Project 1 Overview

I planned my first project to find evidence of which advertising method is best for ♥Neath-Afan Gymnastics Centre♥

My intended audience for my introduction (‘Interest in Gymnastics’ publication) was mainly my manager, Nicola. This would help her understand what types of national events may boost the business, which would also indicate what action would be needed in the future. The secondary audience for this text would be the general public, or anyone interested in gymnastics, with the purpose linking between entertainment and information.
The audience for the questionnaire is customers of Neath-Afan Gymnastics Centre. This would count as evidence towards my final outcome.
Finally, the letters and excel evidence would only be viewed by the main staff of Neath-Afan. This would include Nicola, the manager, and Martin, one of the directors, as well as a few other Admin staff. This would be the main bulk of the project. The purpose of this is to inform the audience of which advertising method has worked best in the past, and which areas need improvement.

I researched a lot of information about general gymnastics from the internet, as well as membership information from talking to a number of Welsh and British Gymnastics employees. I also collected information from the questionnaires.

I knew that the information from British Gymnastics would be accurate because it was sent in a private email from an employee. Obviously the information from the two other employees may be a bit less reliable due to lack of resources at the time of replying.
I would expect the information from the questionnaires to be reliable due to it being personal to each customer. However, there is a chance that the child has filled in the questionnaire, which would make the information less reliable, as well as chances of circling more than one method etc…

I used a variety of different sources to attain my information. This included an email to British Gymnastics, the British Gymnastics Website, talking to Welsh Gymnastics Employees as well as customers of Neath-Afan Gymnastics Club.

The final publication of ‘Interest in Gymnastics’ will be printed. It could either be published in a newspaper or magazine, or could be printed alone and placed in view of the Neath-Afan customers as general reading. It will definitely be printed singularly for Nicola to view.
The excel part of my project would probably be best left on screen to be viewed. This would be easier should the data need to change and it would also be more environmentally friendly.
I intended my word processing document to be printed and given to each member of staff. This will probably be done in a meeting where we can discuss the necessary action from the outcome.

I used multiple software programs for this project, including Desktop Publisher, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint and Microsoft Word. I also used the Internet Explorer and Google Chrome search engines.

I needed a lot of research skills for this project. I already had quite a good knowledge on research, however, I did develop my researching skills by attempting to use Diigo as well as creating a mini bibliography which made coming back to research a lot easier.
I also needed to improve on mail merging. I did this by using the mail merge wizard several times to understand the steps.

I chose IT for this task mainly because of the time factor. I type much quicker than I can write by hand, and it has proved to be a much quicker drafting process on a computer too. The presentation benefits are also a major bonus from using IT for this task, making my work look more professional as well as neater.

Using IT has also proved easier to create multiple copies of each document, which is better for sharing information.
I really like drafting processes where information is written first, redrafted and then the formatting tools being used afterwards, such as colour change or font change. This would not be possible by hand without using a lot of valuable time, effort and paper.
Searching for information would have been exceptionally difficult without the use of the internet too.

I know the basic rules of copyright and that it can limit the use of information being used. However, as most of my project has either been factual using data or my own analysis I have not been limited too much as data cannot be copyrighted, only the way it is presented. I have used my own pictures and findings throughout my project, and any information taken from other sources has been checked for copyright limitations and also rearranged into my own wording and presentation.

I checked that all of my data is allowed to be published, as most of it has already been published before. However, most of the information I have collected would be of no interest to the general public, simply for the staff of Neath-Afan Gymnastics Club, so would not be published anyway.

To ensure no one that is unauthorised can access any sensitive data I have installed a password on my laptop. I never leave my laptop unlocked while unattended and it is always attached to the reception desk in my workplace by lock and key unless I am taking it home.

The software tools that I have used have been very suitable for what I wanted to achieve. I chose a different software for each part of my project, depending on my purpose and the capability of the program.

I didn’t really come across any major problems or difficulties during my project. There were minor things such as not enough questionnaires being returned etc but nothing too drastic. I would have liked to have had 100 questionnaires to use as data, but I did struggle getting them given back.

I ensured my information is accurate and up to date by checking for multiple sources. Quite a lot of my first section of my project was using data from previous years, which obviously would have been accurate as they can no longer change. On the other hand, I did have a small flaw in my own research. I didn’t put into account the time that the Neath-Afan customers joined. If I were to improve my project I would change the table to have a time period across the top as well as methods and use a different graph or chart.

If the information I crated was inaccurate, the Club could possibly put emphasis on improving the wrong method of advertising. For example, it could spend a lot of money and time creating leaflets rather that building up their online audience and posting on the website or Facebook for free.

I only really learnt how to use the mail merge tool in Microsoft Word. However, I definitely think that the proofreading process in Firefox Reader has made completing corrections a lot easier and will probably continue using the program in similar projects.

I used quite a lot of keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste tools as well as internet bookmarks and toolbars. Without these, I believe my project would have taken at least double the time.

I edited my presentation within this project to create my final draft. My first draft was plain and just had information with no pictures, colours or animation. For my second draft, I added in colours to make it look more professional and presentable. For my final draft, I added animations to the items within the presentation to make it interesting to keep my audience interested and involved.