Event and Meet-up Hosts
Event and Meet-up Hosts are enthusiastic volunteers across the world to help us promote the Students Association and engage with our student community.
If you would like to help students connect with each other online or face-to-face and to build awareness of the Student Association, this role is for you!
You can opt for the online role, face-to-face role or both. In the online role, you will be facilitating and supporting online meet-ups or events for students on Microsoft Teams or Adobe Connect. In the face-to-face role, you will be facilitating face-to-face meet-ups or events for students in your local area.
The time commitment is flexible. You may like to host regular sessions, e.g. monthly or every other month, or just host a one-off session. It may also take you an hour or so to set up the session and promote it on various platforms. The online role can be undertaken entirely from home, while the face-to-face role will involve hosting events in your local area.
As a face-to-face host, you might like to meet up for a coffee in a local café, study together at a local library, or you could even hold a social event such as a quiz. As an online host, you might like to host sessions relating to what you are studying, your interests and hobbies, or a social event such as a quiz.
You will have access to the Association Volunteers ‘Slack’, an online volunteer community.
Essential for Event and Meet-up Hosts
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You must be a current member of the Students Association to apply (all registered OU students are automatically members according to our Articles of Association).
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It is important that volunteers respect our values by helping to create a sense of community and support wherever possible. We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, and our volunteers should reflect this in their role with us. Please see our Values and Behaviour Policy.
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All volunteers are expected to follow the volunteer policy and volunteer agreement given to them upon taking on a role with the Association.
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You must be able to complete the online training:
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Online mandatory training for volunteers
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Online self-study for your role, including online training recordings on hosting online events (should take up to 1 hour 15 minutes) and face-to-face events (should take up to 30 minutes)
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You will need to run one or more meet-up or event within the first 6 months of your role and provide feedback to the Student Community team following the sessions you run.
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You must have good communication skills, enjoy talking to other students and have a welcoming and inclusive attitude.
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You must be interested in becoming more involved in the OU Student Community.
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For face-to-face events, you must complete a safety tick list and follow guidance provided by the Student Community team.
Benefits to self
Benefits to others
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Make a difference for OU students, who may be feeling isolated or want to meet fellow students.
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Organise events that OU students want to see, such as subject or hobby themed events.
Hours per week
The time commitment is flexible. If you held a weekly event, it could be for example 30 minutes organising and promoting the event and 1 hour hosting the event per week. For a monthly event, you might spend 30 minutes organising and promoting the event and 1 hour hosting the event.
Details of training offered
You must be able to complete the mandatory online training:
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Online core training for volunteers
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Online self-study for your role, including online training recordings on hosting online events (should take up to 1 hour 15 minutes) and face-to-face events (should take up to 30 minutes)
The online training for hosting online and face-to-face events can also be delivered ‘live’ at an agreed time on request. If this is of interest to you, please email us at oustudents-meetups@open.ac.uk.
Location
The online Event and Meet-up Host role can be undertaken entirely from home. The face-to-face Event and Meet-up Host role will involve organising and promoting the event from home, and then hosting the event in your local area.
DBS required
No
Employability skills
This role supports eight Employability Skills as defined by the Open University including:
You can find out more about the OU’s Employability and Transferable skills framework on their website: https://help.open.ac.uk/employability-skills
Hear from an Event and Meet-up Host
We sat down with Bev, one of our Meet-up and Event Hosts in Birmingham, to find out what being a Meet-up Host is all about, why she volunteers as one, and what it entails!
How do I become a Meet-up and Event Host?
Any student can host a meet-up and we'll support you every step of the way. You'll need to complete a very short application form to become a volunteer Meet-up and Event Host. Recruitment takes place in phases across the year. You'll find further details and the application form on the current opportunities page, but if recruitment isn’t currently open please do email us at oustudents-meetups@open.ac.uk as we may be able to accommodate you.
How do I set up a meet-up?
Once you've completed the Meet-up and Event Host training you can fill in an event form to let us know when and where your meet-up will be, as well as any other additional details.
What happens next?
We help to promote the event through our website and social media accounts. These are an opportunity for you to meet other OU students in your area, share study tips or just to have a general chat.
Email us with any questions