CIVIL SOCIETY: 269 PRACTICES
InfinityGreece is a social enterprise based in Thessaloniki that helps young people acquire know-how and develop digital, media and business skills suitable for the job market.
Our vision is for young people to be creatively effective, which is achieved through projects and programs of education, mobility and volunteering.
The volunteer program of the organization has been awarded by the Hellenic Responsible Business Awards, while it annually hosts over 170 young people.
Our main goal through this initiative was to create a reference point for young people who wishing to seek their professional vocation and to make an impact on the community of communication professionals by promoting solidarity and a sense of community.
In particular, our aim was to strengthen the community of marketing professionals and support young people who are trying to take their first steps in the industry and are looking for their professional orientation. This goal came about after we observed during our years of operation that there were individuals eager to learn more about digital media and content creation, but lacked the information needed to start a career in marketing and the communications field in general. Also, even universities in science and technology fields do not adequately support the enhancement of digital skills and do not provide enough stimulus related to these skills and their use in the creative industries.
Furthermore, we expected through the project to showcase professionals with significant work who will serve as healthy role models for the new generation of professionals, not to impose their attitude on the old, but to give their wisdom to the young people who come with drive, ideas and energy for the next step. The interviews conducted with the 10 marketers were structured in a way that "timeless", not referring only to current trends, but stepping on the solid foundations of marketing and with the main concern to offer years of knowledge and experience to the new generation that needs it.
What we wanted to achieve through this project is to transfer the corresponding experience on a digital level, on a platform that will include interviews with media and marketing professionals where even more young people from any part of Greece will have free access on demand to the content without any limitation.
Finally, through "New (Inter)View" we want to further promote lifelong learning and methods for the personal development of young people, as well as to set an example of solidarity and mutual support between professionals and young people in their learning journey.
This initiative is addressed to every person who has access to the Internet as they can watch the video interviews on demand on the free platform we created, as well as on Youtube. In particular, we wanted to help primarily young people with fewer opportunities, who are far from urban centres or do not have the resources to take part in additional activities, to discover the media and to understand if media and marketing are fields in which they really want to be engaged in the future and, if so, under what conditions.
The implementation of the initiative lasted 9 months and is divided into 4 phases:
1. Preparation (1 month)
2. Content creation & Platform setup (5 months).
3. Dissemination (2 months)
4. Closing (1)
The platform on which the project information and video interviews are posted remains online, giving the initiative a permanent and ongoing character.
InfinityGreece is a youth organization that has been active in Thessaloniki since 2014. Our goal is to help young people develop soft & hard skills in digital media. One of the most important reasons why we were founded and continue our operation until today, is that we truly believe in young people, their potential and the opportunities that should be given to them, sometimes even more than themselves.
We have noticed that young people are not aware of the opportunities that they can pursue while at the same time they do not receive enough stimulation from the environments in which they operate. As a result, they become disoriented and find it difficult to define their needs and future personal and professional goals.
As a organisation involved in media, we have built our volunteer programme around experiences that contribute to this direction, meaning the personal development and professional orientation of the participants. We feel a responsibility to further support future professionals with stimuli to discover the subjects that really suit them and bring greater impact to the local community.
In this context we brought participants in contact with market professionals through educational activities. What we wanted to achieve through this project is to transfer the corresponding experience on a digital level, on a platform that will include interviews with media and marketing professionals where even more young people from any part of Greece will have free on-demand access to the content without any limitation. So we gave the opportunity to even more young people to get stimulated by existing professionals and to get to know in more depth the field they want to pursue as professionals.
We have therefore created a platform ( New (Inter)view ) with supporting material for young people discovering marketing, which can be visited and watched on demand for free. The key element of the platform is video interviews with industry professionals during which the interviewees share tips from their experience, their careers and stories designed to inspire and guide potential industry professionals.
Through the platform, users are still encouraged to network with the speakers on social media where many more conversations can be developed. We want the videos to act as a reference point for those who want to start their engagement with the related industry but don't know where. This information can be accessed at any time.
Finally, the set-up as well as the implementation of the project (questions, video production, editing, press releases, etc.) was carried out by people from our volunteer community, which multiplied the value of the initiative. Our young people had the opportunity to practice in real working environments and to acquire practical, collaborative and organizational skills.
The results of the initiative were twofold, for the people involved in the production and implementation and for the people who watch the produced videos.
Starting with the individuals involved in the implementation, they developed skills through their friction and daily collaboration. More specifically:
Personal, social and learning to learn competence: participants in this project developed crisis management skills, learned to work constructively with each other and to cope with difficulties. At the same time, they practised managing a project from start to finish.
Citizenship competence: In this way, they developed social skills and learned to communicate more effectively with their fellow citizens, developing a sense of social responsibility and methodologies for solving common issues collectively.
Entrepreneurship competence: from idea to practice! The participants experienced the idea of the project being put into practice with their own help. They strengthened their critical thinking, while receiving stimuli that will help them both to improve their individual image and to gain more entrepreneurial knowledge. The contact with the interviewees really helps them
participants to gain a good insight into the profession and the challenges of an industry that
dealing with all kinds of businesses on a daily basis.
Digital competence: At the same time, they used digital project management tools such as asana and google drive, further developing their digital skills.
As for people who watch the videos remotely, they are equally growing by gaining stimuli that will help them to better structure their priorities in the labour market. They have the opportunity to receive information from established people in the field, to learn from their personal experience and to receive useful advice both for their first steps and for their professional careers.
Even those who are mere spectators of the project without interacting with the management team are familiarized with the remote tools and social media communication, taking advantage of the opportunities that the modern era provides for the development of ideas and synergies at a distance between any young people without physical limitations.
Finally, the "New (Inter)View" is housed in a brand new website where you can find all the speakers, their backgrounds, indicative contact details and interview FAQs. Visitors will be able to watch interviews around their subject, share what they saw with their friends on social media and look for more information about the guests and the companies they work for.
So far, since the platform was launched (April 2023) the videos have attracted over 1,500 views.
The video recording of the interviews took place at SpaceLab, an event space located in Thessaloniki.
It is an initiative co-funded by the Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation under the European Solidarity Corps programme, while it was designed and implemented entirely by InfinityGreece.
The initiative has a non-profit character and was implemented by 19 volunteers with the support of the organization's employees.
This initiative has strengthened our organization's relationship with the volunteer community, as it was another opportunity for cooperation and team building between us.
It also contributed to the visibility and opportunities to promote our social work to people from all over Greece and to develop contacts with professionals and stakeholders in the field.
