes. My fellow classmate Katie said the exact same thing I was (am) thinking, but I will post it here anyway. And that is this, that yes, he was “cheesy.” His methods were outdated and way behind the curve. And again, this is where I heard at least a couple of people ask if he was kidding. Well, no I don’t think he was kidding and this is the response I told them. That is that they are missing the point. The point of his talk was not the methods he used, but the fact that he is marketing himself and is very successful doing it. It doesn’t matter what methods he uses, he has found a way to find a target audience, and market himself all the way to the bank.
If anything, I would tell my classmates to be encouraged. That we are so far ahead of the curve that the one thing they should take away from that session is that they can graduate, and then go out into the workforce ahead of the curve. It made me feel so good to see companies coming up to the Elon iMedia students during break, and not the speakers, asking for our opinion for help with their organizations. We could have taught a session ourselves. So why yes, some of the material seemed outdated, we should rush home to update our portfolio as we are almost guaranteed to get a job, because that is the way the real world market is.