The MACEr’s Apprentice

It seems like years since I last blogged, but in fact it has only been a week! Time spent in the library means that the days are beginning to blend into one giant essay-filled mess. So this week, I have been mainly focusing on my essay for the Leadership in the Creative Economy module, which has involved alot of reading and sketching, it’s been nice to get my arty hat firmly back in place! It’s worth spending time in the library at Kingston Hill Campus just to enjoy the look on people’s faces when you pull out a sketch pad and pencil instead of a laptop and a massive textbook. Anyway, the reading is going well – I’ve particularly enjoyed Edward de Bono’s ‘Lateral Thinking for Managers’ book – a bit of an introduction into his theories on parallel and lateral thinking and how the ways in which ‘creative’ minds solve problems differently to more logical thinkers. It’s given me alot to think about!

I enjoyed last week’s classes, especially since it was nice and sunny – spring is well and truly on the way, I’m considering wearing flip-flops (a bit too early possibly) and I’m generally in a more up-beat and motivated state of mind. Catherine’s classes are really reiterating alot of the theories which have been raised on various modules throughout the course – it feels sort of like a nice conclusion to everything we’ve been working on so far, and I feel like alot of things are beginning to make more sense to me! Particularly the idea of creating a good environment within which to be creative – somewhere cosy and safe, where people are not afraid to express themselves, for fear of being wrong, seeming rude, or seeming mad (back to Piers’ 3 Fears Theory again!). For me, that space is Innoversity. I know alot of people don’t like the space, but personally I love it! As much as I’m loving the LRC at the moment, I feel a bit of a warm glow as soon as I walk into Knights Park… my old art-school habits coming back to me possibly.

This week, we had apprentice challenge number 2 – to help design an online platform for the company Stuff, where freelance designers and other creatives are matched with clients who have a brief for a particular project. I was immediately far more interested in this challenge than the first, it seemed like a business that I could really understand the point of – they had a clear idea of who their audience was and how they wanted to target it. Since Neil emphasised how much fun he wanted us to have with the brief, we did what we do best – we went a bit mental. And we really needed it! Again, we have all been a bit stressed out with various things, and the last thing we wanted to be doing on a Friday afternoon with an empty stomach was think business. However, after a sandwich we did a bit of brainstorming and came up with the idea of an online dating agency (an idea which didn’t turn out to be as original we had hoped!) I made giant ‘YouTube’ style frames for us to stand behind, so we could act out being on a video, and we wrote spoof-y scripts to describe our plan. By no means did we pay enough attention to the actual business side of the brief, had be had longer to plan we probably could have done better! However, the Dragons seemed to like our craziness as we won the prize for best presentation of an idea for the second week running! I’m really enjoying these apprentice challenges – I think it’s a great way for us to actually practice the skills which we are no doubt going to have to use in the future, and I feel that my confidence at presenting my ideas is growing weekly.

Temptation-wise, I have had a pretty busy week. I spent a while editing and uploading the videos from the March Video Challenge, and we’re all pretty pleased with the results. Through YouTube and Google Analytics, as well as results of AC’s market research, I have been able to see that the videos are one of the most popular areas of the site, so it’s good to get some more up! I also pimped our YouTube channel, and now the total views for all of our videos we’ve uploaded is close to 500! So pleased! Check out our YouTube channel here.

We have also been planning the Trade Fair… and after our win for Best Stall last time, we are keen to win again! We’ve got some tricks up our sleeve, and it’s going to be AWESOME! Watch this space! We also have a great idea for our first real income opportunity, but I can’t say what it is yet, all will be revealed at the Trade Fair next Wednesday!

But it hasn’t all been work, work, work. I watched two of my favourite films for about the 15th time each this week, and below are my favourite clips from each… enjoy!

“SQUIRREL!” Of course it’s Doug from ‘Up’. I WANT HIM TO COME AND LIVE WITH ME.

The Kinks ‘All Day and All of the Night’ – from ‘The Boat That Rocked’ – incredible film with an amazing soundtrack!

My 3 Best Friends… Bing, Jonny and Megs.

This week it was back to dividing the day, with a session on the dissertation with Catherine in the morning, and our final class of the Leadership module, with Piers Ibbotson in the afternoon. In the dissertation lecture, I had the opportunity to share my ideas and proposal with the rest of the group – and managed to get some really great feedback. I’ve really got alot to think about now, and it has dawned on me that I don’t even have that much time left before the thinking has to become writing! Having made some great contacts within my area of interest (creative social entrepreneurship in developing countries) through Miguel, the Enterprise Society and an Entrepreneurship lecture I attended a few weeks ago, the ball is most definitely rolling.

The afternoon session with Piers was fantastic as ever – any lecture during which composing a song and dance routine is fine with me! I felt a bit like I was in ‘Glee’. Once again, this class really made me think about the benefits of leadership – especially in reference to our business team. In the past few weeks we have a had a few problems with morale and motivation, I think due to the fact that we haven’t had a singular leader within the group to keep us going, someone to be encouraging and tough in equal measures. However, we have had a couple of great team meetings now, complete with a bit of banter, a bit of tension, but more importantly, honesty. It’s hard having those kind of meetings, especially when the people you’re addressing are 3 of your best friends. I think we have all realised how little time we have left before we have to close our business, and how much we still want to achieve before the end of April. Hopefully now we will continue to move forward with a new set of ideas, so as to achieve the results we all know we deserve.

We were a bit disappointed not to win anything at the Bright Ideas Competition, however, it was a great experience, with some truly inspirational speakers. Our focus now is on the next Trade Fair (and hopefully a repeat of our win at the last one!) We’ve got some ideas up our sleeves, including the filming of a viral ad for our business. We’re shooting tomorrow after class, and I cannot wait! My favourite parts of the course so far have been when we all just let go of our sensible sides, bounced creative ideas between us, and allowed the fun of our business and team ethos to shine through. So watch this space!

This week I have been focusing on getting the website looking great –  check it out here. I have also started making a Flash movie for the Home page of the website, as some of the feedback we’ve received suggests that it looks a bit stale. That should be up and running by the start of next week. I’ve also been preparing for the video shoot – gathering the required props, and sorting out the technical side of things. Take a look at the storyboard for the advert above, and a video showing the Flash prototyping I’ve been doing below…

I’ve also been designing a new set of business cards – it’s been quite hard to strike a balance between eye-catching, tempting and not looking too girly! I’m going to show the rest of the team some options tomorrow so hopefully we can make a decision and get them printed over the weekend.

Looking forward to the first Apprentice Challenge tomorrow… time to show everyone what Team Temptation can really do!

Dear MACErs of the Future…

After questioning why there were so many blogs dedicated to the enlightenment of future MACErs, I discovered that we are supposed to write a blog-load of advice on the trade fair in order to help out the class of 2011. So, here it goes!

Dear MACErs of the Future,

Advice for the trade fair is as follows…

1. If you want to see lots of people there, INVITE THEM! It creates a better atmosphere, and the more people you have buzzing about your stall, the more others will wander over for a gander.

2. Plan, plan and then plan some more. You can never be too prepared, as things will all get a bit frantic at the last minute, and you’ll end up like us, handwriting signs on your lap behind your stall.

3. Simple, but interesting stalls (with a twist of something a bit different) are the ones which draw the crowds. For example, we had laptops playing videos which helped to explain our service. These not only added an extra dimension to our stall, but acted as a prop, enabling us to better demonstrate our business idea.

4. We all dressed the same, simply, in black trousers/skirt and a white shirt (plus apron to match our food-y theme), and it created a professional, yet approachable and neat appearance to our stall and our team as a whole.

5. The stalls which had music blaring actually seemed to deter customers as opposed to attract them. Be friendly and dynamic, without being scary!

6. DON’T drink too much of the free wine. ‘Nuff said.

7. DO try hard. Some people may have thought the trade fair was lame, and some people didn’t show up at all, but that extra bit of effort bagged our team a snazzy certificate and £50 prize money, as well as about £20 profit through the sale of goodie bags – a definite bonus!

8. Chat to other teams, find out what they’re up to (and scope out the competition!), and get advice from the ‘dragons’ who are milling about. But most of all, ENJOY YOURSELF! Get yourselves, and your brand out there, and make people remember you.

Hope that helps!

Alice

Creative Director of (ahem, winning) team, Temptation Magazine.