ZEITGEIST
A MEDIA CONFERENCE
The annual media conference organised by the department comprises panel discussions, workshops and talks on various fields of media by professionals - journalism, advertising, public relations, content writing, script writing, marketing, digital marketing, animation, photography, understanding conflict issues, brand development among others. This platform has been instrumental in bridging the gap between academic learning and industry experience and providing a network for the student community. In an attempt to avoid run-of-the-mill student festival events, competitions, the department redesigned Zeitgeist in 2012 and has been successful in maintaining the academic curve for the last couple of years.
Zeitgeist 2012-13: 2nd Edition
The two–day conference was held on the 9 - 10 December and had panel discussions and talks on various aspects of media such as advertising, filmmaking, digital marketing, animation, photojournalism and investigative journalism. Tehelka's Ms Madhu Trehan and Taproot India's Mr Agnello Dias were the keynote speakers. Other speakers included Ms. Punitha Arumugam, Srinivas Sunderrajan, Hussain Zaidi, Suresh Eriyat and more. The conference also included workshops on topics such as Jingle Making and Audio Branding and film screenings.
Zeitgeist 2013-14: 3rd Edition
The third edition of Zeitgeist was held in February 2014. This conference was marked by the launch of the Zeitgeist blog – a blog written by the students of the college’s Mass Media department covering new and intriguing aspects of the media landscape in addition to the conference itself. There were also various competitions and events in the days leading up to the conference like Pressing Matters (a fictional journalism contest) and Target That! (an advertising challenge). The speaker line-up for this year included comedian Sorabh Pant, journalist extraordinaire Mr. P Sainath, filmmaker Anand Gandhi, Samyak Chakrabarty (Chief Youth Marketer, DDB Mudra), Trisha Shetty from the Thincquistive Foundation, Trishya Screwvala (Founder, The Lighthouse Project) and more.
Zeitgeist 2014-15: 4th Edition
Zeitgeist 2015 took place on the 1 - 2 February 2015. The contests for this year’s conference gave participants an opportunity to explore the fields of advertising, photography and film making. Workshops were conducted by Pubali Chaudhuri (Script Writing) and Sunita Bhayan (Musical Media). The speakers included Prashant Punjiar (India Today, The Indian Express), Bittu Sahgal (Sanctuary Asia), Rahul DaCunha (Brand Manager, Amul India), Devdutt Pattanaik (Author and Mythologist), Madhukar Sabnavis (Country Head, Ogilvy). A key panel discussion, Watching the Watchdog – Media as a Force Multiplier included Shekhar Gupta (India Today, NDTV), Siddharth Varadarajan (The Hindu), Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (The Telegraph), Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd. Army Officer, writes for The Hindu and The Indian Express) moderated by Mr. Kishu Daswani.
Zeitgeist 2015-16: 5th Edition
Held in January 2016, the fifth edition of Zeitgeist hosted speakers from all fields of the media landscape. Students had the opportunity to interact with Mr. Ashwani Singla (Founder, Astrum), Ms Lakshmi Sharma (Journalist, Khabar Lahariya), Mr. Nakul Singh Sawhney, Mr. Shaunak Sen, Ms. Sonia Verma (Senior producer, Al Jazeera), Ms. Ishita Anand, Mr. Samar Singh Jodha (Photojournalist), Mr. Sajan Raj Karup, Ms. Lynn Desouza, Mr. Sudhir Sharma, Mr. Kaartikeya Bajpai (Editor-in-Chief, The Bombay Review) and Mr. Fahad Shah (Editor-in-Chief, The Kashmir Walla).
Zeitgeist 2016-17: 6th Edition
The two-day conference full of panel discussions, talks and interactive dialogue on some of the unsung elements of Media, conducted by Mass Media department of St. Xavier’s College Autonomous Mumbai on 23 - 24 January 2017, brought together media professionals and student community across various fields like Ayaz Memon, Merzin Tavaria and Hansal Mehta to name a few. It provided a valuable opportunity for the students to network with media practitioners and set the stage further for mentorship, internship and career opportunities.
Zeitgeist 2017-18: 7th Edition
The two-day annual conference included talks by Dr Aparna Dutt-Sharma, Ninad Shah, Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan, Pavan Dahat and Khushboo Ranka along with panel discussions chaired by the late Darryl D’monte & Rohan Chakravarthy. The conference turned out to be a meaningful experience as it helped the students to gain an insight into the real world. It enhanced various career options and created opportunities for the students to explore in future.
Zeitgeist 2019-20: 8th Edition
The two day conference was driven towards initiating dynamic discussions with eminent leaders, understanding and learning how the industry game changers seize opportunities and overcome challenges in changing times.Before the days o the conference, a bunch of workshops on screenwriting and directing by Mr. Bapu Sarvagod, Podcasting by Kirthi Shetty (aka Mawali Bhai) and his team as well as a talk by the ‘Millennial Kavi’ Rakesh Tiwari set the tone for the panels to come. The various panels included chances for students to interact with and learn from professionals like Dinesh Nair, Dar Gai, Deepti Gupta, Preeti Mascarenhas, Sona Bahadur ,Tanvi Shukla, Aadar Malik, Radhika Vaz and many more. The conference had the perfect blend of entertainment and business, as panels varied from learning about filmmaking to sensory marketing to political comedy. It was truly the most holistic learning experience for everyone involved.