THE END IS NIGH
Throughout the 12 courses at Full Sail University, each class seemed so quick and packed with info, it seems as if I’m still attending the classes. For the first class Mastery Personal Development & Leadership I learned more about my personal skill sets as and individual, along with my style of learning that was most effective for me to maintain consistency for the Masters Program. Lastly the type of research needed for a Mastery course was reflected and reference a larger degree of quantitative research on my end, so I had to develop far more effective research skills to acquire feasible information to pass my classes.
Creating reflections videos allow for myself to be vulnerable to judgment in front of other individuals, but allowed for me to also see my own body language when discussing my goals and ambitions. The first thorough research document was on an idol of mine Mr. John Williams a famous music composer, and the research needed for this assignment allowed me the insight of the many degrees that he has; the focus and dedication of Mr. Williams was inspiring. The most important assignment was creating a timeline how to execute all of my courses, this allowed for great mental preparation to get through such a quick and rigorous degree.
The second course Executive Leadership was a in depth version of the previous course. This course allowed insight into different leadership strategies and tact to handle a wider degree of situations. The readings were by far the most interesting regarding Green and Maxwell’s traits and laws. Also, establishing familiarities with emerging technologies and how implement them with effective leaderships and how to overcome personal weaknesses to develop strengths were interesting concepts that tied into the assignments and readings.
The first assignment was a case study on Maxwell and Green traits and laws. Having different scenarios involving individuals and their careers to compare to with our readings allowed for a very strong retention rate with information. The second project was a Pecha Kucha that I worked on about Kathleen Kennedy ; no I actually am not a Star Wars fanatic, but I do enjoy a good story. In order to put together such a quick presentation like a Pecha Kucha, I was tasked with developing a script, a case study, a thesis paper, then referencing the readings back to Kathleen Kennedy in order to then spend days rehearsing to record the keynote presentation. This set in motion the curriculum expectations I needed to work up to in order to succeed in my Mastery journey.
The third class Project and Team Management gave me insight on how to address conflict in a professional environment. Along with learning how I approach conflict and how I in turn would create conflict allowed for an outside reflection on myself. Learning on conflict resolution allowed for me to aid in project management and addressing the correct individuals to the proper task to allow for a successful workflow.
The big assignment in this class was a continuation with a previous assignment from week one I implemented a project management timeline along with a breakdown on how I would approach each course. The most reflect assignment was the team role assignment. We were given a set of individuals to create a team with that is tasked to complete a project, thus each of the individuals had to researched thoroughly in terms of character strengths and weaknesses to assign them to the proper role to ensure the project would succeed.
In month 4 Business Story Telling and Brand Development was a turning point for myself and the direction I wanted to go with my degree. At first I was naïve and though a brand was simply a logo. After doing brand audits on Sony and learning about their history, and doing a research brief on the demand for independent game composers, I was brought an entirely new concept direction in which to take my business.
Originally I aspired to be a freelance music composer for independent games and films, I was brought the notion of my business mi.DI. This new business concept was brought on after the demanding research on understanding what a brand is, and according to Ken DeGillio, “It’s a gut feeling that you get when you see a brands logo, that drives you to trust them over the others”. Thus, one facet of a brand is utilizing the best way to sell oneself in away that benefits other individuals.
The fifth class Entertainment Business Finance allowed great use of Excel, which I have not used for finance in years. Going into this class I had an idea of what to expect, but not the depth in which financial planning would be. From assets, to depreciation, break-even ratios, projected analysis, to performance measurements ensure a business stays financials on point is a job for a taskmaster.
The most insightful assignment and as close to reality for my self was taking a graduates budget, expenses, and debt and trying to have that individual be able to survive a daily basis. This assignment was then immediately applied to my real life situation and I have been a taskmaster for my family’s budget now. The other impactful assignment was doing a company audit and learning if the particular company was in route to succeed or fail.
The Sixth Class was Negotiation and Deal-Making, and at the time I was working as a salesman, thus this class was applied in real time. I was granted a greater insight in developing a stronger business presence, and learning that if you are engaged with the individual then they want to deal you would simply need to find the proper methods of doing so. Learning how to maintain self awareness while applying the structures of deal-making were important, simply due to the fact that being aware of you position in the deal allows you to remain grounded to keep the deal from going awry.
The first assignment was a general questionnaire of when negotiation techniques were utilized in real life. The second assignment allow to work with another individual where one was an artist and the other was an up and coming manger, and the objective was to play hardball and strike a deal; great experience. Lastly, the other assignments were in reference to entertainment business negations between actual companies and individuals.
The Seventh Class, Project and Artist Management allowed for great insight on time management. This class applied much of the earlier courses into it by learning how to resolve conflicts between multiple artists, break ups between bands, and research the proper funding to put on a show. This class was by far the most time consuming.
At this time I quit my job as a sales associate and began working in a call center not because I wanted to, simply due to the connections. I met up with another FSO Entertainment Business Masters student who was a couple months ahead of me in the program. She ended up being my supervisor, and from there she introduced me to another Full Sail Alumni –An Audio Engineering Graduate- that blessed me with the opportunity to intern at their full-fledged music studio here in Lincoln, Nebraska. This class set forth the motion of planning for shows and negotiation contracts with venues to put for an effective show and the timing of the class and events could not have lined up any better.
The eighth class Advanced Entertainment Law provided a very structured understanding of intellectual property and trademark law. The class also gave me a great deal of fear when operating in the entertainment industry. Simply having a can turned in the wrong direction and exposing a logo that has not been authorized for use could lead to a lawsuit.
Along with this fear was a keen understanding on how to go about such clearances, mitigations for such circumstances. For the month many of the assignments consisted of case studies, readings, and verifying the work with effective legal research. This in return granted me the knowledge on how to check and see how any legal circumstances that may become present can be avoided.
The ninth class Entertainment Media and Publishing Distribution granted insight on how to capitalize on new digital publishing mediums. I expected to come into this class and simply go social media crazy with any creative content. What I actually learned was how create a strategic document that would allow for me to secure a publishing deal .
In this class I went astray from my musical background and decided to delve into the world of gaming. I developed a game design document for a game titled Ether. Throughout my Bachelors at Full Sail I met with a great game development team for who I designed their soundtrack. I contacted my friend a Game Design Full Sail Grad and told him about the game document I was creating, after completion of the assignment I asked him to give this rookie game “conceptor” a chance to look over the design document and he agreed to; The end result…well more to come on that later.
The tenth Class Digital Marketing granted me insight into how blogs become effective. Again being naïve I thought that maybe this was the class were we would use social media to push our creative content. Well, this time I was correct, however the class entailed much more detail than originally though. This course granted me the knowledge on how to properly research my target markets, and utilize SEO to ensure my audience can engage with my brand effectively.
This class was rather straightforward in the beginning, simply developing a digital marketing canvas, while rough drafting the overall plan. Towards the end we learned KPI’s and how to utilize to proper metrics to measure the Key Performance Indicators. In the last few weeks we had to put forth the concept of our digital marketing canvas with qualitative and quantitative research that would then be followed up in the final two classes.
The eleventh class Business Plan development was exactly that. Each week we were tasked with taking all the knowledge gained from previous classes to establish a team, finances, distribution plan, etc to conjure up a 25-page business plan. In month for I had the concept to develop mi.DI and in this class was able to see the sheer difficulty if would take to establish such a company.
In order to get a grasp on how to effectively structure my business I had to thoroughly gauge my competition, the market size for my company and the difficulties upon entry. This class was nothing but planning and research, and this class has served it’s purpose. Though rough the plan was able to shed light on the sheer size and potential my company mi.DI could be exposed to.
In the final and twelth class Final Business Plan Development; we were able to put a polish to the business plan so that it could be presented to potential investors. Going into this class I wasn’t sure what to expect, but was met with a less daunting schedule. Instead this class granted me a month worth of preparation not only for graduation, but also for the rest of my life.
Aside from finishing up the paper version of my business plan, I was also granted the privilege to present my business plan to actually hear how the concept would sound to potential investors. Now, even though I felt I did well, the overall plan could definitely use some spirit. Being in front of potential investors however would be far different than in front of a keynote recording, thus I must continue to practice. The reason being is that this class had also granted me a plethora of resources to find potential investors, aid for start-up business, and interview/resume/cover-letter skills.
Overall, the experience was to quick. If I had the money, I would love to try the other avenues of education that Full Sail has to offer. I will miss it, but being an alumni allows me constant contact to the school, and my connection allow me to keep up to date with Full Sail Events. I keep telling myself I can’t wait to graduate, but even now I feel the extra free time might be too much for me to bear at first.
Thank you Full Sail for a one of a kind experience!
Chris Gloria
https://soundcloud.com/christopher_alan-music