Extracurricular Activities Planning

I love creating something out of nothing. Shoots are awesome, and nothing beats the ‘it’s a wrap’ moment. But I’ve a sweet spot for animation, 3D, CGI videos, and that magic. This includes: 1. 3D Product Videos: Bring products to life with stunning realism. 2. CGI Effects: Create visuals that are impossible to shoot in real life. 3. Animation: Tell complex stories in a simple, engaging way. 4. Motion Graphics: Add dynamic elements to keep viewers hooked. 5. VFX: Enhance live-action footage with seamless effects. ☑ The foundations: 1. Storyboarding: Plan every scene meticulously. 2. Modeling: Build detailed 3D models. 3. Texturing: Add realistic surfaces and materials. 4. Lighting: Set the mood and highlight key elements. 5. Rendering: Produce high-quality final images. 6. Post-Production: Polish and perfect the final video. ☑ Leverage the right tools to polish your content: 1. Software: Blender, Maya, Cinema 4D, After Effects 2. Plugins: Redshift, Octane, Arnold for realistic rendering 3. Resources: HDRI maps, texture libraries, motion capture data ☑ Optimise every facet of your video production, from: 1. Pre-Production: Planning and scripting 2. Production: Shooting and capturing footage 3. Post-Production: Editing, effects, and final touches 4. Delivery: Formats, platforms, and distribution ☑ You always need to care about: 1. Consistency in style and quality 2. Balancing creativity with technical constraints 3. Keeping up with industry trends and updates 4. Collaborating effectively with your team 5. Managing time and resources efficiently ☑ Ensure every element showcases your expertise and creativity. Embrace a production strategy that includes: 1. Smart project planning and execution 2. The 80/20 rule for focusing on impactful elements 3. Timely feedback and revisions for quality control 4. Consistent updates and learning for continuous improvement Watch below a 3D Product video my team created for Denali Bags in the past.

Breaking the Silence: Brands as Advocates for Men's Mental Health It is encouraging to see brands taking on a major role in an era where social consciousness is the driving force—advocacy for men's mental health. I'm thrilled to share my insights on how companies can be change agents, shattering the taboo and encouraging men's mental health as I have a strong commitment to both marketing and mental health awareness. Narratives can be uniquely shaped by brands. By presenting genuine accounts of overcoming mental health obstacles and overcoming adversity, they dispel stigmas and foster an environment conducive to candid discussions. It's time for brands to tell stories that connect with men's varied experiences and promote understanding and empathy. Awareness of mental health issues is important and affects males all over the world. One in five men  suffers from a mental disease on an annual basis, in silence. In spite of the high startling figures, males frequently encounter social stigmas and obstacles while trying to get assistance. Particularly with men, companies have started to take a more active interest in raising awareness of mental health issues in recent years. Not only are these initiatives admirable, but they also show how marketing may effectively solve significant social challenge Campaign: #RealStrength Objective: To challenge traditional perceptions of masculinity and encourage men to open up about their mental health struggles. Created a series of short films and online content featuring real men sharing their personal experiences with mental health challenges. Partnered with mental health organizations to provide resources and support for men. Launched a social media campaign using the hashtag #RealStrength to encourage open conversations about men's mental health. 2. The #RealStrength campaign generated over 100 million impressions and sparked important conversations about men's mental health. 3. Dove Men+Care saw a significant increase in brand awareness and positive sentiment among male consumers. 4. The campaign received recognition from mental health organizations for its contribution to reducing stigma and promoting help-seeking behaviors among men. The Dove Men+Care #RealStrength campaign provides valuable insights for marketers seeking to effectively promote men's mental health awareness: Adopt an authentic and empathetic approach: Understand the challenges men face in addressing mental health issues and communicate with empathy. 4.  Partner with credible organizations: Collaborate with mental health experts and organizations to ensure the accuracy and credibility of your messaging. 5. Utilize multiple channels: Reach a wider audience by leveraging a mix of traditional and digital channels, including social media, online content, and public service announcements. 6. Encourage open dialogue: Foster conversations about men's mental health by using relevant hashtags and engaging with your audience.

If you’re trying to reach multicultural audiences, community consultations are a must. 👍 First things first: always compensate participants for their time. Insights provided by community members are invaluable, and acknowledging their contributions is crucial for building genuine, lasting relationships. Community consultations are your pathway to building trust, understanding diverse needs, and sharpening your communication strategies. They are perfect for: ↪Multicultural Research: Gain insights into your audience’s opinions, desires, and communication preferences. For example, identify how different communities view and prefer information on a topic like diabetes. ↪Concept Testing: Gather valuable feedback on your product or campaign ideas before finalising them. For instance, share draft creative assets for a new diabetes awareness campaign to get feedback from diverse communities. ↪Co-Creation: Collaborate with communities to develop products and resources that meet their needs. For example, work together with communities to create culturally relevant educational materials on diabetes. Want to find out more? Check out our recent Ethnolink blog post (link in comments): #translation #CALD #multicultural #communications #culturaldiversity

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 30 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 3 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. For students starting their journey overseas, those first few weeks are more than a settling-in period — they’re a foundation for academic success, mental well-being, and lifelong independence. And for parents? They’re often just as anxious — hoping their child feels safe, supported, and confident from day one. Here’s a guide to help students (and their families) prepare with purpose: 🎒 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐤: Think smart, not heavy. Key documents (visa, ID, health records), tech essentials, prescriptions, and a few comfort items from home. Clothes? Keep it basic — students often adjust after seeing local styles. 🗂️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫: Start with a local SIM card and open a bank account. Then move quickly on student registration, insurance, and residence permits. These steps unlock access to everything from public transport to emergency care. 📲 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝: Must-haves include: – Local transit and navigation apps – University portals – WhatsApp (for international messaging) – Budgeting tools like Revolut or Splitwise – Mental health or support apps offered by the school 🚫 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝: Staying in a comfort bubble. It’s natural to stick with students from the same background — but branching out early builds confidence, language skills, and friendships that last. 🎓 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: – Attend every welcome event, even the awkward ones – Keep a simple daily routine for stability – Learn a few local phrases before you land – It’s okay to miss home — just don’t isolate For students: Be proactive. For parents: Be patient and encouraging. The first 30 days won’t be perfect — but they can be powerful. 💬 If you’ve studied or sent a child abroad, what’s one tip you’d share with someone about to start? #StudyAbroad #InternationalStudents #StudentLife #ParentSupport #First30Days #GlobalEducation #UniversityBound

Why Structural Barriers Matter More Than Messaging When we think of Social and Behavior Change (SBC), we often jump straight to awareness campaigns, communication strategies, or nudges. But there’s a bigger truth: people cannot change their behavior if structural barriers remain in place. IN OTHER WORDS ABILITY BARRIERS OFTEN MATTER MORE THAN MOTIVATION BARRIERS. Here are some of the most common structural barriers to SBC: - Economic: The cost of services or products, poverty, or lack of financial access. - Geographic: Long distances to facilities, poor infrastructure, or challenges faced by those in remote communities. - Institutional: Weak health systems, stockouts, poor supply chains, or lack of trained personnel. - Social/Policy: Restrictive laws, inequitable gender norms, or policies that unintentionally exclude certain groups. These barriers are not about motivation or knowledge. They are about access and equity. A person might fully understand why a new behavior is important, but if they can’t afford transport, if the service isn’t available, or if laws block them, no campaign can move them to act. This highlights an often-overlooked truth: while programs invest heavily in motivating people, they give far less attention to ability factors – the real-life capacity of individuals to perform a behavior. In part, this comes from the assumption that programs can’t do much about ability. But that’s exactly where SBC directed at policy-makers and system actors becomes so powerful. By engaging leaders, donors, and decision-makers, SBC can help remove barriers, expand services, adjust policies, and create the conditions where people actually can do what they’re motivated to do. Take the example of encouraging rural mothers to deliver at health facilities. Even the most persuasive campaign will fail if the clinic is 30km away and no transport is available. On the other hand, when ability factors are addressed – through transport vouchers, mobile clinics, or policy changes – motivation aligns with capacity, and change takes off. This means SBC practitioners, governments, NGOs, and donors must work together across sectors. Effective SBC is not just about communication – it’s about enabling environments. Addressing cost, access, infrastructure, policy, and ability unlocks the potential of behavioral insights. So here are the questions for us as professionals: 1) How often do our SBC strategies stumble, not because of weak messages, but because we didn’t tackle the ability and structural barriers first? 2) What examples have you seen where removing just one barrier (cost, distance, stigma) unlocked real change? Let’s rethink SBC: it’s not just about persuasion, it’s about partnership, systems, and access. #behavioralscience #socialnorms #behavior #SBC #systemschange #AfricanBehavioralScienceNetwork #BehavioralInsightsLab

After graduating university, I got a big girl job that I was NOT ready for.  It was a mid-senior role that I had applied to because I was slightly delusional. Miraculously…I got it. LOL Some of the responsibilities: recruiting, training, onboarding, and managing people. 11 volunteers to be more specific. My first year? Eeek. Scary times. Volunteers weren’t responding to my emails or their clients. Appointments were missed. Chaos prevailed. I spent most of my time putting out fires and doing the work myself. Thanks to a lot of trial and error (mainly error) I was ready to #slay my second year. By my second year, things looked very different: ✅ 50 volunteers recruited (28 onboarded) ✅ $250,000+ in refunds delivered to clients ✅ 72% increase in clients served I built systems from scratch and here’s what worked: 👥 Recruiting 1️⃣ Ghosting is real, so start early (I began 4 months before the next cycle) 2️⃣ Be intentional. Reach out to professors, orgs, and networks where your ideal volunteers already are. 3️⃣ Leverage social media. Highlight previous volunteers. Repurpose content.  4️⃣ Host info sessions + 30-min 1:1 calls with every registrant. 5️⃣ Communicate via their preferred method (email, phone, Zoom). 6️⃣ Follow up 2–3 times. Silence doesn’t always mean no.  7️⃣ Track every lead’s stage: Registered → Info Session → Committed. 8️⃣ Document your outreach. Use a simple spreadsheet or CRM to track where leads are coming from. 9️⃣ Treat recruitment as a two-way street: ask about their skills, capacity, & what they hope to gain from volunteering. Determine if the position is a right fit for both of you! 👩💻 Onboarding 1️⃣ Offer multiple sessions (mornings, evenings, weekends, in-person, remote, self-paced) 2️⃣ Use newsletters to keep everyone aligned and resourced. 3️⃣ Give LOTS of examples + scenarios they’d encounter! 4️⃣ Train them on tools, tech, and scheduling systems that will be used. 5️⃣ Create a central hub. Store onboarding materials in a Google Drive or on Notion. 🌱 Managing 1️⃣ Offer shadowing opportunities (to be shadowed and for them to shadow) 2️⃣ Create resources: how-tos, checklists, FAQs, etc. 3️⃣ Create + share a scheduling calendar. 4️⃣ Use Calendly + add your volunteers to the plan (it's a lifesaver I swear). 5️⃣ Start a group chat that won’t be ignored (GroupMe is awesome). 6️⃣ Give and receive feedback often. 7️⃣ Recognize accomplishments + celebrate wins. 8️⃣ Schedule office hours + check-ins. 9️⃣ Throw in some dad jokes!!! It was intimidating to step into this role without a blueprint, so I’ll forever be grateful for the opportunity to work with some incredible, mission-driven people who taught me so much about leading with empathy, transparency, patience, and adaptability. For my fellow first-gen and early professionals, what’s one thing you wish you’d known before stepping into a new role without a roadmap? 🌱 (p.s. Thank you to all of the supportive volunteers who laughed at my dad jokes.)

Given all the recent stress for international students around news coming out of the US, it has been very nice of a number of US universities to conduct sessions for counsellors to help us cut through the noise and figure out what's happening on the ground. Based on these conversations, I'm sharing some advice here for students on an F1: 1) For those of you heading to the US in the fall, either for the first time or after your summer break, make sure you triple-check all the required documents. If your final destination is not the port of entry, make sure you have all your onward flights booked. 2) Ports of entry are always subject to scrutiny. Familiarise yourself with what you can and cannot bring into the country and follow it to a T. Doubtful about whether that aam ka achaar is allowed? Toss it. Not worth the risk. 3) While at university, keep up the requirements of your F1, including the necessary courseload. 4) Avoid posting troublesome things on social media (this is life advice, really, kids!) 5) Don't break *any* laws, even seemingly small ones like jaywalking (I'm serious!). Small infractions that might not be a huge deal for US citizens can be problematic for international students 6) Check in with your university's international student department regularly Bottom line - as an international student, you are there to study and build your skills. Put your head down, focus, and do that. Is it really that dire? Maybe not, but do you want to be the poster child for that? On a slightly different note, for high school students exploring universities in the US, the level of support a university provides for international students is something you must add to your list of questions to ask them during events/sessions/visits. It has always been important, but in these uncertain times, it is critical. Fellow counsellors - what else would you add here as advice? #collegecounselling #studyabroad #internationalstudents Sapna Goel Ambikaa Kaul Khushboo Taparia Bedi Anjali Uppal Namita Mehta Priya Gupta Maneesha Gorti Sangeetha Virmani Kavita Singh Punnya Vij Sandeep Bhalla Bhakti Shah Sudarshana Shukla Janhavi Ruparel Aashima S. Shivangi Panchal Namrata Misra (Pandey) Revathi Shivakumar Nirmal Agarwal Priyanka Reddy Pragati Pandey

Thinking About Studying Abroad❓ Here is one piece of advice (Brutally Honest) In recent months, I’ve spoken to several international students facing serious financial challenges → some even on the brink of dropping out. Their stories are heartbreaking, but there is a lesson here: studying abroad requires much more than just ambition→ it demands careful planning. I will say this again; A Leap of Faith Isn’t Enough For many, studying abroad represents the ultimate dream. But too often, I hear students say: → “I’ll figure it out when I get there.” This mindset can lead to unexpected financial stress and even jeopardize your studies. → Taking a leap of faith is important, but it must be grounded in preparation. Why Planning Matters 📌 → The Cost of Living Abroad → Tuition is just one piece of the puzzle. → Accommodation, food, transportation, and healthcare can quickly add up. → Unexpected expenses can derail even the best-laid plans. → and No campus work cannot pay for all your tuition and living expense. Here is my advice📌 1️⃣ Research Costs Thoroughly → Look beyond tuition. Factor in housing, food, health insurance, and transportation. 2️⃣ Secure Funding Early → Apply for scholarships, assistantships, or grants in advance. → Explore every possible funding opportunity. 3️⃣ Have a Contingency Plan 5️⃣ Reach Out for Advice → Speak to alumni or current students from your desired program to understand the real costs and challenges. ******* What’s one piece of advice you’d give to prospective international students? Let’s discuss below. #InternationalStudents #StudyAbroad #FinancialPlanning #HigherEducation

Pieter Vermeulen recently offered insightful analysis and thoughts about where US international student enrollment volumes (India in particular) might go given our current constraints. His takeaway: no other destination country has the capacity for the kinds of Indian student volumes that we see in the US, so we are likely teeing up for a large deferral pool this fall and potential pent-up demand for future intakes. How can universities prepare for this possibility of larger deferral pools or even another post-shock application bubble? 📃 Make the deferral process as easy as possible. Even if this is not your institution's typical process, a short-term adjustment for the current environment could make things easier not only for students but also for your own teams: --> Pull applications forward rather than making students reapply. If your policies or processes technically require a student to submit a new application, look into at least bringing over supporting documents from their old apps to their new ones. --> Issue new I-20s proactively as soon as a deferral is approved rather than making students take the same steps all over again. 💲 Ask for a nominal deposit to ensure that students requesting a deferral have a genuine interest in staying in your pipeline. However, the deposit should be refundable in the event of a visa denial or inability to obtain an appointment slot. 🎉 Keep deferred students engaged by sharing your visa success rates and career outcomes. Share success stories of both students and alumni to keep their interest and excitement high. ☑️ If a bubble of pent-up demand is coming, consider allowing students to list a second major or program as a back-up option on their application. We have several university partners who already do this and automatically evaluate the application for the second option, allowing them another opportunity to offer admission to the student if the first-choice program is not available. What other best practices are out there that I missed?

Strategic Sports Event Management: An International Approach Summary 1. The Sports Events Industry • Traces the historical evolution of sports events from ancient Greece to modern mega-events like the Olympics. • Sports events are presented as societal cornerstones, influencing economics, politics, media, and technology. • Defines the scale and structure of events, from local competitions to international spectacles. • Differentiates event types: hallmark, mega, major, and minor, and outlines key stakeholders including participants, officials, media, VIPs, sponsors, spectators, and governing bodies. 2. Event Organizations and Ownership • Categorizes event owners and organizers. • Emphasizes multi-stakeholder collaboration • Discusses the influence of global bodies 3. The Strategic Event Planning Process • Introduces a nine-stage iterative event planning model: 1. Event concept and feasibility 2. Strategic and operational planning 3. Financial modeling 4. Marketing and communications 5. Sponsorship and partnerships 6. Implementation and logistics 7. Monitoring and control 8. Event delivery 9. Post-event evaluation 4. Impacts and Legacies • Events leave multi-dimensional legacies: • Physical • Economic • Social • Cultural • Environmental • Case studies 5. Financial Planning and Revenue Management • Covers event feasibility, budgeting, forecasting, financial risk management, and control. • Encourages the use of contingency funds and financial monitoring tools l • Describes revenue sources 6. Bidding for Events • Explains the strategic importance of bidding for events 7. Marketing and Communications • Advocates for Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) to ensure a unified message across platforms. • Marketing strategy is grounded in: • SWOT and PEST • Market segmentation • Brand alignment • Explores tools: advertising, PR, personal selling, social media • Recognizes the power of digital and interactive platforms to build communities before, during, and after the event. 8. Sponsorship and Partnerships • Provides detailed models for building sponsorship programs: • Solus • Tiered • Flat rate • Teaches how to evaluate sponsorship value using metrics like equivalent advertising cost (EAC) and media impressions. • Warns against ambush marketing and discusses ethical challenges. • Demonstrates how sponsors must align with the event’s values and audience for a win-win. 9. Research, Evaluation, and Knowledge Transfer • Stresses pre-event, mid-event, and post-event research for effective planning and legacy measurement. • Tools like impact analysis, performance indicators (PIs), and multiplier analysis are vital. • Introduces IOC’s Transfer of Olympic Knowledge (TOK) initiative