BLUE – Entire time period before the event
GREEN – Actual dates of event
RED – Period the blog post is currently talking about.
BLOG 3
There
were a myriad of obstacles that we faced between the preliminary stages of
planning and the event itself. Among these, were setbacks like the designing,
communication, working together, and which schools to visit. However, these
were merely opportunities for me to tackle the situation with my creativity and
novel solutions.
Awhile
ago, the very first prototypes for logo and poster designs were done by an
initial designer. However, these were of very low resolution, and when blown up
were too pixellated. Therefore, we hired a new designer, who was skilled, but
had very little time on his hands due to army and running his own business.
Obtaining completed designs from the designer was difficult because of these
issues, thus we decided to take matters into our own hands by redoing the logo
ourselves. I was placed in charge of redoing the logo.
Because
there are a myriad of things that rest on the design of the logos and posters,
such as creating an online website, a Facebook page, printing the posters, as
well as advertising, we were stranded with a minute number of things to do. These
minor things were tasks such as catering (where we relied on word of mouth from
previous experiences), calling the venue (CSC) to arrange tables, banner sizes,
the audio set up and mics, first aid, and so on.
Shortly
after, on one already-hectic afternoon at 4pm, the organiser called all of a
sudden. She said that she would need the completed logo by 6pm because she
needed to send them for T-shirt printing. This made me extremely stressed as I
was not informed that she would need the designs by 6pm that day, and the call
meant that I had barely received a two-hour notice. Furthermore, that day was
when a major written essay component was due, as well as a presentation at 6pm;
both of which were graded components of two other subjects that were important
for my final grades.
Though
extremely stressed already from the assignments due, as well as the lack of
practice with the new software, I decided to complete the logo as best as I
could, because not doing so would prolong plans and cause potential event
participants to miss out. Therefore, I completed the logo within the two-hour
time frame she had given me. However, because I was backlogged with so many
things to do that day, I missed a call from the CSC representative (our event
venue) to discuss the venue arrangements (tables, banners, etc). Though I was already
trying my best and this was an honest mistake, organiser was upset that I
missed the call, and blamed me for not being proactive.
By
the end of that day, I had completed an entire logo (which, despite being
inexperienced in logo-designing, would go on to become the actual logo for the
event), completed my personal assignments, and did call CSC to make venue
arrangements. I had truly saved the day, and had also learnt a valuable lesson;
that even with friends, we should always make business and work agreements in
black and white. Members of the team, inclusive of myself, had already been
asked to do more than what we had agreed to do initially, but this was
partially our fault as well. Contracts that involve participants to engage their
effort and skills should be clearly stated and noted down so that both parties
will remember what their responsibilities are, and where the scope of their job
for that event resides. In this way, we can work more efficiently and in
greater harmony with less misunderstandings and stress.
Awhile
later, we had a casual get together with the entire team as an ice breaker
before the actual event. Over beers, we all shared the obstacles we had faced
in life, and in turn, bonded as a whole in the process.
In
the middle of the night, the organiser became overwhelmingly stressed, and
broke down. Lamenting that plans were not moving as fast as she expected, that
the sponsorships were not flowing in, and that participants were scarce, she
did not see how we were going to succeed. We sympathised with her, and tried to
console her as we were all trying our best and that was most important.
She
also added, however, that we were not doing enough. This was a somewhat
negative statement as we were already doing more than our scope of work as
agreed at the beginning, and we were only doing so because we had become close
friends, and not just business partners. Though I felt that my efforts were
understated, I took this as a positive criticism to always make sure that I was
doing the best and most I could offer for the event, because I was truly
passionate about achieving the “powerful self” as an individual, and wanted to
share my visions with others.
Instead
of becoming offended by her frank statements, we attempted to maintain a
positive outlook towards the event, and tried to be as supportive as possible.
Soon
enough, it hit home that the event was approaching and we were still far from
being prepared. At this point, participants were at n=50, catering was
unconfirmed due to lack of confirmed participant numbers, and the Facebook and
Twitter pages I had created and designed were not creating enough awareness.
Nonetheless,
I was undaunted, and tackled the first problem – getting people to notice our
Facebook page. This was truly a hurdle, because we were targeting a very niche
market. People who believed in these workshops were of a limited pool, that
were hard to sieve out. Moreover, this was an inaugural workshop, as we did not
yet have results to show how valuable our services were. In an effort to boost
awareness and participation, one of our volunteers sent a mass email with
detailed information about The Powerful Self's cause, speakers, and trainers,
and even the free food buffet! However, these met with limited success.
Meanwhile,
we began preparing our media release, media lists, and fact sheets to
disseminate to the related outlets. These again took some time as the organiser
had issues with the way she was portrayed. Debates ensued, and we were given a
constant flow of changing roles and tasks. When this happened, we crossed our
fingers hoping that all of our previous efforts had not been forgotten, and
that we would be acknowledged and given due credit.
Even
closer to the event date, we approached schools over a span of a few days to
ask for permission to put up posters, in order to gain publicity. I hand picked
more than 20 elite schools which had done similar workshops (e.g., motivational
talks by renowned agencies like Adam Khoo, etc), which I thought would contain
our niche target market. Schools that we visited included SIM, Nanyang
Polytechnic, Hwa Chong Secondary School and Junior College, Catholic High,
Saint Nicholas' Girls' School, Temasek Polytechnic, and Republic Polytechnic.
Concurrently
during this period, I decided to put my creativity to good use, and thought of
creating an online website to boost publicity and awareness. I singlehandedly
created thepowerfulself.com, which I felt would be a gateway to helping the
workshop thrive. I created the themes of the website to be more modern and
userfriendly – which would appeal to the age group of our target market.
Creating a website would make the workshop more accessible at such a
media-centred era. I made sure that every query was addressed, and that any
information viewers might desire was just a click away and easily accessible.
Thepowerfulself.com
was an interactive, visual and informative portal which included a number of
sections. They are:
1.
the workshop details (what the workshop was
about, why it was created, its purposes and its aims; as well as the date,
venue, time, and so on);
2.
registration options (for interested parties to
sign up for the workshop as well as for keen volunteers to manage the event
itself);
3.
“speakers and coaches” (to inform potential and
current participants about who the speakers were, their experience and a bit
about their backgrounds);
4.
a sponsors section (where the financial
contributers and supporters of the workshop were duly credited and
acknowledged);
5.
“public relations” (for information about our
public relations team, and a sample of our poster and flyer);
6.
Contact forms (should participants, interested
parties, parents, etc possess a query that was not answered in the website);
7.
and lastly, links to our other social media
pages like our Twitter and Facebook pages.
The
response was overwhelming. Participants increased rapidly, and so did the
comments, hype, and general interest in the workshop. It was very rewarding and
self-satisfactory to see everyone so thankful that I thought of this
life-saving idea. They were also impressed with how I both envisioned and
created the entire website on my own, though I possessed no prior experienced.
Also, after completing the website, I continued to manage and update it, to
ensure that we did not miss any vital queries or participant signups.
The
birth of thepowerfulself.com was also at perfect timing, as the media release
was published in the same week – which I had also written.
Charlene Xiao
15352547
Curtin Singapore
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