Preparing for the Grad Jobs Fair

Don't you just love it when you come up with the idea of throwing a surprise party for your bff (best friend forever) or planning a party with your friends?  At first, is that great feeling of excitement that you are going to be putting it all together, all your friends are going to be there, your bff knows nothing about it and no matter what happens the party will be a success. Well, that's probably how you get your first experience in events management, before even entering high school and discussing with your parents what you wanna do for the rest of your life.  Throwing a surprise party at age 12 is probably a little bit different with being 22 and organising a major event for a big organisation.  The feeling and structure might be the same, for example demonstrating the idea, telling everyone about it, planning who is coming, sending invitations, ordering catering and executing the event.  But it is that simple that when you are 12 you don't really think that something might go wrong, don't have a 5 page bulleted point Action List and the event doesn't take up to 6 months to plan.  

Am i loving it? Yes, a challenge is always welcomed in my life and events are always challenging !

My Big Event, the Grad Jobs Fair, is in 2 weeks !  What goes on in my mind atm? 

 

I need to create the poster, oh wait before i do that i need to find the sponsors. 

Once you find the sponsors you can proceed with printing your promotional material.  This year our main sponsor will be Cummins ! 

I need to do the floor plan, oh wait before i do that i need to: make sure i know who is coming, know how many people are coming and order catering, then create a catering area.  

Do not assume that it is easy to do the floor plan.  Companies cannot just simply be placed in a random order.  Companies who have high stands/boards need to be placed in a certain area of the room where the ceiling is high enough, oh wait some companies do not know what their board height is yet! Well you cannot wait or assume, so the ones who do not know just go in the high ceiling area. Also you need to think about companies who need plugs, internet and the most important, company competitors.  It is silly to place competitors next to each other.  

Marketing:  So you want to market the event?  

There are hundreds of ways you can market an event but first you need to know all the laws and Uni regulations regarding social media, flyers, posters etc.  Before you start with marketing, make sure you know who is the event for and why is it for them?  Think about demographics, know your target market.  For example in my case the target market is University of Huddersfield students who will be graduating this year, or have graduated already.  There's no point advertising the event to my 50 year old neighbour or my aunt who lives in London.  So i now know the event is for students.  How do i get their attention?  That's where my life starts to get busy.  Make sure that staff know about the event so they advise their students in class or by emails asking them to attend.  Print posters and send out to each School in the University.  Facebook helps a lot.  Display power point slides on plasma screens around campus, put it on our careers 

website, University website, flyers and the list goes on.....  

Jaguar Land Rover will be displaying a car once again !  Watch out for one of their cars on campus!

So you want to be an Events Manager?

My First Event...

The reason i haven't been blogging lately is because i found out, for the first time in my life, what the word "BUSY" means.  So if there is one thing i've learnt during placement, it is that 37 hours a week is not enough for someone who wants to be an Events Manager. My summer and new term have been crazy, especially when the dates of the events come close.  I was involved with the promotion of our JobShop on tour and  JobShop Clinic weekly, attending team meetings, presentations, attending business events such as the Kirklees Business Conference and the Yorkshire Employer of the Year Awards and planning my events.  You need an action plan, a right time management and a fantastic team who will help you both before and after the event.  It is crazy to assume that planning an event is easy.  Once you start planning, you are faced with new challenges and problems and things that need to be done.  Am i loving it? Yes, a challenge is always welcomed in my life and events are always challenging !

As an Events Placement Student, at the Careers & Employability Service i hosted my first event, 2 weeks ago.  The Part-time Jobs and Volunteering Fair on Wednesday, 10 October 2012.  The event was held in the Atrium at the University of Huddersfield, probably the busiest venue since it's located next to the library.   The event was held  about 1 month before the Grad Jobs Fair which is on 7 November 2012 and despite being a small event, I believe it did prepare me a lot for what the next event would be like.

The Fair started at 11 am and finished at 2 pm.  The focus for the fair this year was part-time jobs and volunteering therefore all the employers who attended were promoting paid vacancies and volunteering opportunities.  We’d booked 12 organisations to attend on the day but because the event turned out very popular, there were 15 organisations on the day and some on the waiting list.

Organisations attending included G4S Events, Coral Cay Conservation, 4 Yorks, Restless Development, Kirklees Council, Lifeline Kirklees and many more.  As a student currently on my placement, I think the event went really well and we had hundreds of students attending on the day.  The organisations who attended found the event very successful and one organisation received almost 100 CVs within a few hours.

Finding Employers

With the current economic climate, getting employers to attend your event is becoming harder each year.  My aim for this year is to get more than previous years. Last year there were 32 organisations attending, and this year we've got 34 coming so far, and as every year there could be last minute bookings. 

Some of the things on my Action List atm: 

Send Emails to employers about the fair

Update the website

Create and then order promotional material (flyers, guides, posters)

Take posters around Uni, Student Accommodation and Library

Design and print evaluation forms

Make a powerpoint for employer interesting facts about their organisation

Arrange plasma screens for the event

Arrange a big projector to be at the event (making sure the color works)

Book stands

Prepare the floor plan 

Email students & staff

Compile Staff Rota 

+ Much more !!! 

Next Event: My Big Event, the Grad Jobs Fair, in 2 weeks!

Below our Twitter Badges and my wonderful team from the Careers and Employability Service, on the day of the Part-time Jobs and Volunteering Fair!