Winnipeg's Finest - Events Tonight

Two of my former guests, Laina Hughes and Amy Tuckett, are hosting events tonight to highlight the work they've done for their Independent Professional Projects. Laina will be launching her first book, Wolseley Stories tonight at 7:30 at McNally Robinson at Grant Park Shopping Centre. All are welcome to attend. Amy will be having a screening of Hell on Hells, a video documentary about the effects of mandatory heels in the workplace. Her screening is sold out, but I wish her all the best!

Good luck tonight ladies. Knock 'em dead!

Winnipeg's Finest

January 16th - Episode 7: Author, Laina Hughes

Laina is a Creative Communications student at Red River College, who has just published her first book. Like all second year students in the program, Laina was asked to come up with an idea for an Independent Professional Project (IPP). As a lover of literature and a woman who spends a lot of time at the library, Laina quickly decided the IPP was a great opportunity for her to write her first book, Wolseley Stories. Laina's lived in the Wolseley area for most of her life, and appreciates the uniqueness her neighbourhood has to offer. Over the past year she's gathered many different stories from different people who live or have lived in the Wolseley area, and has complied them, along with her own stories, into one neatly packaged book.

Laina will be having a book launch, next Thursday at 7:30pm at McNally Robinson in Grant Park Shopping Centre; a perfect time to pick up your copy of Wolseley Stories and to get it signed by the soon to be #1 best selling author.

But until then...

I introduce you to one of Winnipeg's Finest, Laina Hughes.

• Podcast Now Available

IPPs = Busy Busy Busy!

It's a busy time of year for us second year CreComm students. For the past year we've all been working on our IPPs (Independent Professional Projects), and a lot of them are starting to wrap up. As most of you know, for my project I've chosen to organize a Red Dress Gala & Fashion Show in support of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, on February 13th. Although I knew from the very beginning I wanted to do an event as my year long project, many other students have written books, created websites, filmed documentaries...the list can go on forever.

There are so many talented students in the CreComm program, and it's been great seeing everyone's hard work come to life.

Good luck with your projects everyone! Show 'em what you got!

The Super IPP

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A few weeks ago, a couple of classmates and I created a short video for our T.V. production class. We decided it would be funny to incorporate humour surrounding our Independent Professional Projects (IPPs).

Check it!

Busy Busy Bee

So, on top of the work from my major,and 4 mandatory courses, and 4 electives, and working on my MASSIVE Red Dress Gala IPP (designers, models, sponsors, promotions, videos...), and working two part time jobs, and trying to keep a tidy apartment, and keeping up with friends, and working on being heathy, and frantically looking for places to stay during my first internship.....I've decided to host my own radio show once a week, starting October 1st. Details coming soon!

Red Dress Gala & Fashion Show

As you know, I’m in the process of organizing a Red Dress Gala & Fashion Show, being held Wednesday February 13, 2013. I’m organizing the event as part of an individual professional project (IPP), with the proceeds going towards the Heart and Stroke Foundation. 

With such a big event comes a million tasks and responsibilities. This is the first time I’ll be creating something major with all of my own ideas, and a final say on how the outcome is to translate. Although this gala is going to consume the majority of my time, energy, and creativity for the next six months, I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am to ride this roller coaster. 

Over the next few months you’re likely to be hit with Facebook updates, tweets, and more blog posts about the gala along with tips and tidbits about the importance of taking care of your heart and overall health. Don’t hesitate to join in any conversations, voice your questions, or concerns, or to even make any suggestions about the kinds of promotions you’d expect to see with such an event. I can’t emphasize enough how much of a learning experience this gala is going to be for me, and I’m sure having your input can only benefit me along the way. 

Looking for other ways to keep yourselves up to date with the gala, along with workout tips, recipes, and all sorts of surprises?  Here’s how to find it…

Twitter: @RedDressGala13 (follow)

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RedDressGala2013 (like)

Event Blog: http://reddressevent.blogspot.ca/  (follow)

Email: charmainejennings@hotmail.com

P.S. I’m still on the lookout for one or two more event committee members. Send me an email or comment below, for more information.

Take Care of Your Heart 

Team Player

This morning I had the pleasure of meeting with a woman from the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) to discuss how best to handle sponsorships and donations for the Red Dress Gala & Fashion Show I’m organizing for next February. She was extremely helpful, and as I was telling her more about my event, she suggested I set up an event committee. This isn’t the first time someone’s brought up this idea. 

I know that planning a gala dinner and fashion show is a lot of work for one person to do, but I struggle with the idea of having an official team of helpers. 

One reason I chose to host a red dress gala for my individual professional project (IPP) is because it’s an event I’ve organized before, but never had the opportunity to see through. A university student group I used to be involved with started to plan a similar event back in 2010. Unfortunately, there were too many people involved and things weren’t getting done when they needed to be. It can also be hard when there are too many clashing personalities working together on such a big project. Because this event didn’t go smoothly, I’m a tad reluctant to work on this gala with multiple people involved. It’s hard relying on different people for different things because no matter what happens, everything will come down to me. 

Another reason for my skepticism about working with a committee is the fact that I want to get as much experience from this project as possible. I’ve learned a ton of new skills during this year of CreComm, and I’m anxious to put them all to good use so I can strengthen them at every possible opportunity. There are so many aspects of this gala event and I want to be deeply involved in all of them. 

At the end of the day I guess I want all of the work done for the gala to be my own. Not because I don’t think I can work well with others, or that I’m above needing any sort of help, but just so I can prove to others and myself that I can do this; that I have the skills and the ambition to take on a big project and carry it out successfully. Not only is the success of the event important because the proceeds are going to a great cause, or because it’s failure would mean a later graduation date than expected, but it will be my calling card for jobs that lead me into the career of my dreams. 

No matter what’s happened in the past or what can happen in the future, I know the smart thing to do is to seek out some help. It is a big task and although I feel I can handle the workload on my own, what I have to realize is that once I get a big girl job, I’ll always be working in a team. Sure there will be challenges and not everything will go according to plan, but who says I won’t come across those obstacles on my own?  Having help doesn’t mean throwing in the towel or accepting defeat; it’s what I need to do. 

So I guess you’ll be the first to know, I am now looking for volunteers to be on the red dress event committee. 

Details coming soon!

IPP Ups & Downs

Friday morning I had a breakfast meeting with a woman from one of the hotels I’ve been in contact with for my Red Dress Gala. She wanted to meet in person to further discuss what I had envisioned for my event, and to fill me in on what they could offer me as a potential sponsor. P.S. I had fresh squeezed orange juice and Eggs Royale, which is basically eggs Benedict with salmon….it was the most delicious breakfast I’ve ever tasted! 

I started off the meal by telling her my idea for a red dress themed fashion show and sit down dinner, but I didn’t deliver my idea with too much enthusiasm. She asked me why I seemed unsure of myself and my idea and I explained to her how the IPP process works. She politely asked me to explain my ideal event details again and I did. After I finished she put down her fork, folded her hands on top of the table, leaned in and said “this seems like it’s important to you, and so I’m going to do everything I can to help you out. We can make this work, I promise!” 

Now I know I’m not supposed rely too much on the help of others, but this woman seems very convincing. She added to the many ideas I already had, and told me how she and the sales and marketing team of her hotel can play a role in all of these ideas. She even made a few phone calls during our meeting to give me as many immediate details and information to put me more at ease.

I told her that in order to stick with the original IPP I had proposed earlier in the week, I would need that mighty powerful  letter stating what their establishment was willing to contribute to this event. As I’m sure I’ve said in an earlier post, it’s hard to say what they can do exactly, because it depends on what angle I decide to approach my event from.  Sit down dinner? Fashion show? Appetizers? Cash bar? Decorations? All of the above? None of the above? We have bounced around many ideas, but I’m learning it’s not a good idea to release too much information too early. 

We met for about an hour and a half and by the end of breakfast, I was feeling really good about everything. She could tell my mood had greatly improved and once again, reassured me that she was available when I needed help or had questions or concerns. She gave me a hug which was really cute, and told me things will work out. 

Less than an hour after I had left, I already had emails from her with potential dates, quotes for different event scenarios, and even other possible venues owned by their hotel that might work even better for what I wanted to do. But she still had to get more information from other people in her marketing team, to send my way. 

Early this afternoon I took a cab to one of the venues we both thought might be best, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was being set up for an Italian dinner happening this evening, which was great for me to see. The woman there took me for a walk through of the establishment and described all of the possible set-up we could work with. We then discussed different menu options and prices, and she listed a few prices and fees that are already in the works of being waved. But she did say that an actual list will be emailed to me by the end of the week of exact prices, and how their sponsorship will play a role. 

When I got back to school I met with an instructor to confirm that I understood what was expected of me in regards to submitting a new IPP proposal and or a letter from a sponsor. Now, from what I understand, even if I get all the things in the world donated, it is suggested that I still propose a scaled down version of my original event idea. 

I understand why this is suggested. It’s okay for me to propose a small event and make it bigger if I find that certain things happen down the road to make that possible, but if I propose a big event and I find that it doesn’t seem to be within my capabilities, I would fail IPP “class” if I make my event smaller or different.  

Re-submission of our proposals are due tomorrow at noon, and I need to be careful with what I choose to hand in, assuming I choose to hand anything in at all. I’ve been talking to a lot of people in the last few days that have to re-propose an idea, and it’s sad to say that a handful of students I’ve talked to are proposing projects they are less passionate about than their original, but at this point they just want to pitch something that will be accepted so they can avoid facing a third round of panels. This doesn’t mean they won’t do well with their project, or be happy with the final project, or have a project that will turn out better than the original idea would have, but it always sucks to start off something with a bit of a disconnect. 

Tomorrow is fast approaching…what to do?

Confidence Retraction

 (Sorry folks, I'm going to have to retract my high horse rant wriiten in Monday's IPP Panel post)

APPROVED! Wait no, REJECTED! Ah, that’s not right. CONDITIONED? 

Okay...conditioned. That’s the only word I was supposed to focus on during my IPP panel on Monday.

Apparently hearing the word “approved” threw me off because I seemed to have stopped retaining information after that point because I was too excited. I misunderstood the panel’s decision and found out that the condition was not that I have to follow everything in my proposal to the letter (which is still true for everyone), but that I provide the panel with an official letter or document stating that I have made arrangements to receive a venue and catering service for my gala for free, by the next panel day. I’m happy I was told this yesterday because I would have missed the next panel and who knows what would’ve have happened then. Thank goodness for my blogging ways.

Now, what I said in my panel when they asked if I had any new developments in my project was “I have a venue and free catering donations in the works.”  I’ve been going over this portion of the panel all day and figured that I must have said the words “in the works” in a whisper, through a mumble, or in my head...all of which are entirely possible. However I said it (or didn’t say it) the word “guaranteed” must have snuck its way in there...also possible. (I’m not being sarcastic, just to clear that up) 

Anyway, this doesn’t seem like too big a setback, all I need to do is get this letter, right? However, the thing about CreComm is that some of the projects we do are mixed with “real-life” and “school-related” elements. Why is this a problem? Even though I’m planning this gala as a very real fundraiser event, it is still a school project. What I’m learning as I speak with those on the other end of my pitch letters, is that the more eager I am to receive quick responses and quick confirmations to meet school deadlines, the more sponsoring a charity event looks more like sponsoring a “school project.”

Without the letter I have to re-propose the project idea to something I can “actually do,” meaning something smaller. If I want to keep the same event idea I would need to take out the dinner, or the fashion show, or something along those lines. Lucky for me, instead of writing one IPP proposal...I wrote two! The reason I wrote two is because I had a strong feeling that if I proposed the one I really wanted to do, it would seem like too much for one person. I had a smaller version written up, but decided to go big or go home.

My way of thinking about things like this can be described in this musical number from High School Musical 3.

Didn’t watch the video? My favourite lyrics of the number are: “bigger is better, and better is bigger, a little bit is never enough. No, no, nooo.”

Even though I still have my second proposal, I’m not ready to pull it out just yet. Getting this letter in time is still a possibility. I have two meetings this weekend with venues I’ve been speaking with to discuss what we can do with this gala. Even though this is impossible and has never been done before I have my fingers crossed that things will work out in my favour.

Let’s see how this turns out...

IPP Panels

APPROVED is a word I like to hear. Today around 70 first-year CreComm students proposed an idea for their Individual Professional Projects (IPP) to a panel of instructors. Project ideas ranged from graphic novels, to videos, to blogs, to fashion shows. A list was posted last week of which students would be pitching in front of which panel of judges, and I along with a handful of other students definitely got the tough group of instructors. 

I had a sliver of self-doubt and thought my idea for a Red Dress Gala & Fashion was going to get rejected, in fear that my event was going to be perceived as too big a project for one person...just a sliver. The feeling went away after a short time until I got to school this morning. Almost everyone I had talked to who had presented their project ideas in front of the same panel I had been assigned, had been rejected! The nervous feeling came back for a few minutes, but then quickly went away.

Why?

Because I know my project inside and out, and knew I was prepared to answer any and all questions that came my way. And boy were there A LOT of questions. They came quickly and they came one after another with barely a breath in between. But my responses to these many questions came just as quick. I walked into the room with a container full of chocolate covered strawberries (which nobody ate) and a mind filled with confidence. 

The major concern for my gala was one I predicted, that my event was too big for me to take on as a solo project. I was told that I would need a lot of help with different elements of the event. However, when I said that I had more than a handful of people willing to lend a helping hand at my disposal, I was then told that I can’t rely on outside help.

 You’re not alone....I didn’t get it either. 

But you know what, I still had confidence in myself and in my proposed project, so I left the room with my head held high, and waited for the judges to deliberate. Was I nervous that I was going to have to re-pitch my idea after making some moderations? Not really. But of course I wasn’t 100% certain.

I walked back into the room and they had told me my event has been approved...conditionally. What does that mean? It means that in order to successfully pass the IPP portion of my second year, I have to stick to everything listed in my written proposal...which was my plan from the get-go. I was also told I had the option to re-pitch a smaller event or a different idea entirely, if I so choose. So am I going to re-pitch something smaller or something a bit different?

NO!

I fully believe in myself and my capability to successfully host this event. Is this something I’ve done before? No! Is it going to be a quick and easy task? Definitely not! I’m I going to get a bunch of bumps and bruises along the way? I sure hope so! 

The real questions here, ladies and gentlemen? Is this something I want? Something I’ll work hard for? Something I can look back on and be proud of? Something where failure isn’t an option? 

YES! YES! YES! 

Here`s my advice to all of you out there who may have not been approved on the first try...

If you have something you’re can be passionate about, something you feel you know like the back of your hand, and all the confidence that can fit in your body, you’ll do just fine.

Be strong, be brave, and be yourself! 

P.S. Curious where I get all of this confidence and strong will from?

I got it from my mama!