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Potch PM2 doing workplace experience

Want to get a taste of what Project Management is REALLY all about? Join the PM2 students as they take you on a little journey of their experience as prospective project managers.

It all started with a random idea – how to give the PM2 students workplace experience. One of the high schools in Potchefstroom has been organizing the annual Spring Festival every year for close to 30 years now. We approached them to find out if it would be possible for our PM2 students to do their workplace experience while they organized the Spring Festival – just wanted to give the students a taste of what goes into organizing such an event. Before we knew it the students got swept up in the world or organizing an event that gets visited by hundreds of people every year. They had to do marketing at the different pre-schools as well as the old age homes. They even got an Amarok from NTT Volkswagen to do marketing in the surrounding towns.

The week leading up to the Festival they started working at 08:00 until 15:00. On Thursday when the Festival started they started early and worked until late at night until Saturday when the Festival ended. Even though the hours were long and the sun was hot they enjoyed every minute of it. Now they experienced what the life of a project manager is really about – not sitting in the comfort of your aircon office and working on your PC all day. It involves running around, heavy lifting, sitting in the sun for hours, making sure everybody is where they should be,
answering hundreds of phone calls every minute and while on the phone assisting people coming in and out of the office and all the while you need to stay cool, calm and collected.