Presenting at Portland Filmmaking Meetup
Well, it happened - I presented at the Portland Filmmaking Meetup! Check out the group if you’re local! If you aren’t in Portland, Oregon you may still have a local meetup for creatives in your area!
I had way more fun than I was anticipating and the audience was super interactive, which was awesome! We had roughly 40 attendees; some were industry professionals and others were just getting started on their filmmaking journeys. So much potential energy was in the room!
BTS shot snapped by Logan Reynolds.
BTS shot snapped by Patrick Hart.
My presentation was all about how we need to tell our own stories as creatives. This means attending networking events, releasing behind the scenes content, and publicizing goals in whichever way that makes most sense for you as an individual. A large part of the presentation was a recap of my 6 Months Freelancing in Portland, Oregon blog but I did breakdown some stats that aren’t yet public. I’ll be sharing those stats in a future blog post recapping my first year in Portland, so subscribe if you want to follow along on my journey!
“Great presentation tonight, Jacob! One of the best I’ve seen at an event like this.”
“Definitely hit close to home for me since we have had some overlap on our journeys.”
“I’m inspired by your story and glad I came out tonight.”
Was it worth it?
I spent a lot of time creating the presentation because I wanted to present with the same quality that I deliver to my clients. In hindsight, I’m extremely glad that I put in the extra effort. Just from that evening alone I had individuals ask if I wanted to join them on a shoot, if I could mentor them, and I even scheduled multiple lunch meetings with potential leads.
So yes, presenting at the event led to opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise gotten and this is a key example of why we as creatives need to get out in public and tell our own stories. Quality matters but simply being skilled isn’t enough to consistently get work. You need to tell your story and put yourself out there to garner opportunities. Subscribe below if you enjoyed the short read and want to hear more as I progress in my storytelling journey!