Course: PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT



Title: Campus MovieFest

Length: 9:49

Synopsis: Campus MovieFest (CMF) began in the Atlanta area as a student film club. It has expanded to hold festivals at over 50 colleges and universities worldwide and is now the world’s largest student film festival. On each campus location, CMF provides student teams all the equipment, training, and technical support needed to make their own five-minute movies, for one week. In the video, several managers discuss the beginnings of the company, managerial roles, communication, challenges, and rewards.

Classroom Application: Instructors will find this video helpful when discussing the roles of management in an organization. The managers interviewed at Campus MovieFest do not categorize their duties into interpersonal roles, informational roles, and decisional roles, but it may be interesting to have students perform that task. Discussion Question 2 applies here.

This video may also be useful when discussing other management foundation topics. Discussion Question 1 covers entrepreneurship and Discussion Question 4 covers the challenges and rewards of being a manager.

Finally, the video provides an excellent discussion of organizational communication in a rapidly growing company with employees located throughout the world. Discussion Question 3 is most useful here.

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe the beginnings of Campus MovieFest as discussed by Vijay Makar in the video. Are the founders of the company entrepreneurs? Why or why not?

Answer: Makar, one of the founders of Campus MovieFest (CMF), says everything started when he and a group of fellow college students formed a film club. They never considered growing beyond a college club until they were contacted by other universities and asked to hold similar events at their locations. Makar says the founders of CMF immediately wrote a formal business plan, which won a $10,000 grant. One year after the founders graduated from college, the festival expanded to a city-wide event in Atlanta, Georgia.

Many students are likely to argue that the founders of Campus MovieFest are entrepreneurs because they identified and exploited opportunities for a new service in a new market segment.

2. Describe the many roles of the managers in the video.

Answer: In the video, coordinator Jessica Reynoso says she organizes and plans the regional and international events held throughout the year. She also handles the day-to-day interactions between the corporate partners and the employees. Abe Mohammadione, the director of production, guides the internal video productions and organizes and distributes the student content created through the CMF events. Tour manager Aaron Azpiazu communicates with university contacts, arranges locations for festivals, strategizes promotions, and plans the staff’s travel accommodations.

3. What forms of communication are used by the Campus MovieFest staff? How is communication different now than it was when the company was formed?

Answer: The Campus MovieFest staff communicates via weekly staff conference calls, email, and instant messaging. They use Google Docs to coordinate all data and to avoid emailing files back and forth.

According to the managers in the video, the company has seen its biggest changes in communication methods. The company started with a core team of five or six people who were in close proximity and could communicate informally and quickly. Now, there are employees all over the world at any given time, so a good deal of communication has had to become more formal with regularly scheduled conference calls.

4. What do the managers say are the rewards and challenges of their jobs?

Answer: According to the managers interviewed for the video, they are challenged by the “long-term, endurance-based” travel. While on location, employees spend every waking hour together for weeks at a time. Because the organization is so small, some managers believe they do the work of two people.

Managers say they are rewarded by their interactions with students, the work the students create, and the reaction of the crowds who view the films. They say the company is on a good path for growth and change and that the employees work very well together. Managers say they would not change a thing about the company.

Quiz:

1. In minutes, how long is the movie a student team makes using a Campus MovieFest event?

a. 2 minutes

b. 5 minutes

c. 60 minutes

d. 90 minutes

Answer: b

Explanation: On each campus location, Campus MovieFestOn provides student teams all the equipment, training, and technical support needed to make their own five-minute movies in one week.

2. How long do student teams have to create their movie for Campus MovieFest?

a. one day

b. two days

c. one week

d. two weeks

Answer: c

Explanation: On each campus location, Campus MovieFestOn provides student teams all the equipment, training, and technical support needed to make their own five-minute movies in one week.

3. What is the name of the parent organization that plans Campus MovieFest events?

a. Ideas United

b. Campuses United

c. IdeaFest

d. Emory University

Answer: a

Explanation: According to coordinator Jessica Reynoso in the video, Ideas United is the parent company that plans Campus MovieFest events.

4. What happened after the Campus MovieFest founders wrote their formal business plan?

a. They disbanded and a new group of company leaders formed.

b. They won a $10,000 grant.

c. They hired a staff of 75 people.

d. They moved out of the Atlanta market.

Answer: b

Explanation: In the video, Vinjay Makar says, as soon as the idea for Campus MovieFest was formed, the founders wrote a formal business plan, which won a $10,000 grant.

5. Which of the following was NOT mentioned as a method of communication frequently used by the Campus MovieFest staff?

a. conference calls

b. emails

c. instant messages

d. business memos

Answer: d

Explanation: The Campus MovieFest staff communicates via weekly staff conference calls, email, and instant messaging. They use Google Docs to coordinate all data and to avoid emailing files back and forth.

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