Students can get the real scoop on a career in advertising and media at the 2009 American Advertising Federation–Baton Rouge Student Conference on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Advertising, marketing, design, photography, creative writing and mass communication students will gain interview, résumé and networking tips at the day-long conference and attend workshops with industry professionals.”It’s an all in one day chance for students to get a perspective on what’s out there and listen to people who work in our industry, locally and nationally,” said Jason Feirman, AAF vice president and college connection chair. “Hopefully, this will help them gauge what direction they want to go prior to graduating.”Students will learn about copywriting, sales, market research, working with photographers and transitioning from print to Web. At the end of the day, students will participate in portfolio reviews.”Hopefully, students will realize that the more [fields] you try out, the more chances you will find something you will stick with and go into,” Feirman said. “This day will let them narrow those choices down or guide them to a new one.”This year’s keynote speaker is Ray Longoria, creative director at Austin, Texas-based GSD&M Idea City. Longoria has earned hundreds of awards and worked as a copywriter and creative director for various advertising agencies. He has also worked on creative concepts for BMW, AT&T, Southwest Airlines, Frito Lay, Subway Sandwiches, Chili’s, Apple and 3M.Jerry Turk, former AAF president and the founder of Sales Team Builder and former marketing director for Louisiana National Bank, will also speak, telling students the “absolute truth” about what he’s learned in his 40 years of experience in the marketing, sales and advertising industry.”This year’s local speakers are very diverse,” Feirman said.During lunch, students will have a question-and-answer session with Katie Ramirez, Mesh Design creative director; Rick Dobbs, principal owner of Unreal Design; Hunter Territo, Xdesign designer; and Jim Overbey, Diane Allen & Associates copywriter.Registration begins at 8:45 a.m. in the Holliday Forum of the Journalism Building and costs $10 at the door.”You can’t beat that, especially since we’re serving breakfast and lunch, and you get all this knowledge,” Feirman said. 
—-Contact Leslie Presnall at [email protected]