BIMA Digital Day ’18

Aged 14, I think we can both honestly say that it’d never crossed our minds that one day we’d grow up to work in a digital role. The internet was still in its dial-up phase. And our knowledge of what jobs were out there was limited to the traditional roles we’d seen around us in our day to day lives or on TV. Jobs like doctor, lawyer, teacher.

BIMA Digital Day is all about inspiring the next generation by giving them an insight into the work and careers that are available in the digital sector.

It’s a great chance to make students aware of how much technology already impacts them. And provides an opportunity to show them how they can be a part of it. By creating their own digital solutions, it breaks down the barriers they may see in getting involved in the sector.

So, when BIMA got in touch asking for volunteers to get involved in the community and help mentor pupils at a local school, our colleagues from across the technology team jumped at the chance.

Our team of 7 mentors was formed from a wide range of representatives from different disciplines within digital and technology:

• Christina Hirst – Senior Content Strategist
• Catherine Malpass – User Experience (UX) Designer
• Becca Sharplin-Hughes – Associate Product Manager
• Leanne Griffin – Service Designer
• Katie Foster – Digital Producer
• Simeron Taak – Developer
• Caroline Kavanagh – Digital Production Intern

We were lucky enough to be paired with Rooks Heath College, Harrow and 60 of their year 9 students, who're currently studying either ICT or Computer Science.

Across the day, education and inspiration was shared both ways. We came away feeling we’d learnt just as much from the young adults we met, about their perceptions of technology and from their ideas, as they learnt from us.

Here’s a breakdown of the day:

Digital surrounds younger generations now more than ever

To get started, first we wanted to know what the students understanding of ‘digital’ really was.

It was crucial to get students in the mindset of how much they use technology fluently every day. It really set the groundwork for later in the day, empowering them with the confidence to complete their challenges. (And even to help them consider it as a career option later in life.)

From the offset it was clear that the students were very aware of how much digital surrounded and impacted their everyday lives.

The students told us about their interactions with digital, with things like:

• Oyster cards to tap on the bus
• watching YouTube videos (plus the ads)
• morning alarms on their phones
• playing games
• their profiles on various social media sites

– all things they interact with before even getting to school in the morning!

We also learnt about the student’s perception of certain digital features (it turns out they hate YouTube ads just as much as us). And their perception of us as a charity. Reassuringly, they’d mostly heard of Stand Up to Cancer and Race for Life, and were quite excited by what we had to show them!

Students already have an interest in what career opportunities are available to them

The rest of the morning involved us explaining who we were, what we did and what it means to work in digital. After talking to the students, it was time to hand over to them and give them the chance to ask us the questions they wanted answers to.

Handing over the reins to a room of 60 14-year-olds we feared may elicit some less than admissible responses.

But the questions we received were insightful. The most common questions we were asked were:

• How did you get into your careers?
• How old were you when you got your job?
•  Do you enjoy your job?
•  What made you want to work at Cancer Research UK?
• What subjects did you study at GCSE?
• How much can I earn working in digital?
• What grades did you get at GCSE
• What’s fun about your job?
• Do you get to work from home?
• Is your job stressful?

It was uplifting to see the students so focused on areas like wellbeing in work and their determination to enter a career that they were passionate about, for a cause that they could care about.

Answering the questions honestly, our team were transparent about our career paths. It soon became clear that most of us had no idea what we wanted to be when we were younger. When we asked the room if they knew what they wanted to be when they were older, it became clear that the majority of them didn’t either.

Hopefully we’ve given them a message of reassurance for when they get a bit older and feel the pressure that comes with deciding what GCSE’s to study, whether to go to university and what career path to go down.

Taking on some challenging briefs with some inspirational outcomes

Next, the students got into groups and decided which of the 3 inspiring challenges, set by this year’s sponsors, they were going to take on.

Working through materials provided by BIMA, we provided the students with a framework to approach their challenges:

The 4 D’s:

·         Discovery - to gather research for their tasks

·         Decide – to choose an idea

·         Design – to elaborate on this idea

·         Deliver - present it to us and their classmates

All 10 teams pitched their ideas Dragon Den style to us, the panel, and we were left to pick our winners.

It was a tough deliberation but the results were inspiring.

BBC Studios challenge

Promote a new digital-only programme, getting people to tune in every week by developing a new marketing idea

With this challenge, it wasn’t just the marketing ideas that stood out, but their knowledge of social media platforms.

The students carefully considered which social media platforms they were going to target, with Snapchat filters to reach the younger target audience of the programme, to Facebook ads to target parents.

Teams even discussed the advantages that would come with tapping into the popular gaming market by previewing snippets of the show each week on the latest gaming releases (such as Fortnight) with an understanding that the reach would be phenomenal.

Winning idea: Promoting the new show with preview snippets via major gaming releases  

Our winner because: they really thought about their target audience, and what channels would best reach them. In-game advertising via a console isn’t something that is widely known about, and we felt it was an innovative solution to their problem. 

Vodaphone challenge

Broaden the appeal of the UK high street to change the way we shop, using either AR or VR technology

This challenge saw the students really think outside the box.

Ideas varied from helping elderly and disabled people to shop using VR headsets (which had extra  room so you could keep your glasses on) from the comfort of their own home, to mirrors that allowed you to see yourself wearing an item of clothing before buying it.

Teams also considered the problems the UK high street currently faces, solving the problem of closing stores. One team created a design that allowed recently closed high street shops to continue to sell their goods via AR technology. The tech would allow customers to see the items they’re buying in front of them, as if they were in a real shop

Winning idea: A VR headset to help elderly people access the high street from their homes

Our winner because: they really thought about the brief and their target market. They also ensured they were combating accessibility issues in our high street stores by bringing the retail experience to people in their homes.

The Football Association challenge

Increase the number of people following the England Women’s Football team during next year’s FIFA World Cup and encourage girls aged 8-16 to give football a try through using digital

The Football Association challenge saw some truly innovate ideas. Students pitched ideas such as an app, that features videos to teach different football skills. Where other teams thought about celebrity endorsements and giving away tickets to people who tuned into World Cup matches

Winning idea: an app that teaches young girls football skills via video. Users are encouraged to try the skills for themselves, videoing their progress and sharing on their social networks to earn points for the chance to reach the leaderboard.  

Our winner because: we really felt this idea got to the heart of the issue – that girls may be under-confident or discouraged to play football. Incentivising playing and making it collaborative would help young girls to overcome these barriers and inspire them to play football.

It was great to see the challenges bring so much confidence to the students and see how much faith they had in their ideas.

The winning teams were delighted, and some team members couldn’t quite believe they’d won!

The winners from each challenge have now been entered as part of a nationwide competition. 

Winning schools will receive cash prizes, with winning team members getting inspirational prizes from the sponsors.

An inspirational day for everyone 

BIMA Digital Day ‘18 was hopefully a day that inspired the children we met to pursue a career in digital. But crucially, it was an inspiring day for all of us who work in digital. We all certainly learnt a lot as well.

The students we met came up with some truly impressive and outstanding ideas. These students are the potential digital champions of the future. Days like this allow us to inspire, inform and connect with a new generation who might never have considered a future career in digital until now.

It got us thinking. Just imagine if in the future, any of the students we meet decide to work at Cancer Research UK. Well, if that ever does happen, we’ll be more than lucky to have them.

Christina Hirst & Catherine Malpass