The Gargoyle Goes to Princeton!

A Write-Up of Hilarious Proportions

by David Faulkner, Gargoyle, Editor-in-Chief 2010-2011

On April 1st, 2011, thirteen Gargoyle staff members piled into three vehicles and drove from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Princeton, New Jersey for the First Annual National Intercollegiate Humor Conference. The Gargoyle represented one of roughly fifteen student publications from schools such as Yale, Cornell, Rutgers, UNC, UVA, MIT, Swarthmore, Columbia, Brown, Vanderbilt, DePaul, and Tufts. Over ninety students attended the conference, which ran from April 1st until April 3rd and featured numerous writing workshops, a Q & A session with Streeter Seidell from popular humor site Collegehumor.com, and stand-up comedy performance from several professional comedians.
The value of this conference to the Gargoyle cannot be overstated. With financial support from Student Publications, the Gargoyle was able to join in the establishment of a national community of student-run humor publications. We had the opportunity to discuss administrative, financial, and marketing strategies with some of the most successful and capable publications in our business. Many staffers relished the chance to “talk shop” with other humorists and to compare comedy styles – much to the benefit of all.
During the second day of the conference, the Editors and Business Managers of the various publications convened to discuss the founding of a national College Humor Publications Syndicate that would allow us to approach national advertisers with the prospect of advertising on not just one, but a dozen campuses around the country – in publications appealing directly to the coveted eighteen to twenty-four age group. If successful, this system would offer the Gargoyle a new source of income that had previously been unattainable. We are currently in negotiations with the publications involved and we hope to establish the syndicate within the next year.
The overall experience was extremely enjoyable for all parties involved. The Princeton students that arranged the conference were extremely hospitable and organized and we had a blast socializing with students from the other universities. We certainly made some friends and I think that in the future this event will prove to be a valuable networking opportunity for Gargoyle staff members.