Applied Communications Assignment

An Industry Related Event

Undergraduate Research Conference 13/10/2010

Ciaran Henderson
DT413-Event Management Group (A) Karen OSullivan

Undergraduate Research Conference

Executive Summary
Aims of Report
Explain to the reader the logistics & layout of the event. Help the reader understand the aim of the conference. To present his own personal feelings & experiences before, during & after. Highlight the Strengths, Weaknesss, Opportunities & Threats (SWOT) To make his own suggested recommendations to improve the event.

Conclusions of Report Logistics & Layout of the Event

The author has clearly laid out the different stages throughout the day & believes he has successfully communicated with the reader. The author has used the image of the DCU map to aid the readers visualization of the events on the day. The author believes that the logistics of the event were satisfactory, and were successful.

Aims of the Conference

The author has used the DCU website to assist the reader in the understanding of the goals of the conference & what they hoped achieved. The author believes the conference achieved its goals judging from the atmosphere of the event, the number of attendees and from talking to people who attended the event.

Personal Feelings Throughout

The author has presented his own reflective feelings throughout the event and has conveyed these in order to aid the readers comprehension of the authors perspective during the event & how it affected him.

SWOT Analysis
The author has presented a SWOT analysis diagram to demonstrate the different criteria under which the conference was both positive & negative.

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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 Aims of Report........................................................................................................... 3 Name & Address of Event ......................................................................................... 3 Methods of investigation............................................................................................ 3 Timeline ..................................................................................................................... 3 Prior to event: ........................................................................................................ 3 During the event: ................................................................................................... 4 Findings......................................................................................................................... 5 Logistics & Layout of the event................................................................................. 5 Aim of the Conference ............................................................................................... 6 Duties on the day ....................................................................................................... 6 How the author felt prior to the event ........................................................................ 6 How the author felt during the event ......................................................................... 7 How the author felt after the event ............................................................................ 7 Personal Evaluation of the Event ............................................................................... 8 Swot Analysis of the event ........................................................................................ 8 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 9 Logistics & Layout of the Event ................................................................................ 9 Aims of the Conference ............................................................................................. 9 Personal Feelings Throughout ................................................................................... 9 SWOT Analysis ......................................................................................................... 9 Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 10 Aim of the Conference ............................................................................................. 10 Volunteers ................................................................................................................ 10 Logistics ................................................................................................................... 10 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 11 Websites ................................................................................................................... 11 Photographs.............................................................................................................. 11

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Undergraduate Research Conference

Introduction
Aims of Report
This report is part of the authors applied communications assessment & in it he plans to: Explain to the reader the logistics & layout of the event. Help the reader understand the aim of the conference. To present his own personal feelings & experiences before, during & after. Highlight the Strengths, Weaknesss, Opportunities & Threats (SWOT) To make his own suggested recommendations to improve the event.

Name & Address of Event

Undergraduate Research Conference, The Gallery, the Helix, Dublin City University,

Methods of investigation
Primary research through the authors own personal involvement at the conference. He carried out work experience at this event as part of his event operations module. Secondary research using the internet to find out what the reaction & feedback was like from the event. To find out further information.

Timeline
Prior to event: Induction Conference Report Due 11/10/2010 13/10/2010 22/10/2010 12am-6pm 7am-4pm

9 days to fabricate the report.

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Undergraduate Research Conference During the event: 9.00 Registration & Coffee 9.30 9.40 Opening Address Keynote Address

-Helix -Helix -Helix -Various -Helix -Helix -Helix -Various -Helix

10.00 Parallel Sessions 10.50 Coffee Break 11.30 Bright Young Things: Strategies for Success 12.30 Lunch 13.30 Parallel Sessions 14.40 A Bright Future- Closing Address 15.15 Conference Close

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Undergraduate Research Conference

Findings
Logistics & Layout of the event
As the delegates arrived through the front door of The Helix at 9.00 they were greeted by the author and his fellow volunteers as they directed the delegates to the registration desk. They were then signed in and received their delegate packs & were then directed up the stairs where there was coffee available. At 9.30 there was the opening address by Professor Brian McCraith, the President of DCU, in The Gallery of The Helix, the author helped encourage the delegates into the room as politely as possible. At 10.00 the parallel sessions were held in the Engineering & Research building. One of the authors duties was to escort the delegates from The Helix to this building & ensure they knew where they were going.

DCU Campus Map At 10.50 the author then escorted the delegates back over towards the coffee area and encouraged them to vote on the posters, he then collected the votes. At 11.30 the author again encouraged the delegates into The Gallery for the next speaker Ciaran Quilty, this one in particular the author enjoyed as the speaker was from Facebook & gave a talk on how the whole phenomena began. After lunch at 13.30 the author once more guided the delegates from the helix to the Engineering & Research building for the afternoon slot of Parallel Sessions.

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Undergraduate Research Conference Finally at 14.40 there was the closing address from Prof Richard OKennedy in The Gallery which the author and his colleagues had the privilege of witnessing.

Aim of the Conference

According to DCU news (2010) The aim of the conference is to provide undergraduates students with an opportunity to present their research to an audience of their peers. With the theme of Showcasing Irish Undergraduate Talent I thought this was a great idea as I have never heard of an undergraduate conference before, they are mainly aimed at graduates so it was nice to see some consideration for other students, bearing in mind I could be doing a presentation there at some stage during my next few years as an undergraduate.

Duties on the day

Greeting & registering delegates as they arrive & making sure the key speakers arrive in plenty of time. Preparing the delegate packs & ensuring they all include the same items. Showing delegates where the different rooms are located. To be outgoing & friendly while maintaining a professional composure at all times.

How the author felt prior to the event

Prior to working at the conference on Wednesday (13/10/10) Mark Russell from DIT brought the author and his colleagues to DCU to have an induction course on Monday of that week. The author found this to be very helpful and put his mind at ease as he now knows exactly what was expected of him on the day and what his specific duty is. The author felt confident that he could handle any situation that may arise at the conference with ease thanks to his part-time work as he has good interpersonal skills.

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Undergraduate Research Conference The author felt enthusiastic as this may be a very good chance to network with important, powerful people who could offer him further part-time work or possibly point him in the right direction.

How the author felt during the event

When the author first arrived he felt energised & motivated and could not wait to do some work & interact with the delegates, however they were slow to arrive and many turned up late. As the day progressed the author gradually got bored as there were only about 50 delegates and about 15 volunteers meaning that there simply was not enough work to do, this resulted in him becoming quite unmotivated. The author felt quite unimportant and slightly useless as there were far too many volunteers and he felt he really wasnt needed in the end. The author felt very relaxed and social and he formed a closer bond with many of his classmates who he would not normally talk to. He found this to be a very positive experience of the day. The author also found all of the organisers very helpful & friendly in everything they did with him. The author felt both very interested and entertained by the last speaker of the day Richard OKennedy who talked about innovation in business which is relevant to his management assignment and really helped broaden his thinking and approach to the subject.

How the author felt after the event

The author felt the conference overall was a great success, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and everything went smoothly with no mess-ups. The author felt glad that he has met Mark, Emma and all the other organisers as they said they will keep him and his colleagues in mind for any other future part-time/volunteer event management work. The author now feels more informed on the conference aspect of the industry and he thinks it was a good starting point to learn about conferencing and hopes that he can discover more at future conferences.

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Undergraduate Research Conference

Personal Evaluation of the Event

The Author thoroughly enjoyed working at the undergraduate research conference & thought it was a very valuable learning experience in a number of ways; 1. The Author was part of one of the first undergraduate conferences in Ireland in recent times which is a unique opportunity, being a new undergraduate himself. 2. The Author got to witness professional & amateur speakers which helped him get an idea of what is expected of him in the next few years and what it is like if he wanted to attend as a speaker next year. 3. Watching Prof Richard OKennedys speech, in particular, demonstrated that the delivery of a presentation is just as important, if not more important than the content, as he was very good at holding the audiences attention & really related to me. The Author can apply this to his communication & management module as he has to give presentations in each for assignments.

Swot Analysis of the event

Strengths Unique event Lots of volunteers Good planning Excellent venue Loads of teamwork Headlining speakers Opportunities Threats Little interest Mess up on the day Dropout speaker Bad feedback Networking

UG Conference
Weaknesses Paramount event Majority volunteers Many new speakers Cost of Tickets Target Audience

Chance to practice Promotion of venue Speaker publicity Create example Good feedback

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Conclusions
Logistics & Layout of the Event
The author has clearly laid out the different stages throughout the day & believes he has successfully communicated with the reader. The author has used the image of the DCU map to aid the readers visualization of the events on the day. The author believes that the logistics of the event were satisfactory, and were successful.

Aims of the Conference

The author has used the DCU website quote to assist the reader in the understanding of the goals of the conference and what they hoped to achieve. The author believes the conference achieved its goals judging from the atmosphere of the event, the number of attendees and from talking to people who attended the event.

Personal Feelings Throughout

The author has presented his own reflective feelings throughout the event and has conveyed these in order to aid the readers comprehension of the authors perspective during the event & how it affected him.

SWOT Analysis
The author has presented a SWOT analysis diagram to demonstrate the different criteria under which the conference was both positive & negative.

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Recommendations
Aim of the Conference
The author suggests that for any future UG conferences that the ticket price be much lower in order to attract more students to this sort of event as 70 for a student is quite a high price. The Author suggests that the future UG conferences be more focused to a specific theme, rather than anything the students want to showcase, e.g. Health & science, Business & the recession, Tourism & Leisure etc.

Volunteers
Although Mark Russell from DIT gave us a very good induction course I found that there was eithero Not enough work to do. o Too many volunteers. In order to solve this problem I would suggest that there be a standard ratio of volunteers to delegates agreed prior to any further events, or there be more work, which is relevant, arranged for the day in order for the volunteers and the event itself to get maximum benefit.

The author recommends that a fair job rotation system be implemented for volunteer work at future conferences as some volunteers had more important jobs than others. This would help to motivate the volunteers & aid them in their learning experience. This would also help to avoid feelings of resentfulness between volunteers.

Logistics
The author recommends that the rooms used for any future conferences be located closer together to avoid long walks back & forth. This would eliminate the need for some volunteers while also making the conference feel less disjointed. It also means that the delegates will feel comfortable no matter what the weather is.

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Bibliography
Websites
Dublin City University, 2010, Undergraduate Research conference at DCU, [Online] available at: <http://www.dcu.ie/news/2010/oct/s1010e.shtml> [Accessed: 18/10/10]

Photographs
Dublin City University, DCU Campus Map, [Online] available at : <http://www.dcu.ie/info/campus.shtml> [Accessed: 18/10/10] Cypruslocal, Handshake.jpg, [Online] available at: <http://www.cypruslocal.co.uk/Portals/32/advert%20images/handshake.jpg> [Accessed: 14/10/10]

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