I did a post event write up to record everything I could remember...
Morning Session –
I got three students involved as helpers, they met me at 9.45 to set up the room in advance of the rest of the group arriving at 10.30.
I asked them about seating, and what they thought of the idea of the circle/semi circle set up. I was originally going to have them face the window, but the students said they thought it should face the other way, as looking out of the window might be distracting, so in response we set it up facing a clean wall. I chose to use a screen, rather than the projector screen mounted to the wall, so we could all be in a semi circle. It was really helpful to have their input, and I’m pleased they felt confident to tell me what they thought.
When I looked at the Miro, I was disappointed to find only a handful of the students had done the pre-session task, so when the students arrived I asked them to add more questions.
As students arrived I asked them to use the time to add questions. I’m not sure that they understood the need for ‘prepped’ questions, I told them to imagine if it was only you meeting Jyann, what would you want to say? What could you get out of this opportunity to meet her ? What are you curious about? I suggested they could also ask spontaneous questions, either using the Miro, or by raising their hands.
I asked the guests to provide a playlist of ‘studio tracks’ which were used to create an ambience in the room ahead of arrival. This is helpful, as the first guest was 10 minutes late, so it eased the nerves!
I got two students to meet the first guest, Jynann at reception and bring her up, which made it and the presentation was set up in advance so she was ready to go.
After introducing Jynann, I opened the session with an Ice Breaker question, asking the students to chat to the person next to them.
‘If you could do a Fashion Communication project anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Jynann has marked out the talk section clearly on her slides, which helped me mediate.At the end of each section, which was approx 4 minutes, I asked a question, before opening out to students, whose questions were picked out using the Miro.Rather than me asking the questions on their behalf, I invited the students to read their questions.
“So, we have a question from Student X”
It was a bit awkward, as some people forgot their questions, as they weren’t looking at the Miro, I tried to prompt by ‘ your question about ‘burn out’?
The sections did seem to help the flow of conversation, and opening up chat. I ensured that everyone who had a question on the board was able to add it, and wrapped the talk in the allotted hour.
I believe it did give students who don’t normally ask questions the opportunity to participate, two students who rarely join in were vocal in group discussions and went on to further questions, after the ones they had added to the Miro.
These same students, who were seated in the inner circle, also struck up a conversation with Jynann at the end of the talk, which was great to see. Some students felt more confident to ask spontaneous questions by raising their hand too.
Jynann, the first guest said she thought the group were the most engaged she had given a talk to, and she felt the sections were helpful for her in preparing the talk.
One of the students who was helping commented “ I think the sections are working really well”.
Afternoon Session
The afternoon session was quite different! Barely anyone had filled out a question on the Miro. Anna Howard arrived at 2pm, ahead of the session beginning at 2.30, to allow set up time of her collection of rare books Supporting Material,
We set up a table at the centre of the circle, with the help of the students.Some of the students had been in the room for lunch, as they saw the books, instantly the students got hands on, picked up the books on the table and started to photograph them.
They seemed really excited, it really brought home the potential of physical objects to engage, they were instantly more able to interact with Anna, and this set the session off to a good start.Anna’s casualness about the books was helpful too (One was worth £5000!)
For this talk, the Miro board was not the primary site of questions, most students asked by students raising their hands, with a few extras on Miro. The objects and books completely changed the potential for engagement! It also helped that Anna has teaching experience too.
The sections were helpful in breaking the talk up and there were lots of practical questions about the relationship between the fashion world and the book world. We asked lots of questions out to the group, and got more responses than in the morning session.
Students stayed at the end to speak to Anna, and some exchanged details.
I had prepared a Mentimeter survey to do at the end of the session, but the students were all standing up looking at the books, and I hadn’t factored in that Anna needed about 20 minutes to pack down the books.
This made it hard for me to do the end of the session survey, this was frustrating, ofcourse. But I thought it was better to keep the flow of what seemed like a really good vibe and sense of exchanges between the students and the speaker, and I thought bringing everyone back in for a survey would kill that!
I should have just put the QR code on screen but I got a bit flummoxed.When we were packing down, I asked some of the students how they felt about the day/ Miro not really being used much for this part of the session.
“I just can’t really get on with the Miro board in these situations” said one student, who is very confident and forthcoming in asking spontaneous questions in group settings.
I am thinking of either doing the survey with the group next week, or gathering a small group of 4-5 students who attended both sessions to ask for some feedback.
It was disappointing that some students only attended one half of the day, and some missed it entirely. The talks were programmed at a particularly busy time, and some students prioritised arranging shoots for a client project which is running simultaneously. But overall, I felt the students who did attend did seem to be engaged and to have enjoyed this industry interaction. There was a good energy in the room and I was pleased with how the day had gone.