Lights were flashing and dreams were aplenty as the third DLSU Student Media Congress took flight last October 16 and 17.
It was a star-studded affair, to say the least. The event kicked off in the morning with opening remarks from former SMC project head, Joanna Queddeng. After which the program moved on to the five plenary talks involving various high-profile figures in the media industry, namely Pia Hontiveros, “Sandy” Romualdez, Dennis Lim, Merlee Jayme, and Reynaldo Sta. Cruz, all of who hailed from different sectors of the field.
It was not all-smooth sailing in the opening day, however, as there almost was a 30-minute delay before the program actually commenced due to registration issues by the North Gate. In spite of this, the congress eventually exceeded the organizer’s expectations, garnering approximately 1200 delegates from 75 schools and universities nationwide, an improvement over last year’s turnout.
A total of 15 optional competing workshops, each lasting around three hours, were also held later that day, ranging from journalistic and creative writing to film editing and layout. In these sessions, participating students were tasked to create and subsequently submit original outputs related to their chosen classes. The delegates’ works were then judged by the speakers with the winner to be announced the following day.
Whereas the first day was more of a formal affair, the second day was reserved solely for various workshops and the closing ceremony.
The 60 non-competing classes were held throughout the day, with famous personalities such as Joyce Pring, Cathy Garcia Molina, and Mike Enriquez, among others, imparting their own respective expertise to the students.
As the clock hit 5:30 in the afternoon, delegates and organizers alike gathered to the Corazon Aquino Democratic Space (Henry Sy Grounds) for UNVEIL, the closing ceremony for this year’s SMC. They were treated to a buffet dinner amidst the background music of The Ransom Collective and Jensen and The Flips—both of whom played three-song sets each.
Along with the mini concert, students who partook in the competing classes the day prior were also recognized with gifts from external sponsors.
Unbeknownst to most people, the 3rd Student Media Congress was more or less a year in the making, according to project head Sienna Del Rosario. She shared that halfway through the year, the project head for the last two SMCs, Joanna Queddeng had to step down, leaving the group of organizers in an initial state of disarray. “She [Queddeng] had to step down as project head so I had to take over. At first everyone was lost. We were trying to get a grip on what to do. Fortunately, after a week or two, everything was back to normal.”
Del Rosario also expounded on the difficulty of securing speakers. She said that if everything had gone according to plan, the complete roster of speakers would have been ready by August. Unfortunately, due to unavailability issues and sudden schedule changes, the list was only finalized on September, a month before the event proper. Then, a few weeks or even days before the event, some speakers backed out, leaving the organizers to come up with replacements quickly.
Jasmine Reducindo, a member of the events committee, had to resort to a mixture of fast thinking and luck to overcome the obstacle. “My speaker backed out two weeks before the workshop due to miscommunication between him and his manager. Luckily, the other speaker that I contacted confirmed two days before the event. “
While trials and tribulations burdened the organizers, participating students sang nothing but praise. Dianne Rodriguez, delegate from DLSU, commented that “it [SMC] was an enlightening experience. It only fueled me to work more in the industry due to the knowledge shared by the guests.”
“The entire struggle was worth it. Seeing and receiving all the thank you messages from the participants and even from the speakers themselves. It’s very heartwarming,” Del Rosario said. While she remained mum about the plans for next year’s SMC, she stated that anything less than the effort exerted this year would not cut it.
