Author: Beatrice Bergaudaite (Page 1 of 3)

Laura Mason-Byer podcast

I did this interview, so I will talk about it from my perspective and experience. I interviewed Laura Mason- Byers, who is a People Communication manager in Gymshark. From my perspective, I can say that I was fortunate with the person I interviewed. She was very professional, talkative and thoroughly answered all the questions.

It was my second time doing an interview, so I already had some experience. However, this time was different as the podcast was live, and I knew that there would not be a lot of editing. Also, I did not know the quest for this interview compared with the previous one. Before the interview, I tried to find anything I could about her. Also, I had some help from one of the researchers, and it was beneficial. The information I had was helpful to write a better script because I could visualise the order of my script. My script was divided into six sections: introduction, time at university, career path, jot at the moment, all jobs overall, and the future. The script had the main questions and some additional questions. I chose to do that because that would allow me to orientate if I got lost during the podcast or have some extra time. Even though I had many questions prepared, I did not ask all of them. As I mentioned before, Laura fully answered my questions, and for the time limit, I had to choose the right questions quickly during the podcast. That was one of my biggest concerns and fears while preparing for the interview. In my opinion, not knowing the quest is one of the biggest challenges in interviews. So, an interviewer has to be very well prepared for any scenario.

Talking about why I chose to be a presenter in this project, I wanted to try something different. Even though I am mostly interested in PR and advertising, I could not refuse to try this role because I am a huge fan of podcasts. I listen to them every day, so I have always dreamed about doing one. This project let me do one, and I am very glad about that. I could say that I was very anxious, which could be noticed by my voice while listening to the podcast. However, it was a great practice to deal with being anxious. Moreover, this experience also taught me some things about the PR and Communications sphere. As these podcast series are mainly focused on students, one of the questions for Laura was about the skills needed to work as a People Communication manager covering the section of jobs overall. Laura highlighted that the most essential skills are to be able to understand the audience and people, be creative, and think outside the box. Also, the quest was inspiring by advising to take any kind of work experience and opportunities, do a lot of research on what kind of jobs exist, and do things driven by passion.

So, even though the interview did not go as planned, in my opinion, the podcast went well. It was an exciting experience to try myself in a different field. Also, the podcast itself was useful for me because I learned more about the PR field.

Fausta Dambrauskaite podcast

This podcast is about Fausta Dambrauskaite, a freelance photographer and a second-year psychology student at Coventry University. The interviewer of this podcast is Emilija Metlovaite, a second-year Media and Communications student at Coventry University. They talk about the journey and experience of being a freelance photographer and how a hobby can bring money. 

I see photography as a highly complicated profession. However, Fausta presented it as not such a difficult job. It was interesting to hear that Fausta’s journey with photography started when she was in sixth grade and how every year, she was improving more and more. She highlighted that media platforms, such as Youtube, are helpful in order to learn more about photography and the camera. These days, many media platforms have many tutorials that help to learn to use programs and tools. However, the quest says that practice and experience let to become a better photographer. In my understanding, the practice of taking various pictures allows noticing details that create more professional results. With experience, she got more confident in sharing her work with others. Because of that, Fausta started receiving a request to do paid photoshoots, such as weddings or events. It allowed me to understand that in order to succeed, you have to share your work. Also, it was useful to hear that working as freelancer, a contract is necessary. It helps protect the work and avoid complicated situations, such as people not paying for your work or requiring more than they should. Moreover, while listening to the podcast, I found out that feeling nervous and exiting are similar. When feeling anxious before something, you can say that you are excited but not nervous. So, when the person you are taking pictures of does not feel confident, Fausta suggests encouraging people to feel themselves. That could be applied to any occasion when it is difficult to deal with being anxious. 

Talking about the podcast itself and how did it go, I would say that the final result sounded well. From my perspective, Emilija was carefully listening to the quest and seemed to be involved in all the conversation. I liked that Emilija was not just asking questions she had or did not in her script, but she was also creating the conversation with Fausta by sharing her experience. Right questions created a good conversation, and because of that, the experience Fausta shared and her advice were interesting and valuable to hear as I could apply for any freelance job. However, some of the answers did not sound natural. They seemed to be already written in a script, so sometimes, they did not match Fausta’s answers. On the other hand, having written answers might be beneficial. If you get lost or anxious during the podcast, templets of questions might save you.

So, I enjoyed listening to the podcast as it was very informative and useful to hear. The questions prepared by Emilija were interesting as the audience was able to hear fascinating facts and experiences of being a freelance photographer. 

Dale Moon podcast 

This podcast is between host Sam and guest Dale Moon, who works in sports PR. I decided to listen to and analyse this podcast because I am interested in the PR field but do not know much about PR in sports, how are the differences and what is needed.

Dale Moon is a media and content manager at Birmingham football club. He is responsible for managing the content across all platforms, managing media and existing relationships with existing press, media requests that come into the club, and general communication strategies. As a person who works in a football club, Dale Moon has to be interested in it, as Dale was a football player in his teens. However, his career as a football player did not work out, so he had to go back to his studies and finish journalism. The inspiring part is that even though Dale did not become a football player, his passion for football remained and led him to where he is now. This inspires me to follow my passion and that I can find a way to do it in different forms. For example, I enjoy arts and music, so even though my career might not be in these fields, I can find my way to be closer to them in the PR and Communications fields. Another thing that inspired me while listening to the podcast was the phrase ‘ Negative experience is a positive experience ‘. It indicated that a person develops and grows with any experience. I can apply this thought to any experience as it encourages me not to be afraid to try because, in the end, that experience will still be beneficial. So, this podcast was full of motivation to try and not give up.

Talking about the podcast itself, I enjoyed listening to it. Dale Moon kindly shared his experience, difficulties working in PR, such as how devasting it is when new ideas or news leak before they are announced, and that sometimes his work gets super busy. The interview was inspiring, with many very useful pieces of advice. Sam as a host of the podcast, was quite professional. He seemed to be very passionate about the topic, which could be seen from his knowledge about it. However, I missed a few things: questions about skills and what is essential to work in PR, the career journey, and the difficulties Dale faced. Nevertheless, the quest was very talkative and fully answered questions. From my experience and understanding, these particular questions that I missed might not have been asked because of the time limit.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to Sam and Dale’s podcasts. It was very informative, and I heard some advice that can be used in any way, not just working in PR and journalism. Also, podcasts sounded professional, engaging, and instructive.

Dave Lodge podcast

This podcast is with students Vera, Erini, and a freelance cameraman and editor, Dave Lodge. I chose to reflect on this podcast because Dave talks about working in the event management field that I do not know much about. Also, he has 20 years of experience in the video production area, so I assumed that Dave would have a lot of experience and advice to share.

Dave Lodge works in event management in a technician’s role, focusing more on technical things for events. He organises events by planning where objects will be placed, from stages to toilets. One of the most interesting parts of his career is that Dave was not planning to work in media at first. He grew up in a family of farmers, and he studied agriculture but quit that because he did not see himself there. Later on, he studied biology, and during his studies, he got involved in a group of people interested in filming, editing, and live events. Since then, he has worked in the event management field. That shows that sometimes people might not have a job related to their studies, and that should not be so frustrating because it is about following your passion and what they like. I kindly agreed with Vera’s thought that students are afraid of that possibility, so Dave’s experience might inspire students not to be nervous about that. Also, in this podcast, I enjoyed that the guest shared his experience of doing projects abroad. Dave highlighted that it is essential to plan every detail and carefully think about the equipment you will take. Also, he shared that reality is not as most people imagine. Usually, you work hard and long hours, with a few hours of sleep, and do not have time to have fun and relax. So, Dave kindly shared his difficulties doing this job.

Looking at the podcast itself, I honestly liked listening to it. Eirini and Vera created a conversation with Dave, not just asking questions but also sharing their thoughts and opinions. That is what I personally enjoy about podcasts. Vera as an interviewer, looked very passionate about the topic and the guest, as she was very engaged in the interview, which was pleasurable. However, I missed some questions about the skills, as for a person, who does not know a lot about the event management field, it would be useful to hear. Also, I was expecting to hear how it is to work as a freelancer: the pros, cons, difficulties, and challenges. That would pick out the podcast from others. Also, these days, it is getting more common to work as a freelancer, and however, it might sound quite frustrating for students.

Overall, this podcast expanded my knowledge of the event management field. Questions by Vera and Erini were interesting and appropriate for a general audience and students. The podcast was very nice and easygoing to listen to it.

This project gave me a lot of experience, skills, and discoveries. First of all, my primary role in this project was to be a presenter. I had the possibility to try myself out as an interviewer and have a podcast with Laura Mason-Byer. That was a significant experience, starting with researching the quest to writing a short paragraph about the podcast. I wrote a professional script, did a live interview, and reflected on that. So, all of that I can use later in the future because now I know how to write a script, essential things to do a podcast, and how it is significant to believe in yourself. Moreover, I found out that chaos sometimes is unavoidable, and it might be beneficial for people to get together but can be even frustrating and disappointing at the same time. Also, I found out that the most important thing is to have responsible and kind people around you. Doing this project, I experienced that some people can take responsibility for a task but not do it or be late. Some people might be that friendly and like to lead the project but not in a friendly way. They want to show they have power but disappear during difficulties or do not do their job. So, this project gave various experiences and skills, from writing to talking, and evoked different feelings, from excitement to disappointment.

In our last session we looked at the MCP website. We talked about what has been done and what still need to be done.

All that presenter’s groups still needed to do, was done during the session. Zainab and Ade wrote their descriptions and uploaded them on OneDrive. We all agreed to use our LinkedIn and Instagram accounts. However, as Ade was not involved in the conversation, he decided to use his TikTok account instead of LinkedIn because he does not have it.

Also, as a group, we talked that this project was challenging and chaotic. For a few times, we all were lost and did not know what else to do. When we finished our parts as presenters, we did not want to get too involved in other groups because that confused other groups as others did not know the group’s ideas.

After we finished recording our podcast we had some extra tasks to do. Each of presenters had to write descriptions of themselves and podcasts. These are mine:

About me

‘ My name is Beatrice Begaudaite, and I am a second-year Media and Communications student at Coventry University. I am also a social media coordinator of the Media and Communications course Instagram account. I am interested in the PR  and communications industry as I think that is a field driven by creativity in different ways. ‘

About podcast

‘ My name is Beatrice, and I am a second-year student of Media and Communications at Coventry University. In this podcast, I am interviewing Laura Mason- Byers, who is a People Communication manager in Gymshark. Her role is to manage the internal communications and organisations. In other words, Laura is responsible for ensuring that everyone in the company knows what is happening and is relevant to them. ‘

Even though it looks like a pretty simple task to do, however, it was not for me. Since it was supposed to be a short, few sentence description, you have to choose exact words to convey the meaning. Also, I am not good at writing about myself, so I had to think about what I could write. So, it is always a bit of a challenge for me. However, it was interesting to turn back to the podcast I hosted and write a few sentences about it. I was very focused on the podcast before it happened, so later, I did not want to think about it. Yet, I had to look at it, and the experience returned to my mind.

Since I am a social media coordinator of Virtual Gallery, I suggested the PR team use the Instagram account of Virtual Gallery. The reasons are that the Instagram account has some followers and post, which would help MCP receive more interest. Also, looking at the benefits of an Instagram account, the account would gain more various followers as more interest would be pulled to the account.

So, when everyone agreed to that, I decided to create the first post. The post is announcing upcoming MCP podcasts that students are working on them.

Link to the post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbNS_cgAqRH/

While thinking about social media posts for podcasts, I came up with the idea of making them a little different. The post could become a reel by including a short teaser, a 15-20 seconds voice recording from the podcast. By this, the audience would be introduced to what they would hear in the podcast. Also, the right sentences would interest the audience and increase engagement. However, I talked with the PR group, and this idea became more complicated than I thought. At this moment, there are ten interviews done, and because of that, there will not be ten different posts. So, it would not be proper to exclude some of the people by not putting their records. Promoting ten podcasts in a short time becomes quite challenging.

There is a link to my created demo – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZZ-vK9mWr02cdPO6izzSMILyyWsLr_g9/view?usp=sharing

The podcast has happened. From my perspective, it went pretty well. The preparation was quite stressful, and the few minutes before the podcast started were very intense. Other team members were late for the preparation. During the rehearsal, my quest and I were supposed to run through the questions, but we checked the sound and view. This unsettled me as it did not go as planned. However, when the recording button was pressed, everything was on me, and there were no more technical issues. 

After the interview finished, I noticed some things: 

• I did not ask half of my questions ( not including additional ones). However, it is better to have more questions prepared as you never know how the quest will answer. 
• I was constantly thinking about grammar and how to say everything perfectly. So, because of that, my words tangled a few times. 
• I was following the time very carefully, and it helped me fit in time with questions.

Overall, I appreciate the opportunity to be a presenter in a podcast. I always wanted to try it out and this project let me do it. For the next time, I would try to plan the time before the recording in order to avoid any issues.

My script is divided into five sections, and each of them has particular questions. Some of the questions have an intro to the question, but not all of them because some are additional questions. Most of the further questions are marked with ‘-‘.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to MCP. My name is Beatrice, and today I’m joined by Laura Mason-Byers, a People Communication manager at Gymshark. 

Hello Laura, I’m glad to see you! Thank you for taking the time to meet me today. Could you introduce yourself more to our audience? 

Time at university 

I believe/ see that you went through many experiences, and time at Coventry university taught you something. What were your studies about?

Why did you choose these studies? 

Why at Coventry University?

In one of the interviews for Coventry University, you mentioned that general university experience prepared you for not just the career but for life. Could you tell us more about that?

-time management – it sounds like it was pretty challenging. How did you manage to do everything?

-inspiration – Who inspired you? 

-motivation – Some students sometimes lack the motivation to study. How did you have the motivation?

Career path 

Alright. Since you finished university, you’ve been working in PR and Communications for 16 years now. 

That’s a long time, so you probably have a lot of experience. Could you share more about your career path as you started working in Halfords as a PR Coordinator, later the communications manager in two different places, and now you work in Gymshark as people communication manager? 

In the middle of a pandemic, you started to work in GymShark in 2021, even though the fitness industry is showing a declining tendency. How did that happen?

-Through all these years, how PR industry has been changing? 

Job at the moment 

Moving forwards, I would like to talk more about the job you have at this moment. Working as a People Communications manager in this big company, could you describe what your workday looks like?

-Do you have a team? How big is it? 

– What is your experience of being a team leader? What is necessary to understand being a team leader? 

1.      What is the most important thing to do in your work? 

2.      What do you enjoy the most about your job?

3.      What brings the most significant challenges?

4.      What skills are needed in your profession? 

I believe that sometimes it might be challenging mentally while facing the challenges, especially working taking care of other employees. How do you deal with that? Maybe you have some secrets or rituals that you could share with us? 

All jobs overall 

Looking back at your all career path, what do you think has been your biggest success factor?

-What is the best decision you made in your career? 

Is there something you would do differently now? 

Future

Where do you see the industry going in the future? What will or will not change? 

For the end of this wonderful meeting, what advice would you give to a person/student starting their career in PR and Communications? 

Whit this incredible advice, we will finish our podcast. Thank you, Laura, for meeting with me today, and it was a pleasure. For the audience, I want to say thank you for listening. Dream big and have fun! 

While Eirini and Emilija were having their podcasts, some of us improved and compared our scripts. Zainab and I talked about what questions we were going to ask and what we needed to ask. We spoke that our questions must be related to professions, skills and responsibilities. 

At the end of the class, our group gathered together to talk about the podcasts. Eirini and Emilija shared their experience with podcasts. They said that they were pretty nervous, and that made an impact on their podcasts. So, they highlighted that it is essential to try to relax and be ourselves. 

From my research based on podcasts I listened to and some articles I read, I noted that it is essential:

• To do good background research;
• Now the audience;
• Prepare advance questions ;
• Try out the interview with someone; 
• Do not interrupt;
• Relax; 
• Make your guest comfortable. 

In this session, a person who researched Laura Mason- Byers and I shared information about her. Even though I have had some information before, the additional information will help me more. So now I have to write the script, and it seems to be very challenging as the podcast will be 30 min long.

Later on, when a few groups met together, we found out that we were not fully ready for the podcast. We faced issues such as confirmation from quests (when and how they will be interviewed) or introduction recordings. At one moment, the classes looked like colossal chaos. However, when we came up with solutions, things started getting into place.

Also, in this session, we found out the dates when our guests are coming, so it set up the deadlines for when we have to get ready. This felt like the podcast was coming, and I started feeling stressed. So, to calm my stress down, I decided to listen to my favourite podcasts more carefully and pay more attention to how they talk and behave during podcasts.