Wednesday, 19th February saw over 130 students come together to listen to, and directly network with 14 media professionals from across the Southern Region.
Meet The Professionals is an annual event run by The Royal Television Society, Southern Centre, and hosted at Bournemouth University with support from Isobel Forrest. The students listen to the professional panel, chaired by Gordon Cooper from the RTS, discuss how they got their careers started and learn about their career progression to date. After some amazing stories and advice, students then get to directly network with the professionals in informal groups.
Steph Farmer from the RTS Committee said “Gordon and I work hard to try to get as wide a range of professionals as we can, following diverse media career paths. This year we had professionals in postproduction, producing, camera, programme development, music video, charity sector, on-line and media agency. We had representatives from Ricochet, WoodCut Black List, Potato, Mambo Media and many more. It’s always so impactful for current students to be able to hear career stories of recent and more experienced graduates such as Jemma Wood, a graduate from BU in 2020 and who initially worked in archive, an area she knew very little about, but has now secured a role as an Assistant Producer on Love Island!”
Jemma said “As a BU student I found the Meet The Professionals event to be an invaluable opportunity to start building my network before graduating. It provided the perfect platform to connect with alumni already working in the industry. Now, it’s an honour to have the chance to give back and support current students in the same way”.
