As a graduate student, trying to figure out what I want to do after school is always on my mind. Luckily, I had the opportunity to attend SXSW, one of the greatest networking events of all time. I was extremely excited to take advantage of all the great opportunities that SXSW would allow me to learn from.

I was able to attend this event during the most exciting days for sports enthusiasts. Overall, I attended four sports panels that covered topics such as photographers who shoot large gaming events, the future of basketball and soccer in North America, storytelling for sports, and the digital interaction and the use of new media to cover sports.

When thinking about the future of sports media, there’s a lot to take into consideration. Media and technology is on a constant rise. Traditionally, much like other news, sports media started on your television set, and people had the opportunity to read sports news on print the day after an event. Nowadays, there is a two-way conversation on social media where people gather news immediately after it’s happened, or as it is happening such as the Super Bowl or the Olympics.

Since this is the case, you may think it’s gotten easier for professionals in broadcasting, journalism, marketing and print. Well, it’s not. With a fast-paced environment, these professionals have to anticipate a lot of their work, and they must continue to adapt to the new trends that are constantly changing.

One of my favorite panels that I attended was “Capturing the Beautiful Game.” This panel was hosted by three professional photographers that take professional photos at sporting events. The fourth panelist was a sports journalist and analyst that covers live games. I always wonder how these great photos of athletes are taken, and the work that is actually needed to get a great photo. This panel brought to light all the little things that come into play to make this happen.

Photographers have to study a stadium, a venue, or the location that the event is taking place at before setting up for the actual day. It’s all about the timing of the photo and the great angles. Taking the pictures isn’t the only part of the job. About 5,000 to 7,000 photos are taken during a large sporting event, such as the Olympics, and these photographers have to edit and send out the best photos before anyone else.

A great quote from Shanna Lockwood is based on the goals you should set for yourself as a photographer. “Even if you shot it before, try to go at it in some new way,” she said. It’s important to have multiple goals, and to treat them like a vending machine.

Pawel Kopczynski also mentioned a good point to shooting an event. He talked about the importance of understanding what you’re shooting and said, “What is the story? If you don’t have the knowledge/background, you may have great pictures, but not the right pictures.”

This panel focused on just one aspect of sports media. Now that the game is being captured in a single image, how can it be translated through social media or storytelling?

In the panel “Pressing Engagements: Digital Interaction in Sport,” it was mentioned that in the past five years, there has been a huge evolution in the perception of what is done with sports media.

With everyone having a phone, and everyone being quick to use it, it’s the professionals’ job to beat them to the punch when posting a trending tweet, or creating a gif of an amazing shot. It was mentioned during the panel, that their competition is everyone with a phone. Julian Valentin said, “What can we do to get this out quicker than everyone else and still excel when we do?”

With technology and media advancing so quickly, it also allows the sport to advance with it. Not only are teams using media to interact with the fans, but individual athletes are using it to grow their personas as well. And honestly, we are loving every bit of it as fans.

The conversation about the sports world could go on forever. There’s hundreds of aspects that make this world very unique, and there is still room for improvement and experimentation with it too. I’ll leave you with the quote below from Dexton Deboree in the panel Storytelling in Sports: How to Make Good Sh*t as a reminder that sports are more than just a game.