As part of my BSc Events Management degree at the University of Plymouth, I had the option to take a placement year/year in industry in my third year. I was lucky enough to find a vacancy as a Schools Liaison and Events Intern at Basingstoke College of Technology, which was about an hour from where I lived back home in Oxfordshire. I applied for the vacancy, went for an interview and (phew!) was offered the job! My year at BCoT in the Marketing, Events and Admissions team taught me an enormous amount and I was not only able to develop my event planning skills but I worked with the most fantastic team of people, I had access to multiple personal development opportunities and I really felt that I grew as a person during my time at BCoT.
I remember my first day at BCoT; I was slightly overwhelmed to say the least! My placement year kicked off at full speed and I was thrown into the deep end with planning Freshers Fair. This was immense fun! Being a university student myself, I could relate well to the college students at BCoT and what they might want to gain from an event like Freshers Fair. I ordered an inflatable gladiator duel as the weather was bright and sunny, and this was a huge hit with the students. Lots of local businesses attended, offering discounts to the students (and lots of freebees!). The whole event had a great atmosphere and it was really rewarding to see all the smiling faces throughout the day.
One of my main duties while at BCoT was to organise the applicant events on a monthly basis, and to assist with organising and delivering the three main open events for the college. The open events were very important as this was a key activity in promoting the college to prospective students. The applicant events were immersive, hands-on events where students could get a real taste for the subject they were applying to study. This also allowed the college to show off it's industry-standard facilities. My duties when organising these events ranged from ordering the catering, to booking rooms, to recruiting and managing a team of student ambassadors, to briefing staff on their duties, to welcoming guests, to setting up and packing down the events and producing reports for senior management based on data obtained from the events.
When I had been on my placement year for 6 and a half months, the pandemic hit. None of us knew what to expect, or how it was going to affect our jobs and our work. I was very fortunate that the college were able to keep me on, and I kept my job. I worked from home, remotely, for the remaining 4 months of my placement, and that in itself was an experience! My communication skills improved immensely, as I had to adapt to communicating with people online, rather than face-to-face. As a team, morale was really important, so we made sure to have regular team meetings to check in on each other, as well as lots of tea and coffee and chats! I feel very privileged to have worked with a team who all supported each other so much, and I have come to realise that this is something I value hugely - team spirit and support. Whilst working remotely, our team managed to organise its first ever virtual open event which was a great success! It was a big learning curve, as no one had ever organised such an event before but we persevered and after months of planning, the event went ahead. My duties within this project included gathering content for the subject presentations, briefing staff on their responsibilities for the event and liaising with the external company who were providing the virtual event platform we used. Working remotely helped me to develop a completely new skill set, and as a result, I can definitely say that I am good at adapting to new situations!
I really feel like I matured a lot through being on placement, and I am very grateful that I was able to do a year in industry. My time management, organisation, teamwork, adaptability and communication skills all improved significantly as a result of my experiences and these are skills which I plan to continue to develop as I progress through my final year of university.
