We’ve Rescued People from Boring Presentations

“We’ve rescued people from boring presentations”

It is a fact that most jobs are not fun. Indeed, the number of people who say their work is deeply boring is far from negligible. All sorts of reasons could be listed for this, but there is one outcome: it makes people suffer. For some, though, work is pure entertainment. Those in the entertainment industry, for example, enjoy themselves while entertaining others, and do their job while enjoying themselves. Of course, one should not forget that every job has troubles of its own.

There is an events company trying to create a new culture of entertainment in Turkey: M3 Works. Its founder, Erdem Genç, is a mechanical engineering graduate who has nevertheless plunged, so to speak, into a different sector altogether. Just 25 years old and a partner in three companies, Erdem sets an example for the younger generation, in my view, with his great entrepreneurial spirit. I am sure he will bring even more energy to an already lively sector.

First of all, could you introduce Erdem Genç to the readers of Başarılı Gençler?

I was born in Istanbul in 1983. I am a graduate of Yıldız Technical University’s Mechanical Engineering department, and I am also finishing Public Relations at Anadolu University’s Open Education Faculty this year. I am a partner in M3 Works, a corporate events company. I sing in the bands Derin and SoulShred, and play a little bass guitar and a little percussion. I also have columns in DreamDergi and Alternatif Gazetesi. I am someone who is happy with his life, has a great many dreams, some of them already realised, and is still at the very start of the road.

Where did the idea of founding M3 Works come from? What are you trying to do? Could you tell us a little about your company?

After organising my first event, my high school graduation ball, I headed straight for the university music club. I played a very active part in founding the YTÜ Rock Club and gained experience in organising events. Later I thought of doing this for myself, and I started organising commercial concerts.

I also had a knack for building websites. I had previously worked with a few companies, either from home or part time.

One day, while selling a few things on Gittigidiyor, I designed my sales page along the lines of examples I had seen on eBay. This caught the eye of a doctor working at the Zonguldak Provincial Health Directorate, who asked whether I could build their website. For me it was like winning the lottery. Until that day I had been earning pocket money for school, perhaps a little more, and suddenly I found myself in a tender. I borrowed money from my father, bought a smart suit, a laptop and a Cross pen, and set off for Zonguldak with a friend posing as my assistant; we won the tender, and on my return I had enough capital to pay off my debts and set up the company. Then, in that same year, I lost a fair amount of money on a concert I organised featuring major acts such as Duman, Erkin Koray and Hayko Cepkin, and I concluded that I needed to turn towards corporate work. Luck was on my side too, and together with the resources, experience and ideas of my current partner, the foundations were laid for M3 Works, a specialist in motivation through teamwork.

In Turkey, human resources departments are generally not very active beyond hiring and firing. Yet in my view these departments are the lifeblood of a company, responsible for developing its most important capital: its people. In this sense, many corporate companies are aware of the need for teamwork training to develop their teams, and they take up training of this kind.

Our aim is to help all companies in Turkey, SMEs included, appreciate the importance of this kind of work, and to help them maximise the productivity of their human resources by benefiting from workshops in our training programmes such as experiential learning.

Looking at M3 Works’ event references, I see requests from prestigious companies. Why do companies come to you? What do they find with M3 Works? What sort of feedback do you get on your work?

Developing teamwork and motivation in companies through rhythm sessions has recently started to become popular. Companies’ human resources departments are coming to grasp the importance of this kind of training better and better over time. Foreign companies, which run such programmes all the time in their own countries, show greater interest, and I believe this will gradually spread to the grass roots and become a lasting practice.

Our feedback is wonderful. Think of it this way: professionals in the business world are constantly working at an intense pace and, frankly, most of them have no time, or only very limited time, for their hobbies and personal interests. By giving them small breaks in their working life, without tearing them away from it, and on the contrary by showing them the common ground between art and business, we create added value and a chance to spend quality time together. Naturally, this brings great returns. We are so confident in what we do, and we receive such positive feedback, that whenever companies allow it, we publish photographs and videos of all our work on our website, with descriptions.

Do you believe you have created a new culture of entertainment, Erdem? Since you are a first in Turkey, were you able to adapt it to Turkish culture straight away?

It is completely new and exciting! Think of it like this: we go to concerts, theatres and exhibitions to enjoy ourselves. But we are always the audience. In our projects, you are the one playing the percussion, pouring paint on the canvas, singing, standing on stage! In that case, is it possible not to enjoy it? And all the more so when you can get there not after months of work, but in fifteen minutes. When this metaphor is steered in the right direction, all your corporate messages are conveyed so effectively, directly or indirectly… There is an expression in England: “Death of PowerPoint”. We rescue people from those boring presentations and offer a brand-new path for training.

As for fitting in with Turkish people, our M3 Ritm Atölyesi (M3 Rhythm Workshop) project in particular suits us perfectly. Instruments such as the darbuka, tambourine and maracas are used. We play rhythms we have been listening to since we were babies anyway. When we work with foreign groups, we mainly use Western and Latin forms. In activities such as painting, dance and photography, too, we use material that is not unfamiliar to us. Because we do not have much time: fifteen minutes later, you need to be creating together with us. And you would not believe the results that emerge two hours later!

With your corporate workshops, I suppose you have become companies’ new therapist. Let us talk briefly about your training programmes, if you like. Can individuals apply for them, or will they be able to?

This season we are launching five projects. In the seasons ahead these will be developed and added to. M3 Ritm Atölyesi, our interactive rhythm project, is the percussion workshop I mentioned. The Company Choir is a project that aims to strengthen a team’s harmony and internal communication through singing, and from time to time special anthems are composed for the company. In the Dance Workshop we break down the communication barriers between people and dance together. The Painting Workshop is the activity in which we pour the creativity within us onto canvas together with our teammates. And finally there is our Company Show project, in which we bring all of these team training sessions together and put on one big show.

To meet individual requests, we have studios in Tünel and Kadıköy in addition to our Harbiye office. Individuals can join the groups that open at different levels from time to time.

As the M3 Ritm Atölyesi team, how do you feel about releasing an album? Or are you not keen on such a project because it does not fit the concept? What projects and goals does M3 Works have in mind for the future?

Actually, we do have a demo album. We prepared a special album called Rhythms of Istanbul for JCI (Junior Chamber International). We can also prepare albums tailored to companies’ concepts.

I can say that a dedicated album for the M3 Ritm Atölyesi percussion ensemble will be released in the coming years. We have also signed with a company for our percussion tuition DVDs, and recording for those begins soon. In the years ahead we will strengthen our position in our field by diversifying and developing our projects. We do not intend to offer services outside our area of expertise; when such requests come in, we plan to refer them to business partners we trust. Abroad, and especially in England, where we have corporate connections, teamwork practices are highly developed, and we in Turkey are still only at the beginning. After closer cooperation with the firms there, we aim to offer our services in other European countries and in the Turkic Republics. I can already tell you that some of our work in Germany, Belgium, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan has been confirmed for the coming months.

You enjoy yourself while entertaining others, and earn money while enjoying yourself. I suppose you have the most enjoyable job in the world? And yet your profession has nothing whatsoever to do with what you studied!

Actually, my goal was to be a rock star! That fits what you describe exactly. What I do now involves a lot of procedure, and not every part of it is as enjoyable as the “two hours” I mentioned. But yes, I love my job very much, and we are agreed that on the whole it is many times more enjoyable than a great many others.

In choosing my degree, my family and the subconscious pull of that famous “the doctors, the engineers we turned down” prestige weighed heavily. Deep down, what I really wanted was the conservatoire, but I could not say so out loud. Yet mechanical engineering taught me professional working life, and the music and writing I pursued for years as an amateur taught me the life of the arts, and when the two came together, M3 Works was born. So I think it is not “nothing to do with it” at all; I rolled a double six. 🙂 Let me tell you a story: we had a meeting with Arçelik and they were waiting for me in the room. As I walked in, some formulas on the flipchart caught my eye. “Ah, the second law of thermodynamics!” I began. I then explained that my degree was in mechanical engineering, and after a good chat with my fellow engineers our communication became much easier, and I won the job.

I am very curious how you would answer the criticism that Turkish youth is too fond of having fun. I ask sincerely: do we young people overdo the time we devote to entertainment?

If anything, I think we do too little. In Europe the average working week is 38.6 hours and they have more days of holiday than we do, while we work 45 hours. If a person works for 8 hours and sleeps for 8 hours, they should enjoy themselves in the remaining 8. After planned, intensive work, if there is time, I think we all deserve plenty of fun. As long as the dose is right.

So in your view, what should the dose of “fun”, a relative phenomenon, be? By 8 hours of fun, do you mean spending time however you wish? Could you expand on that a little?

Everyone’s idea of fun is different, really. Some enjoy watching films for hours, some love chatting with friends, some love dancing. And some, like me, love all of them. I see no harm in doing any of these, provided you know the dose. What I mean is this: if you drink until dawn, then at the job, the school or wherever you turn up without sleep, you will be no use to yourself or to the work you do.

As for the 8 hours of fun, it should fill the rest of your life, from the meal you eat to the book you read on the bus and the music playing on your iPod as you walk down the street. It is in our hands to turn even the tedious wait in traffic into a pleasure or an opportunity.

As someone who owns a company at a young age, what would you say to our young would-be entrepreneurs?

You have to keep striving, keep tinkering. Sustained effort always leads to something; you get a result. And the people beside you matter a great deal. Going it alone may seem attractive and easy at first. Savouring victories on your own can be enjoyable; but when you also share the defeats and support one another, you can get back up with fresh strength and carry on the fight. That is why, though it may not be my place to say so, I would recommend that you set out with good partners you can lean on with confidence, or at least that the people you work closely with are of that kind.