Author: Beatrice Bergaudaite (Page 2 of 3)

Recently we found out who our guests are so we have to do some research about the. I will interview Laura Mason, a people communication manager at Gymshark. Her main responsibility is to make sure that from an internal perspective everyone who works for the company knows what is going on and would be heard.

First to start with is that she was a student at Coventry University. She has a Bachelor of Arts – Communication, Culture and Media.

‘ I think my general university experience prepared me for not just my career but for life. Meeting new people, living on my own and working part-time were all important blocks in making me the person I am today.’ – answers Laura to the questions about how her course defined her career.

She also advises students that are coming to Coventry University to be open-minded and ready for opportunities before everything gets too grown up and serious.

In this podcasts project, my role is to be a presenter. So, what I will have to do it so interview the guest including scriptwriting, research on the guest, and all the preparation. 

In the third week’s session, we were able to try ourselves out. Presenters and production teams together made a demo 3 minutes podcast. It was my first time doing that so, even though it was just a test with my classmates, I was very nervous. However, these short demos seem to be very useful. For myself I notice a few things that I have to work on: 

• move as less as possible because all sounds are audible; 
• don’t rush while talking;
• relax my mind;
• know what I want to say, always have a point. 

So since we don’t know our guest yet, I have time to work on all of this. I will listen to various podcasts for practice, talk loud with myself about any topic, watch videos on how to create a good podcast. 

In this week’s session, we had a ‘ 30 Circles Challange ’. We were given one minute to fill as many circles as we could.

Does it look like a tree? I am not sure myself, but that was my idea – to drow a tree as it was the first idea that came to my mind. I wanted to draw more circles above, however, somehow I stopped myself from doing it. Likely because I did not want to break the rules and frames.

What I see about it is that I am afraid to get out of my comfort zone when it comes to creativity. However, there are no rules, so there is nothing to break. Probably it is all in my mind, some creative frames I put my mind in. With this challenge, I realised that I should not create rules in my head and let my thoughts flow.

Another task we had was to create a logo for the podcast series, so this is what my peer and I created.

The idea of the logo was the the yellow bulb that indicates creativity and new ideas all the time, and a camera as this module is about media.

This week in the module we had an introduction to the radio studio based at Coventry University. It was my first time seeing a radio studio, so everything looked very interesting. I learned how the radio studio works, what is needed for podcasts, and how the recordings happen. I can’t wait to try it out!

Also, in this session, we had a brief about the first assignment. It is an individual 2000-word report on 6 of the guest talks given as part of the ‘Speaker Series’ reflecting on my engagement with the series and module. In other words, the whole class as the group has to make podcast series with different guests. This project includes different roles such as PR & Communication, Production, Presenters, etc.

When the module started, I thought that I knew a lot about myself, like what I like/ dislike and what kind of person I am. I was even considering how this module would be helpful to me. However, I did not know enough about myself in a professional way. First of all, the group project about the professional field, in my case the advertising industry, incredibly helped me choose the area I want to concentrate on. Before that, I was baffled, and it seemed that I liked everything and nothing simultaneously. So, this project made me decide which way I’m planning to go. Nevertheless, my decision was not made just for the project. I read a lot about professions in diverse industries and watched numerous Youtube videos of people who show their daily lives and routine working in a specific field. All of it was very useful to find out what interests me the most, so it is the advertising industry. Also, as my task was to take an interview, I met a person who works in that industry, Ivan Carvalho, and we still have contact with him. The possibility to meet a person from the advertising industry was a precious experience. I was able to ask questions that intrigued me, such as how did Ivan got this job or how it is to work as a freelancer. So, this assignment was helpful in terms of finding my path, even though I am aware that it might change with time. Secondly, because of the workshop in the TANK, I realised that I enjoy being a leader of the group. Even though I have experienced being the team’s head, I was still thinking that it did not suit me. However, I came to the realisation that I enjoy it, and I like to lead the group. Talking more about the TANK, I tried roles as a cameraman and scriptwriter, and it all was a great experience. Even so, I understood that production is not the field that I would love to be a part of. Thirdly, I found it very useful to create the portfolio. At first, it seemed extremely difficult to do, especially the part of the Skills Assessment. I have spent much time thinking about what kind of experience I have and what I learn from them. However, I noticed that I had gained experience and each of them taught me something, even though some of it were not professional. For example, writing articles for a school journal taught me to write articles engagingly. The job in a fast-food restaurant taught me to work under pressure and communicate with various types of customers. Thus, during the module, I found out some things about me related to the professional field, which boosted my self-confidence. Now I feel that I am more ready for the future.

We had a workshop in the TANK where we had to divide into two groups and film a 5 minutes video. My group decided to film an interview with Maria Smith, the CEO of the ‘RIAM’. I want to note that we created this person and all the story. We distributed our roles and made clear who had to do what. I was a floor manager that meant that I had to manage everyone’s tasks.

Our work went well as we all were interested in showing what we have learned from all the workshops in the TANK. We were well prepared before coming to the studio that during our preparation time, we were very relaxed. So, this is the fantastic group we won the prize!

Talking about my role in the mini-project, I realised that I enjoy being the team leader. It is not about having the power in your hands but about seeing everyone as a person and trying to involve everyone. Also, to see the great group’s work fills my heart.

One month of the second year has passed already, studies are going so fast! So it’s time to start thinking about an internship or a placement. These are very beneficial for students to gain some knowledge, get and extend the experience, explore, develop skills, and even come up with ideas for a final year project or dissertation.

At this moment my idea is to find a short-term internship for about 4-5 months related to the advertising industry. Why? First of all, I’m still unsure if I want to link my career with advertising, but at the same time, I feel so excited to actually try to work in this industry. Secondly, this idea is relevant to my personal situation living and studying in the United Kingdom.

I’ve started looking for internships on the Talent Team site, which has so many various options! Now I have to find a few that appeal to me the most and I have met the requirements. To be honest, the idea of working in a professional field makes me anxious and frightened. So I know that I have to work on gaining knowledge through the year for a purpose to feel ready and confident!

I strongly suggest watching videos about Internships and Placements on the 201MAPA journey.

There is the link for the Talent Team:

https://talent.coventry.ac.uk/unauth

At our 3rd lecture of this module, we had to find out about our groups for a group assessment. Since my last post, I still wasn’t sure on which industry I wanted to concentrate more on Advertising or PR. However, when the lecturer made us choose about which industry we wanted to do our group project, I felt that the moment came, so I had to choose.

I decided to prioritise Advertising. Probably because I had been doing research mostly about this field. Also, I took a look at what I was doing on my assessments last year, and I noticed that most of them were related to advertising. Hence, I want to work more on diving deeper into the Advertising industry and the group project will be an amazing opportunity for that.

I feel exited to start working on this group project!

30.09.2021

Last week we have been asked about our career plans. At first, I got scared because I felt that I had no idea about what I wanted, what interested me and which field of Media and Communications I wanted to concentrate on the most.

As the week were passing, I was doing some researcher on what actually thrills me and what are the possibilities in the carrer. After I spent some time on that and put my thoughts in place, I came up with the plan to pay more attention to Advertising and PR. I find these fields the most interesting and want to know more and more.

The tip for those who feel lost and don’t know what they want is to do some research, read more about different fields, and try to imagine yourself working there.

27.09.2021