MoJoCon 2017 was an incredible experience. So good that I have to blog in two parts as I have so much to say! One of my new heroes film producer and journalist @billcarter speaking at #MoJoCon said that 'the centrepiece of my whole existence is story' and what a story I have to tell about my @mojoconirl journey! So here it comes... well Part One anyway!
RTÉ, the organisers of MoJoCon, describe it as 'a leading international media conference focusing on mobile journalism, mobile content creation, mobile photography and new technology'. It takes place annually and is a meeting of minds of all things MoJo.
This year's conference was a three-day event and took place in the Radisson Hotel Galway. The impressive line-up of presenters and workshop facilitators can be viewed here- as you can see it is a formidable spread of people from across the industry, both nationally and internationally and I was lucky to meet and interview some of these!
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Me Getting Comfy in the RTÉ pod at #MoJoCon
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So.... what was a 16 year old TY student doing at such a prestigious event I hear you ask! Well, I am a member of the Digital Youth Council of Ireland and through my involvement in the DYC I was lucky enough to source a three-day ticket for the event- so before I forget thanks to @DYCIRL and RTÉ for this opportunity.
Why was I interested in attending MoJoCon? Well...as you know I love all things technology, so the mobile in MoJo floats my boat. But I've only been recently bitten by the journalism bug thanks to my work with the Youth Media Team under the guidance of Pamela O' Brien and Bernie Goldbach of LIT and Dr. Conor Galvin from UCD.
So MoJoCon was a marriage of tech and media/journalism..... I was quite at home as you'll see ...!
I'm in TY so I was able to attend the full three days of MoJoCon and each day was an enriching experience for me. The first two days were large sessions in the decidedly pink MoJo themed ballroom of the hotel, punctuated with pop-up workshops and a side of MoJoCon fringe events. Day three was workshop based and a great opportunity to learn from the best in the business.
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| The Stage in the Ballroom for MoJoCon Galway |
Day One, bathed in glorious Galway sunshine was opened by 'Mr MoJoCon' Glen Mulcahy and began with a keynote from Richard Swinford of Arthur D.Little. He spoke about 5G, the next generation mobile network due in Ireland in 2019/2020. This he believed will transform enterprise and media and lead to what he described as a “Gigabit Society”. The anticipation in the room was palpable as the MoJos imagined a world of 5G... connectivity is everything in this business especially when a story is breaking in some far flung corner. I caught myself smiling wryly as I had a flashback to my own home wifi network with its paltry 4MB speeds (on a good day!) 😓
