Project Comms Agency document - Created by Lucy Cartwright by Lucy Cartwright

Welcome to Project Comms created by the project management team of fashion marketing and communications at the university of chester

Introduction 5

Hello and welcome to ‘Project Comms. We are the Project Management Team, responsible for the logistical planning, organization, networking, finance direction and entrepreneurial management of ‘Studio 204’s’ graduating class of 2020’s Launch Night. Within our team, each of us all have specific tasks and jobs roles, all of which have proved to have, and continue to have, integral importance when bringing our event together, and working as a team. Within Project Comms, our members and their individual roles include: Alicia Jones, responsible for Venue Management, Jane Berry, responsible for Finance Management, Lucy Cartwright, responsible for Sponsorship Management, Anna Bevilacqua, responsible for Industry Contacts; Invites and Management, Deena Walker, our Videographer, and Demi Jones, in charge of Family and Friends Invites, as well as travel arrangements.

For everyone in Project Comms, we all thought it appropriate for us to be a member of the Project Management group, due to the fact that as individual marketeers and communicators, we are all somewhat less visually creative, however have demonstrated to be much more business minded, methodical, analytical and entrepreneurial in the way we conduct ourselves and our work; all skills we each needed to successfully fulfill our Project Management team business plan. As a team, we planned to move forwards together with our tasks of organizing Launch Night, to ensure that we all practiced and showcased our key skillsets, ready to not only logistically bring together a brilliant Launch Night event, but to also ready us for our path into industry within our own career paths. Our knowledge on the principles of business management, production, cliental communication and networking were tested, as well as a number of essential skills we instilled into our project including; event planning, teamwork, negotiation, problem solving, pitching, professionalism, and digital, technological skills; all of which we successfully brought together to enable us to logistically plan our impactful, memorable Launch Night Business event. Written by Anna Bevilacqua.

Alicia Jones 10

venue

The contemporary fashion business module has given me the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the business-side of fashion and has broadened my knowledge on what skills are needed to progress into a career within this area of the industry. By working in teams and demonstrating different entrepreneurial skills, the Fashion Marketing and Communication graduating class of 2020 have had to arrange, promote, design and successfully execute their end of year, launch night exhibition to industry, press and peers. In order to do this, the group have been separated into two teams; the creative management team and the project management team. The creative team are responsible for creating the design and visual communication of the event, whereas the project team are required to handle the logistics and capture a more managerial approach. The end goal for both teams is to host a memorable launch night exhibition which will support the fledgling careers of the soon-to-be, Class of 2020, graduates from the Fashion Marketing and Communication course at The University of Chester.

When it came to choosing teams, it was important to carefully consider each individuals skill-set to ensure they were placed within the team which would be most suitable for them. For me, one of my biggest lessons throughout my time at University has been understanding that I adopt business and marketing skills more so than creative skills, so it was unquestionable as to what team I would be on. Project management would be the team that I would succeed in and it would give me a real opportunity to develop and refine the skills which I already attain in this area. There are six of us in total on the Project Management team, and between all of us, we have negotiated individual job roles. Each of us were delegated a specific role which not only we would enjoy but also which our unique skill-set best suited. My responsibility amongst the Project Management team was to find and secure the venue in which the launch night would be held. This was decided because I was able to put forward a number of transferable skills, both soft skills and hard skills, which were essential for the success of finding a suitable venue for the event. Looking back on the process of confirming a venue for the launch night exhibition, I am able to reflect on what went well, what problem solving I had to do and what skills I have adopted along the way.

The starting stage for me finding a venue was to arrange a meeting with every member of both teams so we could collectively discuss, as a group, desired ideas for a venue space. Doing this was a way for me to get an overall sense of exactly what was wanted, so I knew what kind of location to look for. During this time, I was able to showcase my communication skills through open discussions, my team-work skills by giving everyone to chance to share their thoughts and also my ability to show that I am able to take on peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feedback and consider it in a strategic manner. We discussed dates, times, location, aesthetic, cost, capacity and all other general queries that needed to be answered. Although people had different opinions on what they individually wanted, it was my job to take all of the ideas away, consider each of them and find a coherent solution which everyone would be happy with.

After gathering this feedback, I was then able to go off and research all different venues which are in and around Chester that suited the desired criteria. With Chester being a fairly small City, I quickly come to realise that there is not a wide variety of event venues to choose from. Because of this, I had to think more broadly and be open-minded about the places we would be willing to contact. In the end, I managed to find eighteen possible venue options; I emailed each of them with my proposal and waited for responses. Throughout this time, I was able to expand on my email communication, copywrite skills and my marketing and pitching skills. With utilising these skills strongly, I was able to assure the possible venues understood all of the reasons why they should agree to host our event.

When I started to gain responses from the venues is when I knew that I was going to struggle to confirm somewhere which met our needs fully. The general guideline I had was that people wanted the exhibition to be on Friday 19th June 2020, in a professional setting within Chester, with a venue capacity of over 100 people and all for the cost of less than ÂŁ500 total. Most venues got back to me saying they were either fully booked, could not accommodate to our capacity, our budget was not high enough or some didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t respond at all. This was the time where I really had to put my problem-solving skills to practice, as I understood that it was going to be difficult to find somewhere which completely fit our needs and we needed to sacrifice something in order to make it work. Out of eighteen emails sent, there was only two responses which came back some-what positive; The Walls and The Leverhulme Suite, both based within the grounds of Chester Racecourse. The Walls were willing to adapt to our budget with food and drink included but were unable to offer us the Friday night. The Leverhulme Suite was a bigger exhibition space, but they were over budget with no food or drink included. I went to view both venues and afterwards held another group discussion with both teams, where I could feed-back to them. Both venues had advantages and disadvantages which needed to be carefully considered by everyone to ensure that it was a unanimous final decision with which one was going to be confirmed. After a short-talk of going through everything, it was decided that all eleven of us were most eager to host our launch night at The Walls. We all love the space and believe that it represents our brand well, so we were all willing to sacrifice the day and hold it on a weekday instead. This was the last part in my process of confirming the venue, and the main skills I had to put forward were negotiating and decision-making.

At each stage of this process, I have had the opportunity to utilise a large number of skills and really develop on them further. Each of the skills that I have developed on during my role are ones which are transferable, with many of them being highly desired soft-skills including team-work, leadership, communication, problem-solving and many more. I feel it will be hugely advantageous for me to be able to put forward such a vast array of skills when applying for graduate job roles which will help me advance into a career path of project or business management in the future.

Reflecting back, I know one hundred percent that this was the right team for me to be a part of. Not only have we managed to all work incredibly well as a team to deliver results, but we have all been able to advance individually as well. Each of us have worked hard to ensure that our responsibilities have been completed in time, and we have all communicated effectively throughout the entire process. I believe we have collaborated well and successfully managed the logistic-side of the event to aid towards running an unforgettable final exhibition.

Jane Berry finance

As the graduating class of 2020 we have organized a night which will launch our work, us as a brand and as fashion marketing and communication. This is organized as part of our contemporary fashion business module. In order to best prepare for this evening, we have two teams; the creative team and the project business team. Looking back over the last three years and the educational experiences previous to this it was clear to me that I would be best suited with the business team as the previous skills I have developed meant that this is where my strengths are better suited. As most of these skills are business based rather than creative based, I wanted to ensure as I am working as part of a team that I can give the best work possible into my project. Thinking about this choice that I made to join the project management team I believe this was the best suited choice has it has allowed me to improve and gain more skills such as email communication, teamwork, and financing.

Thinking about job roles within the business team which are; venue, sponsorships, industry and personal contacts, finance, catering and transport. The role that I thought I would be best suited to was finance. Reflecting back upon this I have enjoyed working on this job role as it has allowed me to expand my knowledge on something which I only knew the basics. This means that I now have a more in-depth knowledge on how to manage financing within a group as part of a launch whereas the financing I knew previously was sales against target in retail.

One part of initial problem solving for me was trying to decide a role which I thought would aid in the career direction I want to go into. As visual merchandising is the job role I aspire for the closest link to this as part of the teams was the venue install however I chose not to go for this role as I decided that I wanted to be able to progress more of my business management skills, as my final major project is based around a new way to visual merchandise it was important for me to be able to take a step back and see this job role from a different perspective which is how I decided to choose the finance role. As the future job role that I hope to take on after university is Visual Merchandising. Therefore, I think that financing is an important role for me to take on so I can understand what to takes in more depth. I think that financing is important when working within visual merchandising for those who create these displays both in stores and in the windows, they will have to stick to a managed budget which will have to also be able to work in all stores.

Another part of problem solving also helped me to develop on skills which I have not had to previously rely on as I had to learn how to manage money within a group with different people in each group needing money for different things including transport, venue and venue install this meant that I had to have my overall budget divided between the different aspects and for me this was initially challenging as before sponsors we had a limited budget which meant I would have to be careful on how this was best delegated, this improved both my team working skills and financial skills in a way I had not improved financing before. I also had to use emailing communication in order to keep the venue up to date on payments that we made and gathering invoices and then using this information to update my spreadsheet.

A massive part of problem solving for us as a team was how to present what we have worked hard to do when we have to stay apart due to the current pandemic. This has meant that we have improved our technology skills in order to create an online presentation. In my part of this I will be working on my social media skills as I have created an Instagram account for our team which will publish us as a team and what each part of our roles are as well as a link to the website to see the work we have produced. I have found this challenging at times with using FaceTime as the new form of group communicating and ensuring files were the correct size in order to be able to collate them all digitally into one group file.

In conclusion this module has aided me to reshape my skillset and look at things in a way that I may not have done previously. I enjoyed being able to work as part of a team as I believe it will give us the best possible outcome for launch night and the way we reveal our brands to industry. Working as a team has also helped increase my confidence in the way that I work and take on leadership where needed when it incorporated financing.

Lucy Cartwright sponsors 26

business?

Creative?

For the contemporary fashion business module our goal was to create a successful launch night for the 2020 graduates and for studio 204. The night sees the launch of studio 204, created by the third years of fashion marketing and communications to showcase their work as well as give the course a clear and identifiable brand. The event will be one to remember but it is our responsibility to make it a success. As a part of the module we were split into two teams based on the industry area we believed ourselves best suited. These were the creative team and the project management team. For myself I struggled in choosing a team as I have strengths within both areas and believe both are massively beneficial in the industry. The team I decided on was the project management team in aim to expand my business skills and mindset as well as prepare myself for entering an industry where this thinking is vital to be a success.

Within the project management team, my role was to find and manage sponsors, allowing me to gain valuable experience in an area of the industry I have never explored. When taking on this job I wanted to gage a clear understanding of what sponsors were and what companies/brands would expect, this was hugely beneficial as it directed me to further research, clients. In looking for clients I knew the importance of finding companies/brands that would be willing/ able to involve themselves in our event, with this in mind I focused on contacting local companies/businesses in and around Chester, supporting the local community and aiming to cause little or no conflicts of interest. I was aware how vital it would be to maintain a high standard when looking for clients, with focus on avoiding political clients and ones with different morals as we as a course possess. Within this area I was able to expand on my researching skills hugely, ensuring we had the best clients possible. Once I had gathered myself a database of 30-50 clients, I conferred with the creative team about a sponsorship letter, outlining what we would offer potential sponsors, how their money would be used, also providing details about launch night. At this point in the process my communication skills became tested due to delays in receiving documents, causing me to postpone sending of letters and discuss a new date with my team member sending invites, still communicating effectively and efficiently.

Having sent letters I received three responses, two from property development companies and a start-up clothing brand. When discussing with the companies what they would expect I made the decisions to decline the clothing brand as they wanted to exhibit their own work. My reasoning for this was not wanting to take away from the graduateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work by having the companies work present, nor did I want this to be a cause of confusion to guests. Even though this was a difficult decision I tackled it head on and was upfront with the company immediately after discussing with my team, further improving my communication skills by dealing with this uncomfortable situation.

Within the current climate my role has had to adapt. I have been keeping in constant contact with the two sponsors through email, updating them as best I can to provide reassurance and clear information in uncertain times. Along with this change we have also had to adapt as a team to overcome challenges of communication. To do this we have been conducting weekly meetings through video call and having group discussions. This way of communication has had some difficulties through people not joining video calls or replying to messages, even so we have confirmed that all group members are aware of what is happening and are happy with how everything will progress. For each video call someone has written out what has been spoken of, the deadlines we have in place and what is expected of everyone for when we next talk. This way of conversing has been a huge success and has given me the skills to communicate further using technology as well as the confidence to take this into industry.

A fashion stylist is the career I am wanting to explore after university. As much as this career path is dependent on being creative, there is an equal importance on understanding the business aspects. In being a part of the project management team, I have worked alongside many different areas, providing me with huge insight as to how companies must think, giving me an understanding of how to be a success. This starts at the beginning, preparing me for what I should expect within the industry.

In this module I have been able to adapt and expand on my skills in multiple ways, from development in communication to a greater understanding in researching. All are vital when making the step into industry. I feel as though I did choose the best group for myself as I now have a broader understanding into the business side of fashion which will benefit me when stepping into the industry and when taking on jobs from clients. I have come to realise the importance of knowing this area of fashion putting me ahead and one step closer to my career.

Anna Bevilacqua Contacts industry

The Launch Night of Fashion Marketing and Communication will be the celebration of our graduating class of 2020’s final university projects and will see the unveiling and launch of Studio 204’s new branding and marketing strategies. When beginning to plan Launch Night, we understood the fact that our business event needed to show the strength of our ‘Studio 204’ brand. Reflecting upon the Contemporary Fashion Business module, in light of the circumstances at present, this project was an opportunity for everyone in the group to collaborate together to create this event, and to develop our own skillsets. It has been a positive time for us to enhance our problem solving, digital communication, technological and team working skills, in order for us to still successfully plan and move our event forward, so we have a cohesive project management strategy for Launch Night. When splitting into the groups, everyone needed to work to their strengths in order to create a successful, logical marketing plan and promotional strategy, to ensure a powerful Launch Night came together, to make a great impact to impress everyone in attendance. Reflecting on this at the onset of the project, I felt the best fit for me was to be part of the Project Management team. Within the Project Management team, my specific job has been ‘Management of Industry Contacts, and Industry Invites.’ In the team, once we had disseminated who would be responsible for each element of our logistical strategy for Launch Night, the next task involved branding ourselves as a professional agency. This entailed creating our distinctive Project Management brand indicators and touch points, which would distinguish us. As an agency, had to consider our agency name; ‘Project Comms’, and design our logo, which was my responsibility in our group. Moreover, our Instagram page, website, and branded agency book and presentation, needed to reflect our branding also, so our professional aesthetic could be carried throughout all of our material.

Within Project Comms, I took on the role of Management of Industry Contacts, so my process has been to create an industry contacts spreadsheet, and to send out ‘Save the Date’ to these contacts informing them of the event and communicating to them relevant updates. Moreover, my process also includes keeping contacts updated by providing them with the PR and promotional material for the event. Sending out RSVP’s, and managing the numbers and plus ones for the event once contacts have confirmed is also my responsibility. I feel that throughout this process, having this job role in the team has been perfect for me, as I have been able to expand my skills in this area. The process of my role has given me another opportunity to very much further my practice of project managing, thus setting me up and preparing me for my next steps into my chosen career path; Fashion Journalism.

Reflecting upon the skills I have gained through undertaking my role, I have been able to identify how these elements of business planning, team working, organizing and networking, in order to create, promote and communicate successfully our Launch Night Event, are intrinsically linked and essential for my chosen career path in Fashion Journalism. As someone beginning a career in Fashion Journalism, learning and practicing networking at this point will serve me well in the future, as making a positive, strong impression with members of industry will help me to network successfully in the future. Organization and time management skills are also essential for my career path, to meet deadlines, to identify topics and connections, and to plan interviews and meetings. For a Journalist, or Editorial Writer, collaboration with team members performing different job roles is also essential, so a successful, coherent project is produced, in the same way our Launch Night needed collaborative skills in order for it to be arranged effectively.

My skills in these areas have grown since embarking on this task, as having to communicate with members of industry, has given me the opportunity to discover new contacts to network with in the future, and who can support our Studio 204 brand. Within this, I have also been able to tackle somewhat political and ethical issues surrounding the business planning strategy, as it was essential that I invited people to our event whom would enhance our brand image and message, and who would help make ‘Studio 204’ as a brand stronger. Not wanting ‘Studio 204’ to be associated with anyone who would make our event seem weaker, or damage our reputation, being politically aware and conscientious with whom I was inviting was highly important in my process. Moreover, interacting in a professional, friendly, competent manner with the contacts was important when sending out the invites and replying to their emails. Creating an Excel Spreadsheet that charts each industry contact or Business, sending emails and time managing this, was also an important element in my learning process, especially in problem solving to keep contacts aware of the changes within our event.

Upon reflection of the current climate, our Launch Night event is somewhat on hold. However, Launch Night will still go ahead so Project Comms needed to plan the event on a practical time scale. Both as a Project Management team, and as individuals, problem solving to navigate our business planning and to spin a new positive light to turn the set back into an opportunity, has been a chance to grow our skills, and to learn how to adapt to unforeseen events, as moving forward into industry, companies would still expect employees to adapt in order to complete the task. Together, we have problem solved and pushed our technological skills with our rearrangement of our group presentation, and have enhanced our digital, team working and communication skills by working together on videocalls in order to brand our agency, and continue our job roles. This encompassed creating an agenda for our meetings, and taking minuets from the videocalls to reflect back on. In conducting our team in this way, Project Comms has demonstrated successful team working skills because as a group, we ensured everyone stayed updated on the adaptations to Launch Night and our roles within that, and understood our digital privilege to be able to still continue planning and preparing

Within my personal role, I have rationally navigated the situation, and still demonstrated entrepreneurial, professional business skills, by sending holding emails to my contacts, to continue to keep them updated on Launch Night. In doing this, I have successfully been able to adapt my role for the change of circumstance. In terms of my process of keeping contacts updated with PR material and invitations, I am continuing with this, only on an altered time scale. Upon overall reflection, myself and Project Comms have taken this change as an enhancement of our job and taken it as a new skill building opportunity, so Launch Night can still be organized logistically by Project Comms.

Demi Jones contacts family

For one of my last modules we have been given the task of marketing business plan to promote the graduating class of 2020 end of year launch night to industry, press and peers. To begin this process, the group had the opportunity to pick a team to work in which suited them best and was most beneficial to their career. The two teams were the creative management team and the project management team. I found myself more suited to the project management team because when deciding, I instantly thought the creative management team wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t suit me because I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enjoy being using Adobe software which I knew a lot of the work would be based around. Although my career path would be hopefully be within fashion styling I opted for the project management team as I knew I could build on my communication skills, time management and team working skills which are skills that will be beneficial to my career as a fashion stylist. When the project management team came together we discussed who does which roles and who would suit which role best. For me I had the logistics role and family and friendsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; invitations, roles of which I could not only build on my skills but also learn new skills. Due to the current global pandemic, both teams have had to adapt to this in the most positive way, meaning we have all had to change certain aspects or work around finding the best possible way to do so.

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To start my logistics role, I begun by getting three quotes from different companies, starting by planning out how long we needed the van for, which we needed it for two days meaning we would need the van to start off at the university to pick up our install materials, equipment and our work and then take it to the location. We would need a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;man with a vanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in order to help us lift heavy items in and out of the location and also help the install down the day after and take them back to the university.

I researched van hire companies, also used a website which given me a lot of different companies / quotes and then emailed the companies, explained the plans and asked for quote. The companies managed to give me an average quote which were; MoveWell - £70, Gold Couriers - £68 and AVIS - £82. Due to the current situation regarding Covid-19, these companies have shut their doors for the foreseeable and are not taking bookings at the moment which has meant I haven’t been able to get back in contact with the companies to confirm one. Throughout this process I have built on mainly my communication skills as I was able to communicate by professional emails with the companies.

My second role was family and friendsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; invitations, which was the most difficult role for me due to the fact of Covid-19, my original plans were to gather information from all class members of how many guests they intend on wanting to come along to the launch night and all their personal emails in which I could then send an invitation to them and information regarding the launch. But due to Covid-19 I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been able to do this as we have had to postpone the launch night date and at this point we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any idea when we will be able to confirm a new date. To help get a figure of how many guests will be coming, I asked all class members how many friends and family members they plan on coming along with to the launch night

When I had the numbers, I then put them onto a spreadsheet which gave me a clear idea of how many guests we will have which was 73 guests in total. As soon as we get a new date for launch night, I will then send out personal emails containing an invitation. This role has helped me build on my communication skills but also, I have been able to expand my skills to problem solving, I have never had to problem solve anything like this before and also Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve learnt how to do a spreadsheet so I have learnt a new skills along the way.

In conclusion, I feel as though I have worked to the best of my ability within both of my job roles. I was able to build on current skills such as working within a team, communication skills and time management skills by working towards deadlines, but also learn new skills such as problem solving, all of which I can take with me into my career path of becoming a fashion stylist. These kinds of skills will be useful for me, for example team working and communication skills are needed when working with a client. I think us as a team have adapted well in regard to the current pandemic, which meant we had to change things and re - adapt things to deal with the current situation and as a team we believe launch night will be a success.

Deena Walker

Videographer 50

When our fashion business module began, we were given the option to be on either the project management or creative team. When this choice was put forward to me, I immediately knew that I would be better suited to the project management team. This is due to the fact that I work in a more business minded way rather than being conceptual and creative. There are six of us within the project management team and we have worked well together throughout the module. We have had constant communication throughout and worked as a team to meet expectations and deadlines.

As a team we divided the roles fairly, ensuring that each member had a role within their skill sector that they could excel at. Within the team our roles consisted of venue hire, finance director, collating industry contacts, transport organisation, sponsorship applications and the filming of our launch night event. When we initially discussed each role, it became clear which role each member would be best suited to. As I had previous experience within the videography industry, I took the role of filming the launch night event. I have many skills that I brought to this role such as; directing personal films, experience with editing software, working in the photography industry and general knowledge of the filming industry. These are key skills that I initially brought to the role and have developed during the duration of the project.

My role will not take place until after our event as it cannot be fulfilled until the night in question, as I will be using a number of filming techniques to create a film of our launch night. I have planned to film three types of film during our event. Firstly, a time lapse style film of our venue install, a fast paced film that will turn hours of the install into minutes. The second film I was going to construct was a more relaxed behind the scenes style video showing the best bits from the event. Finally, my last film was going to be a more commercial style AD campaign video lasting roughly thirty seconds. This style of video can be used as an advert to show following years how our launch night went. It can also be a short video to feature on socials such as Instagram.

Throughout the duration of the project we have remained in constant communication as a team to ensure our ideas and goals were met. As the project developed, we would meet every week to discuss and share how our concept was evolving. Every team member was confident within their role which meant our journey was successful from start to finish. We all had an equal weight within the project and all targets were divided equally. As each member of the team followed the similar business mindset as I did our work flowed together and we all had cohesive ideas. Once we had a solid idea of how our event was going to come together, we decided to brand our team into an agency. Turning our team into a professional agency gave us a more sophisticated image and purpose. We began by choosing a name for our agency, we wanted to relate our agency name to our course and the fashion business module. After a long discussion within the team we agreed upon the name Project Comms. We thought that this was a professional agency name within our branding and market level that also related to our course. The next step within branding our agency was a colour scheme, we wanted the colour story to be minimalist, sleek and professional. As most of the members within the team represented a monochrome colour palette, we decided to go for black, white and forest green. By choosing this as our colour scheme, we gave our agency a professional appearance and also represented members of the team. Within our personal aspects of this project we also used this colour palette so that all of our teams work reflected the agency.

To develop Project Comms further we decided to set up some digital platforms for the agency such as; a fully branded website to showcase our best work and completed project. The website also features a team page with a brief description and picture of each team member discussing our personal roles. We also created an Instagram platform for the agency, we have used this platform as a way of showcasing our logo, branding, and agency name. By creating these digital platforms, we have developed our team and constructed it into a fully realised agency.

In regard to our Dragons Den style presentation I used my thoughts and skills as a videographer to create a digital style presentation which features each member of the team discussing their journey and how we worked together. As a team we discussed a structure to the presentation so it would have a professional appearance. We managed to resolve our presentation and communication issues however, the current global situation means our launch night event is still uncertain. When the situation changes, we will work cohesively as an agency to ensure we hold a successful event.

Problem Solving 59

During the lead up to our deadline we began to face a number of problems and issues that we needed to resolve as a team. Firstly we had a communication issue within the team. We did not have a cohesive loop within the full team. So to overcome this and ensure we were all engaging together regularly, we decided to create an online group chat. This Chat allowed us to respond to messages immediately and share developments within the project. This was vital for important decisions such as the venue hire and our financial decisions. By using this Group space it ensured that every member of the team was receiving the same information at the same time, so that we were all on the same page and understanding each other. On a more serious note, towards the end of March we faced a global pandemic, in which we were instructed to stay within our homes, there was a global lockdown. This lockdown meant that we could not have our weekly meetings at university, that we had been having over the past few months. So we had to work together as a team to overcome this situation. As we could not meet in person, we used technology to our advantage in order to overcome this issue, to ensure we were still working as a cohesive agency, sharing and developing our project. We decided to still schedule weekly meetings every Friday, however over video call, this meant we could still engage with each-other, share our process and also set expectations for the following week. This worked really well, we always had someone taking minuets and writing down our goals and expectations for the following meetings. This really helped us to work towards our goals as a team. Technology helped us to connect as a team when we could not interact in person.

Our Final Problem to overcome as an agency was our presentation. As we could not attend university, this meant we could not perform our Dragons Den style presentation, which had been scheduled. We came up with a number of ideas on how we could still present our agency and our project results. However because we had Deena our videographer on the team, she suggested that she could create a visual presentation style film. We thought this would be a very professional way of showcasing our work as a group. We all sent her video clips of us performing our presentation and using our logo, layering our slides over clips and editing it all together, she created a presentation film. This meant we could still perform our presentation, however it was in a professional digital form. Collectively we decided on an order and structure for the film, however due to Deena having the editing skills as our Agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s videographer, she constructed the film. Collectively, as our Agency Project Comms we managed to solve a number of issues throughout the project, even ones which were out of our control. We have till managed to engage with each-other, share our process and present our work, all within the government guidelines. Despite solving these issues, there is one problem that is out of our hands. We had planned to hold our launch night at Chester Racecourse on the 17th June. However with the current global pandemic, we are unsure as to when public gatherings will be permitted, so we cannot confirm the date of our lockdown. Nevertheless, once we are back to normality and we have a new date secured, Project Comms will ensure to put all our hard work together to hold an unforgettable event. Written by Deena Walker.

Instagram 63

As staying part of a team is so important Jane has created an instagram account which shows who we are as a group as well as what our individual job roles are, this includes a link to the website we have which has been created by Alicia showing the work we have done. This has helped to improve on social media skills as well as introduce who we are and what we do as well as a creative side to our team such as the logo created by Anna which we digitalised for the instagram account. The instagram is effective in carrying on exhibiting our content in a way that is suitable for the current circustances and for the industry we are placed within. Written by Jane Berry.

Website 67

As a professional Project Management agency, it was important to the Project-Comms team that we created a strong brand presence. It was fundamental that we had a space to market ourselves in and showcase what we have been planning and producing over the recent weeks, on the countdown towards the Studio 204 Launch Night Exhibition. To offer the agency an increased brand awareness, it was collectively decided that we would create a Project-Comms website, which would not only advertise the agency online but would also be a place for each team member to share their work as well. In addition to sharing individual work, the website is a place where we can bring all of our work together and showcase what we have produced as a collective agency too. The reasoning behind the Project-Comms website was that as an agency, we believed it to be imperative to have a professional platform which we are able to share nation-wide. We understand that having a digital presence is considered as being essential to any brand or agency nowadays, and we wanted to show that we understand the importance of that by adapting to it ourselves through the form of a branded website. Particularly within unprecedented times, having an online space has been extremely beneficial to Project-Comms; It has given us the platform that we need to share our work digitally when people are unable to see it physically. The Project-Comms website will continue to be updated over the entire course of the Launch Night Exhibition, as so far it is proving to be a really successful way for the team to display their work as a collective agency for a wider audience. Written by Alicia Jones. You can view the Project-Comms website at: aliciaamyjones.wixsite.com/studio204management

Conclusion 71

Overall, we as a team have gained many new valuable opportunities to expand on our skills in different areas, some of these have been communication, time management and even software skills. We have completely adapted ourselves to deal with the current situation and doing this in the best way possible having created and managed ourselves in a better sense of what we would have done previously. The work we have created has aided the development of our skills and team work hugely. To expand this work even further through the use of technology in this present moment has taken our agency and skills to the next level. We have worked collectivly as a team from the start and have continued to do this throughout difficukt times. We fully believe that project comes and launch night will be a success no matter when the launch ends up happening. Written by Lucy Cartwright.

Document created by Lucy Cartwright All content provided by Project Comms Agency - A.Jones, A.Bevilacqua, D.Walker, J.Berry, L.Cartwright, D.Jones.