Showing what mentoring changes
The Cercle Belge des Femmes de l’Immobilier runs a mentoring programme that pairs experienced women in property with younger colleagues.
What happens between a mentor and her mentee is hard to explain in a brochure. The simplest thing was to let them talk about it.
What I brought
Before filming, I took the time to talk the programme through with the Cercle and understand what it wanted to get across. I kept to a few simple questions, the same for every pair.
On the evening, I set up a small set in the atrium. Most people aren’t used to being filmed, so my job is mainly to put them at ease. After a few sentences, they forget the camera.
In the edit, it became a series of short videos with English subtitles. The first one gives the floor to two pairs.
What the videos make possible
The Cercle now has four testimony videos and the aftermovie of the evening. It can share them on social media, use them to launch the next edition or thank its partners.
And it’s the participants who do the talking. When one of them says the programme simply has to run again, no brochure can top that.
What it means for your programme
For a programme, a network or a community, the most convincing voices are the people who live it. An evening when everyone is in the same room is often enough, a few minutes each, with no separate shoot to organise. And think about subtitles, a lot of video is watched with the sound off.
Got a project like this? Write me a few lines about it.