That’s right, WAUPM: The Western Association of University Publications Managers. WAUPM is a group that consists of 30 of the largest college media programs in the country. Each spring, the heads of these media departments gather for an annual meeting in which they discuss the state of college media.
In March of 2010 we had the privilege to meet Arvli Ward, head of Student Media for UCLA, at the NYC Spring Convention. Arvli and I had a few discussions on the future of yearbook and the Lifepages model over the summer and into the fall of 2010. He is very forward thinking when it comes to the future of yearbook and what yearbook can accomplish at the University level.
In February of this year, Arvli, acting in his capacity of President of WAUPM, invited me to represent Lifepages at the WAUPM Spring meeting at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego. The Theme for this meeting, Next 10, was aimed at discussing the future of college media over the next decade. Lifepages was picked as one of three companies to represent the model for yearbook at the college level over the next decade.
On Monday, May 9th, we had the opportunity to present our model to 9 of the best college yearbooks around. From UCLA to Northwestern to Virginia Tech, schools from West to East were represented. It was an honor to be in the presence of the leaders of these great programs and to get their feedback on the Lifepages service; feedback that was overwhelmingly positive. In addition, we were able to network with some of our peers in the yearbook industry and discuss ways to work together to continue to push the future model of the yearbook. It was a fantastic trip, in a beautiful city, and I tip my hat to Arvli and thank him for bringing Lifepages out to present at this meeting.