Elon alumnus Al Drago ’15 lectures at Poynter Institute

Elon University alumnus Al Drago ’15 presented a live webinar on Oct. 20 at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, an educational institution in St. Petersburg, Florida, dedicated to teaching and inspiring journalists and media leaders. During the one-hour webinar, titled “InstaSnap: Reporting Live Video 10 Seconds at a Time,” he discussed the rapidly changing ways millennials consume news through scrolling, snapping and selfies.  

An avid social media proponent and user, Drago focused specifically on the short-format vertical video technique, used primarily by Snapchat and Instagram. He emphasized that stories should contain at least two of the three following qualities: compelling visuals, clarifying text or strong audio.

Drago, a freelance photojournalist based in Washington, D.C., covers the White House, Congress and national news primarily for The New York Times, as well as Bloomberg and Getty Images. He has incorporated Snapchat and Instagram Stories into his daily workflow, giving short glimpses into his workday while in the Oval Office, or traveling across the country on Air Force One.

The Elon alumnus has garnered an extensive online audience, including nearly 4,000 followers on Instagram. Additionally, Drago was named one of the top 10 Snapchat accounts to follow on Election Night 2016 by Sweet, trailing only First Lady Michelle Obama and Sen. Cory Booker. His work has been published by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, TIME, Le Magazine du Monde, and The New Yorker, among others.

Drago has previously given similar talks at the 2016 National College Media Association Spring Convention and 2016 Associated Collegiate Press National College Media Convention, as well as lectures at S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, and his alma mater. Additionally, he served as the keynote speaker at the 2017 North Carolina College Media Association Conference, held on Elon’s campus.

The Magazine of Elon highlighted Drago’s remarkable career path with an in-depth feature this summer titled “Al Drago ’15: Purposefully focused,” and Drago was recognized earlier this year as one of Elon’s Top 10 Under 10 young alumni.