Media Industries 2 – Seminar Self-Assessment

This post is my attempt to summarise my detailed weekly seminar participation and contribution blog posts whilst specifically addressing each of the criteria.

Contribution & Collaboration

I was involved in every aspect of delivering this seminar including managing the group, brainstorming the title and concept, researching guests, organising staging, creating the promotional images and videos, distributing the posters, arranging group meetings, taking meeting minutes, updating absent group members, delegating tasks, running the social media campaign through various platforms, liaising with the steering committee, taking seminar photographs and editing the seminar videos. Some of the group members were fantastic to work with as they kept me up to date with their progress, informing me when they needed extra help or if they could take on more responsibility.

Our group meetings were structured with a list of agenda items that I would run through. Most of the group contributed to these meetings, particularly when we broke our group down into smaller teams that were dedicated to organising different elements of the seminar. I worked closely with the promotion and event management team. Melissa and I were able to develop a concept for the promotional videos and images and most of the team were able to help with creating the content. To help foster open communication and collaboration with the group, I typed up notes from every meeting that I shared on the Facebook group where I asked everyone to read over them and let me know if they had any questions. I also ensured I kept every absent group member up-to-date with their responsibilities.

As group manager, I liaised with each group member, asking for certain people’s thoughts and contributions when I didn’t feel as though they had provided many ideas. I enjoy working in teams when everyone focuses on doing the best job they possibly can. Most of the team I worked with lived up to this. On the occasions when we had issues such as changing the name of the seminar, I took a diplomatic approach and put it to a vote. If there were team members who weren’t pulling their weight, I stepped in and took over or asked another trustworthy group member to help pick up the slack.

Proactive Learning

This seminar series allowed me to develop my managerial skills that I wasn’t necessarily expected to utilise for this assessment. I felt that I stepped up to the challenge and learnt a huge amount about dealing with a variety of opinions, personalities and motivation toward work. I attempted to improve my delegation skills which I have previously struggled with and I feel that this was a success for the most part. I also improved my event management skills through being involved in every aspect of organising the seminar. As this seminar seemed like a daunting workload at the beginning of the semester, I surprised myself by accomplishing the amount of work that I did whilst managing the group. I was able to use my communication skills with some contacts within the University to organise some of the staging equipment that we were struggling to source. Although it took some convincing, I was pleased with my ability to utilise these networks to benefit the seminar. Like all media productions, I was able to employ and strengthen my problem solving skills to benefit the outcome.

Participation

I attended all classes (although I did miss part of one due to another meeting), all group meetings, the event and all post-production sessions. I engaged and participated in all discussion surrounding my team’s work, helped others with their individual tasks when required as well as completed my own individual tasks. I became involved as possible with this group assessment to feel as though I participated to the best of my ability.

Connections & Intersections

The seminar series has helped establish an understanding of the current media landscape, particularly the challenges, along with a lot of networking techniques and professional advice on the specific seminar topics from the experts themselves. It’s been an invaluable experience listening to an array of charismatic and successful media professionals each week. Entering the media industry doesn’t seem as impossible as I originally thought, now that I’ve heard the guest’s first hand experiences. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to approach the seminar guests and have a chat after the seminar. It’s also given me some inspiration regarding who to get in touch with when I’m looking for employment opportunities.

I’ve discovered that my ability to learn, work under pressure and to a high standard has improved throughout this semester. The blogging has forced me to reflect on what I have taken from each seminar and from my own group work. I’ve become inspired, more driven and focused on my career. My collaboration skills have improved, although I still feel as though I take on too many responsibilities. I still need to learn to step back, but I feel I have issues trusting others to fulfill tasks if they’ve shown their unreliable. I find that if I establish myself as the hardworking individual within the group, others can come to rely on that and then it becomes difficult to remove myself from that label because others expect you to pick up the slack. I still need to find the balance between collaborating and overworking. My networking abilities have improved with my confidence. I have become less apprehensive when approaching media professionals because I am more comfortable with my own skills and my ability to interact with the people I admire. In terms of fitting these newly developed skills into my future career, I think it’s safe to say that they will benefit me in whatever work I undertake in the media industry. From managerial roles, collaboration, networking and taking responsibility for my personal development, I can use the experiences from this seminar series to enhance my ability to work to a high standard.