National Committee Training 2009
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National Committee Training 2009
Bright Futures pulled out all the stops to kick start yet another spectacular academic year by hosting two hugely successful National Committee Training Events for its students, corporate investors and career services…
The national team worked flat out all summer to provide its network with events that would deliver quality training and be fun at the same time. Ensuring that the events are engaging has been a massive priority for the national team because Bright Futures aims to make employability FUN!
Above: The National Team - Simon (MD), Eve (Marketing & Comms Manager) & David (New Business Development Manager)
The events were hosted at Tiger Tiger in Manchester and the latter (and significantly larger) at Digress City, London. These quirky venues added to the atmosphere of anticipation, where guests did not know what to expect for the day… and were pleasantly surprised! Each regional event was jam-packed with interactive training sessions delivered by corporate investors, mixed in with ice-breakers, networking, keynote speakers, a fantastic buffet lunch (including chunky chips) and a social to end the day.
With 28 different companies and 36 universities represented over the two events, over 120 people were able to come along. The Bright Futures corporate investors raised the bar by delivering some fantastic interactive training sessions, which introduced ‘customer touch points darts’, celebrity branding games, and an RMP sales challenge with prizes for these including; bottles of Champagne, Haribo, Celebrations, Jelly Babies, Standard Life branded highlighters and mints, whilst Nestle were offering out bottles of wine and Kit Kat Chunkys.
A move away from the typical corporate buffet lunch was a much welcomed addition to the festivities with tasty baguettes at Tiger Tiger and Digress City certainly pulled out all the stops providing chicken satay, spring rolls, potato wedges, dips and apparently ‘the best cheesy nachos’ our resident photographer ‘had ever tasted!’ With feedback like that there is no doubt that the small touches put in place by the national team to make sure that guests enjoyed themselves were noticed and greatly appreciated!
Bright Futures even introduced a famous face to the event hosted in Manchester, inviting Rachel Elnaugh (Dragon’s Den and founder of Red Letter Days) to speak to guests about her achievements, hardships and about the secrets to success in both business and life in general. Natasha from Bristol Bright Futures commented; “The best part of the day was being lectured by Rachel Elnaugh. She is a person who has had her ups and her downs and she gave a fantastically inspirational talk.”
Above: Rachel Elnaugh
At the London event, John Dore, Marketing and Communications Manager for HSBC Private Bank and ex society member from the 1990s, got everyone motivated for the day to come, spoke about the importance and benefits of networking and assisted guests in discovering their character traits using coloured shapes, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.
Muriel, a committee member for Brunel Bright Futures commented; “The event has been more than I expected. I expected lots of PowerPoint slides and not much interaction and instead I got lots of interaction and not many slides.” When asked what she’d enjoyed the most, Nishi from Birmingham Bright Futures said; “The best bit of the day has to have been the opportunity to have a go at pitching. Real practical experience.”
The fun elements to the events did not go unnoticed either as Archana from Aston Bright Futures stated that her biggest surprise “was having to dodge the Bright Futures ‘Think Cube’!”
The calibre of the new committees for 2009/10 was recognised by the corporate investors in attendance. Chris Griffiths from CIMA said; “These students here are innovative, inspiring and bright, in fact, lots of them are brighter than me!”
Joanna Anafu from Barclays added; “If we get even one application from a Bright Futures student our membership is worthwhile. They are extremely high calibre, enthusiastic and engaged and that is what we look for from our people.”
In a last ditch attempt to prove to everyone that the Bright Futures National Team embrace fun and personality, the first round of drinks were on Simon (Bright Futures MD) for a post-event social to enable everyone to get to know each other better. The Manchester social was rather tame in comparison to the London event ‘after party’. Ideas for new forms of entertainment were flowing, with inventions including Kit Kat Jenga, Pub Tiddlywinks and an over versus under 25s boat race.
...Who said gaining employability skills and networking with graduate recruiters was boring???
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