MUMBAI: The Goa chapter of Footprints '09, the Symbiosis Institute' of Media & Communication (SIMC) annual series of student coordinated series of media seminars, will be held on 10 November this year.

Footprints is organised by the media students of the institute who manage and conduct the event in entirety and this year it is happening in 23 different cities across the country and one in the cities of Dubai and Kathmandu. The seminars encompass the various aspects of the media relating to Advertising, Audio Visual, Journalism and Public Relations.

Footprints allows students and aspiring media professionals to explore opportunities in an evolving media sector. The organization of this event has enabled students to gain practical experience and knowledge by exposure to Media & Communication while achieving a successful event
for each of the eight years that it has been held.

Footprints is a congregation of visionaries and distinguished faces in the media. It attracts hundreds of educated young people from all across the nation.

The seminar is a daylong event that will comprise interactions between students and the media stalwarts. The target audience is youngsters from the age group of 16-25. This year FOOTPRINTS'09 Goa will have an audience of over 500 media aspirants.

With Estrelle Jewels as title sponsors, Goa Footprints '09 isorganised in association with Radio Indigo as Radio Partners, Inox as Publicity Partner, Herald as Print Partner, Radioandmusic.com as Online Media Partner, Indian Communication Management as OnlinePartner and Panjim Inn as Hospitality partner.

The day-long seminar is divided into two main segments and two sub-segments within the main segments.

The first segment 'Goa Next' comprises:

CTRL + ALT[ernative] + ENTER: This segment emphasizes on Goa as a brand. With a range of speakers coming in from cities like Mumbai and Delhi, this segment shall highlight the true-value of Goa and the power of branding using new media too. The speakers include Sarnath Banerjee, Graphic Novelist, Subramani Ramachandran, Creative Head, Lowe and Vikramaditya Narayan, CEO, John1one5.Plc.

Radio in Goa: This sub-segment within the first segment is about the radio industry in Goa. It explicitly emphasizes on the radio boom here in comparison to radio industry elsewhere in the country and the speakers shall talk about threats and opportunities to the youth within this segment. The speakers for this include Aparna Joshi, editor, radioandmusic.com, Roshan Abbar, Media Personality, Ravi Iyer, Radio Mentor and Ethel D'Costa, Station Head, Radio Mirchi - Goa.

The second segment 'The Green Battle' comprises:

Eco-tourism: The concept of Eco-tourism is simplified in this segment. Also, the speakers shall talk about its usage in modern times. This segment includes Sujeet Kumar Dongre, CEE, Clinton Vaz, Environmentalist as speakers.

Environment Debate: The main focus of the event is definitely this segment where all environmental issues related to Goa shall be discussed at length. This segment shall include Claude Alvares, Author and Environmentalist, Alexor Sequiera, Minister for Environment, Goa, Jack Sukhija, GHAG as speakers.

The seminar ends with a session 'Anti Venom' which talks about importance of snakes in Goa and also, a presentation on snake-bites.

Goa Footprints '09 is also organizing three competitions for students namely:

Heritage Click: This is a photography contest where each student has to submit three photographs of how they look at Goa's heritage through their lenses. The submission is on the day of the event with pictures of the size 4x6. The student having the best three pictures shall be the winner.

Know your Goa: This is a quiz contest about Goa; the entry for which is on the spot during the course of the event. Each team shall include members.

ICM Write: For the website ICM, each student is expected to give a write-up of no more than 1000 words on the topic 'Scope of Media in Goa.' The students are expected to mail the write-up by November 8, 2009 to meenakshi.iyer@simc.edu and CC the mail to aaishwari.chouhan@simc.edu with the subject line: ICM Write. Other details including name of the student, institute, contact number and date of birth needs to be mentioned in the mail. The winning entry will be posted on the ICM website.

Also, Goa Footprints '09 has a corner called NGO Corner with participation from over 15 NGOs. This corner shall showcase brochures, pictures and other material put up by various NGOs for public display and benefit.