UCLan Student Wins National Events Industry Award 🏆

You’re hired! UCLan student wins 'Apprentice' style national events industry award

Joe Oakley (Left) with Easyfairs Global Brand Director Paul Macdonald

A University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) student has been crowned the winner of a national events industry competition landing a job with a global company in the process.

Final year Event Management student Joe Oakley won the top prize at the 'Eventice 2017', an 'Apprentice' style national competition open to all UK events students designed to find the very best up and coming talent in the industry. 

As the winner, Joe has been offered a job in the global sales team of international event management company Easyfairs. 

The 20 year old, from Thornton-Cleveleys, said: "It's an incredible feeling to have won and I'm not quite sure it's sunk in yet. It was an intense few days and I initially entered just to gain experience so to win is amazing and great recognition of the hard work I've put into the last three years." 

Joe was one of 17 finalists who all completed a series of tasks over three days before the overall winners were announced. The students took on a variety of tasks from creating a video of the Olympic Park to promote it to the tourist and team building market, a tou-hour Twitter takeover at International Confex to help promote the exhibitors, creating a menu for an event at The School of Work and then onto designing an exhibition stand for a client to promote themselves at an exhibition. 

The 17 finalists were narrowed down to a final 6 who then had to give a ten minute presentation in front of a packed seminar theatre and a panel of industry experts. 

Joe is no stranger to success after being part of the winning six-strong UCLan team at the 2016 Creative Disruptors Awards. The team won Best Student Event in recognition of the students' successful 'Breakout' challenge, which they organised as part of a course live events module that required students to plan, deliver and evaluate a safe and sustainable live event. 

Rod Train, BA (Hons) Event Management Course Leader, congratulated Joe. He said: "This is an amazing result and I am really proud of him. I'm pleased that Joe used all he has learnt on his degree to such a good effect in the competition. I am just so, so chuffed with what Joe has achieved." 

Liz Sinclair, Director of ESP Recruitment has been running the competition for seven years in partnership with Bluehat Group, commented: "The level of the work produced was a lot higher than would be expected of a graduate. Sometimes the students doing event management degrees don't always get to hear about all sectors of the events industry, so this competition really broadens their horizons and shows them that there are great career opportunities in sectors such as the exhibition or exhibition services sector." 

The final took place at the annual events industry conference iInternational Confex with two other finalists being offered jobs at the Bluehat Group and Identity Group. 

THE year that was! 👏

             
            Educational Excellence Through Tourism, Hospitality and Events Trips and Experiences

It has been a busy year for Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management (THE) students; isn’t it always?  The students have run live events, such as The End Game, been nominated for national industry awards, observed demonstrations and welcomed a wide range of industry speakers, including those pitching for new staff at our careers event. Of course, some of our students weren’t with us at our main campus in Preston, but were instead on a year-long placement or spending their second year at our Cyprus campus, for example Sofia Nawaz.

One of the most valued sources of course enrichment are the various trips, which run through the year.  The domestic day trips are too numerous to list here but they included a visit to The Hotel Gotham, Manchester, and tour of The Lakes District’s heritage and tourism industry. 

                 T.H.E students experiencing a street art tour and workshop in Berlin - Banksy who?

However, the overseas trips generate the most excitement. Our students have had the chance to get involved with masterclasses and cultural exchanges in Europe as well as leadership development programmes and exchanges in Cyprus and China. The most popular oversea trips are those that are aimed at the whole group.  The destinations do vary but this year our first year THE students visited Berlin, the second years visited Iceland and the final years visited Cambodia.

                                                 Students at Taproh Temple in Cambodia 

                                      Students experiencing a cultural exchange in China! 

                                                         Students layered up in Iceland! 

Our 2nd year students wrote blogs about their recent trip, here is one from Cassandra! 

Our philosophy is that you cannot teach the finer points of the visitor and experience economy without offering visits and international experiences!  We want our courses to be great educational experiences that give a real understanding of 21^st century industry and society. 

Stay Connected - Join Us! 👥

Find us on:

• Facebook - @UCLanTourismHospitalityandEvents 
• Twitter - @THE_UCLan 
• Instagram - @the_uclan
• Want to see more? Check out these: #IcelandTHE17 #BerlinTHE17 #CambodiaTHE17

Mitchell's Staying Social at UCLan

I wanted to study Event Management because of the originality of the course. I wanted to do a course that had a hands on approach and constantly tested my skills and knowledge of the industry. Upon my interview for the course I automatically got a warm welcome from the head of the course Rod Train and I made my mind up there and then that this is the course I would like to study at UCLan.

I chose to study at UCLan do to the accessibility of the university. With most universities everything is segregated, meaning that the accommodation and university buildings aren’t in close proximity to each other. This isn’t the case at UCLan, my halls of residence was only a 5 minute walk to most of the buildings. It was extremely close to the train station. The variety of onsite services available were also a deciding factor for me. There is a campus doctors, dentist, 24 hour library, gym and even a Starbucks which is always handy. 

I managed to secure a job a month prior to graduating, working for UCLan themselves. Initially I started out on the Events Team assisting them with the DS16 degree shows and the Lancashire Science Festival. A month into the role a position opened up within the marketing team which I applied for and managed to secure the job.

Shannon is loving her Team Spirit placement

UCLan Event Management has had very strong links with Oldham based Team Spirit for a number of years. This year we have four Events students currently on placement in various departments at Team Spirit and they are all loving the experience. Shannon Noone is in the Events Team. Her role is to: send out digital pictures post-event, collate feedback, deal with wages and expenses and of course work on the events themselves. Her tutors recently visited her to find out how she is enjoying her placement. Shannon explains:
"I have loved being here; it’s like a family and it’s relaxed but at the same time very professional. I have my own project promoting Event Management as a career in schools and I am enjoying that.

I enjoy the theming side of events and one of my favourites was a masquerade ball at The Monastery in Manchester. The theme was a Venetian Ball and we themed the whole journey including ‘airport check in’, ‘flight’ and arrival. The venue is spectacular and it made the event extra special."

Shannon is looking forward to learning more about events and getting more first-hand practical experience before her return to UCLan in September for the final year of her Event Management degree.

The Lion King and snow fairies; Gabby’s Disney adventure

Our students have the opportunity to do a year’s placement in industry after the second year, to help them gain practical skills and experience to help their future employment prospects. Events student Gabby Roberts spent a year working in the Animal Kingdom in Disney World, Florida.Gabby takes up the story:

‘I spent the first three months working in merchandising which meant meeting the public and selling Disney souvenirs. After that, I spent the remainder of the placement working in the Lion King Theatre. I was responsible for crowd control, and this was a huge job because the theatre
accommodated 1700 people and the audience changed hourly. I was also responsible for health and safety, customer service and looking after guests with special needs.

‘I learned a lot about crowd management and customer service and I was given special training on working with disabled children. This was an area that I particularly enjoyed, and I would like to work with disabled people in the future. I also volunteered for Disney’s ‘Give Kids the World’ programme which I found very rewarding.

Sammi has Team Spirit!

Events student Sammi Churchill-Ellwood is currently on a 48 week placement with leading events company Team Spirit. She is working in the Sales Office where she has responsibility for: taking and recording customer enquiries, event proposals, supplier briefs and liaising with agents to secure acts for events. She also has the opportunity to gain hands on practical experience of live events. We caught up with Sammi at Team Spirit to find out how she is enjoying her placement:

"I love my placement. I love coming to work every day because every day is so different. I love speaking to people on the phone and building a rapport with them. It has helped me gain confidence and this will be good when I go back to University.

Bernice's Premier (Inn) Placement

We encourage our students to gain practical work experience to complement their academic work, and Events student Bernice Jones-Sullivan is currently on a work placement at the Premier Inn, Albert Dock, Liverpool. Bernice is gaining an all-round experience of the different departments in the hotel starting with housekeeping before moving on to the restaurant, and she is currently working on Reception. The final department is the Kitchen and she is looking forward to her time in there before she returns to UCLan to start her final year of study.

Bernice has also been chosen to participate in a project group which is looking at how to coordinate the room booking systems of the 5 Premier Inns in Liverpool to accommodate large bookings. She is enjoying her work experience:

"It is a good environment to work in, and you have a ‘buddy’ when you move into different departments which helps you settle. Working at Premier Inn has given me an insight into the Tourism, Hospitality and Events industries. It is interesting to see from the front line how they all impact on each other and that will help me in my studies."

Upon graduation in 2017, Bernice is hoping to join the company’s Graduate Programme.

Events Students Celebrate Barnardo's 150

As part of their ‘Events in Action’ module, our second year Events students plan, organise and deliver their own events to raise money and raise awareness for Barnardo’s. 2016 marks 150 years since Thomas Barnardo founded the charity so to recognise this anniversary, a group of students decided to set themselves a series of sponsored challenges which collectively add up to 150.

The group: Cloudia Mayor, Kira Beaumont, Lucy Carter, Lisa Ingham and Gracie Donoghue completed the following challenges over a two week period:

Cloudia and Lucy cycled from UCLan SU to Fleetwood Marine Hall via part of the Guild Wheel, a combined total of 100km;