Throughout my 60 hours of volunteering over the past few months, I’ve gained valuable insight, skills, and advice in marketing, video production and professional environments in general.

One of the core things I’ve picked up on over these few months is what networking can look like in practice, rather than just in theory. I’d previously been told repeatedly that networking was important, but it's only been since taking on these volunteering roles that I’ve seen how it's used. At Repair Cafe Gosport, I’ve gotten to talk to many other volunteers and get advice on whom to connect with and how. Keith (Repair Cafe Gosport Chair) even helped to connect me to someone in the video production industry to give us a chance to chat.

Something more specific I’ve gotten experience within both roles is how to use Facebook for marketing. Southsea Cinema and Repair Cafe Gosport use Facebook heavily to increase their social media traction, which I didn’t have much experience with. I’ve now learnt more about using Facebook Events for advertising and am slowly learning to use Meta’s Business Suite for cross-posting on Facebook and Instagram.

Another specific thing I’ve learnt is Safe Zones when creating social media content. After editing my first video for Repair Cafe Gosport, Nick (Repair Cafe Gosport Marketing Lead) mentioned that Instagram’s overlays would cover the text, and so told me to look into Safe Zones, which are the areas of videos that icons and overlays won’t cover. Since then, I’ve considered these to ensure all my content is optimised correctly.

Due to all 60 hours of my professional experience being in volunteering, the environments I’ve been in have been much more casual than usual, which I’d like to see the more professional side of soon. In the case of Repair Café Gosport, this casual nature has been very beneficial as a volunteer, but it doesn’t provide an accurate insight into paid opportunities. At Southsea Cinema, this less organised environment was often stressful as many tasks needed doing and they didn’t always have set people assigned to them, leading to missed tasks and miscommunication. However, this chaotic environment did emphasise the importance of communication in workplaces, as my continuous communication with Southsea Cinema often led to more positive outcomes than the lack of communication with other volunteers usually did.

Overall, I’ve learned much throughout my volunteering, from general networking advice to specific social media requirements, and the projects I’ve worked on will be very useful for my portfolio. I hope to build on this experience soon in paid roles with more professional environments, while continuing some of my volunteering responsibilities at Repair Café Gosport and Southsea Cinema, where possible.