Enterprise Week - Day 1 - Discussion Panel & Networking Drinks
The first day of Creative Enterprise week had a long and highly interesting panel of speakers that were kind enough to have spoken to us and, in some cases, have workshops with us. We began our first day with Jodi Nelson-Tabor that showed us networking and share some stories from her personal experience. From these workshops, I had a chance to learn how the possible ways of approaching people, which included finding common ground that you and possible giver of work experience would have. However, I wish I could learn more about the research technique that would allow me to find useful information regarding my potential employer.
Next Speaker was Stephen Nixon, VFX producer that came to tell about his life and his career choices. He taught me that it is very important to follow something that you are interested in and get really good at it and if it won’t work out find another thing even if it is not within the same industry. The entire talk was a very positive experience for me however, I wish I could learn more about the position he was currently in; what are his tasks and responsibilities. Following the day, another event featured a discussion panel with people within the industry such as Vicky Bennet, Stephen Nixon, Alex Worrall, Jude Winstanley and Kolton Lee. The panel provided stories from each point of view and their position accordingly, from Television producer and owner of a film studio to recent graduate and independent filmmaker. I learned that five days is a maximum time you can do unpaid work experience. The only regrettable thing that could endorse is time for students to ask the panel. At the end of the first day, students have a chance to practice their networking skills with the panel mentioned earlier. I had a chance to learn that approaching people and finding common ground are two different things and are not as easy as they seem. This gave me an idea of how networking works and help me understand that I will not always be able to smoothly communicate with every person from the industry I meet. Also, I learned that my library of watched films is extremely limited and has to be expanded in order to reach people more easily.