MultiVisions offers networking opportunity

Students looking to get ahead in the media industry through networking will have the opportunity to make connections Friday on campus.\nThe IU Department of Telecommunications is sponsoring the 17th annual MultiVisions conference, offering students interested in production, advertising, radio, sales, TV, video production and other fields a chance to preview the careers.\nThe conference will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Radio and Television Building. It is open to all students, regardless of their majors.\n“For freshmen and sophomores who don’t have a good idea of what they want to do, this gives them a good idea of what the industry is like,” said Janelle Nickelson, co-chair of the conference’s promotional committee.\nLegene White, director of alumni affairs for the Department of Telecommunications, said MultiVisions has been a “pretty big deal” since 1992, when the department had a full-day conference that brought 25 professionals.\nA committee of about 30 students plans the yearly conference.\nCo-chair Nelson Spade said the goal of the conference is to bring the professional world to the students so they have a better understanding of what to expect when they graduate. \nMultiVisions will bring 25 professionals from around the country who specialize in different areas of communications. Many of the industry professionals are IU alumni, Spade said. The keynote speaker at this year’s event is Jim Keelor, a 1964 IU telecommunications graduate and retired president and chief operating officer of Liberty Corp.\nSpade and White said many students have attained internships and jobs by attending the conference and speaking with the professionals. “This offers students a chance to make contacts in the industry and get some inside information,” Spade said.\nThe conference, which includes a free lunch, will give students the chance to interview with professionals through mock interviews, which do not require preregistration. Students planning to attend the practice interviews are encouraged to dress business casual.\nStudents can enter beginning- and advanced-level projects they have done for class, such as video, audio, script and Web-based productions, into a media showcase competition. This not only offers students the chance to win an award for their work, but it also allows them to show their work off to other students. The winning entries will be announced and screened at the end of the conference.\nSpade said the conference allows students to sell themselves to professionals in the communications industry.\n“The conference really draws the connections between what students do at IU and what work they will do in the real world,” White said.