Future Forward:
Our toughest gig of the year, with the biggest impact
Founders4Schools (F4S) builds smart connections between schools and the world of work. They’re on a mission to tackle the skills gap amongst the UK’s young people, by facilitating meaningful connections between students and startups, scaleups and big businesses.
Having supported F4S with many of their London gigs (award dos and inspirational events for students), we were ready for the challenge when they set their sights on cracking Newcastle and the Northeast.
From a standing start 5 weeks out, to deliver an event which depended on high teacher attendance on a school night close to the end of term…this was one of our toughest asks ever. Undeterred, we hit the phones and squeezed all we could out of our networks, to deliver an audience of 120 educators, leaders and influencers from schools and universities, government and business including Virgin Money, Code Club, Tech North and Sage.
We also managed the event production – from flowers and furniture to the slideware – leaving F4S free to focus on delivering their rallying cry for support from educators and business leaders.
Proud moments:
Galvanising partnerships with Young Enterprise and Tech North to support the event by bringing their educator networks.
Achieving a strong showing from schools, delivered through a persistent contact strategy with multiple contacts from school secretaries to heads.
Achieving tangible results - in under a year there was an incredible 992% increase in the number of students who met business leaders in the NE community and in Newcastle itself, which has seen a 513% increase in Student Employer Encounters per 1000 students.
Delivering a stylish event on a budget, in a lofty arts venue described by Melvyn Bragg as “the very crucible of the Industrial Revolution”, complete with gorgeous lighting and high end production thanks to in-kind sponsorship from the Boiler Shop and the Clouston Group.
Praise:
“You guys did a superlative job - huge congratulations! So proud to have had such an amazing event following all the nail-biting!”
– Sherry Coutu, Founder & Chairman of the Board, Founders4Schools
