Business presentation

In order to ensure that you all meet the requirements of these units I want you to prepare a PowerPoint presentation of your hypothetical (or actual) business.
This will have to include a brand identity,location and structure along with all the listed requirements of the units you are covering.

A detailed business presentation which has a business plan and considers all the overheads, target audience, products, units sale price, projected turnover, salary, rent, rates everything that you could encounter in setting up your business.

This is required to be done on 28th March, you will have to produce a presentation which lasts at least 5 to 10 minutes and displays in clarity all aspects of your theoretical or actual business within the context of your units.

No personal data is required here only theoretical figures for cash flow, turnover, salary and overheads.

Everyone must do the presentation in order to achieve the Units of this course.First years can also do this within the context of your units, but not as in depth as the second years.

To help you with this it may prove useful to produce a SWOT analysis of what you are doing, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your potential business.

Engaging with Unit Requirements etc....

Can you all make sure that you have addressed the course requirements for the units you are covering for this part of the course. Some of you have indeed done this really well and are showing an ability to engage with clients and to clearly document what you are doing.
This is an important part of your Foundation Degree and must be done and not left aside from other projects that you are working on.

Also as you look through the unit requirements you need to place a label at the bottom of each post that you produce to indicate what piece of work meets which criteria. Then ensure that you have the labels gadget that will automatically stack alongside your work your unit criteria and how often you have met it within brackets.

And finally I want you to look at the link to the studio that we visited to see the latest update on the work that they have been producing over the last few months.This link to industry is one that you should be proactive about and using as a barometer to measure how you could fit into the photography industry along with all its complex requirements. This case study profile should be used to initiate your research and development.

http://adrianheapyphoto.blogspot.com

Portfolio & Client Response

Year Two - Professional and Contextual Studies 2

A Portfolio (professional file) weighted at 45%, a Journal weighted at 10%, A Dev Plan weighted at 45%

In response to the visit to the photography studio I did ask year two Foundation Degree students to write a 'Portfolio' based on all the information gleaned and images that you may of taken whilst there along with images of their work copied from their website..I want anyone who hasn't written a professional portfolio to do so.(as covered in a previous blog entry). Look at how the course marking is 'weighted' in accordance with the different learning outcomes.

In the context of this I also want you to put together a 'Business Plan' (or if you like a portfolio about you and how you see yourself operating as a photographer, what clients are you aiming to work with,what services you would like to offer, and for how much.

Location is key to providing any service and this also needs to be considered, where and how you could operate a business from a certain location maybe opposed to another, pros and cons, etc.. I will expect you for formulate a concise business plan with extended information regarding brand and identity and your potential 'position' within the current industry

Remember Assessment One is a Portfolio of evidence of participation in professional activities relating to leadership and management, with associated commentary (45%Learning Outcome 1).

Within this you should consider the following;

Exploring professional responsibilities and the qualities required for leadership and management.This supports personal development in specialist pathway, offering the opportunity to investigate processes and skills associated with positions of responsibility in the workplace and associated legal, ethical and practical constraints.

Students should experience professional situations such as interviews, bidding for funding, responding to government strategies, action planning, liaising with clients, responding to complaints, financial planning including taxation and risk assessments.

Please compare and contrast both your plans and the 'portfolio' of Adrian's photography studio because the same will apply to you, as to him, but on a different scale and to varying degrees. In this way you can meet all the outcome requirements for this course. 

It would also be important for you to consider potential turnover per month and year based upon some sensible projects from the services that you will provide. For example are you going to be doing;

Weddings, Portraits, Advertising, Editorial, PR, Commercial, Architectural, Fashion, etc..etc.. For each area I would expect to see data concerning all potential overheads, Taxation, VAT, Rent, Rates, Utilities bills, Staff, Kit and Equipment, Studio overheads, along with projected Salary and the potential diversification into different areas of photography.

These are all part of the requirement of writing a thorough and professional portfolio of information in the context of how you yourself can operate viably as a photographer within this competitive industry.

You should all be working on projects that involve clients of some description in respect to the 'Client Response' brief that you all should be continuing with. Finding and working with clients, negotiating with them and generating successful images should be happening. If this isn't the case and you are struggling to find clients in an area of photography, then you must reflect upon how much effort have you put into finding them.

Photography is a tough industry as I am sure you are all aware, but you must generate that momentum now in a very clear and concise manner because I know in a year or two all of you will be looking to work independently or within a small team or company.

Finding clients and working with them will be down to you on your own very soon so this practice is vital in order to get that vital experience now.

The images that you are taking should be practice shoots that will build your portfolio in an area of your specialism, ie if you want to be a fashion photographer you should be shooting test images all the time in order to be ready when that 'phone call' comes. Never stand still and wait for work to come and drop in your lap as it wont.

Assessment Two: A substantial written response in an appropriate format associated with a planning need, eg funding bid, strategic planning, training programme, etc..(45%) Learning Outcome 2.

This is being covered by the exhibition being held later in the year alongside the first years.

Portfolio / Client Response and Case Study

Year One - Professional and Contextual Studies

A Portfolio (professional file) weighted at 50%

In response to the visit to the photography studio I did ask year one Foundation Degree students to write a 'Portfolio' based on all the information gleaned and images that you may of taken whilst there along with images of their work copied from their website..I want anyone who hasn't written a professional portfolio to do so.(as covered in a previous blog entry). Look at how the course marking is 'weighted' in accordance with the different learning outcomes.

In the context of this I also want you to put together a 'Business Plan' (or if you like a portfolio about you and how you see yourself operating as a photographer, what clients are you aiming to work with,what services you would like to offer, and for how much.

Location is key to providing any service and this also needs to be considered, where and how you could operate a business from a certain location maybe opposed to another, pros and cons, etc.. I will expect you for formulate a concise business plan with extended information regarding brand and identity and your potential 'position' within the current industry

Remember Assessment One is about a portfolio of information relating to legislation and industry guidelines, with a commentary (approx 1,000 words) describing its impact on the sector (50%) Learning Outcome 1.


Within this you should consider the following;

Health and Safety
Criminal Records Clearance
Working with children & vulnerable people
Copyright
Data Protection
Permissions
Equal Ops
Public Liability
Intellectual Property Rights

Please compare and contrast both your plans and the portfolio of Adrian's photography studio because the same will apply to you, as to him, but on a different scale and to varying degrees. In this way you can meet all the outcome requirements for this course. This is required from both years within the Foundation Degree.

It would also be important for you to consider potential turnover per month and year based upon some sensible projects from the services that you will provide. For example are you going to be doing;


Weddings, Portraits, Advertising, Editorial, PR, Commercial, Architectural, Fashion, etc..etc.. For each area I would expect to see data concerning all potential overheads, Taxation, VAT, Rent, Rates, Utilities bills, Staff, Kit and Equipment, Studio overheads, along with projected Salary and the potential diversification into different areas of photography.

These are all part of the requirement of writing a thorough and professional portfolio of information in the context of how you yourself can operate viably as a photographer within this competitive industry.

You should all be working on projects that involve clients of some description in respect to the 'Client Response' brief that you all should be continuing with. Finding and working with clients, negotiating with them and generating successful images should be happening. If this isn't the case and you are struggling to find clients in an area of photography, then you must reflect upon how much effort have you put into finding them.

Photography is a tough industry as I am sure you are all aware, but you must generate that momentum now in a very clear and concise manner because I know in a year or two all of you will be looking to work independently or within a small team or company.
Finding clients and working with them will be down to you on your own very soon so this practice is vital in order to get that vital experience now.

The images that you are taking should be practice shoots that will build your portfolio in an area of your specialism, ie if you want to be a fashion photographer you should be shooting test images all the time in order to be ready when that 'phone call' comes. Never stand still and wait for work to come and drop in your lap as it wont.

Assessment Two: A Case Study of the process of organising an event or activity, showing a range of communication methods utilised, to be presented in a format reflecting the nature of the event or activity (50%) Learning Outcomes 2 and 3).


This will be covered later in the year often in the format of an exhibition of your work.