Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Creating your own society at Leeds Beckett
Hi, Abi here. I’m in my second year studying Events Management and I'm also the Secretary of the Leeds Beckett Events Society. In this blog I’ll be talking about how you can create your own society and the benefits of joining one too.
Where it all started
After having our first year of uni during the global pandemic, me and a few friends that I met in my first year, decided that we wanted to do something for our social life now that the city had started to open up again.
We had a look into societies available and started talking about the ones we wanted to join. It was at that moment that we came up with the idea of creating our own, so that we had the flexibility to do what we want with it! So, the three of us got onto the Students’ Union to see how to apply, picked out our roles and the rest is history (one of the most cliché things I’ve ever said).
How we set up our own society
To apply for a new society space, we filled out a form from the Students’ Union which was pretty simple. It covered things like, name of the society, what we plan to do, how much funding we may need per event, then the LBSU have to review the application and check that there isn’t a society that does the same thing and that it all seems a legit, reasonable and fun inclusive society. From then it was pretty much just email correspondence and we could start to plan our first event.
We started with three roles, the Secretary (my role), a Treasurer and a President and we started to come up with ideas of what the society might look like. We thought that some of our other course mates might want to get involved, so we also got a Vice President, Social Secretary and a Venue Coordinator on board and so now we have a pretty solid team and committee. As the secretary of the Events Society, I am there to make sure stuff gets done. I make sure that what’s planned, happens and keep on top of things like meeting minutes and ensuring you all have a mint time.
It can be as much or as little work as you want really. The society could run one event every month or do something every single week. There is no expected number of activities for you to deliver but definitely the more you do with your members the more they become an active part of keeping your society alive.
What is the society I hear you ask?
It’s a society that focuses on socialising, having fun and making friends. So, we put on social gatherings such as drinks in a venue, with games and competitions. For example, for our welcome event we hosted a night at Manahatta in Headingley and had various games with a shuffle boarding competition, pizzas and food. We also planned a Halloween themed Otley run for everyone which was hilarious fun.
Our activities and meet ups don’t involve nightlife and bars, all the time though. We are really looking forward to doing some day time activities and ‘sober socials’ like trampoline parks, escape rooms or a day out on the ski slope (although I can’t tell you too much about all of these as we don’t want to ruin the surprises we have in store). We try to keep most of our events in and around Leeds so that it’s accessible for all and if not, we provide details of travel options to get there.
The benefits of joining a society
Anyone can join our society, it’s not just for our course. It could be literally anyone in any stage of any course that can come and join us for a good day out or a pint in the pub. The Events Society can create some great opportunities as it’s somewhere that you can meet new people from different courses, which can be really good to expand your friendship group and hang out with different types of people.
I've made friends with people who aren't even based on the same campus or course as me. We regularly meet up and go out together. It's nice to have a change of scenery and conversation with new friends.
It can also be a good networking opportunity with people in your industry too, as you can see each other outside of lecture time and get to know what they’re interested in. Members of the society can start to become useful people to know, as they may have connections in the sort of thing you are interested in doing for something like your placement.
We aren’t trying to focus on the society being academic or course based and instead are keeping it open and not course specific so that it’s a welcoming environment for all. However as a lot of Events Management course people enjoy that sort of thing, we are happy to help those that need it or just need to ask a few questions or have a chat to a friendly face.
Overall, societies are a great part of the university experience, as they bring together groups of people from all backgrounds, courses and areas. Being in a society can really give you a sense of belonging within the student community and you have a hilariously fun time whilst you're at it!
