Week four of Future Now

4 March 2021

From industry led training sessions to learning how to build a great mindset by therapy motivation sessions, the Future Now group have had the chance to really connect and understand their peers and chosen industry.

Our programme officers, Tyra Alexander , Lucy Carasco and Beth Kahn talk us through how the week went below.

• FUTURE CREATIVE CONTENT NOW

• The Future Creative Content now cohort enter Week 4 of the course, which is all about developing their project ideas.

  They will continue their Audition and Premier workshops with Rosie and Phill and Part 4 of Naana and Axel’s storytelling workshops.

  Abraham Asefaw returns to host some quick-fire feedback sessions with each group and Epic Games are also back to host a Virtual Production workshop.

  On Monday the cohort was joined by award winning entrepreneur and diversity consultant Sonya Barlow for a workshop on negational skills. Sonya really inspired the group as she shared her honest thoughts and useful tactics,

• “Negotiating is not a fight, it’s a charming exercise, where I go back and get my facts and figures to use”

  

  Josh:

  “Absolutely loved this talk, definitely offered a new perspective on negotiating, being an entrepreneur and finding and backing your own value.”

• Ayesha:

  “Honestly the realness is refreshing YES SONYA”

• “Green screen your services are no longer required”-

  Sally-Anne Houghton from Epic Games hosted a talk on the ins and outs of virtual production, she spoke about how Epic crafts live action footage and computer graphics in real-time across multiple locations.

  During Naana’s fourth Storytelling session she began by asking what people have learn about strategy so far. Alisha said -

  “I learnt that I’m in love with strategy and there is nothing that can compare to that breakthrough moment looool”

  and Tarnjeet added -

• “Yeah I think we (Group Three) were able to refine our ideas and structure because of what you taught us with strategy and the questions from the template!”

• The fourth instalment of Axel’s incredible Storytelling through Sound saw the group sharing some more of their work and brought up some interesting thoughts; Tarnjeet,

  “I feel like audio related projects should always be made from feeling and what you as a sound designer/producer wants to hear rather than what you think other people want to hear”

• 
  Coming up next week...

  Next week the cohort enter their penultimate week of the course and will be finalising their projects this week.

  Part 5 of Naana & Axel’s workshops will focus on Execution, Selling your work and continued storytelling through sound.

  There will be workshops focusing on Pitching from Jayshree Viswanathan and Will Worsdell, a livestreaming masterclass from Driift , a talk from Abadesi Osunsade on Networking and Relationship Building and the group will also be joined by Jon Eastman from Barcroft Media who will be speaking about Developing, Casting & Shooting Short-form docs with True Stories.

• 
• Written by Programme Officer Lucy Carasco (leading Future Creative Content Now)

• FUTURE SOFTWARE DEVELOPER NOW

• Week 4 of the Future Software Developer Now programme included some really interesting talks by 10X Banking, on their core technologies, and coding to industry standards, as well as a live q&a on security basics with Stephen Chapendama.

  Alongside these sessions the cohort balanced their brief work, as well as mentoring sessions and workshops on employability.

  Each of these sessions played its role in creating a real virtual work experience for the cohort, giving them just that little bit more insight into the software development sector.

  A highlight from this week was the live security q&a where the cohort was able to explore a slightly different career path that is super relevant to their studies of software development.

  The cohort loved the opportunity to be involved in an open forum and have their questions answered by an industry professional.

  Another highlight of the week was the “Coding to industry standards” session delivered by 10X Banking. We took polls at the beginning of the session which revealed that 88% of the participants were not aware of this topic.

  At the end, the cohort found the session to be really informative and a topic that they will be diving deeper into following on from such a great introduction.

  This week, one of the biggest emphasises was networking and extra added value of a real community for like-minded individuals. In order to support our cohort in getting to know each other and networking - despite the fact that the programme is being delivered online - we hosted a cohort social.

  The feedback we received from this was that the cohort felt much more comfortable with each other and created lasting relationships outside of their brief delivery groups.

  We also hosted some group working sessions which brought each group 1 step closer to completing the brief that they had been assigned by Brandwatch.

  The cohort found that assigned compulsory working times helped them with their project management and also provided them with a safe place where they could seek support.

  To finish the week, the cohort took part in Interview Practice hosted by Create Jobs. This was super useful as it meant that the cohort would be able to increase their personal confidence when applying for roles after the programme!

  Coming up next week...

  Next week, the cohorts briefs are due, and they will be receiving feedback from the Brandwatch team which will help them to put together their group presentations ready for the graduation ceremony planned for week 6.

  On top of this, we will also be running sessions on leadership, the importance of testing, social media strategy and job applications, as well as hearing from healthtech company Thriva, on their software development teams core technologies. We’re really looking forward to it!

• Written by Programme Officer Tyra Alexander from YSYS (leading Future Software Developer Now)

• FUTRE STARTUP FOUNDER NOW

• In the Week 4 of the course, the group have continued to grow their business ideas into more developed brands and upskilled in huge range of different areas, from a session with Sonya Barlow on negotiating, to an introduction to finance essentials and forecasting with Saalim Chowdhury and a workshop with Andrea Emanuelli on business models.

  A highlight this week was a lively and interactive session on UX (user experience) and user interviews with founder of the Angel Investing School Andy Ayim. He led the group through the benefits of conducting user research and imparted techniques for how to interact with interviewees and gain the most useful information from these encounters.

  

  The group brainstormed many great ideas on why business leaders do user research, with Malin suggesting it’s useful for “avoiding wasting time building something with no demand”, and Nasima wisely reminding everyone that “you are not your user”, underscoring the importance of putting in the work to gain a detailed understanding of your audience, as opposed to making assumptions about their interests, motivations and behaviours.

  Any Ayim set the group the task of interviewing at least two people during the next week, and we can’t wait to hear all of the great insights that come out of those audience conversations!

  The group also had the opportunity to further flex their creative muscles and refine their branding, which they presented to design experts Marius Bogdanas and Alex Vasili, who provided feedback on their designs. These sessions emphasised the importance of memorability, consistency and accessibility when it comes to branding design.

  

  

  Coming up next week...

  The group will learn the art of networking in a workshop with Abadesi Osunsade, learn more about financial management and investment from Iulia Tudor, and build the leadership skills they will need to succeed as business owners with Yumika Brewster.

• 
• Written by Programme Officer Beth Kahn (leading Future Startup Founder Now)