The Big Agency

After attending the last TechforGood event, me and my teammate Alicia have come up with the idea of a TechforGood for students event - in order to enhance the company following. We believed that this event could give us the opportunity to improve on our public speaking skills and allow us to discuss topics that are relevant and important to us in the digital spectre such as social media campaigns etc. We will add to these ideas further as we progress through the unit.

We attended the TechforGood live podcast event on the 13th of December at Night & Day Café. In the lead up to the podcast, we promoted the event across the TechforGood Facebook page and created a geo filter on Photoshop for Snapchat. The filter was specific to the location and became active at the time of the event. Working with Photoshop and learning the process of how to generate my own Snapchat filter - from designing the image to fit the specific criteria and contacting Snapchat with the appropriate information has significantly benefitted my professional development through enhancing both my digital and design skills. When we attended the event, we were one again given the responsibility for live streaming the podcast onto social media networks such as Facebook and Periscope; we were relatively familiar with this process so it didn't prove too challenging. Albeit, I was given access to the company Twitter and Snapchat accouts, meaning I was responsible for producing conten...

We attended the Tech for Good Live Funding event at Hyper Island. At the event we took control of the social media platforms, I was responsible for recording the event to Facebook Live and Alicia for Periscope. At the event we listened to four speakers from different charities and their experiences with Tech for Good, as well as tips and advice on how to start up your own project. Halfway through the event my phone ran out of battery meaning we were unable to film the whole talk continuously - from this I have learnt to bring a portable charger with me to the next event. We are yet to arrange another meeting with Rebecca albeit, the next event is a live podcast recording and Christmas Party at Night and Day Café on the 13th of December where we will again be responsible for all social media platforms.

Week seven of the big agency, we met up with Reason Digital's Head of Strategy & Insight Rebecca Rae on the 17th at Common Bar on Edge street NQ. At the meeting we were told about recent development in the Tech for Good offices as well our improvements on the Facebook page. We were also told about the next event "Tech for Good Live Funding" on the 22nd at Hyper Island and asked to take control of all social media platforms on the night including Periscope and Facebook Live.

We attended the meeting with Reason Digital on the 24th October and presented our initial pitch to them. F rom this, we were told that they wanted us to focus on creating a Facebook page for the campaign and to improve their existing YouTube channel – our primary goal being to get more podcast views. We attended their Tech for Good event " Tech for Good Apps and Mobile " later on in the week. The event gave us a greater insight into how Tech for Good work, including new apps and designs as well as the kind of community they attract. We also benefitted through networking with both the audience and other members of staff.

In week four of the big agency, we received feedback on our presentations from the previous week. From the feedback we began to understand what we had done well; working well together, clear slides, good Q&A etc. and what we needed to improve on such as presentation skills, less text on screen and being more concise with our ideas. Our positive feedback meant that we were the team chosen to represent Reason Digital. We then arranged a meeting with Reason Digital at their office in Northern Quarter on Monday the 24 th in order to get a greater understanding of what the company wants from us.

In week three of The Big Agency, my team performed our group presentation on “TechForGood” despite it being a last-minute job! As a group, our initial idea was to take on the Manchester City project as we are all football lovers and are familiar with the business; however, after getting halfway through the practice pitch we realised there was little room for improvement since Manchester City already successfully utilises its social media platforms and has a large international fan base. As a result, we collectively decided to change our project last minute to the “TechforGood” campaign that we felt held more scope for innovation. We emailed Mark and Bex to let them know of our change and prepared the speech the night before. Surprisingly, our pitch was a success and Mark credited us on how well put-together it was considering the circumstances. Upon reflection, I believe I need to improve my public speaking and confidence. Next week we will be given feedback from our presentations. ...

Following last week’s seminar, I took the Belbin test and got the results; Explorer, Innovator and Chairman. This an accurate representation of me as I believe I am an effective communicator, extremely creative, open-minded and naturally take a strong coordinating role within group work. From this information, I grouped myself with Yousef, Alicia and Carmen as their Belbin roles (Completer and Researcher) complimented mine meaning that we should theoretically work better together. From this seminar, I have also learnt “Role Theory” that explains individuals are expected to adhere to culturally defined norms and standards of behaviour associated with their given social position. Understanding how stereotypes and cultural expectations have developed over time is something I am extremely interested and thus I found this theory extremely engaging. Furthermore, I have learnt that it is important to understand that every individual has different roles and behaviours that I need to take into ...

I am naturally not a very motivated student however, when I play football, I find myself extremely motivated and driven. It is the fast-paced nature of the game and the stakes of losing that make me so motivated on the pitch. To me, there is no better feeling than playing to the best of my ability, hearing encouragement from supporters on the side-line and feeling part of a team are my key facilitators to motivation as they satisfy my social needs and boost self-esteem. I believe it is important for me to be extremely motivated when I am playing football, as I am part of a team I consider it my obligation to play to the best of my ability to avoid letting down my team-members. Albeit, it is harder for me to find motivation off-pitch. Often with my work I find I let myself down through poor time keeping and reluctance to start work earlier due to a lack in motivation, as a result my assignments are often rushed and not to the best of my ability. This academic year I have a greater ...

I was not able to attend both week one and two of The Big Agency as I was at the hospital due to breaking my wrist, albeit I went through the seminar slides on Moodle to catch up. The seminar sides discussed the importance of employee motivation and that it is the driving force behind achieving business goals. Similarly, I discovered that factors such as salary, working conditions and job security do not provide worker satisfaction but merely prevent dissatisfaction. I have also learnt that a business manager’s outlook influences the way they motivate employees. Through implementing McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y I understand that Theory X managers believe their employees are lazy and need to be controlled, whereas Theory Y managers trust employees are responsible and reliable. Finally, I have learned that every worker has psychological, security, social and self-actualisation needs that need to be met by their employer in order for them to be motivated and satisfied. ...