Our group was an original 3 man team who were interested in the ways of seeking profit from organizing 'virtual events'; a mass activity that would be held in the virtual world of cyberspace instead of a physical location. Our 3 man team soon became a 6 man team (one dropped out halfway due to personal reasons), which meant more distribution of the workload but an equally heavier burden to score well. Throughout the semester, we conducted numerous research and held many meetings to come up with a very satisfactory report. Although I felt relieved after the final presentation, there were things to reflect upon.
ROLES
My role in the group was not definite. Instead, everyone in the group agreed to take an equal share of the workload through out the semester. If everyone felt that someone was not contributing their fair share, everyone would come to a meeting and have a 'heart-to-heart' talk session. It was fortunate that this did not happen, with the exception of one of our group members dropping out due to personal reasons.
However, I soon took on the small role of a 'motivator'. Leonard (another team member) and I made sure that we kept everyone updated on the work; organizing weekly meetings was one way of doing this. Besides that, I set deadlines to ensure that slackness and procrastination would not creep in. It was also a way of making sure that everyone would not lose their own momentum . They would keep having the same motivation and drive to produce substantial work.
Overall, it proved to be successful. I was pleased that there were no conflicts with any of our group members and everyone managed to keep in line with the deadlines set (of course, with some minor extensions). What I can take from this experience is that every team needs to have someone who can 'motivate'. That person him/herself must be a driven individual and must be able to keep the group going consistently. I have learnt much from this role and am very confident that I'll be able to assume the role for the next semester.
PROGRESS
In a nutshell, progress was slow in the beginning and only picked up after the mid semester break.
We had produced some secondary questions and each of us had to take one and work on it.
I had identified an immediate weakness: I love to find ways of making money, but I had no prior experience or knowledge of the events industry. Adding on to that, I knew of no one back in Singapore that were in the events industry.
Hence, I took up the reseach question of 'how a new graduate can integrate him/herself in the events management sector'. I figured that I could gain something from this, as one of my strengths is being able to learn things quickly.
I first went to do a background research on what the events industry was like and how it functioned. It was vital that I did this as it would serve as a foundation to my later research. From there, I monitored my own progress and made sure that my work was cross-referenced with my group members to ensure its quality.
My strengths in this area was my willingness to learn and adapt quickly. I sought out this research question as an opportunity to learn more about the events industry and maybe consider it as a possible future career option. As I had done some marketing modules back in Singapore, I knew what to research and what to filter out.
My weakness in this area was perharps not seeking out Chris (group member), who owns an events company back in Singapore. I should have asked him questions in this area as he was the perfect candidate to help out in my research. I was not flexible enough to seek other alternatives to aid in my question.
STRATEGIES
As a group, we discussed numerous strategies to employ to aid us. One of them was sourcing out the suitable personnel to interview and we also considered the idea of sending out surveys. This was to help us get an idea of the demographics of our target audience. Furthermore, our friends and peers had no clue what 'virtual events' was. Thus, we all agreed on sending out surveys. I volunteered to do the surveys as I had already knew what questions to ask.
We specifically aimed at people aged between 18-30, as it fell into categories of young adults and adults. This was the age range where our target audience spent the majority of their time on the Internet and were the most likely to know what virtual events were about.
As there were 5 of us in the team, we decided that each of us would sent out the surveys to an average of 20 peers/friend per person. This would amount to at least 100 people giving us the demographics for the survey. It was simple to do as I had the survey done on an online website. We set aside a week for the survey to be done, due to a little time constraint.
The results were beyond our expectations; a total of 150 people took the survey and gave us invaluable data for our research.
As for the interviews, we managed to source out a manager from one of the local night clubs. We wanted to gain insights on the strategies of marketing an event and he did not disappoint.
PROBLEMS
Our first immediate problem was the dropping out of one of our team members halfway through the project. Initially, we had no idea that he had dropped out as he did not informed us. It was only after 2 weeks that we realized that he had personal problems and had to opt out of school. Thus, we discussed the possibility of removing one of our research questions and brought it up to Christina's attention. She gave us her consent which effectively solved the problem.
Personally, I had faced the problem of little experience about the topic that my group was researching on. I was even hesitant in joining in discussions, but pulled myself together after seeing it as a great opportunity to learn about something new.
Also as I had mentioned earlier, another problem that affected our group was slackness. Most of the time, some of the group members needed pushing to do the work required. It had been stressed during the first week of semester that the whole project was a collective effort. Therefore, it meant that everyone was going to get the same mark at the end of it.
Not wanting to be pulled down by mediocre work, I took up the role of 'motivator' and had to constantly make sure that the group would meet the deadlines on time and produce quality work. Through out the semester, I faced this problem numerous times and it was not resolved even at the tail end of the project.
This particular problem is not uncommon, as there would always be members who would need that extra pushing to get things done. This problem could have been prevented if I had taken time to carefully selected my group members properly.
CONNECTIONS & INTERSECTIONS
This semester's Media Industries course has opened my eyes wider to the field of media. The exercise in the very first class allowed us to list down our areas of interest. Claire wrote it all down on the board and I was amazed by how many 'sub-fields' within the media field there were.
Throughout the course of my project, I have learnt that a huge network of contacts and peers is vital if I want to succeed in the media industry. I have to credit Chris (group member) for exposing this to me (indirectly). He owns his own company back in Singapore and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. It was evident during group discussions when he share his input again and again.
I have also seen myself growing - I was more open and more responsible. Back in Singapore, I often lacked people management skills and it was because of this that I often scored average marks. Hence, I am very glad that this project has allowed me to mature and assume more leadership roles within the group. I am confident now and hope to apply this to next semester.
At the moment, I still have ambitions to go into sports journalism or travel writing. However, I like to keep my options open and this project has greatly helped me. With the media industry ever expanding, the events industry is something that I would definitely love to explore if the opportunity arises.
If I would have to give myself a grade for this course, I would give myself a high mark of a D.
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