Ideas to talk about

We are all sixth form students currently studying for A-levels, Andrew studies at Altrincham College of Arts, and Faye and Laura study at Loreto Grammar School for Girls. We first became involved with the BBC during our NCS (National Citizen Service) programme last summer in which we delivered a brief of our project in a Dragons’ Den format. Following a banking enterprise programme in partnership with the Salford Foundation, Marvin from BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility approached us with the opportunity to be part of Volfest.

Volfest initially involved an induction day for us and other young people, in which we met with facilitators from the BBC to discuss our “hots and nots” regarding social media. A week’s task then followed which involved us filling in a diary to monitor our media habits. This diary came into use during the Volfest day with staff from lots of departments of the BBC from all over the country. Using our diaries we discussed our findings e.g. media we frequently used such as twitter. The information allowed us to think of ideas for the new BBC Homepage.

Overall the experience of working with the BBC has been fantastic; it has allowed us to express our thoughts about the changes to social media and especially with the changes that will be coming within the BBC. We were treated as equals with some of the most established professionals at the BBC and this made us feel as though our thoughts would really impact the future of the BBC homepage.

*BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility is the department that connects BBC staff directly to its audiences. VolFest is the BBC’s outreach festival, which saw young people from our community in Salford working alongside BBC staff to think up new ideas for the BBC Homepage. The events are intended to help our staff think about new content ideas, driven by working with new audiences.