A Weekend in West By God Virginia

Each year, the WVU Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) graduate program hosts the INTEGRATE conference in Morgantown, WV. I was fortunate to attend this year and wanted to share just how amazing the weekend was for me, personally and professionally.

First of all, I was looking forward to being on campus for the first time… ever. Being able to take in Morgantown and the WVU campus was part of the reason I wanted to attend. I took several silly selfies, played temporary co-ed, and survived the trek up and down the steps to the Life Sciences Building multiple times (only on the last day did anyone tell me about the elevator). Visiting the bookstore and eating in the Lair were bonuses. The reception at the Alumni Center was special given the fact that next year I will be one and that building will be “mine” and I got to meet the Mountain Man. And living in Atlanta I may never be able to attend a Mountaineer Home Game so having dinner in the Touchdown Terrace was a real treat. (That being said, if anyone reading this has one or two tickets to the WVU v. Alabama game to throw my way, I’d be grateful).

I felt like I had the WVU Grad School On Campus experience super condensed into three days.

Steph and the Mountain Man

#IMCelfie

Twitter Table

Alpha Blonde

Touchdown Terrace

Group Selfie

The anticipation of meeting classmates was another highlight. I started a Facebook group for classmates when I started the program last May because – quite frankly – I just really liked the people in my Intro to IMC class and wanted to be friends with them outside of class. The group grew as we each progressed through the program. There are people with whom I’ve not had classes but we’ve all bonded because of the group… sharing our struggles and triumphs in class as well as in our personal life. It was quite remarkable how many people made a point of finding me over the weekend to say “Thank You” and to introduce themselves. Just about everyone I met said the same thing, the dynamic of this year’s Integrate was changed because people felt like they were reuniting with friends rather than meeting strangers. Suffice it to say I think this group embraces, if not embodies, the very nature of the IMC program. (On a personal note, I was beyond pleased to hear the FB group was so popular because I started it for all these reasons, never imagining it would impact Integrate in such a positive way)

I was particularly happy to meet some of my favorite professors and hear how they remembered me and my contributions. This speaks volumes of the caliber of instructors as well as the program itself. Bonnie Harris and Joe Barnes both made a point of finding me to say “Hello” in person. And I cannot say enough times how invaluable it was to sit in the Capstone session and hear best practices shared by previous students. Seeing their final results was a little intimidating… but more so inspirational and motivating. I’ll be in Capstone in Late Fall and am already collecting resources for St. Jude (in hopes that the client does not change before then). I never expected to actually meet my professor for Capstone so that was a real treat… especially considering he’s Dennis O’Conner and he won Most Righteous IMC Professor along with Joe Barnes (who was most deserving).

The speakers were quite impressive. I am still culling through my old school notes (taken by hand, in a spiral WVU notebook) and implement the takeaways into my office. I AM the marketing silo– the department consists of just me – but I work closely with the sales team to give them things to talk about. The first thing I plan to do is start weekly meetings specifically with the sales team to review our marketing programs and answers questions or take suggestions for improvements or additions. That’s a start.

All in all I felt like many existing friendships were further cemented, made new friends, made invaluable connections with IMC staff and faculty, and felt the capacity in my brain expand with the knowledge received.

I may need to buy a larger hat size…