Outreach from industry experts over video conference

Last term, over 450 primary and secondary school students connected over video conference to representatives from Midwich, Vodafone and Nomura International PLC. 

 Naina Tailor, Head of Video Sales,Midwich

The aim of the career talks were to give guidance and inspiration to young people who may not have an understanding of the exciting opportunities that can arise from working with technology and the audio visual (AV) industry.
The organisations supporting this outreach all have members belonging to the AV user group and had stepped forward to promote their sector to young people through using video conference ( an AV technology).

A Year 9 pupil quoted after hearing the presentation from Midwich," Naina had taught me how to succeed in a career and it was great to hear about the industry from a personal insight".
Another year 9 pupil quotes: I learnt that going outside of your comfort zone is worth it. 

Tim Russell, Principal Solution Architect
Customer Design and Integration ,Vodafone 

From the survey carried out with some of the schools, the pupils who participated in the talks had not heard of the companies before ( except Vodafone) and none of the pupils had thought of doing careers similar to those of the speakers.  However, after the presentations 39% of the pupils aspired to careers in STEM, IT/AV.
95% of the students thought it was a great idea to connect over video conference to meet people who want to talk about their jobs and organisations. There is the fact, that a face to face meeting would be much better, however to connect one individual to so many students from different schools, in one afternoon, would take a lot more time and resource and be nearly impossible to achieve without the technology.

A year 12 pupil stated after connecting to Tim : Video conferencing is an easier way to connect, so we are aware of the opportunities computer science brings. We learnt about the types of coding, what coding can do eg. programming equipment. The difference the internet has made to our lives.
A year 11 pupil quoted:  I learnt about Vodafone, coding and wifi frequency and that it is possible to have a mobile network on the moon!

Connecting over video conference meant multiple schools from Redbridge, in NE London were able to link directly to banks and businesses, by dialing an IP number through a secure connection. This saved travel money and time for the speakers who sat in the comfort of their offices and spoke directly with the students sharing videos and images to answer questions. 

Please read the feedback below given by the girls in Year 11 and 12 at Woodford County High School after speaking to Darren Ilsley at Nomura International PLC. Many thanks to the schools for sharing their feedback and to WCHS for sharing their presentation below.

The schools in the LB of Redbridge wish to thank Darren, Naina and Tim for their presentations and we look forward to connecting to you again.