If you follow me on Twitter you might have noticed I was tweeting up a storm this past Saturday. Some might have called it excessive but I would have to disagree.

The majority of my morning and the entirety of my afternoon was spent at Rocky Top Student Center on Saturday, April 21, attending the QU Media Mashup.

Much earlier in the semester, journalism professor Brett Orzechowski eagerly told my class, as well as all of his others, that he expected us all to attend the Media Mashup. He raved about the opportunity that he and the School of Communications would offer students.

“I think you can all manage to give up one Saturday afternoon,” he said.

Reluctantly, I registered for sessions.

As a member of student media here at Quinnipiac, I have been fortunate enough to attend the National Press Photographer Association conference in Virginia, as well as the College Media Association conference in New York City. The Media Mashup was my third conference this spring alone and conveniently hosted here at Quinnipiac.

The Mashup was brilliant. A variety of sessions were held in the morning and after a lunch break several other sessions were offered in the afternoon before the closing keynote speaker.

While sitting in on the two sessions that I attended I heard outstanding advice from Quinnipiac alumni, who all graduated with various communications degrees, and Tim Peek, senior producer at NBC News.

Even if you’re not a journalism major, the advice from professionals went beyond the newsroom. I urge everyone to invest one Saturday and register for the next Mashup.

My continuous tweets of select quotes and helpful tips from all of the speakers were sent in hopes of winning a tablet. Upon signing in at the registration table, I was handed a complementary metal coffee to-go-mug and inside were directions to tweet #qumashup for chances to enter the raffle. Each tweet was equal to a raffle ticket. Unfortunately for my followers, it was only later that I became aware of the cap put on the first five tweets.

I didn’t win a tablet, but I did come away from the Mashup with restored hope in my future goals and dozens of tweets that I have already referred back to as my own notes from the day.

While I tapped away on my iPhone, sending tweet after tweet, my mind swam with the words of wisdom from people I look up to.