Dirty Dozen on Film Kid Mixer

“The Dirty Dozen”

Project Management Questions

FILM KID MIXERRRR

Identify the "what".

1.  What is the project supposed to achieve?  

Create and promote a more welcoming vibe within the film studies department. Reach out er'yone.

2.  Who is the customer? 

Students in the film studies department, particularly Sophomores and Juniors.

3.  What are the deliverables of the project? 

A better connection between students, higher attendance at our events (particularly BYOFF and Visions 4), club meetings, and club events.

Identify the "how".

4.  What is the budget? 

I have $150 in the budget, catering is $130, giving me $20 to cover additional costs for other drinks.

5.  How long will it take? 

The event will last around 3/4 hours, the event planning is about 2 weeks.

6.  What specific skills are needed? 

Interpersonal communication skills, public speaking, and the ability to be warm and inviting.

7.  What special resources are needed? 

We need: open space, tables, food on tables, projector, protection screen, computer to hook up to projector, promotions on social medias/ FST newsletter, promotion through word of mouth and posters, sponsorship from Flicker, Screenwriters club, Cape Fear Env. Forum, and Visions 4.

8.  Who is working the project?  What is each person's job? 

I am the project manager, Zoe is my director/ hospitality representative in my absence, Sarah Flores, Jason Tapp and Aaron Barnett are my cosponsors and project supervisors, Matt is my tech set up. Everyone in Visions will act as ambassadors.

9.  What is the schedule? 

Thursday 1/30: Club meeting with Sarah, Aaron and Jason; promotion begins.

Friday 1/31: Make Clock Tower Lounge reservation, go over catering contract

Wednesday 2/5: Visions meeting/ Mixer update

Thursday 2/6: FILM KID MIXER, set up starts at 6pm

Other considerations.

10.  What are the risks?  (Small vs. large impact, likely vs. unlikely)

The risks is that the event is a bust, no one shows up and no connections are made. The likelihood of there being ZERO attendance and ZERO impact is very unlikely. Obviously, the more the better, but even a small step is a success for us.

11.  How will you communicate with your team?

Primarily through meetings and FB communication. I will make sure to be honest about the risks and specifically what I want from the event and everyone working on it.

12.  How will you determine if the project is successful?

The event is successful if at least 50 people show up, everyone talks to at least one person they don't know, and the attendance for the other events goes up/ becomes more diverse.

Week 3

1/22/14- 1/29/14

Break it down:
After class hospitality coordination: 20min
FB chatting with Zoe about stuff: 20 min
Hospitality meeting: ~1.5 hrs
Club meeting coordination/ contacting: 30 min
Mixer brainstorming/setting up catering: 1 hr
Mixer update doc: 30 min
Abstract grading: 2 hrs
Film grading: 1.5hrs
Blogging/ thinking/ other assignments: 2 hrs

Week 2 was about really getting into the swing of things and polishing my routine. Coordinating with everyone is proving to be more difficult than I remember! That was probably the cause of the majority of my stress this week. I just need to keep in mind that not everyone works on the same schedule as me, and certainly doesn't know what's going on in my brain, so I need to make sure that I communicate my needs and requests clearly and be more patient when people do not reply to me as immediately as I would like. I'm feeling pretty good about the turn out of the Mixer; sometimes I get a little nervous that it's going to be a complete failure, but I chatted with a friend of mine that has just gotten into the major and asked her about her thoughts and feelings about it. That was extremely helpful because she happens to be the exact kind of person we should be reaching out to; she did not know about Visions until this semester, although she wished she had so she could have submitted something, she does feel intimidated/ out of place in some of her film classes and has never tried to join clubs. I was able to ask her what kind of things she would want from the department and from the mixer. 

Also, I had a lot of fun watching all the films and being able to grade them! The abstracts can get a little tedious after awhile, but the films are always intriguing at least. This is truly the fun part of working for a film festival. I can't wait to see the rest of the films and see what other people thought about them!

Week two

Tasks 1/13-1/22

Hospitality welcome meeting 1/13 (30 min) 
Visions 1/15 (5hrs)
Syllabus reading, blog viewing, calendar making, all of the lists (1.5hrs)
Abstract grading 1-16 (2 hrs)
Outreach brainstorming + research (2hrs)


AHHHHH!!!! 

Okay. First week down. Go team, we can do this. Already my semester has proven to be my busiest, most challenging, and (hopefully) most rewarding yet. If I'm being completely honest, this first week left me feeling drained and anxious. I did not know what I was doing and did not know where to begin. However, since going to the Visions class and having a weekend to meditate on everything, it all has begun to click into place. Once again, I am feeling totally freakin' pumped, and a lot of that comes from the team feeling I have gotten from Visions so far. Way to go guys! I still feel a little anxious about pulling everything off, especially with planning my first event so soon, but talking with various people and meeting with Zoe has really helped to put me at ease. I still mostly feel like I don't know what's going on, but I can definitely say that I'm excited to learn. Fingers crossed I'm able to keep these good vibes up for the rest of the semester.

I'm excited present some outreach ideas to the class tomorrow and see what everyone has to say!