Below is a video of me delivering my presentation and gaining feedback.
When delivering my presentation, I made sure to consider body language when presenting. I created cue cards, so that I wouldn't have to turn around and look at the board, and I feel this worked very well and made me look a lot more confident in what I was talking about. By using the cards, I looked like I knew the content of my slides very well, even if I partially forgot because of nerves. I also made sure to made eye contact with everyone in the room, to show confidence in my ideas and to make them feel that the presentation is more personal and engaging.
M3: Show an understanding of feedback and be able to respond to questions
Below is a list of questions and feedback I was given by my audience: 1. How would you market your magazine? 2. How might you reconsider your covers so it is clear the magazine is for the target audience? 3. What evidence have you got that there is a market for a magazine like this? 4. What might you do differently in terms of body language? 5. You delivered the pitch from behind a desk, in an ideal world, how might you change this? 6. You read from cue cards, do you think this could be improved? Below is my response:
1. I would market my magazine on social media, mainly through Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram, as these are most popular amongst young people. I would let readers interact with the magazine online, for example if there would be an interview in the next issue, I would let the audience submit questions they want to ask via social media. Since The Q only comes out four times a year, I would have enough time to collect lots of questions to ask the interviewee, so that this could be a main story of the magazine's next issue. I could also remind readers that a new issue is coming out soon and give sneak previews of photoshoots. In the magazine itself, I could include QR codes which bring the audience to an unlisted YouTube video, so if there is a photoshoot of some new designer clothes, the readers can then watch a behind the scenes video of the shoot. Having the video unlisted means that only people with the link can watch the video, so it is more exclusive and encourages people to buy the magazine.
2. To make sure the target audience is established, I could use famous LGBTQ+ celebrities and figures, so that people browsing a magazine isle can recognise that The Q is a LGBT magazine at a glance. I could also use models and styles that are more alternative, and that are more noticeably LGBT - for example, a gay male cover model with a very flamboyant/dramatic outfit. Although lots of LGBT people work towards breaking down stereotypes, many LGBT people like to conform to stereotypes so that they can find other people in the community to make friends with, so this could be an interesting way to show people who the target audience is. I could also show same-sex couples on the front cover, as this is something that is still considered a bit taboo, so I think LGBT people seeking more representation would be happy to see a positive representation of same-sex couples on the cover of a magazine.
3. The evidence I have is that there is still a severe lack of LGBT representation across all forms of media, and on social media, there is a cry for more representation of the community in a positive and mainstream way. Parents are still complaining that LGBT representation in children's media will "encourage homosexuality", taking their children out of school when lessons on tolerance and diversity are taught, and in films adapted from texts with a confirmed LGBT character, filmmakers will remove this part of the character.
4. In terms of body language, I would like to have relied on my cue cards a bit less by getting more practice running through my presentation. However, I don't think this distracted from my presentation too much, and I definitely would have looked less professional without the cards. Apart from that, I thought my body language was fairly open and confident, but I could've improved this by perhaps smiling a bit more, as I was a bit nervous, and this would have shown to my audience that I was sure in my ideas. Also, audiences are much more likely to agree to something if the person pitching it is friendly, open and approachable, rather than someone very cold and not personable.
5. Ideally, it would have been best to present my pitch in a more open space, where there is nothing separating me and my audience. This way, the presentation would feel more personal and I wouldn't seem like I was hiding behind the desk as a safety blanket. I would also like to have a remote way of changing the slides rather than having to use the mouse, as then I won't lose the audience's focus and I would seem much more professional. I think the layout of the room I was in might have subconsciously affected what the audience think, as I might have seemed more closed off, less open to questions and less confident simply by being behind a desk, so I would definitely change this if I presented in that room again.
6. I think the amount that I relied on my cue cards could be changed, but I think they were the best method of presenting. If I didn't use any prompts at all and tried to memorise my slides, I could easily forget important information, which could confuse the audience as they don't know whether to listen to me or read the board. Alternatively, if I simply read out my slides from the board or from the computer screen, this would seem like I didn't know what I was talking about and I didn't have any faith in my magazine. It is crucial that I appear confident, as this is the best way to persuade an audience to support you.
D1: Discuss the client considerations for the creation of the product from the pitch
If The Q was to go into production, I would improve the covers and spreads as described in the merit task above. I would make the covers more obviously LGBTQ+ by using a more stereotypical style of clothing, showing same-sex couples, and using trans and non-binary models. I could also have a drag queen as the cover model, as this would be a great way to change what people expect to see on a magazine cover, especially as many drag queens have a very dramatic and unique style. I would want my magazine to be much more in-your-face LGBT, rather than trying to sell an LGBT product to a straight audience. A lot of the LGBT movement at the moment is about showing pride in the face of large organisations trying to pretend LGBT people don't exist and censoring their lives and relationships. So to fight back against this, I would want my final magazine to show real people that big companies are too afraid to represent, at the risk of alienating part of their audience. However, I would want the content of The Q to stay the same as I planned, having a mix of lookbook-style spreads, interviews and reports on new events effecting the community.
If The Q was to go into production, I would want to do a lot more primary research into my target audience. I would want to find out a lot about what young LGBT people want to see in a magazine, and conduct a study on how often people engage with LGBT-related content and fashion-related content respectively. I have already done a lot of research into existing products on the market, but I feel like I need to know my target audience very well to be able to make a successful magazine for them, rather than just the magazine I would like to see. I would also need to look into the real costs of producing and sustaining a magazine, which might involve lots of primary research. Since I couldn't find much information online, it might be more helpful to find someone in the industry to talk to so they can tell me first-hand what sort of budget, resources and personnel you need to produce a magazine. The magazine will need to be as successful as possible from the first issue since I am being contracted by Bauer Media to produce The Q, so a trial-and-error method cannot be used when figuring out what will work for the magazine. Therefore, to ensure the magazine is as successful as possible, there is no such thing as too much research and planning. I would also want to conduct focus groups with the target audience to show them first-drafts of the magazine and gain their feedback.
I would also want to research more into potential printing and distribution companies. It would be very helpful to get a quote from different printing companies, so I could pick the best price available. I would also need to consider where these printing companies are based, as the price of distributing the copies would depend on how easy it is to get to the place the magazines are printed. So a company based in London or Birmingham would be much cheaper in terms of distribution than one based in Scotland or Devon, as they are in the centre of the UK and have lots of travel routes to everywhere else in the country and in Britain as a whole. It would also be worth asking the printing companies for a sample of their printing, to compare the quality and feel of different paper and pick which one would be best for The Q. By considering all of these things, I can choose a printing company that will have the best price for the quality of printing and location.