Presentation Reflection

1. During my first interview, my interviewee had mentioned that part of marketing has to be with something that you like and/or believe in, so that you can enjoy working with that product and come out with the best result possible. While I was online, that Contagion billboard kept popping out at me, and I realized that the people who worked together to create and make this marketing campaign must have really believed in the success of this movie, and wanted to express this enthusiasm to the public by doing something out of the ordinary, like how they thought this movie was. In order for me to do this presentation right, I had to do it on something that I liked/ thought was interesting; i.e. I couldn’t present it on a marketing campaign for gold buying, because I’m not into that type of stuff.
   
   
2. I think what stood out about my presentation was that it was about a marketing campaign that was aimed for the demographic that we [as high school seniors] fit in. It’s a film that actually appeals to us, and makes the marketing campaign much more interesting. Also, things that are gross tend to attract attention, and I was hoping to present about how effective and cool the billboard was while grossing them out a little bit. [Side note: I think that it’s funny how my presentation about bacteria preceded a presentation about vaccinations.]
   
   
3. The most challenging thing for me to do was actually finding a campaign that I liked, that the class would be interested in, and that they probably had never seen before. I did see the billboard for Contagion pop out a bunch of times, but it never hit me that it was a good marketing campaign until I had to scrap my first idea for my five minute presentation. Also, I was trying to get something that I probably wouldn’t use for my two-hour, and Contagion was such a good example that I wasn’t sure that I wanted to teach about it for my five-minute. I also had a little trouble stating the connection with my senior topic into much clearer, spoken words [the ‘A’ in LIA].

Senior Project Presentation 1

Objective: Students will be learning about the basic concept of the exchange/trade process. [I will mostly refer to it as the exchange process]

Procedure:

-Begin by asking the students what the term 'trade' means to them, then introduce what the exchange process is [the process where several parties exchange something of value with each other]

-Explain that each time this happens can be called a transaction [a unit of measurement whenever there is a trade of values]

-Explain the different steps of the exchange process:

• For the exchange process to begin, two or more parties have to be involved.
• Each party must have something of value to offer to the other.
• Each party must want to deal with each other.
• Each party has the right to accept or to reject the offer.
• Each party must be able to communicate and deliver on the mutual agreement.

-Check for Understanding

-Conclude with how it ties to the main subject of marketing [pushes past the process and makes sure that both parties can benefit more from the exchange]

Check for Understanding: (including the introductory question)
[After explaining the marketing process, ask the students]
How many of you have recently had this type of exchange?

[Call on someone for an example, answer will most likely be actual bartering, and not buying something from a store. If no one brings it up, ask them the following question]
How many of you went shopping or bought something at the store recently?

[Call on someone else for an example]
What did you buy? What did you want? What did they want from you? [Show how their example fits into the process]

Resources/ Materials: I will be using a (small collector’s edition Hot Wheels) car and one (collector’s edition Barbie) doll to help the class better visualize the exchange process.

Interview Check

1. I am going to try and interview Andrea Haupert, a sales representative from Herff Jones in Colorado. She was my color group instructor for the “Business of Yearbooks” class I took at yearbook camp. She also spoke about the different ways of promoting and marketing a yearbook to the school by taking advantage of the many things found on the internet. I want to interview her because that class was the one that sparked my interest in the first place. Prior to, I had no idea how much work was involved in basic marketing. Since marketing is still a broad topic, I want to hear the input of someone whose job mixes a lot of the different aspects of it, and see where to go from there.

2. Along with the five required questions, I am hoping to ask her:
-What do you think marketing is?
-What exactly is your job and what does it entail?
-How and why did you become a sales rep?
-What prior experience did you need to become a sales rep?
-Why is a business manager’s job so important to the yearbook?

Senior Project Topic

What is your topic?  Why? And what do you hope to accomplish after studying this topic all year?

My Senior Project will be a business-related topic. When I went to Yearbook Camp this past summer, I took the “Business of Yearbooks” workshop to prepare for my editorial position this year as well as to gain more knowledge to share with the other editors. Through the activities and ideas introduced to us, I was able to see an appeal to business for the first time. I saw that there was something more to business than just trying to make money. There are many components to it- you have to know your audience, balance a budget, and make records of your activities (to name a few).

Business is such a broad topic that I have narrowed it down to Marketing or Accounting- accounting because I am really comfortable with numbers and I originally wanted to go with something math-related for my Senior Project, and marketing because there was something interesting to me about planning sales campaigns and actively engaging the people you are trying to market to. At this point, I may end up doing marketing because of how much depth there is to it, but I am still torn because accounting sounds just as interesting to me.

No matter which specific topic I go with, I hope that, through this project, I will be able to get an understanding on how the world of business works. I have never given business a second thought, since I personally do not know a businessperson and have never cared for it. But in these tough economic times, it might be useful to know the basics. I also hope to figure out whether or not I should pursue a business- oriented career, or any career that will force me to constantly step out of my very small comfort zone.