Media Industries 2 

Self Assestment

For This Seminar project, I've chosen to join the group that caters to the events industry. Having Previous experience in the Music and events industry and my interest to join the events industry in the future, this group proves to be the ideal group for me to work with. 

Contribution and collaboration

From the start I went around to discuss with school mates and previous group mates from Media Industries 1, my interest in the events sector and thus forming a dynamic group. Clare O'donnell was elected the executive producer for the group as she was the most proactive and vocal among the members, I went ahead and took on the role of Technical Director due to my previous experience in events management and also due to the fact that i own and run an events company back in singapore that deals with a lot of technical support relating to events. During the planning phase, I contributed to Ideas of organizing the main event itself, from the marketing, advertising and promotion of the seminar to the operations of the seminar itself. I also gave advice to other group members, especially clare, on how to manage and run an event and briefed the members on their roles and responsibilities of the event itself. The group was very dynamic to work with and my ideas were taken very positively and no disputes were present during all our meetings. 

One of my main responsibilities was to organize the equipment needed for the event itself, I came up with a list and ran through it with the Techs to work out equipment that is available for loan. I brought down my own equipment to reenforce the setup. 

I also aided Clair Renehan in the audio recording of the seminar, helping her setup the recording devices and wiring the entire setup on the day itself. 

I setup, sound-checked, mixed and coordinated all technical aspects relating to live sound , visuals , lights and sound recording on the day itself. 

I also Prepared the visual cues and designed all the slides that was shown on the seminar day itself as well as did the video playbacks of showreels. 

The lighting cues (stage and audience) were also coordinated by me.

The main issue for our group was the short time of 2weeks that we had to prepare the seminar. I believed my experience in events management helped eliminate all problems relating to the operations and I am happy that my group trusted this all on me. 

Proactive Learning

I've learnt a lot during the short process of organizing this seminar. Back in my company in singapore, I had the luxury and comfort of using state-of-the-art equipment for live shows and events. Most of the time I would have ample time for the planning and coordination of an event. In this case, a limited inventory of equipment was available from the tech store and i had to use what i have , access the situation and make the best out of it to produce a show with as much professionalism as we can achieve. In the process, I learnt to work with speed and accuracy, and learnt valuable communication skills with my group mates that allowed us to produce this seminar in such a short time. What we've learnt from this experience extends way beyond the four walls of the classroom as we have to get in though with industry professionals and apply our PR skills. Much my learning in this process was self motivated and unsupervised and had to take a lot of responsibility in delivering the work to my fellow group mates. A lot of good advice was given to us by out tutors but it was up to us to take the advice and transform it into reality.

Participation

During the planning stage, I participated in all the meetings and classes. I was there during the seminar itself to run the event. However I was not physically present during the postproduction as I was not needed to be physically present and my group mates involved in the post production was fully trustable to come up with a good job. I did give comments and inputs for the post production work and offered my assistance to any technical issues but it all was smooth sailing. During the meetings, I believe i contributed a fair amount and did engage thoroughly throughout the meetings. even though I was an international student and have limited contacts in melbourne, I contributed by contacting 2 of my contacts, Louis Chan from Fling Entertainment & Daniela Djuric from BigBang&Fuzz to attend the seminar. regretfully both of them were unable to attend due to commitments on the seminar days itself. I am glad that my effort was appreciated by my group mates. 

Lists of responsibilities:

-Organizing and booking of equipment with the Techs

-Setting up/ tearing down of All sound Equipment

-Mixing and running the sound during seminar

-Coordinating Lightings

-Visual cues

-Creation of Visual slides

-Music playback

-coordinating of event

-Recording of sound

-involvement in Planning and facilitating

-general operations

Connections & Intersections

The value of these seminar series lies in 3 things, The opportunity of meeting industry professionals, The opportunity to work with group mates that are potential industry partners int he future and the learning opportunity when placed with such tasks and responsibility. 

When in this process, I discovered the importance of People skills. One can be really good at what he/she does, but if no one wants to work with him/her, the chances of success are relatively low. Interactions within the group is very important as it is important to leave a good impression of good working attitude and strong sense of responsibility to your group mate as you might never know who you will be working with in the future. Networking is upmost important in this industry and also in almost any industry, it's people whom you want to impress and it's people tha will give you the opportunities you want in life. 

In this process i learnt that I have the confidence to manage things. I like to work with flair and failure is not an option. I learnt that I can work under pressure when i am confident and when i am not confident about something, I make sure I end up know enough to be efficient enough. In the future, I believe that this trait I have is important for development in career.

If I am confident in what i do, People tend to trust me more. And when someone trust me, I get that job.

Self Assessment Grade : 90% HD.

I give myself this grade because I believe I not only did my part as a Technical Director, I went beyond my responsibilities to ensure a smooth sailing seminar. 

and also in the words of Clare , "we couldn't have done it without you"

PS:I hope i didn't sound too over the top like trying to sell myself as a product.