Interested in film and also in events? Many of our students tell us that by training in event management, they find ways to combine their individual passions with a sensible career path. It isn’t always easy to find ways to weave the two together. The flexibility of event management skills combined with the amazing volunteering opportunities for our students means you can end up working on almost anything you want to!
To film studies and beyond
You may have already heard about
We The People’s Film Festival and we published a post about Gareth’s experiences as a
volunteer a few weeks ago. We caught up with him for an update and he told us a bit about his career journey to this point.
Gareth completed the part time
Diploma course with us this year, graduating in August. He started out by studying film at University, but life and career have taken him down a different route. He now works for a medical membership and training body and leads curriculum and training development for his employer.
Use the force …
Getting stuck into the logistics of setting up training events made Gareth realise he really enjoyed creating an experience for people. From sourcing and booking venues to finding expert speakers, arranging catering and making sure the welcome coffee is there on time: arranging all these details creates an event from nothing.
Through studying events management Gareth told us he’s learned so much about what he is capable of achieving. According to him, that feeling of “I made that happen!” from a successful event is an amazing high. It’s what keeps him coming back for more.
Do or do not, there is no ‘try’
Volunteering at We the People’s Film Festival has really tested Gareth’s resourcefulness. He told us before that he was amazed by how much freedom the volunteers have to shape the festival. In practice he’s had to use his own network of contacts and talents of persuasion to get marketing off the ground for WTPFF.
As well as short listing films and working on the #tweetapitch campaign, Gareth took the initiative to reach out to a designer friend to support him with designing the BFI Youth Day programme. His next challenge will be to get it printed within the festival marketing budget. After agreeing to do something, questioning if you can actually do it and then finally finding a solution, the sense of achievement is fantastic. Gareth tells us that you only find out what you can really do when you put yourself to the test and that is why he is so keen to get as much volunteering experience as possible.
