As a journalism student at the University of Colorado Boulder, I spent a large majority of my time talking to strangers. Through interviews and event coverage I’ve gotten pretty good at interacting with random people on the street. It has helped me to work through some social anxiety and taught me how to connect with people in new ways. Last week, while I was in Las Vegas I learned that this is both a curse and a blessing.
CMCI (the College of Media, Communication, and Information) at CU sent me and about nine other hand-picked students to the National Association of Broadcast’s conference. Thousands of people from around the world flocked to one of the largest conference centers in the world to hear from executives, editors, and influencers from top-tier media companies like CNN, CBS, ABC, Adobe, the Associated Press, Nikon, Amazon, and Cannon.
As you could imagine, this was an extremely overwhelming and unbelievable experience. We were given the opportunity to “rub elbows” with some of the brightest and most creative minds in the media industry. Many of the panelists rewrote my perception of what is achievable with technology. Many of the products and ideas they shared were things I would have considered to be strait-up science fiction two years ago. I’ve never felt so small, yet inspired at the same time.
After we took the first day of the conference to gawk at all the cool tech and find out a way around the seemingly endless conference buildings (and possibly recover from a hangover), we finally buckled down and decided to jump in and send it the second day. Though we were very obviously students, many of the panelists and company representatives were still more than happy to talk to us and share their time. It was a bit intimidating to think that any one of these people could become our boss in under a year. When starting a conversation, freezing wasn’t an option. There was a lot of pressure to sound eloquent and educated about the company you were talking to. We learned quickly that many of our interview skills from journalism translated well into this environment also. I also should probably thank my experience with sorority recruitment as well when it came to manners and carefully watching my speech patterns. Being able to handle this high-stress environment was reassuring.
When thrown into a city like Vegas where everyone around you is likely more experienced and influential, it can be hard to keep your cool. Even when my friends and I went out one night, it was slightly intimidating for me to strike up conversations with well dressed, older, and frankly pretentious looking people. When everyone was dressed to impress and city lights flashed before my eyes, it was overbearing and possibly too humbling. For the first time in a while, I felt young and inexperienced among it all. Once I decided to get over myself and dive into conversation with all these people, it is so much easier to hold your own in a conversation when you have confidence in yourself (or even pretend to have confidence). You never really know a person’s backstory and they never really truly know yours. So, there really isn’t any point being intimated by someone you know nothing about.
This trip taught me not only to be confident, it taught me that I can talk to just about anyone while leaving a lasting impression and take pride in my work as a journalist. These skills are so influential in the future of anyone hoping to establish a career in media.