Students from a range of degree courses at London South East Colleges came together during February, the month of love, to put their business acumen into practice and organise a series of live events to celebrate Valentine’s Day 2017.

There are a number of different courses at the College that share common modules; one of which focuses on project management. Students are required to organise themselves into teams and work towards achieving a set of objectives within their given challenge. This year it was to stage and manage a successful Valentine’s Day dinner and dance event and raise funds for a chosen charity.

Business BSc (Hons) student Gary and his team ‘Valentine’s Carers’ aimed to raise funds for ‘KiCKeD’ - a charity whose goal it is to make chronic kidney disease beatable and provide care for sufferers in some of the world’s poorest nations.

They set to work organising a Valentine’s Ball in a club in Forest Hill. They booked a street dancing act, a duet specialising in acoustic covers, a licensed bar and raffle, a stand-up comedian and master of ceremonies. Gary said: “The team managed to raise over £180 for the charity. We did really well to get all the entertainers, the venue and even the raffle’s first prize of a trip to Paris on Eurostar donated. We also attracted many guests and contributors. It was a very special evening indeed.”

Tina, from the LLB (Law) with Business course, and her team ‘The Rising Stars’ used the resources of our Bromley Campus along with the help of the Principal’s PA, to treat students to a Valentine’s lunch special. They received sponsorship from Bromley-based events management company Tutus Balloons who provided balloons, table cloths and catering equipment. The team prepared fresh and homemade baguettes, hotdogs, cakes, sweets and biscuits, teas, coffees and soft drinks for students and sold them throughout the day. They managed to raise £170 for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. Tina said: “We all worked relentlessly to achieve what we did. The amount of planning, design and organising donations was immense. The rewards, however, outweighed the hardships and we are all very proud of our achievements.”

Alicia is studying on the Accounting BSc (Hons) degree course. Her team, ‘Driving Minds’ were very ambitious in their plans and chose to stage a huge party night in a Lewisham social club. The party was aimed very much at adult guests and included a drag artist, a buffet and the added attraction of a magic mirror interactive selfie booth. During the night, a guest speaker from MindCare Dementia Support, their chosen charity, addressed the audience and gave thanks for their support and kind donations. Alicia said: “We needed to gauge the amount of interest in such an event and its location so we set up a Facebook group and events page to estimate how many people would attend before committing to the level of funding needed. The club donated the space for free but other running costs came to nearly £600. In the end, we managed to make a profit of £550 and this was donated to our charity in full. I think we all encountered fairly high levels of stress but we all enjoyed the experience and got a lot out of it. Staging an event is not easy and it needs to be well managed from start to finish.”

Business tutor, Dave Parrett said: “There is so much involved in the project management of an event. No matter how ambitious, the organisers need to be able to break down the tasks, assign responsibilities to each member of the team, research the marketplace and above all, be realistic about the levels of profit over running costs. Getting everything right is difficult but this is what we ask of our students at this level.”

If you think you have what it takes to be successful in the world of business, management, law and finance, or have been thinking of studying at degree level, we’d like to hear from you. We have a great range of degree and professional level courses for you to choose from. Come along to one of our open events during March, see: www.lsec.ac.uk for more details.

Submitted by Sarah Newman