#GrabTheMIC Client Journey Interview
- Client: PIE / Social Enterprise
- Project: Kids Get Podcasting!
- MIC Service: Podcast Training
In this #GrabTheMIC client journey we speak to Beth Nunn, CEO & Founder at PIE, Pursuing Individual Excellence. PIE, based in Greater Manchester works with young people to get them ready for whatever the next stage of their life is. MIC delivers bespoke podcast training to the young people PIE works with in classrooms and community centre settings.
We start by asking Beth why she gets out of bed every morning…
PIE’s mission is to help young people become future-ready by developing their life skills. We work predominantly with vulnerable young people, whether struggling economically or with their mental health. All of the young people we work with face a barrier to their learning, confidence, well-being and happiness. We’re also working with older people now, including post-16’s, special needs learners, and unemployed women.
The impact on the young people’s communication skills is massive.
Why did you get MIC involved in your work at PIE?
I’m a former English teacher and I don’t have loads of digital skills. That’s why I bring in organisations like MIC. They offer skills that we don’t have in-house. I want to offer young people wider digital skills so that they have a creative outlet / experience that we can’t do.
MIC’s podcast training allows us to add another string to our bow in our offer.
Podcasts are accessible to everyone, so they’re a great way to help people become future-ready. They can inform and at the same time develop skills, confidence, opportunity and experience.
Why MIC?
I’m a massive believer in relationships and PIE instantaneously built a positive relationship with MIC, both as a team and them working with the young people. MIC are approachable and friendly with young people. That’s key, it’s what we look for, suppliers who can engage with a group of teengers as a role model and at the same time can get a session done with a group who don’t always listen!
Another thing MIC media does to such a high-quality is their personalisation. For example, even if they’re working with a different group, but it’s the same workshop they’ve delivered before, it’s always adapted for that specific group.
Certainly for small organisations like ours, to allow anyone to come in and be a part of your ‘gig’, involves a level of trust. So having a supplier like MIC who is trustworthy who always delivers a high-quality service has been really, really valuable and important to us.
What’s been the outcome of your work with MIC?
There’s been a few! One was in 2020 when MIC delivered on our Peer Mentor programme during the first lockdown. Our Year 7 mentors would usually create a workbook for the new students who are coming up to secondary school. But during lockdown we wanted to do something a bit more creatives and of course over zoom!
So MIC worked with a bunch of 12 year olds to make a podcast remotely! It was quite the challenge, but it was great! Working with MIC allowed us to do something really creative. The young people developed new skills in a world that they didn’t know anything about before. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without the partnership with MIC.
Another, was delivering podcast introduction sessions in secondary schools as part of a wider social action project that we were delivering to first years across Stockport. Then in 2021, MIC ran a six week course for us. It was still during lockdown, but at a time we could deliver to young people in a community space. In that time they developed two full podcast episodes all about Stockport, the pandemic and their community heroes!
Working with MIC has built my confidence to outsource more aspects of our training programmes. It’s made me think about how we can partner with other social enterprises. MIC’s the one we keep going back to time after time.
What’s it like working with MIC?
What’s really nice is that it’s always more like a collaboration. It’s a two-way process. Vic from MIC always checks in during the planning stages, so by the delivery I fully understand what’s going on. It also means they’re delivering something that we’re both happy with and I’m confident that we’re reaching for our desired outcomes. It’s also delivered in a relaxed, fun and positive way.
I think the young people themselves go through a journey and process when they’ve been on one of MIC’s Podcast Training programmes. You learn the basics first, then you get to go and do the do!
What’s been the impact of MIC’s Podcast Training?
What’s a huge thing for us, is to give young people the opportunity to do things that they otherwise wouldn’t experience. Especially over the pandemic when we couldn’t take them on visits to workplaces etc. Working with MIC Media has allowed us to continue to give young people those new, industry-led experiences and to develop new skills in a different way.
For the young people, MIC’s Podcast Training not only helps them to develop their awareness of podcasts, but also an understanding of how to make one themselves. The training is great for them to develop their communication skills and also their confidence.
The impact on the young people’s communication skills is massive. Just the idea of giving young people an opportunity to use their voice in a way that they wouldn’t normally have! Even if they didn’t want to pick up a microphone and speak, they worked as part of a team, they did project management, they planned questions and organised interviews, they designed the artwork on an ipad or found some new content to consume in a different way!
One of the boys who did some of the interviews in the podcast project, was shy and didn’t have the greatest of confidence. He’s now got a part-time job. He said that doing the podcast has helped him build up his confidence to speak to people and to put himself out there a little bit more.
Audio is also great when we’re working with young people because a lot of them are very conscious about image. A podcast removes that barrier. Podcasts also let you connect to someone in a completely different way, it’s personable and like you’re a part of the conversation. Audio lets young people express themselves a lot more than just images, especially when they live in a very visual, often unrealistic world full of Tik Tok, snapchat, youtube and Instagram. So it’s also developing conversational skills, which a lot of young people struggle with.
What do you love about MIC?
MIC media is really flexible and adaptable. We also align really well in terms of our values and what skills we’re trying to build in people. We have our five slices of the ‘P.I.E’ they are communication, digital, project management, community links and cultural capital. All of those link exactly into everything that MIC media offers.
I don’t think MIC media simply do podcasting training, they’re also teaching life skills.
There’s definitely a need for what MIC does. When we look at careers in the next 10 years, the kids that are in school now, they’ll be in jobs which don’t exist yet. They’ll also be jobs we have today that are going to become obsolete. Plus many jobs have a ‘robot’ risk on them. It’s more than likely creative and digital jobs will survive and thrive. This is why training in podcasting is important. We’re future proofing young people by giving them a taste of a potential career and upskilling them at the same time.
Also organisations don’t have the time to learn, teach or produce podcasts, we need MIC to do it for us!
Are you looking for podcast training for your beneficiaries, members, team or group?
Contact MIC HERE, let’s have a chat about your workshops wants and ideas!
