How will I carry the CreateAthon torch?

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I’ve been avoiding this post. 

This is the one post that I don’t want to write in any way, because it means that CreateAthon is over. It is the last assigned blog post for this semester. 

Now how will I spread the word about CreateAthon? 

Well, in part, I believe that I’ve already done this. I’ve talked to the Creative director, art directors, and others at the agency that I intern with. I’ve also talked with local Richmond business people, those that are extremely tech-savvy. I and another CreateAthon-er (Alana) talked to the founder of tumblr, David Karp, about CreateAthon. 

Pretty much any chance that I get to talk about CreateAthon, and introduce what it is to someone, I take that chance. This is an idea that I believe everyone should know about, so because of that I want to talk about it as much as I possibly can. I’m sure to some people, it gets annoying, but I think that CreateAthon is a brilliant way to simply give back. 

(This person is amazing by the way, she’s the one that got me hooked on CreateAthon)

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I’m most likely going to talk to some of my old high school teachers as well, and see if there could possibly be a mini-CreateAthon that could be established at the high school level. Maybe they help just one client, instead of breaking into teams and helping 12 different clients, but I think with all the different electives offered in high school (or my high school at least) with students learning business skills, art, yearbook, newspaper, management, automotive, etc., that there could possibly be a class dedicated to giving back to the community. Or maybe it’s not a class, maybe it’s a club set up in high school. Either way, I think it’s a great way for students to see how they could be helping the community around them, and having that kind of experience on your college application, really helps. It shows that you’ve done something real. I realize that the CreateAthon event for them would be a little bit different when it comes to set up, but maybe it’s a 12 hour event during the day, instead of the full 24. Like I said, an intro to CreateAthon events out there for the younger audience. 

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About how I work

I can’t say that I learned this during CreateAthon, but I did learn how much this attribute affects how I work with others. 

I am a control freak. I like to be in charge. I’m pretty organized with my work, not as much for the sake of organization, but more to make sure that I know where I am, to know where everyone stands that I’m working with. I have to make sure I have everything planned out ahead of time, that I have all the information I could possibly need. I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m completely obsessive about being in control either. Im just someone who’s ambitious (to put it lightly), yet independent. I like to stay on top of things.  

Being a team leader means that I had to let others take charge of certain projects, trust them to do things correctly, and trust their judgement. That is not easy for me. While I did check in on what everyone was doing constantly, and gave some feedback, I had to let my team members do their own thing as well. 

I’m pretty sure anyone who knows me, knows that I like things done my way. I like to be in control of how things are done. I’m extremely independent, which may factor into all this as well. 

What does creativity mean to CreateAthon?

“Creativity, the pulsating orb of light that resides in the back of a designer’s mind feeding them with vision, innovation and contagious ideas. It puts reins on a wildly running imagination, giving it direction and production; making thought reality. The degree of thought and process put into a design is what really sets it apart from the rest of the crowd. You could say that a designer’s purpose is to ignite and set off its audiences’ imaginations into a wild running frenzy. Although, as we all know some ideas come at the click of one’s fingers, while others play a desperate game of hide and seek in the back of our minds. Inspiration can work like the electrodes of a defibrillator, shocking and bringing back to life a once dying idea. The flow of creation can bring an evolution of thought and imagination, superseding anything concocted beforehand.”
 

http://speckyboy.com/2010/08/10/30-creative-and-inspiring-poster-designs


Now what does creativity mean to CreateAthon?


CreateAthon means helping real clients, real people. 
Taking a campaign that is either close to nothing, or is not really working at all, and transforming it to create something amazing.

Creativity. With CreateAthon, you take the foundation of the client, what they need, and find a way to create something completely amazing. This can be website design, posters, brochures, a new logo, anything. The amount of creative brainpower that comes through during CreateAthon is unlike anything else. Perhaps it’s the pressure, or maybe the amount of time, possibly the knowledge that you’re doing something for good. 

Whatever the reason may be, creativity is essential. Thinking outside the norms, coming up with crazy ideas.

Creativity during CreateAthon means pushing the limits. This can be a video spot, showing television sets being thrown or even some crazy new website design to draw in the audience. Guidelines are set, of course, saying who we need to target, what is essential to get done, what problems need to be solved; but going beyond those guidelines is where creativity comes in.

How do you take what needs to be done and then push that even further?

And all of this within 24 hours. 

CreateAthon

Why is CreateAthon good? 

There’s so many answers to this question.

First off, the obvious. CreateAthon helps out the local community by providing thousands of dollars worth of advertising and deliverables to non-profits free of charge. 

Secondly, CreateAthon onCampus helps out students. It does this in many different ways. It helps students get real world experience dealing with real clients. Through school, many students deal with imaginary clients answering only to the professor. The professor judges the work, deciding whether or not it is what the client needs. With CreateAthon, students deal with real clients, and with this, students deal with real needs and problems. 
An example can be taken from my experience this year with CreateAthon. My client is VASS, or Virginia Advanced Study Strategies. I worked with the president and the board of VASS, narrowing down what it was they were essentially looking for, as well as what they truly needed. With my client, there was a lot of emails exchanged back and forth, probably 2-3 times weekly at first, and then as it got closer to the event, anywhere from 2-6 times daily. There were many different ideas exchanged, as well as other various needs that arose at different times. 
After the event had occurred, we received information from VASS that the direction that we had initially gone in was not the one that worked best for them. They had decided after seeing the work that they needed to focus less on the youth audience, and focus more on the corporate audience so that they could receive more funding. 
This was frustrating to hear, no doubt at all. But it’s a situation that you have to deal with in the real world. Clients constantly change their mind about what they want and need.  
This kind of experience, interacting with the clients, going through the needs and wants, and dealing with sudden changes of direction is amazing to have. It may not be the ideal situation, but it prepares you for the real world. 

And lastly, why CreateAthon is good. The process of brainstorming, creating, and executing condensed into 24 hours is a time period which is exhausting, yes, but leaves you feeling with an amazing feeling of accomplishment. You just stayed up for 24 hours, helping out a real client, a real organization. The thanks and gratitude that you receive for all the work you put in as well are overwhelming. They leave you with a feeling of warmth, a feeling of knowing that you did something good, that you helped someone who truly needed it. Giving up your time to help someone move forward. 

If nothing else, that last reason for why CreateAthon is good for students is one that I would recommend to anyone.

So I’m supposed to talk about what I took away from CreateAthon.

I’ve sort of already done this, but I’ll go over it again briefly.

My biggest takeaways from CreateAthon, with this being my second year, is what changes when you turn from a team member, volunteering to help, to a team leader, running your team.

Last year, as a team member, volunteering to help out, there wasn’t as much stress.

Stress to complete the tasks, having finished products, everything ready for reviews. I knew that I had to complete those, but the stress on me was definitely not as great as the stress on my team leader last year.

This year, as a team leader, I can definitely understand what my leader went through last year. I’m someone who likes to figure things out on my own, being stubborn does that sort of thing to you, but I was constantly asking for help, something that I don’t normally do. I was asking constantly for feedback on the logo, help making the infographical poster, directions to go in, help with our website design, etc. I know for some people, asking for help is no big deal, but for me, it’s a huge thing.

The mentors were great at providing help though. For our brainstorming session, we were on a roll. We went through and drew all over the windows in Temple. Mind maps were spread across 4 panels of windows. We had a couple of mentors (including my team leader, Ally, from the previous year) stop by and see how we were doing, but like I said, we were on a roll.

The big glitches started to hit when we were trying to go through with executions it seems. We were disagreeing on colors, trying to figure out how to best portray a thought, all while trying to put together a cohesive campaign.

My team members were wonderful. I always have moments when working with people where there’s going to be disagreements, but that’s just part of working on a team. I did have a little bit of trouble working with my VSU student, but I’m betting that it’s partly because we were butting heads slightly, and also because he was one of 6 VSU students working with a ton of VCU students.

I will say that I started freaking out around 5 in the morning. No sleep and pressure getting to you, not a good combination. I’m pretty sure my team noticed too, and they definitely kept me in check. I have to thank them sooooo much for that. 

But, around 11 we gave our presentation. Our clients were definitely thrilled. Not everything was finished, but I was forced to go home by Peyton. I’m pretty sure the exact words were “go home! go get some sleep!” and then 5 minutes later, since I’m still there, “you need to go get some sleep!”

So all in all, CreateAthon is definitely an experience that sticks with you. Definitely a different experience from my first year, when I was a volunteer/team member, but I’m actually grateful for the two different sides. I kind of understood what my team was going through, which I think helped make me a better leader for them.

The Event (part 1)

I know all of my previous posts are building up to the event of CreateAthon. 

So now, taking you through the event and the craziness that happened.
(this will probably be split up into different parts so that way it isn’t one humongously long post.  

(some of these pictures are mine, some aren’t)
the pre-CreateAthon jitters.. people arriving, handing stuff out, getting coffee and caffeine, and definitely just getting excited.

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Mentors, team leaders, team member, and a couple of stragglers hanging around in the background, everyone is excited. And with something like this, how can you not be?!!

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first things first, gotta get that group picture taken!! (and imagine trying to fit over 100 people into one picture)

So we split up into our teams after that. My team was in an extremely open space. The Hallway on the second floor of Temple. We did a little bit of chatting, talked about the brief, got comfy, went over what we would definitely be needing to accomplish.
Then, came the brainstorming. And since we didn’t have any whiteboards or chalkboards, we made use of what we did have.
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Windows! 
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We had people check in with us from time to time, going over brainstorming with us, and looking at different ideas and directions we had. We had people coming over, talking to us about logo design, different ideas to incorporate, and tons of different directions to go in.

And then, around 12, it was time for a break. Lunch. Which, VASS actually provided for us. YAY VASS! And you can guarantee, that with over 100 people, there were long lines waiting for food.
So people ate, relaxed for a bit, had some fun. We had bubbles going and were running up and down the halls.. and then about 30 minutes after that.. back to work!  

Losing an hour?

I’m so glad that the CreateAthon event doesn’t happen during daylights savings time.

I’m not sure I would be able to handle losing an hour. I mean, one precious hour. That’s a whole lot of work that can be accomplished in just 60 minutes. Especially when you’re creating a brand new campaign, from scratch, in 24 hours time.

Just something to think about.