If it isn’t broke don’t fix it

This Saturday sees the return of the X-Factor to our screens in the UK. After many seasons of the same format this year the producers have made a range of changes including auditions now being held in front of live audiences instead of just in front of the judges to name just one.

Using the same format the X-Factor has been a hit in the UK for many years now but this is the first time the producers have played with the format. I’m not sure if this is because they are scared about viewing figures or people just want to make change for change sake.

If something is successful or you are successful you should keep doing things the same way as yes a change could make you even better but there is a risk if you change things up for no reason that it could make you less successful. If you are going to make changes there should be a purpose behind them and they should be well thought out.

It is hard in today’s world to find a winning formula and with things like TV programmes the viewers obviously like the programme for a reason and if you change it you may alienate those viewers that liked the programme before you changed it.

In a fast changing world there seems to be this atmosphere and culture of having to change to keep up with the times and for entities to keep evolving but I think it is important that we don’t go blindly in to this cycle and sometimes fight the urge to change some things.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Youth Manifesto

This week saw the launch of one of our most important projects to date the Talented Young People – Youth Manifesto.

With teen crime making daily headline news and with many people at a loss to what to do to combat it we had to step in. We could no longer sit idly by waiting for someone else to try and solve the problem we had to act. No longer could we continue to debate the rights and wrongs of government policies or national laws. The time for debating is over the time for action is now.

This week the government seems to be focusing on what to do to punish and re-educate young people carrying or using knives. We however believe prevention is what is needed as if we keep on trying to cure the problem we may never solve the problem. The point of our Youth Manifesto is to encourage, inspire and motivate young people not to carry knives with them or feel the need to carry knives. We want to equip young people with the ability to achieve great things.

Another way in which our Youth Manifesto differs from others is that it’s not just aimed at young people it is aimed at all sectors of society with sections dedicated to many different sectors. For us to change this world we need to all work together and not leave it up to one sector to do all the work as this is not a problem that can be solved by one sector alone.

It’s not policies or funding which is going to solve the problem it’s everyday people working together, taking a stand and putting in action behind their words. If we all come together we can still have a huge impact on this earth we live on. It’s now our time to put the power back in our own hands.

To find out how you can get involved with the Youth Manifesto go to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/youthmanifesto

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Does Anything Really Change?

Does anything really change? Last week it was discussed in the news whether funding for youth related projects and schemes had actually made a noticeable or quantifiable improvement to the lives of young people or not.

It is hard when you read the headlines over the weekend of murdered teenagers to actually imagine that funding is helping but how do you gauge the national and overall success of a project when you have stories like this to contend with?

No matter how much good is done the news outlets will always highlight sensational and extreme news of the minority of young people committing crime. This will in turn lead people in to thinking that this is what young people are up to across the country.

Although we all hate figures, statistics and having to measure success I think in some cases it is needed. If you as a government are going to invest millions of taxpayers pounds they have to know they are getting a return for their money. It is hard to stop extreme cases like we have seen on the weekend but what needs to be done is to make sure that these stay isolated and minority events, it is when these incidents become the norm is when we have failed. One teenager dieing is far too many but you can’t stop wanting to better or to improve things as we only lose when we stop trying

These events need to remind us that no young person is safe and we all need to be doing are all to make sure every young person leads a safe life. We can’t rely on funding or education to solve the problems we all need to take an active role within our communities to make sure we are all safe.

When every young person has the same access to funding, education and support is when we will be able to judge change properly and see real change on a national basis. Success with young people is only temporary and we can never afford to forget it. That is why we need continual funding and continual monitoring for the improvement of young lives in the UK. Just because a project has been successful for a young person and changed their life it doesn’t necessarily mean that if support was pulled away that they would continue to be a success.

It may seem like nothing changes but it is a much better world than if funding and support was to be taken away from youth projects and programmes. Just remember that just because you may be reading the same headlines every year it doesn’t mean change isn’t being made or happening.

Do you think anything is changing in regards to the success of support for youth related projects and programme? We here at Talented Young People would love to know your views and you can share them by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=457

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

MTV Think!

Welcome one and all to the latest Talented Young People Blog from yours truly.

It’s been a good but busy week down at the website. The first ever Talented Young People Podcast is going down a storm with lots of people listening to our first offering which can be listened to by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/podcasts

But this week I wanted to use the blog to talk about the new MTV Think project.

MTV in conjunction with the Think! Road safety campaign have started a competition which encourages young people to get involved in coming up with an idea for and create a Road safety TV advert. There are different themes for different age groups to work on. You can find out more information by going to:

http://www.mtv.co.uk/think

The reason I bring this up is that in the summer of last year I created my own road safety TV advert and passed all the details on to the Think! Road Safety campaign. I am very much behind the Think! Campaign as I have had many experiences of friends and close ones being involved I major accidents on the road which could have been avoided which is the same situation for many young people around the country.

Now at the time I had an idea that I thought was a brainwave. I thought to myself as many of my friends like many other young people were creating videos and posting them on youtube which involved them creating some very comical pieces why can’t we get young people making videos that help young people. With the young audience youtube attracts I also thought as a good will gesture the company behind the website could feature daily videos on it’s main page about good causes, charities and safety campaign so it could become a public service broadcaster as well as all the other things that it is.

So I borrowed a camera and made the video. I then posted it on Youtube and emailed the Think campaign about my idea and a link to my video. Whilst it was on youtube it got 63 views but no response from Think! But now many months on an idea along similar lines is out and with the backing of MTV which is so important to get the youth culture on board I’m sure this project is going to be a big hit and make a huge difference.

I’m not saying my idea or my emails to Think! Had anything to do with this project being set up but the strange thing about life is that if you go in to life wanting to make a difference and try every day to do so you never know when your actions or ideas may see results. I’m just so glad this is happening and that this project will hopefully go some way to educating and saving young lives.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com/