25 Education
IT ’ S ALL ABOUT THE
EVENT PEOPLE
Joe Gallop talks to event management senior lecturer Jonathan Sibley about a new initiative designed to provide students with work experience
Manchester Metropolitan University are one of the initial university supporters of the Event People ( EP ), an initiative created by Massive to help students and recent graduates build careers within the sector . So far , 20 universities across the UK have signed up to work with EP , including MMU , The UK Centre for Events Management at Leeds Beckett University , London Metropolitan University and Glasgow Caledonian University . Organisations such as London Marathon , Formula 1 , The Rugby League World Cup 2021 , FIFA and The Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 are also backing the initiative .
Why did Manchester Metropolitan University become involved in the Event People ?
My involvement came through a conversation with our head of crowd science , who knew John Tasker at Massive and we had a conversation about how the industry could play a role in bridging the gap between the universities and volunteering and paid work experience opportunities at big outdoor events . We discussed a model that already existed in Australia where the event industry had created a volunteering portal , and industry representatives had been involved in several ways to try to encourage students to get involved in their events and to provide them with those kinds of opportunities .
Listening to the ideas presented by Massive I knew that this was something that would benefit students at Manchester Met and would be of interest at other universities where I ’ ve worked . The platform that has been created is amazing and the range of the organisations that they have got involved is fantastic ; for an aspiring event professional , to be able to say they ’ ve worked or volunteered at events like the London Marathon , Rugby League World Cup or the British Grand Prix will be invaluable in helping them to secure future opportunities . However , it is not just the work opportunities that are impressive ; through the platform future professionals are also able to access advice and guidance from a range of industry professionals who regularly contribute content .
What do Manchester Met hope to achieve from working with the Event People ?
The Events Management programmes at Manchester Met offered approximately 200 volunteering opportunities to our www . conference-news . co . uk