MADC’s ‘Grill the Gurus’ Portfolio Night invites young creatives to turn up the heat on Melbourne’s creative leaders

On Thursday November 25th, The Melbourne Advertising & Design Club will be shaking up its annual Portfolio Night with ‘Grill the Gurus’ — turning the tables on the traditional interview format by encouraging young creatives and advertising students to not only showcase their work, but also ask the hard hitting questions they want to know about the industry, career paths and agencies to some of Melbourne’s top ECDs and CDs.

Says Nick Jamieson, director of youth projects at MADC: “The MADC Portfolio Night is a fixture of young graduates’ calendars and an invaluable opportunity to connect and network with creative leaders in the industry, but its true purpose has always been about providing guidance and wisdom to these up-and-coming superstars on the eve of their careers. With ‘Grill the Gurus’ we want graduates to use this night as a chance to ask the questions that may be hot on their mind or feel may best serve them on their first steps towards career success.”

This year, the event will be hosted online and will consist of four 15 minute interviews with ECDs/CDs from some of the MADC’s partner agencies in a one-on-one setting across the night for each graduate. They will be able to quickly showcase up to three pieces of work via video or screen-sharing, and then immediately jump into the questions they’ve been dying to ask. No topic is off limits.

At the end of the night, the graduate deemed to have a combination of both the best ideas and questions will be awarded a ticket for themselves and a friend to attend the MADC Stars Creative Showcase in early 2022, where they’ll be featured as an upcoming creative star worth talking to. Alongside this will be mentorship and support from the MADC Creative Council to help get their book in shape for the big night.

Says Simon Thomas, co-president: “A core part of our mission at the MADC is to inspire and educate, especially young creative prospects, and by refocusing Portfolio Night to be about connecting and conversing over creativity rather than solely judging spec work (which we’ll still do!), we believe this will be of great benefit to these graduates’ careers, and result in a night to remember!”

MADC’s ‘Grill the Gurus” Portfolio Night will be held online 7pm Thursday November 25th, and is open to graduates, students or creatives with less than two years industry experience.

To register your interest, please email info@madc.com.au with a .pdf attached of your portfolio featuring a maximum of four ideas, by Sunday 14th of November. Spots are limited and successful applicants will be notified via email Monday 15th of November with further details.