#FuturesUP: Looking Back
Last Monday, we hosted our 10th #FuturesUP at Google focusing on careers in STEM. Partner companies KPMG, J.P. Morgan, IBM, ARM, UBS, Deloitte, Coca Cola, GoConstruct, Credit Suisse and Google joined in to create a fun, insightful and inspiring day for 120 students from 62 schools across London.
We’ve come a long way since the first ever FuturesUP! #FuturesUP has developed and grown exponentially from when we held our first ever #FuturesUP 3 years ago in 2016.
Tamsin, CEO and founder of Uptree, recalls that the first #FuturesUP was actually designed by the young people in an Uptree focus group. Finding careers fairs to be “too boring”, the students in the group came up with the name “FuturesUP”, organised the key speaker and the attendees from their schools, and created all the marketing for the event. You can what these early ambassadors had to say about this on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/eMiEZuQiTOs
The first #FuturesUP had 50 students, but now we regularly host 120–150 students even though the context has been the same.
So how has #FuturesUP developed? What have we learned? How have we grown?
For starters, #FuturesUP is more structured now. We fit more activities into the event and the professionals that participate are industry leaders in extremely relevant fields, especially as we have grown in size and diversity of partner companies over the years. There is now more time for individual networking, where students can go to various company stalls of their choosing.
We have also added a group challenge to the event which really allows the young people to creatively interact with company professionals and benefit from their experience and knowledge. Finally, the panel has changed from being a panel of inspirational people, as it was in the first #FuturesUP, to being a panel of apprentices and graduates. This is much more relevant and directly impactful for students who are considering the future career pathways.
These changes have all been for the better and we are constantly upholding our core value of always learning and sharing. With each #FuturesUP event we organise, we pick up new things to improve, strengthen or build upon. These changes are all connected to the structure and organisation of the event, which goes to show that being open to new learning, whether it be in your personal life or in your team or business, goes a long way. Learning and sharing allows us to stay on track, improve, and do more in our lives and our communities.
The original focus group students who created #FuturesUP had the creativity and the organisation, but more importantly, they wanted to share their understanding with others. This is the Uptree way.
We look forward to February when #FuturesUP is making its first appearance in Birmingham, Newcastle and Bristol.
If you or your company are interested in learning more about us or would like to attend, participate in, or host an event, please contact us via LinkedIn or email us at info@uptree.co. We look forward to hearing from you!
