Anyone hanging around the School of Mass Communication over the past few weeks has heard about Networking Night at Loyola, right? If you haven’t, you probably aren’t spending much time on the 3rd floor of the Communications/Music complex. Networking Night at Loyola is an opportunity for mass comm students to meet and mingle with media and communication professionals from the New Orleans area. While its intended purpose is to facilitate connections for possible internships and mentorships, it’s a great opportunity for students to find out who’s who in the media world and develop relationships that might eventually lead to jobs.

Networking Night at Loyola is important for students looking for spring and summer internships. As the internship coordinator for the SMC, I encourage anyone even remotely considering the possibility of an upcoming internship to stop by Studio A on the 4th floor on Tuesday, Oct. 13 (6-8 p.m.) to meet, greet and eat. (Yes, there’s food. There’s ALWAYS food!)Wear your business casual, bring resumes and get your 30-second elevator speech ready.

Don’t know what that is? According to Barbara Gibson, ABC, a communications consultant in the UK, a 30-second elevator speech is two or three sentences “that describe who you are, what you do and the kind of contacts you hope to make.” That way you can introduce yourself to those who are there are find good interns, mentees or possibly even coworkers.

Networking Night at Loyola is also an opportunity for students in this semester’s Strategic Event Planning and Management class (CMMN A394-002) to show off their event planning skills. The 17 members of the class – who come from Loyola and Tulane, mass comm and other majors – have worked since the first day of the semester on planning and executing this event. Any one of those 17 will be quick to tell you that event planning is fun, but it’s hard work, too. And they’re being graded on their performance at the event, as well as their planning and the post-event follow up.

Everyone involved in Networking Night at Loyola is looking forward to a great turnout. We hope to see you there.