Speaking in Front of the BBC Designers

Speaking in Front of the BBC Designers

Posted By admin |06 Mar 2016
Speaking in Front of the BBC Designers

On Thursday at university we had the rare treat of having two senior graphic designers and a junior graphic designer host a session for us. The session shared the importance of design, how design works at the BBC and the various methods that are used by the team. 

For anyone that doesn’t know I am a graphic designer in my day to day life and getting to hear from experts at  such a big company such as the BBC is a rare experience. The session was a brilliant experience to try new techniques and have a go at using the new techniques during team group tasks. 

My group worked well together, after some initial ice breaking as none of us had ever talked to each other before. It was after the tasks were done that things got more interesting. We were asked after each task to present our work back to the group and the designers. Naturally some butterflies landed in my stomach and the importance of the presentations became apparent. Long term these are people who I may like to work with in my career as a designer. I needed to be able to stand out effectively. How was I going to do that with so many people involved in the session? 

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It was at the point when no one else in my team would like to do the speaking, or would like to try and have a go at doing the speaking, that it fell to me to do 4 presentations in front of 3 BBC designers. Having to stand in front of the whole session attendees and the designers at first felt a nerve racking thought. However, after some initial few words all of the training sessions and public speaking experiences paid off! 

Thanks to JCI I was confidently able to speak off the cuff to the BBC designers about the work my team had produced following each task. Before JCI I know that this wouldn’t have been possible. I never would have been able to do this without doing the training sessions such as Extempore (off the cuff public speaking), Debating, taking part in the Public Speaking Competitions both locally and nationally and the JCI Official training course JCI Presenter. 

I left each presentation buzzing with excitement and pride that I was confident in presenting and public speaking to people who are in roles I aspire to. People I look up to. It was this boost of confidence that enabled me to ask for contact details to apply for an internship with the BBC design team. I now have an opportunity and a connection that I wouldn't have had without the skills I’ve learned from JCI. 

Thank you,

Ryan Pilkington

2016 JCI UK Marketing Director