Candu Media

Third and final talk arose and was held by Neil Shand regarding working in film and television industry, many of the talks and lectures we have throughout our university lives are very informative but are shrouded by some form of white lie, maybe that a degree is essential or you can get a certain job as soon as you leave university but Neil laid it flat out on the table how to get into the industry and stay there.

He started by telling us the formalities of who he was and a brief outline of who he has worked for and so on, he then showed us two clips: first was a student film he made with his friends then the second was a clip from when he worked on Heartbeat and he began to explain that he went from being a media student just using the equipment whenever he could (which he advised those who were interested in getting into the film and television industry) and then he contrasted it to when he was an assistant director on the set of heartbeat.

Throughout the whole of the talk Neil didn’t talk of his CV or any of that he told of how to make it in the industry and that started with persistence: he explained that he wasn’t given a job straight away, he said that he would continually try to communicate with anyone within the ITV and other television companies until he finaly got a break for doing some television work with Essex police but even then he still wanted to work within ITV, several years down the line he left Essex police and moved back up to Leeds to chase his dream and eventually he got his chance, coming from and old friend who had recently been hired as a lens cleaner at ITV, he began to hang around with him and help him with work then he got offered a 6 month contract and it went on from there.

His strongest point throught the talk was his emphasis on passion, he said that without it you would go nowhere and usually this comes from people who are just trying to get your attention about something but with Neil you could tell exactly what he was talking about through his body movements, down to his voice, this was a man who knew what he was talking about and he knew what he was talking about, without a doubt he was the best speaker of the week.

This has been my reports of my 3 Enterprise Week talks at Leeds Trinity.

Starting a business

The second of the Enterprise lectures I attended was one concerning creating your own business hosted by Nigel Gorski who is an accountant who has worked with many different lucrative companies in his time, in this lecture he would cover the hurdles and pitfalls of running your own business but also what benefits there are.

Before going into the main areas of his talk he explained that there was a business start up master class within the university to help those who were very serious about starting their own companies, this struck me as being an amazing idea within the constructs of the university because after graduating many of us just try to make it on our own but this master class could give many people the leg up that they need to succeed in their working lives.

Within any business you create you will usually take part in over 14 different job roles, within a business you create there are the ups and downs regarding your views to being your own boss and incorporating an interactive aspect of his talk, Nigel conversed with us to talk about the positives and also the negatives furthermore he got us to write down what companies we invisage ourselves creating and rank them in probability which helps map out what goal you have at the start of the talk so that you can create an image of your business and apply his talk to your business which was a ace idea.

50% of new businesses brakes within the first financial year, many of the problems that they face were outlined by Nigel and then solutions were explained of how to solve the problems and keep any business afloat. Nigel proposed an idea which he backed up with finding within his job, he stated that with the rise in fuel prices many shoppers are starting to go to more local shops to try and save on fuel and this then builds upon small local businesses and they start to turn in a lot better profit margins whereas the bigger corporations margins are declining.

One of the final and main talking point throughtout the whole talk was one of finance and how that is the lifeblood of any business, everything revolves around the comings and goings of your money. 

Zeal Media

  With the Zeal media presentation Jane started by explaining how she started within digital media and talked about the change in the media scene and how she moved into the online side of things, and with this she talked about creating an online presence which reflects you in a good light and will help you either set up your own buisness or help you get a good job within the buisness area that you want.

When she worked offline with a few big companies she learnt the skills of how to do certain things and how to not do others and then when she discovered the huge success of many online buisnesses due to theyre exposure she set up her own comapny 'Zeal'.

As well as explaining her life within the media industry se also went on to explain some of the positions held within the company such as: SEO, PPC, Social Media, Account Management and Designer/Developer. The position that held my attention more than anything was the talk of social media because that is the related area im looking for, im looking to be a community manager within a video game company and the insight I received from her was great regarding how to gain the attention of new followers etc. and then how to maintain them on your page and how to keep your profile up to date and popular but without over saturating it.

Finally we were told about how to get into the media industry with regards to employment, all 3 of the lectures talked about this but this lecture was top dog within relation to me personally due to what I want to do when I leave university, she talked of how work experience was a great way to put your foot in the door and get their attention but also put onto your CV to show that you are capable of using the programmes and software that anyone in that industry uses from day to day.

The most important thing she said relating to media was to always be creative because that’s what many agencies want in their company. All in all the lecture taught me of how to be an effective and successful designer and community member in this digital workplace.