The College-University Fair, do you stare or do you dare

On Monday 3 November the college-university of Rotterdam organised a fair where students from second and third year could get information about their possible ‘minor’ (the so called ‘specification’ within your study). I had the chance to promote and inform other people as a representative of the ‘minor’ I am following currently, formally known as ‘concept development’.

The fair took place at one of the main buildings of the school department offering information and services and first encounters with these ‘minors’. As soon as I entered I had the feeling of chaos, and it was, quite.

Though there was a map, the interaction with the environment lacked severely, not mentioning the programming and understanding timetables and ‘whereabouts’ on the location itself. We even had to share our small stand which made it even harder.

In the afternoon we organised two lectures for interested students, and two times we were able to fill the room, nevertheless not always with the most interested students seeking for their obligations within the minor.

The presentation ‘thinking outside of the box’ answered questions of students as in why students should choose for this minor, what you can do by following this minor, what is expected from you and of course, what do you expect from it.

A lot better than previous slides I have seen, I must say. The presentation has improved a lot, and fairly stands out amongst the others. Strong and clearly students could see now what it is about, with me and my fellow student giving live examples and interact with the audience. And by taking that last thing, that is exactly what should be, by my understanding, more encouraged.

Interacting with the potential students can be improved. This could be simply realized by picking examples and making it more fun which is exactly what will keep it attached, remembered and told about.

Simple solutions to make the concept development presentations more interesting is to start with a ‘check in’, a kaospilot technique, naming what were you thinking in a maximum of one sentence, breaking the ice already.

The content of the presentations could be also somewhat more active, like naming trends, you name a trend! What did you noticed lately? Or why do you have an iPhone ? Why do you wear GStar, why do you stand still on the escalator? You could play more to the awareness of the students present, like 'did you notice the red arrows on the sealing?' or 'did you notice that the text under my name tag is upside down?'.

Let them name their ideas, their quest for life, let them think out loud and feel free to join the fun and serious sides of concept development.