With the excitement of the presidential election and the coverage that needed to be done in the final days of campaigning, leaving for a college media conference may not have been the best idea. But, we couldn’t say no to the opportunity to learn from some of the best broadcasters and journalists in the business, or a weekend in the Windy City.

The 2012 College Media Conference, hosted by the College Media Association, is where student publications from across the United States come together for a weekend of informational — and useful — sessions and networking. This year it was stationed in Chicago and Student Media was able to take 13 staff members.

The conference is one of my favorite parts of working for The Northerner because of the knowledge that I get out of each one. There are sessions on leadership, writing, ethics, law and business, as well as radio and broadcasting. Advisers, professionals and other students are also readily available for critiquing and offering ways to improve our own publication.

To make sure we keep track of what we learned, because with 13 students and one adviser a lot of ground was covered, we set up a tab on The Northerner’s website where we are continually posting the top takeaways from each session.

We’re hoping that this will give our readers a chance to see what we learned and what we plan to do with The Northerner. We encourage readers to comment on posts and tell us what you think would be a good idea to implement or change in Student Media.

There are a lot of ideas that we know need to be added to our structure, but it’s also up to you to decide how you want your campus news delivered.
Visit www.thenortherner.com and click on the College Media Conference tab to track our sessions and comment on what you like or dislike.