8-15 October. 2013: Pitch Day and the Clarification of Job Roles

8 October, 2013
It was in this session that all the FMP groups pitched their ideas, concepts and plans using Powerpoint Presentations. Our group's presentation was somewhat disjointed as the slides were split into seperate documents as we'd agreed to complete individual slides pertaining to our job roles but not everybody (including myself) had sent these to Tamara, who took the responsibility of compiling all the slides into a single presentation. This resulted in us having to switch through more than one PowerPoint document during our pitch, which I found embarressing as it made us appear comparatively unprofessional as the other groups presented their pitches with a single PowerPoint Presentation.

Other than that, our pitch went well. We covered all the points we'd discussed last week; the live lounge theme, 5 genres with 4 songs of each and The Craufurd Arms and MKCC as possible venues. We each individually described our job roles during the pitch also. I expressed that I'll be creating and updating a spreadsheet detailing the group's finances (income and expenditure) in addition to contributing to the marketing of the event by holding the title of Graphic Designer, in which I will design promotional materials such as posters to be distributed to raise awareness of the event.

Though the overall response to our pitch was positive, it was not a positive reflection of our professional conduct as a group, something which I'm ashamed to note I contributed towards. Due to huge changes in my personal life; such as moving out of my parent's house and all of the complications that come with, I simply failed to balance my personal life, college work and professional work commitments. I'll have to improve my time management skills in order to fully succeed in executing my job roles and making a notable contribution to the success of our project.




15 October, 2013
 Today we started by clarifying job roles as there was still some confusion expressed by others as to what role they were to execute throughout the process.

Job roles/responsibilities within the group:
Project Manager
- Kian

Finance Management
- Myself
- Stefan

Fundraising
- Serena
- Crystal
- Elica
- Tamara

Marketing
- Dylan
- Luke
- Myself (Graphic Designer)

We also worked on the planning of our first fundraiser which will be a bake sale in addition to further discussions on possible song choices - which seems to be constantly changing. It is important that we be decisive in our choices, as the sooner we confirm our performances, the sooner we can rehearse them.

More importantly though at this stage is fundraising as I estimate we will need approximately £300 to comfortably put on this event with the hire rate of the Discovery Suite at MKCC being £200. The £100 difference could be used for refreshments - which has been a recurring topic in our group's discussions - and all the necessary cutlery and utensils we'd need to serve them at the event or to pay someone to operate a PA system (which Luke, Kian and Dylan have said they can get for free) and lighting at the venue also.

The production students at our college provide an opportunity to save money as we could ask one of them to assist us with the technical aspects, such as setting up and operating lighting which none of us have experience in. We'd be trading a portfolio opportunity, valuable experience and possibly free refreshments for free or discounted service.

As the success of our project is partly dependent on whether or not we make a profit, it is pivitol that we raise this money ASAP so that we can perform debt-free without having to worry or rely on selling a certain amount of tickets. Fortunately, fundraising is currently prioritised in group discussions, which is promising.

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PROPOSAL
I am going to be responsible for Front of House and Finance Management. My roles will include (but not be limited to); compiling list of expenditure, producing financial reports and presenting them to the rest of the group, graphic design and also marketing and promoting.

I feel I am suitable to effectively execute the tasks listed above as I have a strong attention to detail and previous experience in graphic design and producing promotional materials.

- Job roles selected
- I am doing Front of House and Finance Management

I NEED:
- Cost of; venue hire, food and beverages, PA hire, transportation, printing costs

I WILL:
- Produce report on possible expenditure and how much funds are needed
- Provide dates for when funds need to be raised
- Manage funds throughout

Availability, cost, suitability