Youth Jam: Not Just Another Leadership Workshop
“Dear Nestle,..”
Sound compelling? Most of us can only dream of
being able to send an email directly to a big-shot company like Nestle. But
that is not how it is done. Jazz Tan, a speaker at last Wednesday’s (25 March)
Youth Jam Workshop in TCSH, and founder of YouthsToday.com, a sponsorship and
event matching platform, has had plenty of experience dealing with aspiring
young founders who squander their sponsorship prospects by sending a simple mass
email. In this case, the email was mistakenly sent to Tan’s company, which
rejected their sponsorship plea for obvious reasons.
Tan is 25. She has all the enthusiasm of a 17
year old and a knowledge of advertising comparable to that of most veterans in the
field. When she awkwardly adjusts the tall Chatime poster in front of the
podium while announcing its sponsorship of her workshop, it is clear that she
possesses a self-awareness that all young people can all relate to. Yet, when
speaking to the crowd of 16-19 year old college students, she commanded
attention like any other experienced CEO. Club presidents, student council
members, youth event organizers, we were all there to know her secrets.
We are part of an ever-evolving generation
that wants to create our own businesses, drop out of school to create viral
apps, organize fundraisers for pertinent issues, and engage our communities in
the change that we want to create. However, we still have to play by the
adults’ rules. We are still kids who rely on our parents to fund our lunch, or
in this case, our school projects.
In regards to this, Tan’s message was simply
this, know the rules, play the game. Among her feats of entrepreneurship
includes organizing an augmented reality race with 1400 participants at zero
cost. None. Nil. Nada.
The key is sponsorship--the main topic of the
workshop. Remember that mass email you wanted to send to those 100 companies
among which you hoped at least 3 would reply? Don’t do that. Your email should
address a specific person in the company who is in charge of the company’s
sponsorship deals, or even their CSR director. Another mistake that young
founders often make is underestimating the relevance or reach of their event,
therefore not presenting a desirable image to potential sponsors. What benefits
can you bring to companies? Something as simple as a ‘concept tie-in’, like how
your youth conference aligns with Maybank’s company values, would be a viable
reason for Maybank to sponsor your event.
“Say, you want to bring 200 people to the
moon. Impossible, right? How about if we built a moon here? How much manpower
would you need? 10K, 10 people per team and 1000 teams?” This is where the
workshop stops itself from being just another soporific leadership workshop
that a bunch of adults in administrative jobs decided to impose on college
students. It is not about personal development or being a good team player, it
is about devising a feasible strategy to do whatever the heck you want. That’s
what appeals to young people like me, and that is really what is going to spur
innovation from the youth to bring greater social and economic change to our
country.
Tan has been running her on-going annual
event, Youth Jam for 6 years now. True to its objective of promoting entrepreneurship
and social awareness among the youth, the event bridges young leaders with
mentors, brands, NGOs and government agencies every year.
Her latest venture includes inviting Mark
Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, to Malaysia to attend the ASEAN Chairmanship
program this year. She calls on all youth leaders and companies to submit a
total of 100,000 videos addressed to Mr. Zuckerberg. You could be a company, a
club president, or an interested individual.
She has already partnered up with 10 ASEAN
countries. There lies the most interesting of Tan’s strategies: “We go for the
coolest kids in town.” (Speaking of which, I could not help but flip my hair)
Besides the logistical challenges, the real impetus behind successful projects
is the type of people on your side. Which famous person is supporting you?
Which newspapers are talking about you? Which trends are your event relevant
to? The coolest kids are not just the ones with the latest phones, the crass
friends. They are the class presidents, the popular websites, the CEOs, and the
leaders of countries. Even the founder of Chatime has sent a video.
Now doesn’t that make you want to start a
kickass project of your own?
Written by
Chua Zi
Member of Writing Department
TCSH Editorial Board
