Initially I had very little knowledge on what a conference entailed and this made the process of training to be a member of the BCUR Nottingham support team even more exciting as it was a completely new experience to me.
I applied after researching about the British Conference of Undergraduate Research and I immediately became interested due to the vast amount of Universities that participate in the conference. I thought it would be a great opportunity to gain experience on what to expect in a conference and to have the opportunity to decide whether I would be interested in participating as a delegate in the future.
I am particularly excited to represent the University of Nottingham (even if it is in the background!) and make this year’s conference run as smoothly as possible.
Secretly, at this stage, I’m also extremely excited about the customised support team polo shirts, which I plan to wear to the gym post conference (Don’t judge me…).
The training sessions have been very informative so far as they have not only allowed us to prepare for the conference but they have also focused on our own employability skills. This is the case particularly in the third training session which focused on improving our CV’s. It was great to listen to feedback from both the staff on the support team and also my fellow team members. Before the session even started I realised that my CV looked very dull and boring in comparison to the layout of the others, so even before anyone gave me feedback I’d already had amendments to make. I guess the biggest thing I learnt from that session was my preconception of my CV and the fact that it wasn’t as amazing as I had believed, which usually occurs with most of the work I write (potentially including this blog entry). This session helped me learn to be less defensive with my own work and to analyse it in an unbiased perspective, which I think is important for the conference if I am given the task to chair.
The second training session was heavily focused on the equipment we will be using on the day of the conference, which included the control panel in the lecture rooms and recording facilities. In order to learn how to use the equipment we were asked to prepare a small speech on work we are currently doing on our course and to present it, whilst being recorded. Prior to the session I was extremely nervous to present as I didn’t know what to say and I’m prone to embarrassing myself on a regular basis. I realised that if I was feeling nervous in that 2 minute practice speech in front of around 20 people, the delegates must be feeling exactly the same, if not worse, having to speak for 15 minutes in front of strangers. At that moment I realised that the biggest support I could offer is my help and assistance in order to act as a calming presence giving the delegates nothing else to worry about apart from their own presentations.
This leads on to my main concern at this stage, which is the possibility of any technical faults as they cannot be anticipated before the conference and I think if any technical faults did occur it would make the delegates even more nervous than they may already be. However in the final training session it was reassuring to receive emergency numbers in case of any faults that we were unable to deal with which may occur.
During this training session we also received a personalised rota with general tasks of the support team along with a list of our personal tasks. I was extremely excited to be appointed the task of chair and deputy chair for two sessions within the conference as I believe it is an invaluable experience that I doubt id be subject to again. It will also help strengthen many vital skills needed after University, such as analytical skill and organisational skill. This is particularly important as one of our duties is to evaluate the presentations of the speakers we are subject to in the sessions, despite potentially not having an academic understanding on the topics presented. Thus it is important to be able to evaluate a speaker on their ability to present rather than solely on the content of their presentation.
During the final training session we were given a list of the delegates in our sittings and the topics they will be presenting. Before this, I expected there to be quite a few different topics, however after reading some of the titles I am quite shocked at the vast variety of genres and topics people have chosen for their presentation. I am now a lot more interested and excited to listen to the topics in depth from the delegates in my sessions.
Finally we were also informed of all the last minute details to the conference and given a basic overview of the itineraries on both the 14th and 15th of April. I find it especially strange to see how much work and effort goes into things that I would have usually never have thought about, such as name badges and goody bags.
I look forward to welcoming the delegates from other universities at the quiz night on the Sunday before the conference along with welcoming lots of different delegates and visitors on both days of the conference (Monday 14th & Tuesday 15th). I am expecting it to be a busy couple of days and an experience I’m sure I will thoroughly enjoy and remember. Good luck to all participating and you can find me and other members of the support team in our eye-catchingly blue polo shirts.
Esen Esengul
bcur14nottingham 