Tagged / Festival of Learning

Event idea for the Festival of Learning 2015- A ‘who do you think you are’ family themed event & using the game ‘Top Trumps’ to make a successful event idea

Festival of Learning

with the deadline fast approaching for proposals to be submitted, here are a further couple of event ideas which may be food for thought for the Festival of Learning.

A ‘Who do you think you are’ themed event could use the concept of people’s ancestors and talk about how family history can have an impact on the individual choices we make today. This is often of great interest to many of us and can create a real debate in the room. This was further proven to be a successful topic at Engage 2014 in which a talk focused on how people should ‘remember their ancestors roots and way of living’ and stick to this in their everyday life.

An event idea which is of a completely different angle is that of using the popular game of ‘Top trumps’ and embedding your research around this game. Gamification is a quickly growing concept in the business world and is gaining recognition as one of the most talked about words in recent years. This is the way in which learning can be gained from games with your chosen content. For example, you could use as an example different bacterias in a top trumps style. This would involve the younger generation pitting against one another to see who had the ‘deadliest bacteria’.

 

For more information on the Festival of Learning 2015 please email Naomi Kay and she will be happy to help with event proposals and general inquiries.

Festival of Learning- event ideas to inspire the younger generation

Festival of Learning

Thinking of a fantastic event idea aimed at the younger generation can be challenging. It can often be very helpful when the audience we are aiming at can give us inspiration, a great event idea for the younger generation came from an audience member at the last Café Scientifque.

Have you thought about running a child friendly forensics event at the 2015 Festival of Learning? This idea will create a hands on, entertaining and memorable day for children attending the festival and has also worked extremely well in previous years.

Incidentally, if you wish to gain inspiration in running this event idea, the next Café Scientifique will be looking at ‘Who Stole Christmas’ with a forensic themed talk in store on the 2nd December so be sure to mark the date in your diary.

Or perhaps you may be inspired to run a child friendly event in storytelling. Events with this theme have worked well in previous years with strong turn outs and positive feedback from attendees. This could really get a child’s imagination going and inspire them to improve their storytelling skills.

Now is a great time to start thinking about your event in order to get your proposal in for the 19th December deadline.

If you would like to get involved in the Festival of Learning in 2015, you can submit your proposal here or contact Naomi Kay to discuss how your research can translate into a memorable Festival of Learning event.

Festival of Learning – what could you do? Be part of something special this July…

Festival of Learning

The Festival of Learning is back for the third year between 11th -17th July.

This year will build of the fantastic success of the Festival in 2013 and 2014. Over the past two years the Festival of Learning has had circa 9,000 visits with an average event rating of 9 out of 10 and 96% of evaluated attendees stating that they would be very likely or likely to attend another event.

To further this success in 2015, we need you to host lectures, workshops and debates (or whatever type of engaging activity you can think of) showcasing the fantastic knowledge base of BU.

But why get involved?

  • It is a great opportunity to celebrate life at BU and share your passion with a different audience.
  • It can add fresh perspective to your research. Read this article about how public engagement can help you think about your research from a fresh perspective.
  • It can change people’s lives. Here in the Festival office we have been moved by members of the public telling us about how the Festival has helped reignite a passion for learning, helped support the growth of the charity and even helped people to walk for the first time in years.
  • It is a great networking opportunity. Colleagues involved in the Festival in previous years have developed partnerships which have, for example, led to collaborative PhD studentships.
  • It is fantastic for skills development. Especially for early career researchers, the Festival offers an unprecedented opportunity to develop communication techniques which engage members of the public and builds confidence in communicating complex ideas (essential for a future lecturing career!)
  • It helps to meet the expectation of funders and policy makers. The European Commission, HEFCE and our Research Councils (amongst others) expect researchers to demonstrate to the public the value of their research. The Festival provides of a great vehicle to do this as you will receive central support (e.g. for marketing) rather than going it alone.
  • It can support student recruitment. And not just undergraduates, but those looking for postgraduate courses and short courses who have never before considered BU as a potential place to study.

What you need to know

  • The call for proposals is now open and closes on 19th December at 12noon.
  • You don’t have to run a long event. Many members of the public actually prefer to attend an event which only lasts an hour or so, rather than for a whole day.
  • The Festival runs from 11-17th July 2015. Eager Festival followers will note that the Festival of Learning is being held slightly later this year. This is in order to ensure that our local schools and colleges are able to participate more fully in the Festival and to avoid clashes with examinations (both those being held by schools and Universities).

What to do next

Festival Fever – Inspiration for your Festival of Learning 2015 event!

Festival of Learning

Stuck for event ideas for the Festival of learning in 2015!?

Well don’t worry! In this blog post Festival Fever will take over and show you events which have worked well in the past and possibly a few stand-out ideas you may wish to build upon for this year.

Let us take you through a countdown of ‘Hit’ topics and stand out events of last year’s festival as well as eye catching events at the British Science Festival and stand out events you could run in the future!

Hits at last year’s Festival of Learning

5. Marketing and business skills

Have you thought of creating a business event which focuses on marketing? Well if last year’s attendance at this event is anything to go by you will attract a very strong turnout. This event was fully booked last year and is a safe bet to draw in business professionals and members of the public alike! If you can use group discussions in your event this will also enhance the experience for individuals who are attending.

4. Gaming, computers and coding

These topics proved highly popular throughout the festival. Key examples of this success were ‘Is gaming the new reading?’ and ‘Hour of code.’ It really does seem that computers are becoming vital organs in modern life; this means the potential to interest large numbers will always be there when choosing an event of this genre.

3. Everyday professional skills

Teamwork,time management, or the magic of mailbox management.  Is there an event you could run that would tap into helping people develop these skills? If you have a clever way to engage the audience in a workshop that can enrich their professional development your event will be in high demand as well as an interesting way to give back to the community.

2. Health and fitness

Health related topics have shown to be popular both in the past at the festival, but also at other UK science festivals. Fitness is something that is at the forefront of many of our minds and if you’ve got an interesting take on this you’ll be sure to get the public onside.

1. Topics involving real-world current issues

Tying your event into current issues can help inspire debate in panel sessions, as well as draw in big audiences.  They are also more likely to be picked up for press coverage and could help to boost your event numbers even further.

 

Eye catching events at the British Science Festival

As you may have seen in an earlier series of blog posts, we recently attended the British Science Festival to get some inspiration on what to include in our own Festival of Learning.  You can read the full post of hot events from the festival here, but these were two of our favorites:

-The Huxley debate (As seen at the British Science Festival)

A debate which puts the spotlight on the security flaws of companies such as Facebook and Google can really entice a large number of people, “why is this?” you may ask, the reason is that the companies Facebook and Google touch the lives of the majority of us. This in the media spotlight with recent scandals SnapChat and Icloud storage!

-Your Astonishing Liver/ Health related topics

A further hit from the British Science Festival was ‘Your Astonishing Liver’ this proved to have a very strong turnout, with an audience of varying demographics. The clear strength of all health related topics is their ability to create very strong debates with the audience. In “Your astonishing liver” the panel facilitated a health debate around the right for non-registered organ donors to receive donated organs through the use of electronic voting. By using the response pads and looking at the results on a screen this is an engaging way of illustrating the discussion and capturing data from your event.

Other ideas to set your event apart from the crowd

 

Take your event offsite to a unique venue – what about approaching the aquarium to find out if you could run your event there?

Run your activity as part of the Festival of Learning On Tour so people get a taster for it in advance?

In more general terms, what can really add to the experience for the general public are events that are uniquely wacky and involve free samples as well as hands on activity. By having a strong blend of these ideas in your event, you can really stand out from the crowd and get your event noticed.

 

For help and support in developing your event email Naomi Kay, Public Engagement Officer in R&KEO.