What we got up to at Membership Services Conference 2024
Last week we spent a few days in Manchester at Membership Services Conference. Hosted by the Union at Manchester Metropolitan Students’ Union. Organised by Alan Roberts, the SU and NUS. We’ve been involved in some way for many years and it’s always a pleasure.
Here’s a little run through of what we got up to.
Should we be student-led for student-led’s sake?
Rosie chatted to Amy, Jessi & Sufia about their service and events delivery and the way Herts, Brighton and Beds SUs are doing student engagement. Each SU brings a different approach and we loved hearing about why they chose to do it that way. From ‘build it and they will come’ to ‘let them build whatever they want’. We’ll do a more in-depth blog about this session as there’s loads to think about.
Inclusive training
Communication activity
Thinking about inclusive spaces and communication
We shared a snippet of NUS Charity Train the Trainer content in our ‘Inclusive Training’ workshop. Thinking about what we can do before, during and after training to ensure it’s comfortable, safe, accessible for our trainees.
On the ball with sports memberships
Shared approaches to sports memberships with Ryan from City SU and Vince the Sport and Active Wellbeing Collective. We talked about the recent consultancy review of sports memberships we’ve done with City, and why sport is important in 2024. Our highlight was discussing social prescribing and access to sport.
We blogged in more depth about the City SU project here.
Risky business
In a fun workshop we explored risk management in student opportunities, asking people in the room to share their risk assessment free utopia. We then burst their bubble and told them why it would never happen (sorry!) but how we could make risk management in student opportunities easier for everyone involved. We also launched our new training programme, Risky Business!
Our session slides are here
A new jumper for rosie
On Day 2 it was very rainy and I (Rosie) got very soggy when nipping out for coffee. Around the corner from the SU we found a vintage shop and managed to find the best possible Organised Fun jumper, which I proudly sported for the rest of the afternoon whilst my t shirt dried out! It didn’t really go with the trousers but it was just too good.
What else?
⚪ We handed out hundreds of really cool badges! They’re a bit of silly fun but we loved the conversations they sparked and we’re pleased everyone liked them.
🎤 Jamie gave us a splendid rendition of Taylor Swift at karaoke. He was ‘convinced’ by Nathan from Leeds Trinity and it was glorious.
As always the conference was fun, insightful and well organised. Thanks to everyone involved. Looking forward to next year when the conference is officially 10 years old. We hope there’s cake!