Moore Beats: Tapping into Resources

This past week saw things going wrong (again) as they usually do- but come the Saturday show, things just flowed! We may have been only five people in studio and you had the likes of Roche’ forgetting to write up his script for the show, but once they started talking Human Rights, all these slip-ups were forgotten. Mike and BK were away with Thobani and Anesipho to Addo Elephant Park on Saturday and while they were gone, Steve and I manned the show and the planning session after it. Again, we were reminded that these pupils have lives and they do forget things, as their blogposts were not done this week and there were a few mumbles about exams having begun hence the forgotten blogs. But I told them that they need to try and get things done on time as it means we can do more things and that if they have problems, they need to let me know as soon as possible.

I find that when they don’t respond the way I want them to or things don’t go the way I had planned, I take a deep breath and try plan around damage control. I have also started asking myself, what could I or the team be doing wrong that leads to them forgetting homework, or the blog, or even the same issues we have every week with the transport guy? Maybe I need to have a day of communication with them? So on Tuesdays, I Mxit, Facebook and SMS them to ensure that they are ok, not feeling overloaded and are ready for the workshop and show. Maybe the planning needs to be tighter? Or maybe we are doing as much as we can do for now? Nah, I think more can always be done but we will ensure that they take as much responsibility as the team does.

In terms of the order in the show as it stands, we are working on a running order and getting the imaging around the show up and running. I find myself a bit irritated that we haven’t sat down as a team to create a set show structure that the Upstart pupils can slot into for times when we may not be able to be there. But that is on the agenda for week six! Getting some structure into ours, theirs and the show’s life!

For now, Mxit, Facebook, Twitter- these are the big resources we need to also tap into if we are to get into a growing connection with the Grahamstown youth. The Upstarters did however mention to us ‘oldies’ that Mxit is not as popular as we think it is and they laughed at us regarding our naivety :). What I have also suggested to Shireen is that we place posters in the local libraries and schools to promote the shows. And I was thinking it would help if the librarians could turn on the radio during our show on Saturdays which would increase listenership and interaction with the youth. How we can make this activity as beneficial for the librarians? Still thinking about that one, hopefully I will have an answer for you soon enough. We want to get this going as soon as soon as possible because it means we can put up polls on the posters which tell them to vote via sms or Mxit or other forms of social networking. I have spoken to a designer who is willing to work with us for the year, so things should take off soon enough! Until then, as our anchors on RMR would say, “Stay tuned as I give you more next week- same time, same place (same person!)”

Nadia