Participant Experience - Rosie’s NextGen Showcase Story

Written by Rosie Willoughby, NextGen Showcase 2022/23 Alum, BSc Media & Communications Student at University of Surrey. She shares her experience of the program for prospective participants.

Applications for NextGen Showcase 2023/24 close on the 7th of June at 11:59pm British Summer Time. 

Rosie with some of her Theme5 Team Members: Dan Wright, Mentor Leroy Koevoets & Matt Georgel, as they presented their Blue-Sky Concept Package at IAAPA Expo Europe, September 2022

“Over the past year I was lucky enough to get involved as a participant of the NextGen Showcase. It has completely changed my life. From making new friends, building my confidence and meeting people in the industry, it has absolutely transformed how I look at getting involved with themed entertainment.

Let me take you through what it entailed, what I learned, the highlights, and advice for future participants.

It started with applying: sending in an application with a cover letter. When I was notified I got in, I was excited but apprehensive. I was worried because I had no experience – but that is the point! You learn as you go. We had introductory zoom sessions and were put into teams in June and July. We began with the blue sky phase. Responding to the Client Brief, we developed three ideas between July and September. This culminated with the showcase at the IAAPA expo in London in September. It was a thrill to present our designs to industry professionals, mentors and other participants. After this, we narrowed down to one concept, and spent October to January in the concept design phase. Here, we developed story, art, a masterplan and scenic details. After this, we moved onto the schematic design phase. This was the most detailed section – where you put together documents that would allow the concept to come to life: the technical narrative, financial sheet, per-scene decisions on materials, props, music and narrative, and the final masterplan. 

At the end of each phase, we were able to present our developments to other participants and the client team, who provided brilliant feedback that we could work on. 

You learn about a wide variety of topics throughout the program. Weekly education sessions were invaluable, as we heard from guests spanning the industry on a variety of subjects, from creative and technical aspects of design, all the way to operation. This included speakers from Walt Disney Imagineering, Universal Creative and Aardman, among many more. The guests and mentors were extremely generous with their time to give presentations and answer questions.

I’ve gone from zero knowledge about how to get into the themed entertainment industry, to having connections, friends and knowledge in less than a year. In addition to education sessions, your teamwork allows you to collaborate across different elements of the design process based on what you’re interested in. You pick up new information and skills, and are inspired to learn more.

We were also able to attend exclusive events. These were highlights of my experience: meeting other participants, and having amazing experiences at different locations.

NextGen Showcase @ Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, November 2022

This year, I took trips to Gravity Wandsworth, Hyde Park Winter Wonderland and Efteling. At all of these, we were fortunate enough to have talks from people involved with the design, production or management of these spaces. It was a brilliant way to meet the other members of the team, and connect with new people. Other events were held at Toverland, Simworx and Europa-Park.

Another highlight was the showcase at IAAPA Expo Europe, in London. It was the first major event where we could meet members of our team in person, and present our ideas to Expo attendees. Once again, people were generous with their time, insightful questions and feedback. It was an unforgettable experience.

The project is what you make of it. The events were fun, but day-to-day you will be interacting with your team, developing your concepts. It’s a challenge to work with people remotely across countries, on a fairly demanding project, for nearly a full year. It’s a big time commitment - however, it’s totally fine if you have to miss some sessions, or pull back from the project for a couple of weeks. You just need to make sure that the team is able to keep going until you get back. Throughout our project, we had people in our team move countries and change jobs: life doesn’t stop during the Showcase. My biggest recommendation is to try and establish balance and organisation from the beginning.

Set aside regular time each week where you work on the project – try to attend as many education sessions as you can, have regular catch-ups with your team over video call or messages, and take full advantage of having mentors who are able to help you with your work. I found it helpful that our team established all of our roles from the beginning. They will adapt over the course of the year, but it’s a great place to start. In addition, taking note of people’s responsibilities at the start of each phase is essential – that way everyone knows what they need to work on, and who they can turn to.

These are fairly standard pieces of working advice, but the most important thing is not to doubt yourself. This is most people’s first experience within the industry. Try to get to as many events as you can: you’ll make friends and learn new things. Be yourself, be open and social, and everything will fall into place.  

I wish I could be in your shoes and do this all over again. There is no experience I could recommend more than this: to take your first steps into the industry with such an inclusive, accessible and kind community. NextGen Showcase has genuinely changed my life and I’m so grateful to the management team; Laura, Em, Katie, Lars and Ryan-Sam for putting it together.”

Applications for NextGen Showcase 2023/24 close on the 7th of June at 11:59pm British Summer Time. 

Apply here: nextgenshowcase.com/apply

Written by Rosie Willoughby, NextGen Showcase 2022/23 Alum, BSc Media & Communications Student at University of Surrey. 

Connect with Rosie on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosie-willoughby-603b5b184