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My roll within Throne of the North is Head of Creative Team along with Liv and Ajay. This entails us designing the look of the event, such as the floor sticker, banners, team t-shirts, trophy and other physical products, later allowing us to set up on the day and take a close look into the layout of the events overall look. This takes planning of where we want to buy certain products from to make sure we present our event exactly how we want. We work closely with budget and logistics team to ensure we our within our budget while we order products. This also means we work alongside communications team while shopping and getting in touch with business for quotes and prices. In order to measure this time appropriately we must order all products in good time and leeway for mistake just incase. I believe I am in the right job roll along with Liv and Ajay as I have a close attention to detail which will help especially when setting up on the actual day to ensure we achieve the look we are going for. As all rolls are relevant and have an important part to play in the process, I fear that if my roll was not done correctly this could lead to the look of the event being tainted and maybe not having getting products in time having to create a ‘last minute’ look to the event, which isn’t what we are going for. Managing our time is important to avoid this type of situation happening to ensure every order arrives in good time (Wolters, etal, 2021). As there is a few steps to each order and having to communicate with two other teams, we have to also give them enough time to digest relevant information and not rushing each other.

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SWOT ONE

Strengths

-I have a close attention to detail.

-I have a creative eye with colour schemes and overall look.

-I can work in a team and alongside other creatives.

Weaknesses

-I struggle with delivery and tone while working with others, meaning I need to be careful around my approach sometimes.

-I could use more training of what makes an eye catching poster to be able to grab peoples attention around the space.

Opportunities

-I find opportunity in printing posters and putting them around the space as this is a time consuming not everyone jumps to do this.

-Using the Instagram that is already set up from last years event which allows us to already have the correct reach and just grow it rather than start it.

-We have used our strengths as a team and had Lisha and Rio help with any media/videography needed. We have done this also by having Bella's auntie print the t-shirts designed by my team and I.

Threats

-We had to plan our date strategically to try and avoid clashing with other events, although we have still had World of Dance Ireland and UDO qualifiers within the same weekend possibly hindering our customers, specifically our under 18s battle on the Saturday.

-Due to our timetable being quite packed and full days, this unfortunately stops our team from having long meetings outside of our timetabled time.

SWOT TWO

Strengths

-I have good time management skills and attend all meetings and classes unless really unable.

-I work well with Liv and Ajay who are my close working team.

Weaknesses

-I sometimes struggle to read when is the best time to bring up a point/new topic.

-I become stressed and overwhelmed easily causing me to become upset and hindering completing work.

Opportunities

-Using Shockout Valo for our event has helped us budget better and spend more money elsewhere as this is free for us to use. We have then been able to place this money into bringing international judges over for our event.

-Using the Shockout Valo also benefited my team and I more as we were able to plan and decorate appropriately as we know the space quite well.

Threats

-Unfortunately Bella’s auntie had issues with her t-shirt printing machine meaning we had to find another provider which we had to alter the design for due to time restrictions.

-Due to our assessments and other modules being close to when our event was being held, this can cause stress for all team members and unnecessary issues within the team.

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My three events I have attended throughout the year are ‘It is what it is’ in London by WeGrowTogether, ‘Oyofe’ in Barcelona and ‘Groovenometry’ in Manchester. All events catered well to the needs of the target audience although Oyofe could’ve catered slightly more to the social/party aspect in the evenings as people were ready to socialise after sessions and battles yet there was no after party arranged. The content within It is what it is was very engaging and relevant as it was souly a Hiphop battle and had cypher prelims allowing me to dance with others and socialise through movement which was a big factor of why they ran the event, this is something we wish to portray within our event. Groovenometry was the best well-managed logistically, this is probably due to this event running 10+ years meaning the event organiser has plenty of practice and room for making improvements each year. Groove was a 3 day event, each day running well on time and clear with each category and the overall structure of the day. It is What It Is also ran similarly to this throughout its one day event, it stayed clearly on time which benefited me as I had transport to catch from London to Manchester after. This element is something me and my team have to take into account as many people will be travelling to Manchester from across the UK to our event and may travel home in the evening, which means we must stay on time and clear with any event changes (Luckham, 2012). Oyofe lacked this slightly as it ran for 4 full days with after parties included, which meant the next morning classes were often effected and started slightly late due to the very packed schedule. Groovenometry’s venue selection was spread across multiple venues over the 3 days all in the centre of Manchester with one in the outskirts. All the venue’s were easy to find and useful for people travelling into Manchester, but I found it slightly hard to follow as each day I needed to check their Instagram for what location and plan my route accordingly. Me and my team are going to take this into account and aim to have no more then 2 venues over the 2 days. Oyofe’s venue selection was quite organised as they had all classes and day events in the one large outside venue for all 4 days, with any after parties being somewhere in the city centre. I liked this as I was able to easily plan my mornings to get the venue having been their each day, which allowed me to get comfortable with my surroundings in Barcelona. It is what It Is’ venue was perfectly sized to the amount of people who attended and the lighting and set up created the perfect atmosphere for the whole day. All three events gave me many opportunities to network and connect with other attendees. Oyofe was the hardest to do this as although it was the largest event out of the three of them, it was celebrating a culture not of my own which made it slightly harder for me to engage as a lot of the surrounding aspects were new to me. Although this made Oyofe very insightful and educational for me and allowed me to learn new ways of expressing through movement. Groovenometry was the easiest to network as it brings the dance community in the North of England together who usually have less opportunities than the South, meaning everyone was willing to talk, exchange and join in throughout the whole weekend. Due to it also being a more than one day event it allowed you to meet new people and continue to share time with them the next day etc. The registration process for Oyofe was slightly confusing, due to event being a large international reach it only took reg in advance to the event, meaning you had to be sure before you arrived if you wanted to enter. This isn’t my preferred as I like to have the choice on the day. Both It Is What It Is and Groove provided this for me as you registered when you arrived at the venue, usually an hour or so before it began. Me and my team will most likely follow this structure as it is quite common in the UK and we want to be able to engage with the UK scene well.

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Community events very often consist of many people from different areas, backgrounds and ages coming together to share a common interest and bond over this (Cambridge,2007). The UK dance scene (specifically Hiphop) is a perfect example of this, and although the community itself is not perfect it still holds them important factors of community. The scene allows people from all walks of life to showcase and battle against others with skills trained and practiced to become professional level. This brings the community together to compete against each other creating a competitive energy which can overpower the reason we are all there. Although we still see the bond and connection of sharing an interest when the community jam together before or after battles, or even hosted jams purely just to dance and train with each other. This consists of many active cyphers with a trusted DJ who is also a part of the dance community, and occasionally an energetic MC to keep the energy levels high and to help provide a safe space for all. This is the vibe we hope to channel in this years Throne of the North. We aim to bring not only the UK Hiphop scene together but also grow the North’s community larger. We do expect people from all over UK to attend including places like London, Scotland, Wales, Bristol and Nottingham, but we also want the Manchester scene to blossom along with people travelling to our event. We have picked a range of guests and judges from the UK and afar (such as Rotterdam and France) to entice the community as this allows them to learn and grow from the larger community, and brings another key factor of community to light. Identity is also important to community as you are repping yourself within the scene. Sharing identities, different cultures and backgrounds can be educational for all and helps gain understanding and respect for each other. (Yoshida, etal, 2015)

The meaning of community has unfortunately been tainted with in the UK Hiphop scene and larger through organisations putting money making before community. We see this happen majority through competitions and competitive crews. It can contribute to the community if done right, as coming together as a team to win a title can grow a bond within your community. Arriving as a team, wearing your colours or matching tracksuits, cheering for other teams in your area or other divisions and getting to meet other crews and judges. But with organisations such as UDO and HHI these aspects can be lost behind the large price range of tickets, expensive weekend in somewhere such as Blackpool on a bank holiday weekend (UDO British) and constant merch stalls. This is something as a community we must be aware of and not allow the meaning to drift into the background.

A large aspect of competition crews and schools who attend these competitions have a root coming from the teacher or choreographer. This roll is very important within the community as we must share and pass on knowledge correctly and as authentically as possible in order to keep the essence alive. This can also be lost sometimes through these profit making organisations, but can also do the opposite and allow young artists to thrive and produce work, giving back to the community that taught them so much. Dance schools and clubs can provide this for young people as well by having cheap/free open classes or recreational classes as the outcome doesn’t always have to be competition or performance, but just sharing and learning. This is something to be aware of within the community as there may be profit making clubs and schools that try to bring people in the door for money rather than education and bond over this common interest.

I hope to contribute to the Hiphop and street dance community by teaching and creating for all ages. I plan to do majority of this in NI as the community is still small and fresh, allowing me to share the knowledge I have learnt from a more established community, expanding the Hiphop dance scene in general. I think it is important for me to share my knowledge as tainted information can easily be passed around and if you don't know any better the community can quickly loose its meaning and authenticity can be lost.

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AIMS

1.        To provide a well ran event on behalf of Kingdoms league and ensure the space is presentable.

2.        To make the space and decor enticing and engaging especially for our new category Under 18’s.

3.        To help grow the scene in Manchester allowing Northern artists to grow.

OBJECTIVES

1.        Curate a well organised plan for ordering anything and decorating the space.

2.        Communicate well with other teams to ensure we are running smoothly as a larger team than previously.

3.        Communicate when our event is well to try and bring a larger crowd than previously.

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Yoshida, M., Heere, B., & Gordon, B. (2014). Predicting Behavioural Loyalty through Community: Why Other Fans Are More Important Than Our Own Intentions, Our Satisfaction, and the Team Itself. Journal of Sport Management, 29(3), 318–333. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2013-0306

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Yoshida, M., Heere, B., & Gordon, B. (2014). Predicting Behavioural Loyalty through Community: Why Other Fans Are More Important Than Our Own Intentions, Our Satisfaction, and the Team Itself. Journal of Sport Management, 29(3), 318–333. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2013-0306

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Wolters, C. A., & Brady, A. C. (2020). College Students’ Time Management: a Self-Regulated Learning Perspective. Educational Psychology Review, 33(4), 1319–1351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09519-z

# data[].attributes.subject
Wolters, C. A., & Brady, A. C. (2020). College Students’ Time Management: a Self-Regulated Learning Perspective. Educational Psychology Review, 33(4), 1319–1351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09519-z

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Luckham, D. C. (2011). Event Processing for business: Organizing the Real-Time Enterprise. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL29076619M/Event_Processing_for_Business

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Luckham, D. C. (2011). Event Processing for business: Organizing the Real-Time Enterprise. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL29076619M/Event_Processing_for_Business

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My team and I have incorporated dance into our event significantly by running a 1v1 Hiphop and Popping battle, as well as an Under 18’s all style category. This will include prelims for all participants to showcase for a minute in order to make top 16, allowing anyone to enter and join our event. We also have added a new feature into this year Throne of the North by including “Cypher off” on Saturday which gives people the to chance to win a spot in the top 16 at the Sunday event. This also gives the event a chance to cypher and connect with the community.

We have included Deejaying by booking a UK based, well known Battle DJ Tytan for our event, as well as ensuring we have the appropriate space and equipment for him to fully succeed during the day. We looked at many options of DJs and took the time to pick the right one to ensure he can deliver the right energy and music variety for the day. The TOTN team experienced Tytan DJing as ‘It is what it is’ Battle in November, which then lead to discussing and later finalising he was the DJ for our event with his range of old school and new school Hiphop.

Similar to DJ, we picked a well known UK based hosting duo to MC our Sunday event who go by D’eli. As a team we agreed we like their energy, vibe and overall image and thought they would be the appropriate asset to the TOTN faculty. With both our DJ and MCs being based in London we also thought this would give more exposure to the UK to allow all of the community to participate. For Saturday’s

Under 18s event we chose Reon Nash as we believe he is a contribute to the Northern Hiphop scene and would suit the role to keep the day fun, energetic and enticing for the under age group.

Unfortunately after a few attempts we were unable to include graffiti into this years event. My team and I got in touch with lecturers from Manchester Met Art School to potentially negotiate a partnership so we could show off local art in the community but unfortunately this plan did not follow through as we hoped as we didn’t get a response after a few attempts. We also looked into options of having a live graffiti artists at the event although this seemed to be ranging out of our budget and seemed unrealistic as they would have to be stationed outside as the event was happening inside on the 3rd floor. Due to this we came up with "Cypher Off" to still try and bring something new.