Here is my live blog to share my experiences with giving my first uni lecture ! I will update it as I go. Be sure to check back every few hours. ! Latest posts at the bottom !
11:45am
So it was a bit of a sleepless night….but mainly because the young boy Harrison kept jade and I awake ! So feeling a little tired. But I am sure a few coffees, a RedBull and an apple will deal with that issue ! (side note….did you know that eating an apple will wake you up more than drinking a strong cup of the finest coffee….)
A few hours before I will leave to head over to the uni to meet with my fellow lecturer as well as the uni team
I saw some of the other guest lecturer’s slides today and I feel my slides are a little underdone….theirs had pictures and lots of visual stuff….mine is notes on a page ! I just hope my personal animation will make up for my boring slides ! But I am not here to sugar coat a career in public practice. It is a tough industry that carries so much expectation from so many different stakeholders in the community. It is a career path that is challenging but so rewarding and quite simply you get out what you put in.
I don’t plan to go in and talk about me and my story…whilst I will throw in some personal experiences…my aim is to really try and put the students in the picture when it comes to working as a graduate in public practice in the SME sector and what their career progression opportunities look like. I really want them to walk away knowing that public practice is for them or it isn’t. I want to have an honest and upfront discussion with the students as they prepare to start their careers
I thought long and hard regarding how to run the presentation today and I just kept coming back to the KISS principal and making sure that the students know exactly what the good and bad parts are of our space in the industry…….
1:35pm
So a little over an hour before I go up before the students and a fee minutes before I head over to the Uni ! Getting a little more nervous….think I need a shot of something stronger than coffee to calm the old nerves down !
4:45pm
First session done ! Wow, what an experience. I really enjoyed talking about what I do and what the SME industry is about !
It seemed as though most people were engaged, some were asleep though ! But that is Uni isn’t it !
Once I got into a rhythm it just flowed and I think I got the message across. I
Next session is at 6pm. Few changes to make to what I am going talk about !
7:00pm
Second session done ! Smaller audience and more intimate and more questions ! Really good second talk
Got to the point quicker and focused even more on the graduates role and focused more on the opportunities
9:00pm
All done ! What a hectic afternoon/evening.
I think it went great and the students got a clear understanding of what I do.
It was quite interesting to hear about management accounting and consulting and to see how at EFS we are doing this in smaller scales. I actually got quite a bit out of the other two presentations
I really enjoyed being up there and would relish the opportunity to do some thing like that again. !
James Solomons 