Reflection on my interviews

Knowing how busy people are I started to contact people about an interview early October.  I focused on people who I knew and had been involved in casting with an objective to find out what they looked for and how much they knew about personal branding.  I contacted 6 people who I knew and 3 were a referral. I felt the 9 people would give me a rounded view e.g. they were from different areas of my professional practice and 2 were professionals in Personal Branding.  The initial response was good; all but 1 got back to me straight away and said they would be happy to help.  I was extremely please however reality soon hit home when I tried to pin them down with a date.  Getting a mutually agreed time when people could meet became a nightmare.  Three months before Christmas is not a good time to try and get people to meet you.  They are either really busy on a contract or working miles away from home. This was a big time management challenge and I had to be persistent without being pushy or seen to be nagging.  I found this really frustrating and soon became quite worried about time scales and the impact it might have on my research timetable.

So far I have managed to interview four people:

·         An experienced Actor who now coaches

·         A choreographer

·         A company branding professional

·         A colour Analyst

The four interviews I have completed to date were extremely useful. I used a semi structured approach as I knew I wanted everyone to answer certain questions but also wanted the freedom to digress if appropriate.  I prepared the same thing for all of my interviews;

·         Final confirmation on time and place

·         I sent a copy of the type of questions before hand

·         Printed a consent form for them to sign

·         Had pen, spare pencil, paper, tape recorder, spare batteries, phone, copy of questions, contact details, map of venue and appropriate clothing.

Despite best intentions each interview had its challenges;

·         The skype interview had technical challenges and resulted in a telephone call

·         The interview in a coffee shop was very noisy and the recoding picked up a lot of background noise

·         My recorder memory was full and I did not want to delete the content so I had to take notes

·         I realised I don’t know how to use the recorder on my tab

·         The notes that were taken for me, I couldn’t read their writing

·         I arrived at a venue realising that I didn’t know what the person looked like so ended up smiling at everyone who walked into the coffee shop until someone asked if I were Pearl!

Reflecting on this exercise there are a few things I would do differently:

·         I would identify a bigger pool of potential people to interview knowing now how difficult it   is to get some of their time.

·         I would be even more persistent about chasing them.  Hoping that I don’t cross the line.

·         I would make sure I had sufficient space on my recorder

·         I would learn how to use the functions on my tab

·         I will add to my check list “make sure you know what the person looks like you are interviewing”

I found the interviews a really rewarding part of the research and during one of the interviews I had an observer who gave me some feedback.  If you have never been observed I can highly recommend it.  I do things that I didn’t have a clue about.   When I get over enthusiastic I have a tendency to interrupt people before they have finished either to contribute to what they are saying or to ask yet another questions.  If you have taped your interviews try listening to it and see what you do.

As my end date has changed I am continuing to chase some of my original list and I have also widened the pool to include a couple of performers who I know have knowledge and received some education on personal branding at college.  I hope this will be useful when I write up my final conclusions and give me the rounded views I had hoped for.

Pilot Survey AGAIN!

I’m now back in work mode, I have updated my plan and started doing some real work!

For my activity plan I have moved on from a spreadsheet.  I have access to Microsoft Project which initially looked very complex however I persevered and found this really helpful.  I started off by putting in the date it was due in and I then worked backwards.  When I put all the activities in the plan it started to manage my expectations specifically how little time I have between now and starting to write it up.  If you have access to this tool it is well worth persevering with.  I now have an activity plan which has dependencies in it and realistic elapsed times for each activity.  If I change anything it will change it automatically which is great but most importantly I now have a big picture of what I need to do, by when, how much time I have to finish it and what the impact would be if I am behind schedule.

I also down loaded a free a tool that documented my brain storming, called iMindMap.  I’ve found it really easy to use, the presentation of the documents I have been doing have been great and it has helped me think through the different options.

So now I want to start a new SIG and get my surveys sent out so I have plenty of time to do the analysis.  I am trying out a different survey tool called surveypirate.com.  It seems relatively easy to use but I do not know how good the data collection reports are.   Last time I used survey monkey which was fine but only allowed me 10 questions before I had to pay for it.  So I want to pilot my survey for performers and would appreciate it if you would complete the below survey and give me your comments on how easy it was to use, whether the questions were clear and how long it took you to complete it.

http://tool.surveypirate.com/Survey.aspx?surveyid=30012&sp.mac=3OuioLZhtE81SZba6CdgAA%3d%3d

Thanks in advance

Critical Reflection and Summary: Digital Portfolio

This module is about further examining my professional practice to define a line of inquiry by extending the skills learnt in the previous module and exploring new tools and techniques.   I currently work in several professional practices and I am keen to make use of as many areas as possible; however, I am foremost a dancer and my special interest is the image aspect of the profession.

My strategy was to start with an idea and to refine the subject into a title. Firstly, I used my interest in costumes as a spring board to ask my initial questions.  I used my blog to reflect on the course reader and posted my first set of questions.  I then used a SIG to encourage further feedback and pushed my questions out to a wider network within my professional practice.   I also had some informal chats with my employers and colleagues to get a more rounded and richer viewpoint. 

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/02/course-reader-4.html

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/02/initial-questions.html

http://www.facebook.com/#!/topic.php?uid=145821545478191&topic=70

Some of the responses were really helpful and I started to think about how costumes support confidence and image. I also engaged in some other SIGs which I felt were relevant and I could contribute to; for example, Musical Theatre, TV Industry.  On reflecting on the comments, feedback and information gained from the other SIGs I started to challenge my broad ideas and develop my questions.  At this stage I was still not confident on an award title.

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/02/developing-questions.html

I then moved on to carry out research specifically around professional ethics.  I started this exercise by baselining my knowledge on what I already knew about the code of conduct for my area of professional practice.  I then researched the topic and recorded the differences between my initial thoughts and my findings. 

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/02/task-5a-my-thoughts-on-professional.html

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/03/5b-code-of-practice.html

I soon began to realise how intricate and delicate a subject this was, especially when conducting a professional inquiry.  The research gave me a firm understanding, foundation and a structure to use in the planning and execution of my inquiry.   It made me realise that ethics is a core part of any professional practice and although some areas are common there are some profession specifics.  It also made me think about my personal values and compromise I would be willing to make in order to further my career.

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/03/professional-ethics-reader.html

At this stage I made my first attempt at an award title and started to investigate inquiry tools.  It was when I planned and piloted the inquiry tools I exposed my lack of confidence I had in my title. I struggled with defining suitable questions and used a very qualitative approach to the survey which I felt did not suit that specific tool; this view was supported by some of the participant feedback.  I used a semi-structured format for the 1:1 interviews and organised a focus group which helped me explore some areas further.

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/03/award-title.html

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/04/pilot-survey.html

When reflecting on the approach and outcome of the pilot inquiry tools I realised the quality of response to the survey was poor and the 1:1 interviews only answered part of my inquiry.  I then looked back at my initial questions and comments to see how I could improve on them and redefine my title.

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/04/professional-tools-of-inquiry.html

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-award-title.html

My last task was to review and research some key pieces of literature related to my interest.  Initially I struggled to find any appropriate, useful or relevant information and it was only when a related document presented itself that I realised what I wanted for my line of inquiry and award title.  Having settled on a title I then found a wealth of resources and I chose three pieces of literature to review.

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/04/newest-award-title-eurekkkaaaaaaa.html

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/04/link-to-delicious.html

http://pearllinnascott.blogspot.com/2011/04/literature-review.html

Although I found the process very frustrating, I finally realised that what you don’t know is as important as what you do know.  My line of inquiry is going to be Personal Branding.

Proposed Award Title and Rationale

I know everyone is busy but I have been struggling with what I need to put in my rationale but this is what I have.  Any comments would really appreciated!

I started this exercise by looking back at my career to date and asking why did I embark on this degree course.   During my school years I took advantage of any opportunity to perform: singing, dancing, public speaking; acting, summer schools; and lots more. I hoped that one day I would train professionally and become a performer.  Knowing that the industry was a challenge for any new comer I stayed on and completed my A levels and then auditioned for a performance college. I joined a college of performing arts and completed a Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre.  I left college confident in my ability and craft but very unsure about how to sell myself.  In the 7 years since I left college I have had some great contracts, seen parts of the world and met some great people.  When my last contract finished I felt it was time to explore and diversify within my professional practice.  One thing I have learnt is regardless of how talented you are, if you do not market yourself your chances of success are seriously reduced.   So I embarked on this course to learn more about the tools and techniques that would help me do exactly that and help me find what area I wanted to go into next.

My initial award title was based on a subject that interested me, one I could use to help me diversify in my professional practice and  something  that my experience gave me a foundation to work from.  As I worked through the tasks of developing my questions, exploring professional ethics, piloting the tools and finally researching the topic I slowly began to realise that the inquiry I wanted to pursue was not one that purely interested me one but one that would help me develop and  confidently move into a new area within my professional practice. 

So the rationale behind the award I am seeking as a result of doing this programme is purely selfish.  I want to be able to use and reference as much of my previous education, training and experience to date.  I want it to include some topics that interest me i.e. the use of costumes, but most importantly I want the process of inquiry to allow me to learn about a subject that is becoming more important and used by many companies and personalities around the world.  I want the topic to help me make a transition into a new area of my professional practice and ultimately help me secure a career that I enjoy and I am successful at.  I believe knowledge of Personal Branding could be used in any professional practice.  What is the value of personal branding in my professional practice?

The award title I seek as a result of doing this programme is BA (hons) Professional Practice (Personal Branding).

Literature Review

I chose to look into and review 3 different forms of literature:

·         A Book

·         An Article, and

·         A Video

Title:  Kylie La la la

Authors: William Baker & Kylie Minogue

Published by:  Hodder & Stoughton 2002 - ISBN 0 340 73439 6

Document Type: Book

I chose this book because Kylie is a successful performer and her personal branding has changed as she has developed.  I read the book to explore some of the reasons why her branding changed and the success, failure and recovery.  I will go back to this book as my research matures to reflect on the theory and the practice. 

The book takes you through her career and the major changes and events.  The preface has two parts and that carries on through the book.  You have a hand written story from Kylie’s point of view and a type story from William’s point of view.  They both write very differently and because they are telling a similar story from very different viewpoints you feel as though you are getting a more rounded story.  At the beginning Kylie talks of how she never wanted to write an autobiography and wanted it to be a story book, but as every picture has a story she felt that they needed to be told.  So her words are more of a summary of each picture which is in a chronological order and she talks very emotionally about her memories and the people who have influenced her.  William’s talks about the time surrounding the pictures of Kylie and what was influencing him at the time and it lead to how he became a friend and creative director and stylist to Kylie.  There are parts where William veers away from Kylie and expresses his opinion about the world of celebrity, pop industry and reality talent shows.

The book has many pictures and I feel the main theme is about her changing style, which has a particular interest to me so I found it useful.  William has a clear influence being her personal stylist. 

I found this book interesting to read.  Once I got used to reading the handwriting which I did find a challenge, I enjoyed the two perspectives of the same event.  It gave a more rounded view and it was good to compare an outward looking view (Kylies thoughts) to an inward view (William’s opinion).

The book had loads of quotes that I could use as evidence of why, how and the triggers that initiate a branding change.

 “she had to embrace the nature and power of image, styling makeup and hair combined to create a persona and can embellish and extend the personality of the Performa while clothes also create iconic images”

Title: Soulless celebrities mistake people for brands.

Authors: Ritson, Mark

Source: Marketing (00253650); 3/2/2005, p23-23, 1p, 1 Color Photograph

Document Type: Article

For my second review I chose an article because I wanted to review a different type of literature.  The title implies that branding can have a negative impact on the celebrity and I wanted a different view from success.  

This article reports that soulless celebrities in advertising mistake people for brands. Building brands a hundred years ago was hard work. As a result, early pioneers of consumer branding often created a fictional identity to personify the brand to make it easier for consumers to relate to them. In America a whole industry has sprung up around "personal branding," in which consultants apply the theories of brand management to career planning and life goals. In order to discuss the issue, the author refers to the book "Managing Brand Me: How to Build Your Personal Brand," by Thomas Gad and Anette Rosencreutz.

I look into the author to get a background and credentials.  This was an easy task as he has several papers, a blog and twitter.  He is also a very well known academic and journalist.  He is very experienced both academically and professionally:

·         He has a Ph.D. in marketing and has been a faculty member at some of the world's leading business schools.   He taught brand management at London Business School,

·         He worked extensively as a consultant for some of the largest brands in the world. His former clients include McKinsey, Adidas, PepsiCo, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Baxter, De Beers, Ericsson, Sephora, and WD40. For eight years he has also served as advisor and in-house professor for LVMH - the world's largest luxury group - working with senior executives from brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dom Perignon, Fendi, Tag Heuer, Dior and Hennessy.

·         In a recent national survey in the UK he was voted one of the country's most admired marketers.

·         As a writer he has previously won Columnist of the Year for business magazines in 2009 at the PPA awards in the UK.

Because the author is a highly regarded professional I believe he could be very influential however I think his credibility would only extend to the academic community and he would not necessarily have much credibility in the entertainment industry.

This article is now 6 years old and today we have a lot of emerging iconic celebrities and their brand is equally as important as their talent.   Ideally I would like to talk to the author about whether or not his views have changed.  I will try and a personal blog.

Purely by the words used in the title I would assume the author does not have a high regard for celebrities.  This may be an unfair assumptions but the article is very critical and does not present an alternative argument.

I could not find any comments about the article and I think the intended audience was pure marketers, not the entertainment industry or the general public.

I found the article interesting but to me it was a personal view and I detected some irritation about how celebrities have used a commercial tool for personal gain.   I also felt that Mark struggled with a celebrity being referred to as object rather than an individual “I am a Ferrari you’re just a VW”.   If I refer to my review of Kylie La la la,   Kylie talks about “you become something else a combination of the person you are and the person people want you to be” You could extend that view to a combination of the person you are and the object people want you to be.  Success in the entertainment industry is solely dependent on making your audience happy.

 I found this article short and sour but interesting to read.   It was clearly a very personal view which came over very one sided against celebrity branding.   I also found the reference to the 3 stages quite interesting, the most recent being the most relevant to my inquiry people have “begun to use the language of branding to help them relate to themselves and to others”

Title:  Glamourpuss the Lady Gaga Story

Produced by: A sexy intellectual production

Document Type: Video

I chose a visual piece as I wanted to see if you can gather as much information, and as my professional practice is so visual I feel it is an important form of literature.

It is In depth documentary, following career of Lady Gaga, it has detailed analysis, footage and contribution from the following a range of industry experts and interviews from Lady Gaga.

It gave a good account of how she has developed as a performer, highlighting trigger points in her career e.g. the recognition she found when she performed the same song in her underwear.   It talked about how she created herself as famous before she was famous, which implies some sort of personal branding at a very early stage in her career.  It describes how she used costumes, hair and makeup to be “different” and the influence other icons had on her image. 

It describes her loyalty to her original support team and how they have become ‘the house of Gaga’

One interviewee commented how Lady Gaga was liked because of her catchy tunes and also her onstage presence and dress; however, this persona was almost always carried over to her off stage life and it was rare to see Stefani Germanotta (real name) so no comparison could be made about her personal style.  It was noted that Lady Gaga was more about performance, “good crazy”, which gets attention good or bad.

From a personal branding point of view lady Gaga is aware of how to present herself and aware of the power of the visual, the impact being it gets attention and opens more doors for her to push boundaries

The video talks about the gay community and how important they can be in supporting her as an artist.

Her brand sends a message to the wider population that you don’t have to have to have conventional beauty e.g. beautiful and skinny. 

Lady Gaga takes charge of her personal image; nothing is done or worn without her say so. She does not have a personal stylist, unlike Kylie, and some of her outfits were just for a reaction and to annoy!!

The DVD is not authorized by Lady Gaga which is curious as some of her interviews are included.  I feel it presents an unbiased view and she talks fondly of the few artists that had an influence on her life.

I found this a rounded enjoyable video.  There were no extreme views, the majority of the people interviewed were not on her payroll, and so had nothing really to gain. It gave an insight into her childhood, how she developed as a performer and how she started to brand herself and create an image and name.

I definitely think I will use all forms of literature to continue my research as they all gave something interesting just a different way of portraying the information.

Link to Delicious

I created my own page on Delicious and like everyone else now see how useful this tool can be, especially as I now know my line of inquiry.  So the link to my Delicious page:

http://www.delicious.com/pearl_scott

Professional Tools Of Inquiry

After reading the reader on professional tools of inquiry and then completing my pilot tools I now am confident that I understand the difference between a Qualitative approach and a Quantitative approach.  It has become clear that it depends on the inquiry, what outcome you are looking for and the information you require.

·         Qualitative approach – relies on the words that people use to understand phenomena

·         Quantitative approach – can be translated into numerical data (punch 1998)

As this was my pilot survey I wanted to get a feel for people’s experiences and views to help me further explore my topic.  I had a small response to my survey.  There could have been a few reasons for that:

·         Small window to complete it

·         Number of surveys being requested at the same time

·         No interest in the topic

·         Not enough communications or encouragement to complete it

·         The majority of the questions required free field text responses.

I have also realised that I would need to manage expectations more.  Generally it would appear people’s perception of a survey is yes, no or select a box response.  I would need to make sure people were aware of why I needed a particular type of survey and a realistic time for completion. 

My pilot survey was a great help to me in refining and finalising my topic.  When I did the analysis I was pleased with the individual responses but felt something was missing.  It was only when I challenged the topic and started the research that the penny dropped and the title formed. It was a Eureka moment for me.

I think there are some similarities between professional inquiry and other professional activities.  When I audition or decide to accept a job I make some inquiries:

·         I research the company, the role and/or the production;

·         I try to talk to someone who has previously worked for the company;

·         I search the net for reviews or comments;

·         I check out the sources of where auditions come from. 

I have turned jobs down before because I have had negative reviews from a colleague.  I think the main difference is I do not document my decisions and sometimes I base a decision on “gut feel”.

From experience of my pilot survey and my limited experience of noting observations, preparation is so important if you want to get the best out of the exercise.   I would include in my preparation the following:

·         Identifying who or what I am going to observe;

·         seek permission to attend/observe

·         explain why I am doing it;

·         seek permission to use the information from the observation;

·         have a framework in my mind of what it is I am looking for;

·         ensure I have the appropriate tools to record the data; and

·         be aware of any ethical issues that might arise.

With permission I recorded my observation so I could go back and watch/listen again, I used a lap top with word on it for notes and excel for a table of comparison.

As a member of a small company I am fortunate that my position as an insider researcher should have few if any restrictions.  The problem with this is, anonyminity is difficult.   Because it is a small company I might find that I am limited with observations because of availability.  If I were to observe outside of my company I would need to seek authorisation first and then try and understand the roles and the culture of the organisation so that I did not offend anyone or observe something that was too sensitive.  I have not discussed this in my SIG yet but have discussed this with my Boss, colleagues and a wider network to see if they have ever been an insider researcher and what their experiences were. 

When thinking about the ‘pilot’ interview, again preparation is key.   The activities include:

·         Identifying who I am going to interview and why;

·         seeking permission to interview them;

·         seeking permission to document the interview and use the data for my research

·         agree on location, venue and time;

·         how I will go about the interview e.g. face to face, location, over the phone;

·         explain why I am doing it (covering letter)

·         manage expectations on how long it will tak;e

·         prepare a framework of questions I am going to ask;

·         ensure I have the appropriate tools to record the data;

·          try and pre-empt any ethical issues that might arise.

As I have been unsure of my final topic description I felt I needed some flexibility around the subject but also the ability to explore further any answers that I felt were important. Initially I chose a semi structured approach for a 1:1 interview.  I felt it gave me a framework of questions to ask but the flexibility to expand my questions or ask different ones as the interview progressed.  

I then used a focus group to explore the topics further and possibly identify some more 1:1 interviewees.  The focus group had some different dynamics.  It was not a question and answers session; it was more a seed an idea and see where it goes discussions.  There was a mix of personalities some strong some shy and body language was interesting.

I did find some challenges using this tool:

·         It is not so easy to control the direction of the discussion.

·         Strong characters were keen to dominate the discussion

·         Some participants appeared to be led by others rather than initiate a discussion

·         Some participants needed a lot of encouragement to speak in the group setting

·         Unless it was recorded documenting  the discussion was tough and unstructured

·         Chairing the meeting and recording was not easy

Without a doubt, using these pilot tools really helped me.  Most importantly it helped me challenge and confirm the final title of my award.   It gave me some experience of the amount of preparation needed to make it worthwhile to me, a good experience for the participants and how to get some valuable data which I can use further.  I think all the tools need to be in my “kit bag”.  Which ones I use will depend on what it is I am trying to achieve and where I am in the planning/execution process.