Delivering Events During COVID-19

 
 

Recent world events such as the 2020 COVID-19 Corona virus outbreak, have had a huge impact on the way in which Careers 2020 events were delivered. After much discussion with schools, MLW agreed to deliver events via Microsoft Teams or Zoom.

Microsoft Teams was built for today’s diverse workforce and in order to comply with Government guidance, we were able to continue delivering live team events without putting any parties at risk.

 

Feedback from each event included:

  • MST is a very safe way of presenting and allowed events to continue, whilst adhering to Government guidelines.

  • We were able to deliver to multiple schools simultaneously.

  • We created a historic meeting by recording each live event for future reference.

  • Children are able to communicate with the presenters in a format that excites them.

 

Feedback from teachers and children includes:

  • “I had more confidence asking questions using teams and not people” Year 6 pupil

  • “I felt less nervous saying things to the presenter on a screen”

  • “It was brilliant” Year 6 teacher

  • “The presenters kept the pupils engaged throughout” Year 6 teacher

  • “The presenters inspired the children” Year 6 teacher

  • “The whole event ran smoothly and the children really enjoyed the event” Year 6 teacher

  • “It’s more fun being live” Year 6 pupil

  • “Would be better if the event was truly live but this was unable to happen at the moment” Year 6 teacher

  • “The Q&A element by the presenter ensured the children were active throughout, rather than being passive listeners” Year 6 teacher

  • Behavioural styles could not be captured by the lead presenter when using MST. These include facial expressions, hand gestures and body language. This reduces the presenter’s ability to change and adapt delivery styles to suit the needs of some pupils.

  • Some schools who were expected to attend, but experienced technical issues on the day and were unable to join events. MST and Zoom rely heavily on technology and failures in technology can be very disruptive.

  • During live events, volunteers, where possible, carried out a hands-on activity with the children, showing them relevant pieces of technology or equipment, this was not possible using MST.

  • Group activities could not be completed with volunteers due to COVID-19.

  • If we were to continue delivering events using this type of platform, it would be preferred that there is a “live” host to present the event, even if volunteers are pre-recorded.