UPLB ComArtsSoc holds 'Eureka! Seminar Series 2012'

LOS BANOS, Philippines, July 22 -- Eureka! Seminar Series 2012 of the UPLB Communication Arts Society was held on July 21st, Saturday, at the NCAS Gallery 1 and 2. The event ran from 10:00 am until 4:50 pm. It focused on four different fields: journalism, social media, advertising, and poetry.

Bum Tenorio, a graduate of BA ComArts in UPLB and now a columnist and assistant editor of lifestyle section in The Philippine Star, was the seminar's first lecturer and talked about journalism. Tenorio discussed the importance of news, news substance, journalist’s code of ethics, credibility of newspapers and other sources, and news bits. In the middle of his lecture, he gave one participant a one year subscription to People Asia Magazine as a prize for answering a question correctly.

The second lecture was about poetry and was handled by Professor William Remollo, the English division head of the Department of Humanities who discussed poised poetry and haiku. Before he began his lecture, he recited his poem dedicated to the late UPLB Prof. Noel Torreta. Towards the end of his lecture, he made the attendees write their own haiku as part of the workshop.

Ali Silao, also a gradute of BA ComArts in UPLB, was the third lecturer and talked about advertising. He is the associate creative director at TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno, one of the top advertising agencies in the Philippines. Silao lectured on his agency’s philosophy “disruption” which was about “Thinking outside the box”. He then presented video clips of his works advertising Energizer and Manikako, Champion, and Rejoice.

Supposedly, the fourth lecture of the seminar series was about broadcasting, as indicated in the pub mats of the UPLB ComArt Soc. However, writer and production assistant of ABS-CBN News Channel Monica Magpantay, the designated speaker for the topic, lectured about the implications of social media to journalism instead.

According to a BS Bio student who attended the seminar, “it was adequately enjoyable; however the seminar lacked the hands-on activities which should have made up for the workshop portion of the seminar mention in the pub mats. I could say that not every lecture met my expectations such as the mislead lecture on broadcasting, though it[the previous lectures] gave me an overview about the discussed fields. As a non communications student, I can say that the seminar was indeed informative.”
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Eureka! Seminar Series is an annual event started in 2008 by the UPLB Communication Arts Society. According to Professor Jerry Yapo, the current Chair of the Humanities Department, Eureka! is a seminar series that attempts to develop the capabilities of communication students on the various art disciplines. Seminar topics by communication experts are in support of the theoretical aspects of course offerings. Through the expertise provided by the practitioners, students are better prepared for the workplace after graduation.

Last year’s seminar was about business writing and the technical know-how of advertising. Next year, the UPLB ComArts Soc will try to lecture on the communication side where communication students in UPLB have yet to experience, according to Danna Herradura, head of this year's Eureka! Seminar Series.