Sharjah Media City (Shams) says that it is taking a leading role in empowering young people in the digital age with its programme of media workshops, the most recent of which was held August 15 and 16. Titled ‘Content Creation for Young Influencers,’ the event formed part of a series of seminars for UAE youth, with two more sessions planned for August.

The Shams’ workshop agenda commenced with a seminar on ‘Digital Content’ conducted for Sajaya Young Ladies, which was hosted on July 11 and focussed on social media content creation. The programme continues with a ‘Video Production’ workshop that takes place August 17 to 19 and concludes with ‘Presenting on Camera,’ which is being hosted from August 22 to 24.

“Nurturing and supporting talent, especially within the youth, is one of our leading strategic objectives at Shams,” said His Excellency Dr Khalid Omar Al Midfa, Chairman of Sharjah Media City. “With that in mind, we are delighted to offer a series of workshops for Sajaya Young Ladies and Sharjah Children, both organisations of which aim to empower and support young people. These specialist media seminars will allow our young innovators to hone their talent and creativity, and confidently make their mark in the world with outstanding digital content.”

“Sharjah Media City is on a mission to establish a robust and dynamic media industry in the emirate, and to that end, new media must be considered a priority – and the youth are the best equipped to lead this burgeoning industry,” H.E. Al Midfa added.

The first workshop in the programme, it was hosted in conjunction with Sajaya Young Ladies – a Sharjah-based organisation that specialises in developing the skills and talents of young ladies. Held online and led by Shams’ Media Sector Development Director Fagr Kassim Ali and Shams’ trainer Fatema Al Hammadi, the ‘Digital Content’ workshop bought together 55 girls aged 13 to 18 years.

The seminar offered attendees insight into creating content for social media in three separate categories: cooking, beauty and interior design. In the first part, participants learned how to set a plan for creating their content, drafting and developing it, photographing their culinary creations and adding their finishing touches. For the beauty portion of the workshop, attendees explored the basic knowledge they need to have and the skills they must develop to create beauty-inspired content, in addition to information regarding set design, lighting, videography and editing.

Finally, the interior design portion covered the basics of the profession and explored topics ranging from project management to understanding client briefs and budgeting, as well as editing the photographed or filmed content to optimise it for social media.

Following the success of the first two seminars, Shams’ third workshop ‘Video Production’ aims to help participants understand the various elements of video production, learn what makes a high-quality video, successfully edit film clips using digital applications, and use their mobile phones to create videos from start to finish.

The fourth and final workshop in the programme ‘Presenting on Camera’ aims to inspire confidence in participants by honing their presenting and speaking skills, body language, influencing abilities, capacity to think on their feet, and ability to handle situations quickly and professionally. The last workshop in the series will also introduce them to presentation styles and techniques based on the ‘four pointers’ scheme, all the while training them to overcome fear of public speaking and shyness in front of the camera.