Gary Bushrod returns to George Mason as Industry Professional
GARY BUSHROD RETURNS TO GEORGE MASON AS INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL
On Monday, October 23rd, Gary was invited back to George Mason University as an industry professional and panelist for the Division of Learning Technologies. This annual event featured learning professionals, alumni of GMU's Instructional Design and Technology graduate certificate, masters, and doctoral programs, as well as industry allies to the programs.
Industry professionals from various firms spoke to current and prospective students at George Mason University.
During the event, Gary shared his professional and educational experiences, and how he has achieved success as a learning professional, thus far. His discussion points focused on branding one's self as a learning professional and as a competitive force in the industry. He emphasized that this involves everything from keeping one's personal brand in mind while performing everyday tasks for whichever firm or team they work with, as well as marketing one's self via social media pages, personal websites and professional portfolios.
“When it comes to advice, I’ll leave you with four words...’Be your own brand.’”
Gary emphasized the importance of working with an entreprenueral mindset regardless of whether you were an actual entreprenuer, or not.
After the panel discussion, the panelists were able to sit and speak with the attendees, providing them with career advice, best practices, and answering any questions asked of them. This part of the event was set up in a "speed-dating" format where the attendees switched tables every ten minutes.
Gary is a 2014 graduate of the Instructional Design and Development Master's program at George Mason.