Mike Mayes won’t be giving up his office chair just yet after being re-elected to serve as Vice President Media and Communications at De Montfort Students’ Union for another year. We caught up with him to find out what he’s been doing and what’s next for the De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) Media Production BSc (Hons) graduate.
Trying to keep a secret is a difficult task around the role of Vice President Media and Communications at De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU). Everything going on at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) will cross the person in the role at some point as it’s their job to facilitate the communication of strategy, initiatives, events and developments across the institution that are in the student interest.
Mike Mayes has had a busy year after adopting a move to the new DSU in the Campus Centre, globetrotting with #DMUglobal to New York and Berlin, managing the multi award-winning student media group Demon Media, plus the small matter of winning his second election campaign.
After a nerve-wracking final round of voting in the election which saw the Media Production BSc (Hons) graduate begin his first spell at the helm, a tense results announcement in March 2017 saw him secure his second spell in the role. In doing so, he becomes only the second executive officer to hold the Media and Communications position for two consecutive years.
Also maintaining their position in office is Ahtesham Mahmood despite a switch from the Vice President Student Activities role to President.
Mike is confident that his and Ahtesham’s experience will help the three new incoming officers. He said: “I’ve learned a lot in my year on the executive and I want to work with the new officers to develop them and give them confidence to achieve their ambitions while in office.
“Together we represent the student body at the upmost levels across the entire university and we need to work as a cohesive team to achieve everything we’ve set out to do and have a real impact.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my first year in office and I am very confident that I can achieve even more with my approach this time around.”
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One third of Mike’s role focuses on the management of Demon Media and under his leadership this year they have succeeded in being nationally recognised.
In April they welcomed huge industry names to Leicester such as Greg James and Mistajam for the Student Radio Association (SRA) annual conference.
Demon FM were nominated for six I Love Student Radio Awards and Demon TV blew rivals out of the water to clinch four awards and a highly commended at the National Student Television Association (NaSTA) Awards.
Mike said: “I’ve been incredibly inspired by the work of Demon Media this year, everyone was has worked their socks off and have been truly brilliant.
“I’ve had the opportunity to see many of those I’ve worked with this week graduate and I’ve been there to support them.
“Graduations have been a great occasion for me to see them all collect their certificates which they’ve worked so hard to achieve.
“This year I plan to continue to support them to the best of my ability. They are incredibly self-motivated and have achieved great things and I am I am sure they will continue to do so.”
Aside from Demon Media, the role is so much more than that. It is about influencing positive change as an education officer also whilst fulfilling the role as a representative on faculty boards and the union’s trustee board too.
Mike said: “I want to continue to push for cheaper printing for students, it’s already happening, but there is still more to be done.
“I also want to inform students on a day to day basis about what we do here at DSU and engage with everyone as much as possible.
“I aim to continue to help students get paid work and employment in creative fields and I want to develop my contacts too to link students with potential future employers.”
It’s all happening at DSU and Mike falls right at the heart of all of it.
Follow Mike’s time in office on the DSU website and get touch with him on Twitter.
READ MORE: For more on what Mike will be up to over the next year, visit DSU’s introduction to their new officers.
Posted on Wednesday 26 July 2017