What is a typical day like for you?
Normally, I start my day with replying to any emails from my clients which came in overnight - with clients all over the globe, my night-time is often the middle of the working day for them! After that, I will meet with my team and discuss our priorities for the day and the rest of the week, and then review the status of the projects I manage. For the rest of my day, I will check in with the team working on my projects to ensure we're on track and in line with our schedule, and complete any of my own project actions and review any materials before sharing these with our clients. Towards the end of my day, I will go back to my list of priorities and ensure everything has been completed for the day and start planning the next day.
What has been your biggest challenge to date?
I don't think this will be a surprise to anyone, but it would have to be the pandemic! It was certainly a shock to the system going from working in a busy and bustling office to running projects remotely from my bedroom. Luckily, as the majority of my projects tend to be digital pieces or virtual meetings, my team and I already had all the tools in place to cope with the shift to doing everything remotely.
What has been your favourite project to work on and why?
My first webinar, for sure. After weeks of preparation (including developing the promotional campaign materials, working with a key opinion leader on the webinar content, and organising the logistics), it was so rewarding to see it all come together on the day and watch the audience number on our broadcast platform grow as the webinar started and our speaker delivered the content flawlessly.
How do you find working at TVF?
I started at TVF immediately after finishing my degree and can't quite believe the incredible growth opportunities I've been given during my time here. No day here is the same; the diversity of the work I do allows me to push myself every day and rise to the challenges when I am faced with them. I consider myself to be very lucky to have my team who continue to support me and help me develop.
What advice would you give to an AE/SAE working on their first digital project?
While it's important to have a structured plan in place for your digital project, it's arguably more important to be flexible and expect the unexpected. In an ideal world, we would all love for our projects to run smoothly and seamlessly from start to finish, however the reality is that no matter the project, you will need to be able to solve problems and stay cool under pressure. Having said that, it's important to enjoy the process, even during the tougher times, learn from every opportunity, and take pride in the work you do.
Which skills are crucial for succeeding in your role?
You might think that your degree or qualifications are what will help you succeed, and while they are good to have, I personally think being successful in this role goes beyond that. One of the most crucial lessons I've learnt during my time here is the importance of clear communication: listen but also speak up. Make sure you and your team are on the same page as the client about what they want to achieve, and don't be afraid to voice your opinions and ideas. Finally, I would hate to be a cliché, but there’s no getting around it - organisation will be the best asset in your toolbox for this role!
And finally, what’s the most bizarre thing that’s happened on a project?
One of the most bizarre and funny (though perhaps not so much at the time) experiences I've had was on a video call with a few presenters of a webinar. Having put my most professional foot forward, I put aside my nerves and anxiety of meeting renowned experts in their field and introduced everyone on the call ready to start our discussion.
With our content discussion underway and each speaker making really interesting points to add to the webinar plan, I noticed that someone was annotating the presentation which was being shared during the call. Hoping that this was just an accidental scribble, I chose to ignore it. I then began to grow a little concerned as the scribble continued and was beginning to resemble a flower - it appeared as though we had a budding van Gogh in the meeting with us.
While I appreciated the artistic input into the discussion, it was starting to become quite the distraction so I bit the bullet and asked if whoever was annotating the screen could stop doing so. And as I finished my sentence, one of our presenters gasped in sheer panic and said they didn't realise everyone could see their masterpiece. And while at the time I was absolutely mortified, having just potentially embarrassed a key opinion leader in front of their peers, enough time has passed that myself and the team can laugh about it.
If you are interested in working with (or for) TVF’s award-winning digital account team [click here].
By Liv O’Hern
