The time was ticking along, and I found myself running between rooms to make sure everybody was ready and had everything they needed. Everybody seemed to be all hands on and were all set up and ready before the students arrival. Strangely half the certificates I had printed had gone missing, luckily I had some spares so I cut some more up in time. I then met up with the student ambassadors.
The time flew by and was now 9.30am. It was time for myself and Joe F to go and meet the students from the mini bus. We flagged them down as they drove up the road, it was at this point that we learnt there were only 3 students…instead of the 15 which were expected. We were told a couple more were to be arriving via bus, so Joe F stayed by the bus stop to meet them and I jumped in the mini bus to direct him to the car park. It ended up only one more person arrived, so we had 4 students now. Our hearts sank a little. We quickly came up with a plan B: Instead of having three groups of five, we would just have one group who would all circulate the activities together. The student ambassadors agreed to take part also, which was a great help.
Joe F began his welcome talk, and then passed the stage into Mark who started his ice breakers. I must admit the students were very quiet and took a lot of encouraging to join in at first…whether this was because they were in fact out numbered by us which could have been somewhat intimidating. However, after some prompting and encouraging they relaxed a little. Emma D and Izzie then began their activity which proved to be quite successful. I attended for the first half to make sure all was fine, I then disappeared and went to inform the next group (multi-cam shoot) the approximate time the students will be moving on. I also went to make sure everything was ready and had everything they needed.
The time was now 10.35am and I popped back to the Newton Annexe to warn Emma and Izzie their activity needed to come to an end (which it pretty much had) and for James F to take charge and move everybody onto the next activity. This was done, although the students again needed some prompting to follow the instructions from James.
The multicam shoot went particularly well…although the students were again a little shy and quiet, I feel Josh did a really good job in talking to them and making them feel comfortable and relaxed. They were showed how to use the cameras and allocated a job role (1st, 2nd & 3rd camera operators and a director). They did two takes of the band before having to move onto the next task. Throughout the tasks we also had one of our guest speakers, Sally, with us. I spoke to her throughout the day, trying to make her also feel involved and aware of what was going on.
By 11.20am it was time to move onto the final activity, the clay-mation sequence run by Mark and Theo. I went along with the students to the activity to make them feel more comfortable, and then as soon as Mark and Theo began I left to see what preparation needed to be done for lunch. Myself, Joe F, Izzie and Emma D took some squash and biscuits from the Newton Annexe to the SU ready for when the students arrived for lunch. We also moved everybody who had left hand bags in the Newton Annexe so not to leave them alone. I then went back to meet the students and Sally from the clay-mation activity to take them onto the SU for lunch.
During lunch myself and Joe F went along to the main house to make sure everything was set up and to meet the technical support, we were supposed to be meeting the catering team and Sally there but they were a little late. This was a little annoying as it was impossible to get hold of people due to bad phone signal. At the last minute James arrived in his car with the catering and goody bags so we quickly took those up, shortly afterwards Sally arrived to set up her powerpoint. It ended up that it didn't matter too much about the slightly late start as there was only a small number of students who were relaxed and happy. We began the first guest speaker (Sally Murrant) more or less on schedule. I popped out half way through to meet the second guest speaker, Denise, in the reception. I brought her into the room, gave her a seat and offered her a drink and biscuit if she wanted.
The guest speakers were both extremely interesting for us, however maybe not so much for the College Students. When it came to asking questions the students remained quiet so we thought up some questions to ask. Afterwards I then asked Denise and Sally to sign their payment forms, thanked them for coming along. We thanked the students and handed out their goody bags and certificates.
The day was a huge learning curve, we had to think on our feet when things didn't go as to plan as we hoped, but I feel we pulled of an enjoyable Media Event for the College Students. I learnt a lot, that organisation is a huge part of an event and in making it work well. I also learnt that a good relationship has to be established with the audience in order for them to fully get everything they can out of the event.
I feel every single person was an extremely valuable member of the team and worked extremely hard to help the event run smoothly. I also think Joe Farr was an astonishingly good leader, and I don't feel he could have done a better job!
Ignoring the small hic ups…I feel the day was a success!
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