Moderator, at podium: Aaron Day, CEO, Trend Offset Printing; Seated, from left: Ron Adams, publisher/founder, Via Corsa; Brandie Gilliam, founder/creative director, Thoughtfully Magazine; Monique Reidy, publisher and president, Southern California Life Magazine; Carey Ostergard, deputy editor, Simple Grace; Ryan Waterfield, co-founder, Big Life Magazine; and Garrett Rudolph, editor, Marijuana Venture Magazine
What does it mean for students to be exposed to magazine media industry leaders on a face-to-face, shoulder-to-shoulder basis for three days of intense discussion and idea building?
Well, for the ACT 6 Experience, it meant internships and potential jobs for soon-to-be graduates and juniors, and it meant getting to know CEOs, publishers, editors and other important members of the magazine media industry and learning all they could from these generous and knowledgeable people while they were close enough to touch. The ACT Experiences (all six of them) have become the leading conferences to date for students to meet, greet and learn from the very prestigious lineups of talented industry leaders who are always more than willing to travel to Mississippi and give of their time.
Here are what some industry leaders had to say about the ACT 6 Experience:
John Harrington, a partner in Harrington Associates, LLC, and former publisher of The New Single Copy newsletter, had this to say about ACT 6:
“In late April, I attended the ACT 6 conference, sponsored by the Magazine Innovation Center at the journalism school of the University of Mississippi. Samir Husni is the director of MIC. I have attended and spoke at each of these programs and, as I have stated often, have found them among the most significant and valuable publishing gatherings I have ever participated in, and believe me, over nearly 40 years there have been a bunch of them. The unique quality of the ACT conferences is the participation of the students, undergraduate and graduate. Samir has turned the school into a pipeline of talented people into the magazine media world.”
And Jim Elliott of the James G. Elliott Company had this to say:
“Samir, you have done it again … even better than the five that preceded ACT 6. This conference was your best. The panels were just great … all of them, with tremendous takeaway value. The speakers were all focused. As a sponsor of all the ACT conferences, I couldn’t be more pleased with the way the experience is designed. One can meet all the attendees in a multitude of environments, all designed to foster communication and education. Congratulations on a job very well done.”
Nathan Weber, who in May will receive his master’s in journalism with a concentration in integrated marketing communication, had this to say from a student’s perspective about the ACT Experiences:
“The ACT Experience is unique in that it provides students the opportunity to hold a conversation with media industry leaders, when most of those students probably would never have that opportunity anywhere else.”
The excitement continues as the Magazine Innovation Center gears up for ACT 7, April 25 to 27, 2017, where leaders, students and the entire magazine industry will celebrate its theme:
“Magazines Matter, Print Matters.”
For a look at the agenda of speakers that were at ACT 6: www.maginnovation.org.
Angela Rogalski is a 2012 Meek School graduate. Currently she is publishing assistant to Dr. Samir Husni in the Magazine Innovation Center at the Meek School, writes for the Delta Business Journal and freelances for numerous publications.
The Meek School Magazine is a collaborative effort of journalism and Integrated Marketing Communications students with the faculty of Meek School of Journalism and New Media. Every week, for the next few weeks, HottyToddy.com will feature an article from Meek Magazine, Issue 4 (2016-2017).
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