PAL Program
Career Readiness in ACTION!
PROJECTS 2016 www.orgsthatmatter.com
Amazing Race Monash
Monster Movie Night
Flag Off
Movie Night @ Monash – Zootopia
Mini Golf Mayhem
Pizza & Polish
www.orgsthatmatter.com
COPYRIGHT PAL Program 2016 – Career Readiness in ACTION! The PAL Program 2016 – Career Readiness in ACTION! ebook has been created by students from the Monash University PAL Program from within the Monash Business School. Published by What Really Matters Publishing c/- Organisations That Matter Compiled By Gary Ryan, Facilitator of the Projects Program Level 8, 350 Collins Street Melbourne, Victoria 3166 AUSTRALIA Phone +61 3 8676 0637 E-mail: info@orgsthatmatter.com Copyright © 2016 Gary Ryan, Organisations That Matter® & Monash University & each of the members of the project teams All effort was made to render this ebook free from error and omission. However, the author, publisher, editor, their employees or agents shall not accept responsibility for injury, loss or damage to any person or body or organisation acting or refraining from such action as a result of material in this book, whether or not such injury, loss or damage is in any way due to any negligent act or omission, breach of duty, or default on the part of the author, publisher, editor or their employees or agents.
PAL Program
2
www.orgsthatmatter.com
CONTENTS Amazing Race Monash Flag Off Mini Golf Mayhem Monster Movie Night
4 10 18 23
Movie Night @ Monash – Zootopia
30
Pizza & Polish
36
PAL Program
3
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT NAME:
Amazing Race Monash
TEAM MEMBERS Robert Cook Brandon Tiong Ho Yan Wu Vanessa Say Grace Ong
PAL Program – Amazing Race Monash
4
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT PURPOSE • Student to student – allow students to meet new friends and engage with one another as well as have the opportunity to work collaboratively as a team. • Student to university – help students familiarise themselves with the university and the campus.
PAL Program – Amazing Race Monash
5
www.orgsthatmatter.com
GOALS Quantitative Goals • Aimed to have 20 participants
MBS
• Be cost-efficient (target - less than $500)
The
AMAZING RACE
Qualitative Goals • Familiarise students with the campus •
2016
Allow students the opportunity to meet new friends
Event! A Fun Free
• Engage with the faculty • Share tips and tricks about getting through university
PAL Leaders project - Income/Expenses Budget The Amazing Race Thursday, 4 August 2016 Income
Dr
Cr
Refunded barbeque hire deposit
$50.00
Total
$50.00
Expenditure Prizes for winning team (Village vouchers) Printing (Race clues etc) Barbeque hire Barbeque deposit Food for barbeque
$150.00 $50.00 $43.00 $50.00 $50.00
Total projected expenditure
$343.00
Total funding request from Faculty
-$293.00
-$293.00 (Max $500)
PAL Program – Amazing Race Monash
6
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE PLANNED
Task
1
Explanation
Task
Explanation
Meeting - doodle poll
8
Organise gift cards and prizes
9
Movie Tickets $100 budget
10
BBQ Organising
Contact ambassadors to help us run event Decide on what stations are
2
Organise food for end of event - $100-$150 budget Book venues
3
Create timeline
4
Decide date – 3rd week of second term
5
Advertise/Marketing Post event on Facebook and spread the word
6
Contact Monash Sport to work out book
7
Book a classroom
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED Planning 1. 6/4/16 - first team meeting to plan outline of event and tasks that must be done
Details • 10 participants - 3 teams
2. 23/5/16 - decided hump lawn as location of event
• Prizes of movie tickets for winner and runner-up as well as lolly bags for all participants
3. 25/6/16 - finalise budget - $293 - well under budget
• Sausages and vegie-burgers for bbq
4. 5/7/16 - flyers for marketing event created
• 1 ambassador helped during the event
5. 19/7/16 - clues booklet for event created
• Find attached activities booklet
6. 24/7/16 - final meeting and run through of event, created facebook event, finalised bbq hire 7. 3/8/16 - final run through of event and bought food and prizes 8. 4/8/16 - day of event
MBS
The
AMAZING RACE
Event Day 1. 1pm - meet up to set up bbq and stations/games
2016
Team Answer Book
2. 2pm - event officially begins, participants begin arriving 3. 2:30pm - race begins whilst bbq team cooks lunch 4. 3:30pm - race ends and prizes awarded, bbq begins
Team member names:
tape edges
5. 4:00pm - event finishes and clean up
PAL Program – Amazing Race Monash
7
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE LEARNED • Be prepared for unplanned circumstances – people dropping out, venue problems • Importance of adaptability and flexibility when planning/running an event • Leadership – at first we didn’t have a designated leader but found that people would naturally step up to fulfil the role. This helped us realise the importance of a leader in being more organised and delegating tasks. We should have had clearer responsibilities from the start. • Communication – we learnt that communication was the most important aspect in terms of planning an event, whether it be communication between team members or communication to sponsors and customers (participants). We communicated well to sponsors and effectively convey our plan and requirements. We could have, however, improved communication between members and more clearly define each of our designated roles. • Planning and organisation – generating ideas for the event was easy as everyone was able to contribute their ideas. Everyone completed their assigned tasks leading to the event making it well organised. • Problem solving – we ran into some problems during venue hire as we were unable to hire a room for the 2 hour block. We were, however, able to negotiate with our sponsor to use a small space for the activity. We also had problems marketing with not many people signing up in the booking system so we were unable to plan for the exact number of people who would participate. We solved this by promoting more on social media and it also meant we had to organise teams on the day.
• Customer service – on the day we were friendly and interacting with participants giving them advice and asking questions about their time at university. We received positive feedback of the event and the activities that were run. • Lifelong learning – we learnt the importance of soft skills that we practice in university for the many aspects of life such as this event. We were able to practice our communication, organisation and teamwork skills through this event. • Technology – Technology was utilised throughout the planning of the event with online chat allowing us to communicate and send material and information between one another. Facebook was used to market as well as the online booking system. We learnt how powerful of a tool technology can be when undergoing team tasks. • Self-management – This event was completely self managed from planning to execution. Our team was able to sufficiently meet deadlines and deliver a successful event. We were also dedicated to the event and put in over 30 hours each despite our other personal commitments such as university and work. • Innovations – we created an event that allowed new students to both familiarise themselves with the campus as well as have fun. The clue book also contained facts and tips about the university that would be helpful to students and made it more interesting.
• Teamwork – our team was able to work together well as we had the common goal of creating and running a successful event. Teamwork was extremely important both for planning as well as executing on the day. • Initiative and enterprise – During the planning of the event, team members were able to take initiative by taking ownership of certain tasks. On the day, we had a small amount of participants at first but were able to get more participants by advertising to friends of participants and passerbys.
PAL Program – Amazing Race Monash
8
www.orgsthatmatter.com
RECOMMENDATIONS • Do it in first semester as there are more new students and it is easier to market towards them • Tackle marketing early as it is the most challenging aspect of the project - utilise multiple methods, we found that word-of-mouth was the most effective technique • Have more incentives for people to participate • Stay in communication with Ali and keep her updated as she provides a lot of assistance
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS • Ali Richardson – for sponsoring our event, assisting with booking of venues, acquiring prizes and running the PAL program
• Gary Ryan – for the team building and organising workshops by Gary and Orgs That Matter which made the event possible.
• Professor Colm Kearney, the Dean – for his support of the program and our project
PAL Program – Amazing Race Monash
9
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT NAME:
Flag Off
TEAM MEMBERS
PROJECT ROLE
Andy Cheung
Team Leader
Jason Tran
Resource Manager
Wilt Xu
Accounting/Finance Officer
Jacky Yang
Marketing Officer/Photographer
David Barrett
Events/Venue Organiser
Anthony Setiawan
Liaison Officer
PAL Program – Flag Off
10
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT PURPOSE The purpose of our project was to enhance student to student relationships amongst first year commerce students. In addition, we also decided to focus on initiatives to help the community by awareness for Beyondblue as well as services available to students to cope with mental health challenges. We also aimed to raise money through donations from students. Furthermore, we wanted our participants (who were predominantly first-years) that the Monash Business
School that they care about their students. Leading up to the event, we were concerned about our participants in terms of how well they will cope with stress, which were compounded by the upcoming exam period. Hence, we invited two members of the mental health ambassador team to give a short introduction of their services and how they can help reduce their anxieties, in terms of what programs they can attend or even people to talk to.
GOALS Quantitative Goals:
Qualitative Goals:
• Get 30+ people to attend the event
• For students to meet new people and make new friends during the course of the game.
• Achieve an average rating above 8/10 • Aiming to raise $50 for BeyondBlue • Budgeted $300 for the event
• Students to display teamwork, leadership and communication skills when determining their team’s strategy before the game started. • To raise awareness about the Mental Health Champions, including common symptoms of mental illnesses and services available to students. • To have as much fun as possible!
PAL Program – Flag Off
11
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE PLANNED Our team planned to run a competitive social event in the form of a Capture the Flag event in order to enhance student to student relationships within the Monash Community. We felt since our event was held in the lead up to exams it was important to let students know there were services available to them if they had trouble dealing with the stress. This was done through organising guest speakers to come and talk about mental illness and the services Monash has available. Some of the key steps in preparing for the event were: • Finding a suitable venue/location (preferably Sports Oval at Monash Uni) for our game to be held. • Promoting the game using social media and posters around campus.
• Get personalised bibs • Finding suitable poles, tags and flags for usage in the competition • Set the rules for the game. • Get 25 pizzas (in case more people came than our expectation of 30-40) • Buy sufficient drinks, paper cups and plates for our anticipated turnout.
Schedule Below is a summary of how we planned the event, including some challenges we faced throughout the process.
Planned
Actual
Week 5
Delegated roles in terms of finances, marketing, venue searching, equipment searching, organising food and liaising with
Went according to plan
Week 6
• • •
Group meeting to go through team objectives again to make sure our goals are aligned. Discussed Issues • Sports centre wasn’t available due to competitions being run • Had to adjust for the timing of the day (before it got too dark in winter) • The weather on the day (to make sure it is suitable) • Not feasible to buy new equipment (especially online) Submitted Budget Generally outlined the basic rules of the game Generally outlined the timeline of the day (preparation to packing up)
• •
Report back to group Submit budget Discuss any problems and how to deal with it Plan out the details of the day Plan out the rules of the game.
Week 7
Social Media Interaction. Create event and add Evaluated potential venues and confirmed the usage of the lemon scented PAL ambassadors to have a greater reach to lawns the first years. Decided to borrow bibs from the sports centre and repurpose old resources from the BusEco department to use as equipment Start marketing through facebook event and invite ambassadors from PAL program.
Week 8
Promotion Prepare equipment
Finalised food orders Finalised equipment we will be using
Week 9
Promotion Mental Health Champions. • Look for a suitable venue • Find suitable food and drinks • Look for equipment online • Contact the Mental Health Champions to see if they are interested in participating Finalise equipment used on the day Finalise food and delivery details Finalise details of the event
Promotion of Event through MSA certified posters across the university. Made all the tags and flags used Finalised details of the event (food, delivery, logistics)
Week 10
Actual Event (4:00-6:30pm) 3:00pm: Move equipment and set up the venue (boundaries and flags) 3:45pm: Meet and greet people attending the event and explain the rules 4:00-4:15pm: Guest Speaker talking about the seriousness of mental illness 4:15-4:30pm: Split the team and explain the rules
Actual Event (4:15-6:30pm) 3:00pm: Move equipment and drinks to the venue 3:30pm: Meet up and set up the venue (boundaries and flags) 4:00pm: Meet and greet people attending the event 4:15-4:30pm: Guest Speaker talking about the seriousness of mental illness
PAL Program – Flag Off
12
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED • We held weekly meetings in the lead up to our event where tasks were delegated between team members. In these meetings we had to organise grounds, Mental Health Champion speakers, pizza’s, drinks, social media advertising, posters around campus, equipment (which included flags, tags) and sporting bibs. • On the day of the event we met an hour and a half before the event to set up the equipment and make sure we were all on the same page regarding the rules of the game, the ‘rundown’ of events as well as setup the equipment. • Once the students arrived we introduced ourselves and our event before getting the guest speakers to give a small speech about what Mental Health Champions goals are, symptoms of depression and other mental illnesses, as well as letting the students know some of the services available to them should they require help. • Once the speakers were done we had to explain the rules of our Capture the Flag game. We broke the team up into two groups and played two games that ran for 15 minutes each. • On the day we had to adjust the rules of the game as we quickly realised our pre-planned rules left students out of the game for a long period of time. Our initial plan of having students who had been ‘tagged’ to go to jails in the opposite team’s base made the game less enjoyable for students who had been eliminated early from the game. We initially thought other team members would be able to easily save their team members by ‘breaking them out’ of jail, however this proved more difficult than anticipated. In order to overcome this we made a common jail in the middle of the grounds which made it easier to break teammates out of jail since there were less opposition to protect the jail area, and hence make the game more enjoyable for students.
• Game 1 seemed like a trial for the competition, but game 2 saw more tactics and teamwork involved to better protect the flags and to better attack the opposition’s defense. The losing team from game 1 made a comeback in game 2. We were impressed with the improved teamwork and communication between the teams over the course of the afternoon. • One of the goals of our project was to have students get to know one another, due to the students willingness to engage with one another we considered this a success. Our quick survey we gave out had students score our event as 8.2 out of 10, which let us know we achieved our goals of making the event an enjoyable afternoon for those who attended. • We also let the students know we were taking voluntary donations for Mental Health Champions and were able to raise more than $60. This means we were able to raise the $50 we aimed for, but more importantly we were able to raise awareness about mental illnesses and some of the services available to help students. We thought this was particularly important as leading up to exams we recognised some students can find the stress difficult to deal with.
• Each team was able to win one game on the day, however due to lighting issues we couldn’t hold a tie breaking game. • Upon completion of the second game the pizza had arrived and students were invited to enjoy something to eat and drink. Students took this opportunity to further get to know one another and we were impressed with their willingness to engage with one another. At this point we let the students know we had no more activities planned but let them know it was a good opportunity to make new friends.
PAL Program – Flag Off
13
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE LEARNED Leadership
Planning and Organisation
Our part as Leaders was a collaborative approach. We didn’t have any specific leader rather we each contributed our input on certain issues and agreed upon the best action as a team. Each team member had designated roles and had to take initiative to complete their assigned task. These roles were decided both on strengths and areas in which each member was looking to further develop skills. If members had outside commitments that made it hard to finish these tasks then we were able as a team to figure out who and when these tasks can be completed.
We made sure that we constructed a timeline and have incremental goals put in place to make sure that we were always on track and not falling behind our schedule. To remain organised we had weekly goals that we wanted to achieve and made sure we reported back any problems and any progresses made to the team. This was done in the weekly meetings that we held.
Communication Our group found it was important to share our progress on our designated tasks with the group to ensure everyone was happy with our progress. This was done through group meetings and as a group we were then able to add our thoughts as a group on the task and/or problems the person/s doing the specific task had. This ensured a higher quality of work among us a team.
Problem Solving Problem solving was integral to make sure the event ran smoothly on the day of our event as we realised one of our rules excluded players from the game if they were eliminated early on during the game. We were able to change the rules to change the ‘jail’ were eliminated players were held to the centre of the grounds which allowed players to be saved more easily and hence feel more involved in the game. We came up with alternative solutions in case certain options didn’t work out, or the weather turned bad (which fortunately it didn’t).
PAL Program – Flag Off
14
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE LEARNED cont... We needed to figure out which people at the university were in charge of certain areas. When we were not able to access appropriate materials needed for the event due to limited payment methods, we were able to find alternatives, such as repurposing old materials to use for the event.
Teamwork We found out that delegation was an important skill in teamwork. Because this was a medium scale project, we still had quite a large number of tasks that needed to be executed, whether it’s marketing, liaising, budgeting and communication. We split the tasks amongst our group members according to our personal strengths. For example Wilt is studying accounting, therefore he was willing to plan the budget for our project. By delegating the tasks, we were efficient in our planning and execution of these tasks. We also remembered to consult our group members of our progress, so everyone was on the same page.
Initiative & Enterprise We were able to reuse the old 2012 leaders/ambassadors programs shirt as bibs for our Capture the Flag game rather than getting new bibs. This allowed us to save money from renting or buying bibs. We were able to use Beyondblue balloons not only as a way to promote awareness for mental illness but also as barriers to designate specific areas within the game. Avoided spending funds by not purchasing any new equipment or material that is only used once.
Lifelong Learning We were able to learn a lot from organising this event. In particular, working together as a team and being able to effectively communicate our goals in the initial planning stages was important to generate an idea we all agreed upon. Each individual member in our group spent well above 30 hours throughout the semester working on the project which included new challenges such as marketing, venue preparation and organising sufficient equipment.
Technology Technology was a key component in our communication both to each other as a group and to the students who were going to participate in the game. We used a group chat to communicate between our group and organise meetings when necessary. We also used a facebook event to promote our Capture the Flag game. The facebook event also gave us a rough estimate of how many people were going to attend the event.
Self-management It was important for us to manage our time as we all had our own tasks that were delegated to us. We realised that due to university and work commitments that some group members would need help with their tasks throughout our planning process. To overcome this issue we as a group decided how to ease the workload on this member, this ensured no individual member was overloaded with tasks that they weren’t able to achieve.
Customer Service It was important on the day of the event to present ourselves to students in a way that best represented the Business and Economics Leaders Program. We were able to achieve this through making students feel welcome by engaging them in conversation and giving them a chance to start conversations with new students. The 36 students who attended all said they had a great time and got the opportunity to meet new friends.
PAL Program – Flag Off
15
www.orgsthatmatter.com
RECOMMENDATIONS • Promote early. Get the word out for your project early, this will equate to more exposure in the community, and ultimately, more attendees. We also recommend to execute your projects in semester 1, since the first years are still more likely to be unfamiliar with the university, and this project can be a platform for them to familiarise themselves with the uni, and also make some connections along the way.
• Make sure you have a clear idea of the target groups you want to invite, and how you will achieve them. In our case, we had connections with some of the Business School Ambassadors, and we reached out to them to attend our project, along with their mentees. We also reached out to the general public via social media.
• Do not overcomplicate things. Sometimes going with something simple is the best option, especially relevant if you’re working in a big group. Avoid difficult, time-consuming and tedious tasks, as this will create confusion and disarray amongst members in the group. • Have realistic estimates. There’s nothing worse than over-the-top goals and vision, this will only skew future predictions and the overall outcome of the project. • Make sure the team members are on the same page. Have a talk amongst your group in the first meeting in regards to everyone’s goals, levels of commitment and what we all want to get out from this project. By doing this, all members of the group can agree on a plan that they can all contribute on.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Our team would like to thank the Monash Business and Economics Faculty, specifically Dean Colm Kearney for giving us the opportunity to participate in the Leaders Program in 2016, this project would not have been possible with his support. The team would also like to say a massive thank you to Alison Richardson, the PAL program coordinator, for her continued support and advice throughout the duration of the project. Alison works tirelessly to ensure our projects were of the highest standards and offer us and the participants a wonderful experience. We would also like to thank Gary Ryan for providing us with his support and guidance throughout the planning stage of the process. His advice on how to function more efficiently as a team was key to helping turn our event from
an idea to a reality. We would also like to thank the Mental Health Champion guest speakers who came out and helped spread awareness about mental illness. Last but not least, we would like to thank the students who came out to the event and hope you got as much out of the experience as we did. Through this program, we have experienced a few setbacks, challenges and obstacles. However, through teamwork and perseverance, we have managed to produce a meaningful project, and the experience and lifeskills that we have learned will definitely stay with us in our professional careers and beyond.
PAL Program – Flag Off
16
www.orgsthatmatter.com
NUMBERS
Planned
Actual
Attendance
36
Average Rating
8.18/10 from 22 scores
Money Raised
$63 was raised, and all the proceeds go towards the BeyondBlue campaign.
Income: • Faculty Subsidies
•
The Faculty of Business and Economics were willing to spend $500 to subsidise our project.
Expenditure • • •
Pizza Drinks Plates and Cups
• • •
$168.10 $46.00 $9.00
•
Total
•
$223.10
Meeting new friends (Qualitative)
General feedback: Most people felt like they met at least one new friend, and the majority of first years students felt like they met people who are studying the same course as them.
Cooperating, Teamwork (Qualitative)
Game 1 seemed like a trial for the competition, but game 2 saw more tactics and teamwork involved to better protect the flags and to better attack the opposition’s defense. The losing team from game 1 made a comeback in game 2.
PAL Program – Flag Off
17
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT NAME:
Mini Golf Mayhem
TEAM MEMBERS Vassil Andreev Stephanie Jong Victoria Langley Jacinta Lee Christy Pearson
PAL Program – Mini Golf Mayhem
18
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT PURPOSE To provide opportunities for students to connect to other students as well as students to faculty. This will be done through mini golf.
GOALS Quantitative goals • Obtain 3 quotes for hire and execution of activity • 30-40 Students to participate • Keep activity under $500 • Invite a minimum of 100 individuals on the Facebook event • Physically distribute at least 20 promotional flyers to students
Qualitative goals • Organisers to be outwardly positive and encouraging throughout the activity • Represent the Monash Business School in an engaging manner • Ensure new and current students felt a sense of community during the activity • Get people to try something new • Create a positive and comfortable atmosphere • Develop project management skills • Work effectively together to achieve team goals
PAL Program – Mini Golf Mayhem
19
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE PLANNED Our group originally planned to do human-sized foosball on Lemon Scented Lawns during orientation week in semester 2. We were going to hire the equipment and supervisor from an external provider and create flyers and events on social media to promote the event. In the case of the equipment hire cost exceeding our budget, we were
prepared to negotiate with the providers. Additionally, we wanted to hold a barbeque where gold coin donations were encouraged, with all proceeds going towards a charity aligned with the Monash Business School.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED After negotiating with four different providers, the cost of hiring the human-sized foosball activity exceeded our budget constraints. We wanted to continue with an activity of the same nature as foosball within our budget and so chose mini golf. This was a light, physical activity that was easy to participate in and allowed for people to interact with each other while playing. After obtaining a further two quotes, we chose to use Action Events which cost $500 precisely, meeting our budget goal. The location was moved to outside the South 1 lecture theatre, coinciding with another student society’s sausage sizzle to welcome new students. This collaboration eliminated the need for us to hold our own barbeque. We produced physical flyers as planned, and with the help of Ali, distributed these in the orientation showbags provided to new students. While difficult to determine the exact number, we estimate around 80 flyers were given to students based on attendance from previous years. We also created an online Facebook event to assist in the promotion of the day, inviting approximately 150 people. This meant our promotional goals were well exceeded. On the day, we had 45 students participate throughout the two-hour session. This surpassed our goal of having 3040 student participants. There were some communication problems that led to a delayed start time but overall they were a minor setback. These problems included the equipment provider struggling to find the right location and the leaders who were present on the day having outdated contact details for Ali. We had arranged an indoor venue in the case of rain, but luckily this was not needed as the weather was accommodating.
Our team interacted warmly with the majority of the attendees and it was clear that they were enjoying themselves. We wore the Monash Business School PAL Leader shirts, which was an effective way to demonstrate the link between the activity and the faculty. This informal setting allowed the students to appreciate the multifaceted nature of the Monash Business School and to provide a positive start to life at Monash University. In turn, this satisfied the main purpose of our project, which was to connect students to their peers, as well as to the faculty.
Mini-Golf and BBQ
You are invited to…
th ly, 1-3pm When: Wednesday 20 Ju e Theatre Where: South One Lectur on Campus
(43 Rainforest Walk), Clayt me to come along, i-golf! Everybody is welco Join us for a round of min urse, take d o ew friend or two an f co have some fun, make a n d Commerce an ess usin e B y th d b hel BQ being advantage of the FREE B E! HER U T YO SEE earby. Students’ Society (BCSS) n
Brought to you by the M
PAL Program – Mini Golf Mayhem
onash Business School
20
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE LEARNED Leadership Each member of the team were given opportunities at different stages to demonstrate leadership and take control of specific tasks. Through this we learned to use the different strengths of our group members effectively and efficiently.
Communication Throughout the planning process we saw it was imperative to communicate with the members of our group in order to be aware of our progress and stay on track to achieve our goals. We learned valuable lessons during the execution, where we realised clearer directions were needed for the provider to arrive at the correct location.
Planning & Organisation There were a number of checkpoints that had to be achieved before the next stage of our project could continue. When we planned foosball, we engaged in premature promotional activities before realising this activity was too expensive. If we started with a more detailed plan, it would have allowed us to avoid unnecessary work as we would have realised foosball was unfeasible at an earlier stage.
to participate on their own accord and so our team had to display initiative by actively inviting these students to get involved.
Customer Service We did not realise how helpful having an equipment operator would be. His assistance allowed us to interact and engage with students in a more relaxed way which enabled them to have more fun.
Lifelong Learning This was the first time our group members had been part of a project from start to finish. We learned a lot about how plans can change throughout the process and how adaptability plays a major role in the success of the project. This newfound knowledge can be applied in future projects and enable greater accomplishments.
Technology We saw how effective social media could be at raising awareness of events. We will keep this in mind when dealing with promotion strategies for future events, particularly when these events are being aimed at a student demographic. Online communication channels facilitated productive and efficient discussion.
Problem Solving
Self-Management
As our event was based outdoors, we had to develop contingency plans in the case of unfavourable weather. This required us to think of other alternative venues that were suitable and available on the day, allowing us to solve potential problems before they arose on the day and resulted in a less stressful lead up to the event.
Juggling university, work and extracurricular activities, as well as the project management needed to be a priority for all team members. This was particularly important when deadlines had to be met, such as setting event dates, promotion and booking the provider. We left some of these aspects too late in semester 1, which we should have foreseen as a busy time and organised earlier.
Teamwork Each member of our team had a different role to play in organising the event. Ensuring that everybody did their part well and on time was crucial for event success. By delegating roles and trusting our teammates, we achieved our goals.
Initiative & Enterprise We learned firsthand how being enterprising with event planning can be beneficial, as partnering with the student society barbeque increased our participation numbers. We saw that a number of people were hesitant
Innovation and sustainability We demonstrated innovation during our project by creating a flexible playing structure so students could participate to their comfort level rather than feeling pressured to complete all nine holes. Lastly, the activity did not require external energy sources, such as a petrol generator, which contributed to sustainability by reducing our carbon footprint. Of all the above lessons, the most important thing we learned was to communicate well with your team and abide to your deadlines.
PAL Program – Mini Golf Mayhem
21
www.orgsthatmatter.com
RECOMMENDATIONS The best recommendation we can make is that next year’s Leaders book their activity venue early (if on a Monash campus) as spaces fill very quickly throughout the year. Contingency plans are beneficial not only in helping your peace of mind but will avoid having to deal with unforseen circumstances on the day that may hinder the success of your event. Confirming cost implications and budget constraints are crucial. They need to be discussed and decided early in your project development, as this is a preliminary step in the planning process and determines the feasibility of your idea.
SMART method (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) to set our goals and this was very helpful. If you are doing an activity on a Monash campus, try and choose a day when there is a lot of incidental traffic as this is likely to boost participation numbers significantly. If you can collaborate with other activities such as orientation days or barbeques this can also be beneficial. Choose an activity that you would enjoy doing yourself, as you may need to be the starting participants on the day in order to inspire others to join. If you choose an activity where the number of people involved does not affect the quality of the game, you may have more success than activities requiring 20 people to play at once.
Set realistic goals and consider using a goal-setting framework to help with this. For example, we used the
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to formally acknowledge the following people and organisations for assisting and facilitating the execution of this event: • Ms Alison Richardson, Manager of Student Development • Mr Gary Ryan, Founding Director, Organisations That Matter • The Monash Business School • Professor Colm Kearney, the Dean of the Monash University’s Faculty of Business and Economics • Action Events
PAL Program – Mini Golf Mayhem
22
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT NAME:
Monster Movie Night
TEAM MEMBERS Natalie Kuo Karen Wang Lheianne Ku Aileen Truong Grace Jackel Joseph Ng
PAL Program – Monster Movie Night
23
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT PURPOSE The purpose of the project was to engage first year students in university life, and give them an opportunity to meet new friends in a relaxed social setting to
release the stress of being at a new study environment. We intended the FREE MOVIE NIGHT event to be entertaining and fun to kick off the second semester.
GOALS Quantitative goals Goal Have at least 20 attendees at the movie night Ensure expenditure does not exceed the budget of $500
Outcome There was a total of 23 students that attended the movie night • Purchasing of snacks, drinks, napkins amounted to approximately $60 • Pizzas (ordered from Meeting Point) amounted to approximately $150 • Booking of the venue (Campus Centre Cinema) • Rented the DVD from John Medley Library, saving rental or purchasing costs
All in all, we proudly ran our event significantly below budget. Build Facebook interest by The event was shared with 81 people (30 of whom sharing the event with at least were ‘interested’ and 16 who were ‘going’) 50 people
Qualitative goals Goal To get good feedback from attendees To promote the BusEco PAL Program
Promote the event through flyers and a Facebook event
To run a relaxing and enjoyable event
Outcome We were not able to achieve this goal through any formal or written feedback. However we were able to get verbal feedback on the night after the event. We were able to promote the Program by wearing our Monash Business School t-shirts, including the logo on promotional material and briefly mentioning the program when introducing the film screening. We were able to design and send off a flyer to Ali to distribute print media as well as create a Facebook event to invite and share (this event was also shared in the Monash Business School Scholars Facebook group) Yes! :)
PAL Program – Monster Movie Night
24
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE PLANNED 1. Initial plan/task sheet Task Type
Task description
Decisions
Decide on date & time: Thurs 4th Aug, 6-9pm
Due Date
Choose charity
Logistics & financing
Marketing & promotion
Liaison
Designation Grace/everybody
Choose movies for poll options
Early June
Decide on deadlines from promotion
Early June
Decide on registration closing date: Mon 1st Aug
1-Apr
Book cinema
11-Apr
Lheianne
Book outdoor screen
11-Apr
Lheianne
Source foods and prices --> update budget
Early June
Joseph
Investigation of snack options
Early June
Joseph
Create run sheet for day
TBC
Aileen
Create facebook event
TBC
Nat
Make registration site
TBC
Aileen
Phototaking
4-Aug
Karen
Flyers
Early June
Nat
4-Apr
Grace
Promotion through MBS Update Ali Ask to use MSA rugs & beanbags Ali to promote with Ambassadors Ask Ali for charity suggestions Banners/promotion for the day
2. Report progress
4. Advertising flyer
We planned to update the group about our individual progress on assigned tasks. We created a Facebook group to communicate our progress and google drive documents to update our task lists and budget.
We planned to make a flyer listing all the details of the event and distribute it electronically and in physical copies across campus.
3. Event details We planned to finalise all the details of the events via Skype, which would then be used for the flyer and Facebook event page. Date: Thursday 4th August. 6-9pm What: Movie night screening Monsters University. There will be free pizza and snacks. This is a great opportunity for first year students to relax, take a break from studies and meet new friends. Venue: Campus Centre Cinema Cost: Free
PAL Program – Monster Movie Night
25
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE PLANNED cont... 5. Update timeline of tasks Closer to the event we updated the timeline of tasks to reflect additional tasks and the availability of our leader’s group. Task Create flyer Send flyer to Ali Create fb event Print flyers (Ali may already do this for the showbags) Determine food/ snacks Borrow DVD Shop for snacks and drinks
Completion date 30th June 1st July 10th July
Designation Nat Grace Aileen
1st August 2nd August 3rd August
Lheianne Nat & Aileen
PAL Program – Monster Movie Night
26
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED Planning for the event Within the Creating and Launching Projects workshops, we decided collectively to host a moonlight cinema event for first-year students, utilizing the newly built Northern Plaza screen. We decided to hold the event on Thursday, August 4th, which was the second week of the semester, meaning that students, including ourselves, would be available to enjoy the event. Lheianne and Aileen investigated potential locations at the Clayton Campus where we could screen a movie. Initially, we intended to show the movie on the Northern Plaza outdoor screen but due to cold weather and the possibility for a rainy forecast, we decided to hold the movie night in the Campus Centre Cinema and subsequently rebranded the event to a ‘Free Movie Night’. Ali booked the Campus Cinema for us two months before the event which allowed us plenty of time to plan the finer details of the event. Karen suggested that we show the Disney Pixar film ‘Monster’s University’ which was very relevant to our audience! As a group, we decided to have a pizza dinner and snacks for the event for which Joseph created projected budget. He found several options where we could order pizza and made a list of snack items and their prices. Natalie created a flyer for the movie which included to details for the event. Following this, Grace updated the flyer and emailed it to Ali who circulated the flyer in a newsletter for first-year Business School students. Additionally, Ali printed copies of the flyer which Grace and Aileen posted around Menzies Building a week before the event. Natalie created a Facebook event for the movie night and students were able to RSVP via the event page and also through my.monash
Booking Systems. We then estimated the amount of pizza we would need and Ali ordered 10 pizzas from Meeting Point in Campus Centre. We were given a prepaid gift card with which Natalie and Aileen bought a selection of popcorn, lollies, soft drinks and water the day before the event. We checked that the DVD of our chosen movie was available at the John Medley Library and so we borrowed it a week prior to the event. We had a contingency plan of renting or purchasing the DVD (which would have still been within budget) if it was not available in the library.
On the day Our team met two hours before the event and allocated tasks for the night including, collecting the snacks from Natalie’s car, setting up the area, transporting food, taking photographs and registering attendees. People started arriving at 5.50pm, ten minutes before the event was due to start and Aileen recorded registration. Karen took photos and the pizzas arrived at 6.15pm. We chatted with the students in the Cinema foyer as we enjoyed pizza before students grabbed snacks and headed into the cinema. Natalie briefly welcomed the attendees and introduced the film whilst also mentioning our involvement with the Leaders Program and we took a group photograph. The movie ran smoothly with no interruptions and we thanked the students for attending and encouraged them to make the most of the PAL program in years to come, concluding the night. Our leader’s group spent ten minutes clearing leftover snacks and ensuring the cinema was clean. In the days after the event, we returned the DVD and contacted Ali to update her about the success of the event and share photos from the night.
PAL Program – Monster Movie Night
27
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE LEARNED Please identify any major lessons that related to the gaps between what you had planned and what actually happened, as well as specific lessons for each of the ten employability skills (leadership, communication, planning & organisation, problem solving, teamwork, initiative & enterprise, customer service, lifelong learning, technology and self-management).
Also identify any innovations and anything you did from a sustainability perspective (this is very important to the Dean) that you may have created throughout your project. Cumulatively we contributed 105 hours to plan and run this project.
Employability Skill
Scenario
Leadership
While there was no single leader of the team, we all took responsibility for various aspects of the project. For example, Natalie was responsible for creating marketing material; Joseph created the budget for the event; Aileen and Lheianne headed logistics; Grace was the communication liaison and Karen ...
Communication
There were two main stakeholders were the students in attendance and the Monash Business School. Marketing communications detailing the event needed to be shared to the target audience; as well as liaising with Ali from MBS. In addition, effective communication within the team was crucial to allow for deadlines to be met whilst planning and for the event to run smoothly.
Planning and organisation
We had originally intended our event to be a “Moonlight Cinema” event to be screened on the new Monash outdoor Northern Plaza Screen. However after deliberation, we concluded that due to the unpredictability of Melbourne weather and the event being held in August, that it would be cold and there could be a possibly of rain. Therefore, we changed the venue to the Campus Cinema to eliminate those risk factors.
Problem solving
Originally the pizzas were scheduled to arrive at 6:00PM however, they were late. We were concerned that the outlet would fail to deliver on their order, therefore whilst waiting, we thought of contingency scenarios, and which different food outlets we could order from and where they were located. For example, if we were to purchase more pizzas, we would order online from Domino’s Pizza in Clayton and two leaders would drive to collect them.
Teamwork
The whole exercise emphasised Teamwork as we worked together to generate ideas for the project, make decisions on the project plan and execute it. We coordinated our teamwork through a Facebook group where we could post our ideas and suggestions and ensure all members were up to date with progress. One instance of teamwork was the event itself where we all had roles in coordinating the activity (organising snacks, conversing with students, taking regristrations and photography).
Initiative and enterprise
To be an entrepreneur, brainstorming ideas is an essential part to start up a business. During the first workshop we have learnt to brainstorm multiple ideas, and identify the benefits and possible issues of each ideas. At the end of the first workshop, we have voted to decide which idea we will implement.
Customer service
Our main purpose was to engage first year student, therefore first year business students are our customers. We have asked how first year students feel about the movie night, and we have collected good feedback about the event.
Lifelong learning
What we learnt from the Project management workshops will be beneficial to us when we move into workforce, working as an individual or as a team. We have successfully held this event to prove that we are capable of organising an event in a teamwork setting, utilising the concepts we have learnt from the workshops.
Technology
The use of technology assisted us in both the planning and execution stages of this team project. A universally accessible file management platform, Google Drive, allowed us to work on the various aspects of the project such as budgets and marketing material individually, as well as working collaboratively through the planning stages. Spreadsheets were also a useful tool that we used for both creating budgets and recording attendance during the event. Finally, creating a flyer was made possible through design software, which enabled us to design promotional material that was more professional and proudly promoted Monash Business School.
Self-management
It was important for each member to deliver their work both promptly and at a high standard. However, unforeseen incidents arose which required team members to take on additional tasks. For example, when the first flyer was created, the wrong Monash Business School logo was inserted. However Natalie, our designer, was unavailable to fix it at the time, therefore it was crucial that Natalie identified this problem and asked for the team to assist her in adhering to the deadline of this deliverable. We were then able to amend the flyer without exceeding the deadline.
Sustainability
We promoted our event primarily online such that we did not waste much paper to limit our wastage. We also ensure that all food were consumed and any leftover and drinks were distributed among the attendees. We also ordered our pizza from an campus vendor, so we did not travel to collect them, thereby reducing the carbon emission.
PAL Program – Monster Movie Night
28
www.orgsthatmatter.com
RECOMMENDATIONS Our recommendations for future Leaders or anyone implementing a similar project include:
• Use Facebook to invite friends, other mentors, and mentees
• Ensure you spend sufficient time planning the finer details of the event
• Ensure you promote your event several weeks before the actual date to ensure maximum turnout
• Create a well-structured plan including the distribution of roles and a timeline for deadlines
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We acknowledge Alison Richardson, the Manager of Student Development for the Monash Business school who helped support us throughout the PAL Leaders program and in coordinating this project. Also we’d like to acknowledge Professor Colm Kearney, the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, for funding our projects, and Gary Ryan, the Founding Director of Organisations That Matter, for helping us build an effective, high performing team.
PAL Program – Monster Movie Night
29
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT NAME:
Movie Night @ Monash – Zootopia TEAM MEMBERS Pearl Tam Shelley Barr-Waanders Justin Sason Tony Huynh Lyheang Im (Zhimeng Li - Simon)
PAL Program – Movie Night @ Monash – Zootopia
30
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT PURPOSE Movie Night@Monash - Zootopia was developed to create a fun and social environment for students to students. The movie Zootopia was chosen to teach the importance of your own unique sets of skills and most importantly to have the courage to follow your dreams. The purpose of our project was to encourage engagement between students across different year levels in a relaxed environment and establish meaningful friendships.
GOALS Quantitative goals
Qualitative goals
• For more than 50 students to attend
• Work cohesively as a group
• I n regards to our initial quantitative goal for the project, we decided to set the number of attendance to approximately 40 students to attend, however, exceeding our expectations, the actual number of students that arrived was 70 students. This was a clear indication that our marketing technique was a definite success.
• For the event to run smoothly • For people to make new friends • Make people feel welcomed to the “Monash Community” • For the event to be fun both for the students and team members
• I n addition, we had originally ordered food and drinks that would be suitable to cater for 70 students.
PAL Program – Movie Night @ Monash – Zootopia
31
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE PLANNED 5pm
Room set up (Chairs, Beanbags, DVD)
6pm
Food arrival
6:15pm-6:30pm Guests arrival 8:30pm
Event ends
8:30pm-9:00pm Pack up and clean up
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED 5:30pm
Room set up (Chairs, Beanbags, DVD)
6pm- 6:15pm
Pizza & Subway
6:15pm
Official welcoming
6:20pm
Movie started
8pm
Movie ended
8pm-8:30pm
Photos, debrief, cleanup & pack-up
PAL Program – Movie Night @ Monash – Zootopia
32
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE LEARNED Communication
Customer service
Always double check posters and any online releases of details for the event. We found that our posters said the event commences at 6:30pm, however the PAL booking system said the event starts at 6:00pm. This error occurred because of a miscommunication between the team and Ali. We wanted the room to be booked from 6:00-9:00, and so Ali made the event on the booking system run from 6:00-9:00; even though we only wanted to students to start arriving at 6:30pm.
When students were arriving, we had some team members at the door to greet them. The students were asked if they would like their picture taken, if they registered and to please write their names on a nametag. This created a bottleneck at the door, and caused a delay. In the end we didn’t even need to tick them off, as we had no problem with walk-ins, and the need the for nametags was simply so people could make new friends. However most students arriving came in groups and stuck with them the whole night, it would not have mattered whether or not they had nametags, they stayed together anyway.
Recommendation Always double check your work, and try to get a “fresh eye” to look over your work. You may find that someone who is not involved with the event may be able to point out details that may have been missed.
Planning & Organisation Due to reasons regarding to the expectation of underestimating the number of attendance. We ran out of food supply at the start of the event. Not enough time was set aside for the room setup. Team members were rushed with the absence of one, and the delayed arrival of another. Recommendation Review PAL leaders reports from previous years to get a better grasp of the numbers expected and learn from their planning processes.
Teamwork On the night of the event, we struggled to set everything up on time. This is most likely due to two reasons: we did not delegate roles and tasks to each team member for the duration of the event. However, this was something that our team did excel in throughout the planning stage, we simply did not bring this process to the actual event. Secondly, as stated above we had an absent team member, who was away overseas due to personal reasons, and another member running late due to train delays.
Recommendation Set time aside with the group beforehand to debrief and discuss the process as guests arrive for registration (nametags/ sign in/ photo consent).
Self Management Each team members were able to recognise their strengths and weaknesses, and chose the appropriate tasks and roles. We were in contact with one another, and if one member could not make a particular meeting, the group was notified. Goals and deadlines for the members throughout the planning process were met. Recommendation Communicate honestly with team members if you cannot make a meeting or if you need help on a task. Team members should be understanding and respectful of each other.
Recommendation Ensure that there is a constant flow of communication between team members. Set the expectations of the team early on in the planning stages, as sets the standard for the entire project.
PAL Program – Movie Night @ Monash – Zootopia
33
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE LEARNED Problem Solving
Technology
Prior to our Zootopia idea, we had a different project idea. This idea was to have a dance class and smoothie bikes. We had to “pull the pin” on this idea due to the restrictions of OHS and the budget. Ultimately we had to brainstorm a new idea.
The use of technology throughout the entire process enabled the team to be able to communicate and work together effectively and efficiently. We decided to utilise the benefits of Facebook and Whatsapp in order to manage and update each other regarding any significant issues or information that are needed to be notified.
Recommendation Communicate with Ali to ensure all requirements are met and rules are followed before taking action. To clarify the details behind the approval of the project.
Recommendation Set these groups up early so that they can be utilised from the get-go.
Initiative & Enterprise
Learning
A week prior to the event, we had approximately 20 registrations through the PAL booking system. Due to the fact that the number of registrations were below our expectation, the team decided to attempt to increase awareness throughout the Caulfield campus. We did this by placing more posters on popular “hang outs” on campus, such as the Monsu student lounge. We also handed out flyers on the 1st and 2nd day of O-week, as we knew there will be a high number of 1st year university students on campus. This initiative helped to increase awareness and ultimately our registrations increased to 50 and 20 walks-in on the night.
The team spent approximately 50+ hrs in the organisation and the launch of the project. We learnt that we should focus on guests as they enter the venue, and their majors and student id numbers were irrelevant and inappropriate to document (although our intentions were for the report only).
Recommendation Plan the event early, to ensure that you can identify peak times of students on campus. Monitor registration numbers so that you can adjust your actions and plan accordingly.
Recommendation Greet guests as they enter the venue, and deal with behind the scenes admin tasks post event
Leadership Discussed everything as a team before electing a leader. Upon electing a leader, we delegated roles where all members engaged with their role effectively. We made sure that we had an effective decision making structure (democratic process for large decisions). Members took charge and initiative when seeing potential opportunities to enhance the event. Recommendation Look for leadership moments when you’re not the leader. Discuss important decisions with team members before executing (even if you are the team leader).
PAL Program – Movie Night @ Monash – Zootopia
34
www.orgsthatmatter.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to acknowledge the help, support, as well as guidance of those listed below for their assistant in regards to the success of the project from the beginning to the conclusion. • Colm Kearney: Faculty of Business and Economics Dean, for providing us with the opportunity to undergo this amazing experience and financing the project.
• Photographer and helpers: For setting aside their personal time to assist with the setup and packup of the event • Lastly, the team as a whole for respecting one another and putting time and effort into the event. The event was a major success because of our commitment.
• Monsu: For allowing us to borrow the bean bags for the evening, and to hang up posters around campus. • Gary Ryan: For supporting us and teaching the important skills through project workshops and debriefing post-event. • Pamela Afara: Providing support for us when Ali was unavailable. • Alison Richardson: For providing guidance and assistance for the overall duration of the project.
PAL Program – Movie Night @ Monash – Zootopia
35
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT NAME:
Pizza & Polish
TEAM MEMBERS April Stok Amanda Tan Christene Protacio Darrshini Loganthran Eva Hu
PAL Program – Pizza & Polish
36
www.orgsthatmatter.com
PROJECT PURPOSE • To provide an event for first-years students • Raise awareness of Polished Man
SAM IS A
TAI IS A
RYAN IS A
• Promote Monash Business School • Donate the funds that was raised to Polished Man
GOALS Quantitative goals
Qualitative goals
• Breakeven at $100
• Donate the funds collected to Polished Man
•
• Help the Monash Business school engage with the wider community through raising awareness of charity organisations and their goals
Sell 10 Large pizzas (80 slices)
• Have at least 5 people get their hands polished
• Involve the Polished Man in our activities which is spreading the word of child abuse • Encourage first year students to participate in similar projects like what we have organised
PAL Program – Pizza & Polish
37
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE PLANNED • Obtain permission from YGAP to run the event, outside of designated promotional period.
• Allocate tasks effectively between handling cash, painting nails and handing out pizzas
• Planned to run event for 2 hours (not all group members would be present for full 2 hours)
• Group members would supply own nail polish and share, as to cut costs and create efficiency
• Gain as many customers (students and/or staff) and successfully spread the awareness of ‘Polished Man’s slogan “One in five children experience physical and/ or sexual violence before the age of 18”.
• Order the pizzas batch by batch to prevent them from getting cold as it was carried out during Winter • Stay in contact online with other group members and keep others up to date with regular contact and news
• Make a flyer to advertise the event to Monash students
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED Lead up to the event • We drafted the plans and allocated the tasks within group meetings during university breaks • Held an extra face to face meeting to finalise the pricing and event time • Made necessary contact with YGAP to obtain permission and posters for promotion, after numerous attempts to contact them earlier on in the project. • Ali helped our team secure the location of the event through booking the ground floor of Building N • With the help of Ali, we had our flyers distributed to first years during their orientation day by including them in their Welcome Packages
• Only one member was available to run the stall, including handling cash, passing out pizza, and promotion of the stall. • Ali came for support and a helping hand, and helped run the stall for the rest of the events’ scheduled time. • Prices were dropped for a quick sale of pizza as it wasn’t selling as quick as we expected • Other 2 group members came back from class early to sell the remaining pizza, however it was almost in an unsaleable condition and the event closed over an hour early
Post event
• Sent timetables into the group chat on Facebook to allocate members to tasks during the day
• Together, the 3 group members and Ali packed up the stall and returned borrowed equipment and everyone left.
During the event
• Remaining pizza was taken by Ali for the enjoyment of faculty staff
• 3 group members turned up to set up the project including speakers, table, posters on site, nail polish and appropriate supplementaries (napkins, gloves etc.) • Pizza was bought in bulk to take advantage of a discount
• All group members attended the last workshop for the PAL program, and ideas/opinions were discussed as to why the groups’ goals and objectives weren’t met.
• Two members left for class to hand over the event to other members
PAL Program – Pizza & Polish
38
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE LEARNED As a group, we learned quite a few invaluable points surrounding the 10 employability skills, which we list below:
Leadership • There were no appointed leaders, which gave everyone the opportunity to lead the team together • By participating in the event we were able to showcase to other students, particularly first years, that getting involved in uni can be challenging, fun and a great learning experience outside traditional coursework.
Communication • The need for effective communication amongst our team members to get the tasks and responsibilities clarified • Face to face is always better than online communication, because body language, tone and other nonverbal forms of communication are not captured through the internet • It is always better to speak up when unsure, and a major lesson learned by all group members is to avoid assuming. At some point in the project we all assumed that things would work out, rather than being specific and asking. This led to major communication malfunction and perhaps contributed to the group not achieving all of it’s goals as planned.
Teamwork • Distributed tasks to group members including outlining responsibilities, tasks and general instructions. • Worked as a team to plan the event beforehand and used time effectively to reflect on past experiences and consolidate key messages from the event
Initiative & enterprise • Used our event to promote the YGAP campaign which not many people know about • Took initiative to involve first years in the event hoping to encourage and motivate them with our project • Intended to engage our stakeholders was charitable as we targeted Monash students and staff, and the wider community • Rather than taking the YGAP campaign of the Polished Man at face value, we ensured that we obtained appropriate permission to use their campaign outside a designated promotional period.
Planning & organisation • Organising the date before timetables are released to take advantage of O-Week comes with risks • Risk mitigation should be included in the planning phase, and there should be at least two back-up strategies ready to be executed if something goes wrong
LEHMO IS A
Problem solving • Faced a few adversities during the project, especially since majority of the group members didn’t attend the event from start to finish. • The group member who did attend the whole event called upon Ali to assist, who was an important contact for the event. This can be considered a risk mitigation tactic, or good problem solving, because with an extra hand we were still able to achieve the group’s’ objectives and deliver the product.
PAL Program – Pizza & Polish
39
www.orgsthatmatter.com
WHAT WE LEARNED (cont) Customer service • Interacted with the customers in a friendly and engaging manner in which we succeeded in delivering our project • Reached one of our qualitative goals by educating our customers of the Polished Man campaign, achieved through distributing flyers and educating people who passed by
Lifelong learning • Learned from shortfalls and poor communication throughout the activity
RYAN IS A
• Through the help of Gary from ‘Organisation That Matter’ we have been able to turn what may have been a negative experience to one of positivity and self-development • Developed essential soft skills surrounding organisational planning and execution, especially in high pressure and demanding roles
Technology • Used social media to communicate with each other • Used various programs to promote our event • Used email to correspond with YGAP to organise permission and details of the event • Internet research regarding the Polished Man campaign • Technology assisted all group members to get involved in the PAL Program
Self-management • Each of us were responsible for our time management and being on present for the event
ANTHONY IS A
• Coordinated with our own separate timetables and decide on who would be present during which period
Sustainability • Bought the pizzas through a small business which benefited the community • Reused materials that was already available (Eg. nail polish that were contributed by the team members) and did not use disposable plates or cups.
PAL Program – Pizza & Polish
40
www.orgsthatmatter.com
RECOMMENDATIONS • Have as much communication with your team and make sure everything is clarified, most importantly don’t assume the responsibilities lies on the other team members.
• Have a backup plan if the approval falls through • Be conservative on the number of participants that you are expecting
• Get any approval as soon as possible if the projects involve any third parties as it may take longer than expected. Persist in getting a response if they are taking a while to get back to you.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ali for all of her efforts in making our event successful. Thank you for being there when we needed you the most, during our project. We also would like to pass our thanks onto Gary, for supporting us through our journey, and encouraging us to learn from our event in a positive way and teaching us invaluable life skills and employability skills for the future. Without the help and support of the Monash Business School, this wouldn’t be possible. We are appreciative for the time and effort taken on their behalf, and the Dean for funding and supporting our extra-curricular learning. Last but not least, thank you to YGAP for allowing us to use their branding for our project and ultimately, enriching our education and self-learning.
PAL Program – Pizza & Polish
41
Enable your Student Leaders to Move Beyond Being Good®
Student Development Programs
Gary Ryan from Organisations That Matter has been facilitating Student Development Programs since 1995 to rave reviews from students and staff alike. Programs are tailored to the student outcomes that you desire while enabling students to fully understand and appreciate how student development relates to career success. Gary’s workshops are practical and engaging while enabling students to ‘see’ the link between theory and practice. As a facilitator who works in the ‘real’ world Gary is able to provide students with a current perspective with regard to how they can leverage their time as students for career success. In a world where the sense of belonging that universities once provided for their students has become harder and harder to nurture, Gary assists student leaders in seeing how their campus activities and volunteering contribute to a bigger picture that is good for themselves, their university and their community. Universities don’t rehire external providers unless they are of a high and deliver what they promise. Gary’s long list of repeat university clients include:
The Monash Business School (both undergraduate and postgraduate student development programs)
The Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University (Undergraduate student development programs)
The Faculty of Law, Monash University (undergraduate and postgraduate
The Faculty of Education, Monash University Monash University Graduate Education (Higher Degree by Research student development programs)
Monash University Non-Residential Advisors RMIT University (undergraduate and postgraduate student development programs)
student development programs)
Gary’s programs include: Exploring Leadership “Really insightful workshop that enlightens where many others instruct.” EDUARDO NEERHUT, RMIT UNIVERSITY
Teamwork for Business – including the Teams That Matter process for creating High Performing Teams ®
“Fantastic! Had an absolute ball. Thought it was going to be all listening and taking notes but the activities were fun. Worth the time outside of study. Extremely useful. Now I just need to implement it.” LAUREN CHEN, STUDENT LEADER, FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, MONASH UNIVERSITY
Communication for Business “Once again another great workshop. Really hands on. Activities were really relevant. Workshop was engaging and informative throughout.” STEPHANIE SHIELD, STUDENT LEADER, FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, MONASH UNIVERSITY
Service Excellence for Business – including the OTM Service Strategy® for creating cultures based on service excellence “Really great session. It was a good insight and Gary was able to relate the theory with good real life examples that were clear/understandable. It was really informative whilst being fun. Some points were able to be viewed from different perspectives. Great learning experience. Thanks Gary.” BRITTANY HALLGREN, STUDENT LEADER, FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, MONASH UNIVERSITY
Using Project Management as an Overlay For Your Higher Degree Research “It was a privilege to learn from Gary. His tools for success are useful and can be modified to suit individuals. I strongly suggest attending any of his workshops. In fact, I think all students should benefit from his knowledge. TESSA JONES, PHD CANDIDATE, MONASH UNIVERSITY
The Science of Public Speaking “Incredibly inspiring and comforting environment. Very useful and informative. Gary has an energy and vibrant personality, very encouraging and practical. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience. KELSEY PASKE, STUDENT AMBASSADOR FACULTY OF LAW, MONASH UNIVERSITY
Relationship Management For Managers “Impressive seminar delivered by a very knowledgeable and modern/forward looking person in this area of relationship management. Very good structure of the workshop with hands-on practical examples and applicability to work environments. I feel privileged to have been part of the workshop and all my queries had been successfully answered. The workshop has definitely enhanced my knowledge and will prove useful in improving my organisational and communication skills.” GIRISH HURRYVANSH AUBEELUCK, FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, MONASH UNIVERSITY
The Seven Skills of Dialogue
“Very insightful series of presentations and discussions on the importance of dialogue in communication with others in all walks of life – personal and interpersonal interactions. “Very motivating. Allowed clear, concise goals to be identified when previously ‘fuzzy’. I appreciate your insight, knowledge and passion encouraging people to improve Helped to guide / identify strategies to help achieve desired goals / outcomes. Forced communication skills and bring out their best! Thanks Gary.” MARIA TIRCA, STUDENT more ‘internal investigation’ that had previously been put in the ‘too hard’ basket. ReAMBASSADOR FACULTY OF PHARMACY AND PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, MONASH enforces the strength for personal / career growth when a plan can be followed and UNIVERSITY put into action.” KELLI BRADFORD, FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, MONASH
Yes For Success Plan For Professional Success®
UNIVERSITY
Project Management Series – real projects by real students creating real community benefits “The workshops proved extremely helpful in enabling me to highlight employability skills and its link to what to do in the Leaders Program. In addition, the workshops were really helpful in providing me with knowledge on planning, organising and executing projects.” BHARARTH SRINIVASAN, STUDENT LEADER, FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, MONASH UNIVERSITY
LinkedIn For University Students
“Gave me a really good insight into what LinkedIn is about and how to use it. Would definitely recommend to those like me who are new to the website.” EUGENE CHEA, MONASH UNIVERSITY EACULTY OF EDUCATION UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT
Using his vast experience Gary can assist you in designing and implementing a student development program that matches the needs of your university and your students.
Visit http://orgsthatmatter.com/universities.html for more information or email Gary at Gary.Ryan@orgsthatmatter.com
organisations
THAT MATTER