On Wednesday 18th March, we held a Kickstart Bootcamp at City of Liverpool College and invited our newest college societies along to create and develop their plans for this academic year. Here's what happened!

We kicked off with an energetic icebreaker in the form of The Gold Coin Challenge, which got everybody up and raring to go. The breakout sessions covered Collaboration, Marketing and Events along with a Future Mapping session for the whole group, to support the societies in planning ahead for the rest of the year.

The Events breakout session, “Planning an Amazing Event”, saw students discuss the benefits of holding events and how they could get students across the whole college involved. We focussed on the organisation of events and agreed that detailed checklists and realistic targets were the key to smooth event planning.

We heard some great ideas generated for events, such as paper flower making and a fashion show created collaboratively with fashion and dance students. There was also some excellent input from a representative from the Liverpool Entrepreneurial Network Society on how to run an event with a speaker and how to gain discounts from local businesses.

In Marketing: “Getting People Interested”, the group discussed what it is that makes you buy a product. Students were asked to think of something they bought recently, something they buy often, something they want to buy and something they bought spur of the moment. They then considered what the reason behind this is and placed this within the relevant context of a society. We talked about the benefits of marketing, brand recognition, increased impact, word of mouth and consistent branding. In other words, even though you don’t have a physical product or packaging to consider, marketing a society is really no different from marketing any other item. Thinking of your society as a product can be a great help when you want to increase the reach and size of your society.

The Collaboration session “Working With Others” covered the main reasons why a society is likely to collaborate and who with. Examples of societies working with each other, with local businesses and with other college or university departments were discussed. The group were asked to think of businesses or organisations they would like to work with and consider what it is they could offer in return in terms of talents, skills and a particular type of student. The benefits of collaborating with others were discussed, including an increased skills base, access to resources and financial reasons. A staff session “Educator Experiences” was also held, covering staff’s experiences in engaging students from different backgrounds and how best to get students interested in enterprise. The breakout sessions were followed by a Roadmapping Session to work on the societies’ plans for the rest of the academic year, including a music festival and a Frozen themed children’s hair event. The busy day was rounded off by an insightful keynote speech from Nadine Debrah, from The University of Liverpool’s LENS Society, recounting her experiences during her involvement in the society and what she has gained- with emphasis on the importance of taking opportunities presented to you.

We would like to thank our host, The City of Liverpool College, with special thanks to Melanie Williams and the Services Team.