About this Event
cJAM Performing Arts
THIS PAGE IS FOR STUDENT REGISTRATIONS ONLY
This cJAM is a full-day event that will take place on the Preston Campus inside the Media Factory, Creative Innovation Zone, Room ME414 (fourth floor). Due to the venue capacity, places are very limited and available on a first-come-first-served basis. If you decide to register your attendance is required throughout, from 9.30am until 4.30pm. It’s not an event that you can drop in and out of, so please only register if you are fully committed to attend for the full day.
The event is FREE and includes a networking breakfast and lunch, keynote speakers, industry Q&A, a giant speed pitching session where you can pitch for opportunities, and a celebratory awards presentation.
cJAM is unique to UCLan and is designed to connect final year undergraduate and postgraduate students with successful industry professionals. All the industry professionals who attend cJAM come with the offer of at least one opportunity that they will offer to one or more of the students they meet at the event.
The opportunities usually include:
• PLACEMENTS - ideally lasting up to one week if unpaid or longer if paid
• SHADOWING - a day experiencing an industry professional's working environment where you can connect with their colleagues and maybe their clients too
• MENTORING - up to three one-hour online sessions or face-to-face meetings to give you support and inspiration to progress your career. This could include getting feedback on your university work or receiving an introduction to one of their contacts
• TRAINING – so that you are eligible for paid work
• INTERVIEWS - for a placement or job
To have the best chance of being offered an opportunity, you will need to do some preparation - see the FAQs section below for details about workshops and prep sessions.
We recommend you bring visuals of your work with you – this can be on a portable device or hard copy – as this may help you articulate your skill set during the speed pitching session or when networking during breakfast or lunch. Multiple copies of a one-page CV might also be useful, so that you can hand them to the industry professionals of interest to you.
If you register to attend, you will be emailed by the cJAM team in the run up to the event with an A-Z of which industry professionals are attending – this is so that you can do some research on them and maybe even connect with them on LinkedIn before the event.
Over the last three years of cJAM events, students have secured more than 1,000 opportunities with a wide range of employers including Flux Theatre, Dance United Yorkshire, The Lowry, Ludus Dance, Death By Pie, Curious Minds, Lancashire Encounter, Just Some Theatre and the Brewery Arts Centre. To get a little taster of the cJAM event format, look at the videos from past cJAM events which are added to this Eventbrite page.
Even if you don't secure an opportunity at cJAM, by attending this event you will develop your networking skills, gain a deeper understanding of employability and the importance of perseverance, and discover more about the range of career opportunities open to you when you graduate.
FAQs
Which industry professionals are attending this cJAM?: Providing you register to attend this event, an A-Z of the industry professionals attending will be circulated to you via email closer to the event date so that you can do some research on them and the companies they are representing. From this research, you will then have a clearer idea about who you want to put a question to in the Q&A, book a pitching slot with, and network with during breakfast and lunch. It will help you stand out from the crowd if you show you have prepared for cJAM and have genuine interest in the industry professionals and the companies they are representing.
Booking speed pitching slots: Bookings open on the day of the event and, for fairness, there is likely to be a limit initially to the amount you can book. Each industry professional will have 12 bookable slots available. As you arrive you will be provided with a sheet of sticky labels with your name and course typed on and a booklet containing the A-Z industry list. You will be guided on how to use the labels to book pitching slots with the industry professionals of interest to you. The back cover of the booklet is designed so you can log who you are pitching to and when. At past cJAMs, students have tended to book 3-6 slots so that they have a break between pitches. However, this isn’t always possible, and you might have to book back-to-back slots.
Speed pitching logistics: The speed pitching part of the event lasts for two hours and there are 12 slots A-L, each lasting just eight minutes. Each industry professional will be seated at a numbered pitching station (a small table with a chair at either side) and they will have a list of which students have booked to meet them. There's a definite fun speed dating feel, with a siren starting and ending each slot. When the first siren sounds, it’s time for you to take your seat and get the conversation started by introducing yourself with a 60-second elevator pitch. To keep the conversation flowing, the industry professional will ask you questions, and you should ask them questions too. You might also want to show them visuals of your creative work and leave them a copy of your one-pager CV. Once the eight minutes is up, the second siren sounds and it’s time for you to leave the pitching station to free up the seat for the next student.
What’s an elevator pitch?: It’s a 60-second introductory summary to promote your personal brand. It needs to be engaging for the listener and succinctly include who you are, your skill set, achievements and what you are aiming for once you have graduated. If you prefer to use the 60-seconds to pitch an idea, that also goes down well.
cJAM Build an Elevator Pitch workshop: Join Paul and Liz from the UCLan Careers team for a one-hour interactive workshop. They will take you through how to build an effective elevator pitch ready for your cJAM event. Imagine you are in a lift with an employer and you have the time it takes in the lift to reach the top floor to impress them, what are you going to say? Don’t turn up unprepared, we can help you build up an authentic, confident pitch that will put you in the best light to secure an opportunity. There's a choice of two dates bookable via Handshake.
Wednesday 20 October, time tbc, a booking link will be sent to you via email
Wednesday 26 January, time tbc, a booking link will be sent to you via email
cJAM Prep session: Bookable with UCLan Careers on Handshake. This is a 20-minute one-to-one session with a member of the UCLan Careers team, where you can practice and get feedback on your elevator pitch. The prep sessions will run during October, November, January, and February. A booking link will be sent to you via email.
Elevator Pitch Builder: Available on UCLan's CareerEdge here
Event running order: This is a full-day event and you are required to attend throughout (9.30am until 4.30pm). On arrival you will be given a name badge and a booklet containing the A-Z industry list and a sheet of sticky labels with your name and course on. The event starts with a networking breakfast at 9.30am, but we will open the speed pitching booking station earlier – at exactly 9am. Once you have booked the slots you want, use this time to step out of your comfort zone and network with the industry professionals. By 10am everybody will be seated ready for the event compere to officially welcome everyone to the event. The industry professionals will be seated at the front and will give speedy pass-the-mic introductions to who they are and what opportunities they might offer. Up to five industry professionals will then give keynote addresses, where they have eight minutes each to share their personal career journeys – focusing on any highlights, top tips and lessons learnt. There will then be a short break where you will have the opportunity to book any remaining speed pitching slots. It’s essential that every industry professional has a full schedule by the end of the break, so to help with this you will be strongly encouraged to book additional slots. After the break, it’s time for the Q&A. If you have a question for the panel (recommended) you will be asked by the compere to put your hand up. You will then be passed a mic and asked to stand up whilst asking your question. Following the Q&A, it’s time for the networking lunch in an adjacent room – again use this time to step out of your comfort zone and network with the industry professionals. After lunch, you will return to the main event space. The room will be set up for the speed pitching session, with numbered pitching stations positioned around the periphery. The compere will give some guidance on the logistics and then start with pitching slot A. This part of the event lasts for two hours, but there will be a 5-minute comfort break halfway through. Once slots A-L are complete, the industry guests will move to an adjacent room to make their decisions on who to offer what in private. During this time, in the main room there will be keynotes from Propeller with free lancing advice and the Careers team. Then when all decisions on offers have come in behind the scenes, the compere will start the celebratory awards presentation. Each industry professional will be invited to the ‘stage’ one at a time, then the names of the students they have awarded an opportunity to will be announced and they will be invited to join them on stage for a handshake, award card and photo opportunity. Once all the offers have been awarded, the event will end.
If you are awarded an opportunity: you will be sent an email from the cJAM team a few days after the event. This will confirm details of the offer, provide contact details for the industry professional and give advice on how to progress the offer.
Placements: Unpaid placements are likely to be one week (or equivalent) in length and should not exceed two weeks. Paid placements can be for longer periods providing they can be worked around your study commitments. Depending on where we are in the pandemic, placement opportunities could be offered as remote or onsite.
Shadowing: Likely to be onsite and lasting just one day, allowing you to experience the organisation’s working environment, connect with their colleagues and possibly their clients too.
Mentoring: Typically up to three one-hour online sessions, although some prefer to offer face-to-face sessions – for instance a one-off meet up for a coffee and chat. Mentors can give feedback on your university work as well as support and give you inspiration to progress your career. This might include giving you an introduction to somebody else in the industry who they think might be able to help you.
Training: Bespoke training course that is offered for free so that, once completed, you have the potential to get paid work.
Interviews: Typically, an offer that elevates you straight to the interview stage for an actual job or a paid placement.
Who can attend?: This event is for final year undergraduate and postgraduate UCLan students studying a performing arts course: Acting / Dance Performance and Teaching / Music Theatre / Theatre Performance. This event is not open to the public.
Dress code: Smart casual is expected. There’s no need for a prom suit, but hoodies should be avoided. Dress for the job you want, not the job you have!
Inclusive support: If you are feeling anxious about attending cJAM, a member of the cJAM team can meet up with you in the venue on the afternoon prior to the event (anytime between 3.30pm-5.30pm). They will be able to give you a walkthrough of the running order and answer any questions. Throughout the event there will be a team of Student Ambassadors wearing red t-shirts. If you need time out at any point, you can just let one of them know and they will take you to a nearby quieter space for a breather. For past cJAMs we have set up a pitching station in an adjacent room (which is quieter) and works well if you have a hearing impairment. In this scenario, we bring the industry professionals you have booked to see to you rather than you go to their allocated pitching stations in the main room. Whatever concern you may have or adjustments you need, we will do our upmost to make cJAM work for you.
Can I book onto more than one cJAM event?: Yes, but only register for multiple events if you are sure you can attend them. Even though some cJAM events are running online, we still need to keep an eye on numbers for the events to work successfully.
Filming and photography permissions: There will be photography and filming throughout the event. During the online registration process, you will be asked to give your permission for filming and photography of you to be used by the University for marketing purposes including (but not limited to) University websites, on and offline publications, public relations messages and other advertising, such as social media, brochures, information leaflets, adverts, posters and other formats to promote the University and to promote University courses at its partner institutions.
Event hashtag: #UCLancJAM
General enquiries: Tania Callagher, [email protected] 01772 894106 or 07817 635045.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Creative Innovation Zone, Media Factory, ME414, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00