Mediaville Montreal, in association with the Quebec Community Groups Network and Concordia University’s Journalism Department, presents:

Your Freelance Success Story:

How to Beat Your Own Path to a Media Career, Without Selling Your Soul (Or Losing Your Shirt)

Date: Saturday, March 13, 2010

Time: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Place: Concordia University Journalism Department, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W., Room CJ 3.307

Cost: Free, but space is limited to 12 participants (ages 18-29 only)

Admission requirements: In 100 words or less, explain why journalism remains relevant, despite the changing media landscape. Submit to info@mediaville.ca.

Description: Publishing content, whether text, images, audio or video, has never been easier. Getting paid to do so is a whole other story. Join freelancer Giancarlo La Giorgia for a workshop that will discuss the challenges that independent media professionals face, how freelancers are coping and in many cases thriving within the new media reality, and how to make an impact while still making a living.

Presenter: Giancarlo La Giorgia, Concordia j-school class of ’04, is an award-winning writer and bestselling author based in Montreal. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including the Globe and Mail, Boston Globe and CBC.ca. He is the Quebec chapter president of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) and the founder of Mediaville Montreal.

Key topics:

• Professional development
• Creative vs. corporate work
• Collectivism
• Community engagement

In case you missed it, or are just feeling nostalgic, you’ll find some photos from Mediaville’s inaugural event on October 24th below.

Here’s what one attendee, PWAC vice-president Bruce Wilson, had to say about the proceedings:

Mediaville was a wonderful opportunity to meet with colleagues from other writing organizations while learning about different aspects of the writing business. I particularly liked the mix of craft, finance, legal issues, marketing, publishing, and how to apply for government contracts. Multi-organizational events such as this are a great way for writers to learn about common business issues that affect us all and also to learn more about the world other writers live in. I know an event has been worth my while when I leave feeling stimulated to get going on writing projects that have been sitting idle. That was the case with Mediaville. I’m looking forward to the next event!

If you’d like to add your deux sous, leave your comments here.

On October 24, Mediaville Montreal held its first professional development and networking event. As promised, we indeed welcomed over 100 freelancers of all stripes — writers, editors, translators and publishers — at various stages in their careers. Many new professional links were made, and the stage was set for future collaborations, including between the participating organizations.

We hope you enjoyed our excellent speakers, Julie Barlow, Marta Cepek, Christine Hastie, Judith Isherwood of Shoreline Press, Mitch Joel of Twist Image, Stefan Martin of law firm Fraser Milner Casgrain, Remo Scappaticci of accounting firm Rubano Scalia and Denis Lésvesque. If you missed their presentations, or would like a chance to look them over once again, we’ve made some of them available on our new Resources page.

We look forward to staging a bigger and better event next year. In the meantime, we are planning to add plenty of new features to this website. Stay tuned via RSS or sign up to receive e-mail updates.

A special thank you to our volunteers, without whom this event would not have been possible: Marlene Busko, Phillipa Rispin and Peter Woodruff of AMWA Canada; Margaret Goldik and Christina Manolescu of AELAQ; Shanti Maharaj and Roberto Blizzard of EAC Quebec-Atlantic Branch; Guy Rodgers of ELAN; Ian Howarth and Elizabeth Johnston of PWAC Quebec; Everett Larsen, Charles Roburn and Jim Royal of STC Montreal; and Thomas Dean Nordlum.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please leave them here. We look forward to hearing from you.

—Giancarlo La Giorgia, co-organizer and webmaster.