My Very First Conference!

Today I went to my very first conference! It was called What Teens Want Marketing Conference. As we walked in, I was handed a guest pass and a gift bag full of many different items, including a cute notepad and pen, a Pop Star magazine, a $10 prepaid card to Stardoll and some other stuff, too. Being at a conference about, well, me automatically made me feel quite special. We walked into the big hall where the conference was being held—it reminded me of a room where a bar mitzvah might be hosted. We sat down at a table and immediately started prepping all of our technological devices. I had my Flip video camera, my regular camera, my phone and a laptop to tweet on.

The whole conference was devoted to teenagers. Marian Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, opened with the fresh realization that teenagers have become “teenagents.” She said that our activities are not limited to what adults give us to do and if a thing cannot be found, teens will create it. She said that teens are transforming everyone, and that we are now agents of change, communication and innovation. Other speakers described how to utilize new and existing technologies that teens have grown up with in order to create advertisements to which we will respond. Another topic was about how to become that “cool” spot where teens want to hang out.

Wow. Does anyone else feel like we are finally getting recognized?! For the first time, I feel like we, as teens, have some power over the rest of the world. It feels like we are pulling a trick, and everyone has fallen for it—like every teen on the planet is in on a secret that adults don’t know and are only now trying to unravel. It still amazes me that a teenager created Facebook; now look what it has become. It has always seemed like the adults have been paving the way for us, which may be true, but now we, the underdogs, are getting acknowledged!