Flipside Programme

Working with non-profits and agency partners, I've led Beyond's participation in Flipside, a programme designed to help young people gain a foothold in the creative industries.

A few recent highlights:

1. So far, Flipside has helped 60+ young people in London further their careers and get started in the product design world
2. Participants undergo a 12-week product design bootcamp, led by Beyond and other partner agencies like UsTwo and Made by Many
3. I've hired five interns out of the programme, helping them take their first steps in a new career path.

The programme runs annually and leads a cohort of Flipsiders through twelve weeks of learning. The curriculum includes the hard skills of end-to-end product design delivered by agencies, as well as soft skills around networking, preparing a CV and portfolio, and what to expect when interviewing.

After the bootcamp, participants have the chance to present their work in a showcase with employers and agency partners, and all are given the opportunity to interview for available internships.

I led Beyond's involvement in the programme for the past two years. We were responsible for two teaching modules, Test & Iterate and Pitch & Present. In both years, I worked in a team of Beyonders from other disciplines to design and deliver the training following an overall curriculum established by Made by Many.

A few key takeaways:

1. Just because we're the professionals doesn't mean we don't get nervous—especially when teaching the pitching module, we found it was really helpful to talk about our own insecurities with public speaking to build empathy and rapport
2. For training content, alternate between presenting concepts, discussion and questions, and a tangible activity to apply. Otherwise it get really repetitive and boring for the participants
3. Check in advance to see if there are any participants with individual needs, e.g. neurodivergence, so you can prepare the space and the plan accordingly.