A Festivity Mashup
Last week the School of Tourism hosted a “festivity mashup” ideas cafe in the Loft. The event was put on by the Leisure and Recreation research theme from the School of Tourism.
‘Festivity’ is an expanding and critical phenomenon that is impacting on all areas of life from events, technology and gaming, health and wellbeing, media and digital culture, to tourism, fashion and food.
The festivity mashup was an informal ‘eat, drink and discuss’ session that explored these areas. Guests were treated to pizza and snacks whilst they discussed the theme.
All the tables had been covered with white paper tablecloths so that the guests could write down their thoughts, opinions and discussions straight on to the table.
Going forward the discussions from last night will be used to shape research within the Leisure and Recreation theme.
For more information on the evening please contact Caroline Jackson CJackson@bournemouth.ac.uk
To view the highlights of the evening please see the link to watch the video
Read MoreHospitality Management Lecturer Crispin Farbrother stays at Channel 4’s Hotel GB
Last week, Hospitality Management lecturer Crispin Farbrother got the opportunity to stay in Channel 4’s Hotel GB. We asked him for his response on staying at the hotel and here is his response:
SO here it is, my final reflective comment about Hotel GB following my stay there and watching the series on TV.
I would give it high marks for what appears to be honourable intentions in raising the issue of getting unemployed youngsters into work and the variety of opportunities that hotels can offer. I would offer high marks for the attempt to raise money for two very good charities. Springboard in particular has little presence outside of the hospitality industry.
Hosting the programme inside a real hotel in London ensured that that there was realism for the trainees chosen and having core staff behind the scenes helped the hotel keep running for the benefit of the guests staying there. I appear to be saying that all is good so far and I am. I was looking forward to staying at Hotel GB and had in mind Michel Roux’s very successful programme Service. Having celebrities involved appeared to be positive as they can pull in viewers and Gordon Ramsey and Gok Wan have some credibility in our industry. I was looking forward to eating in a Ramsey Kitchen.
So what went wrong? Having Ramsey claim that the youngsters were going to get a year’s experience in one week was a bizarre statement to make. I do not know of anyone who would support this claim. Intensive? It certainly was. This is also called dropping them in the deep end, and some of the youngsters certainly were dropped in the deep end. I saw very little training in action in the hotel and on TV. After a few days some of the trainees did start to shine with Emily and Gun recognised early on as having natural skills in their areas.
The programme did highlight many issues that arise when working within or running hotels though the programme missed many opportunities to go into these in more detail. Some examples are perhaps with Tom and Rory and Phil Spencer. Tom was struggling with his customer service skills on reception and he was asked to clean a room in ten minutes. What a strange request and to prove the point fifty minutes later the room was still not clean. It showed that hard work, efficiency and attention to detail are required in our industry. Phil Spencer is not a trained Maitre D and putting him in charge resulted in chaos on more than one evening. My own experience of Phil showed him to be a nice guy, but he needs a few weeks in our training restaurant here at Bournemouth University before he should be let loose again. It also showed that Will could do a far better job, however he also needs training. A suit and tie does not make a man a manager! Experience, technical knowledge and management skills are needed here. This was further evidenced when Rory was thrown into the restaurant. This was nothing less than cruelty. Gordon and Mary then showed their own lack of management skills in the way they dealt with the issue. This same poor management was mirrored by Kim when talking to Kerry and Patrick who wanted more experience and responsibility. On more than one occasion the manager’s communication or lack of it put the trainees under more pressure than was really necessary. The programme, for me, highlighted the fact that well trained hospitality graduates are need in our industry.
It is clear that the programme was trying to be too many things…. Either it was about hospitality apprentices, the celebrities who had most airtime or it was about the charities. However with the cameras there it also became a programme about celebrity or wealthy guests who were happy to “tip” £1,000. Good for Springboard and The Prince’s Youth Trust but in no way realistic.
In summary I am disappointed to have spent a few hundred pounds and 5 evenings of my life involved in what resulted in a complete fiasco adding little to no value to our industry’s needs to employ good enthusiastic young people.
Read MoreBU School of Tourism at the Olympics and Paralympic Games
With less than a month to go until the Olympics get underway, Bournemouth University School of Tourism is heavily involved in the Games. From Gamesmakers, to Torchbearers, volunteers, venue managers and researchers, the School of Tourism is heavily involved in London 2012.
The School of Tourism has 3 lecturers who were nominated to be Torchbearers. Dr. Debbie Sadd, Dr. Dorothy Fox and Alexis Major were all chosen to carry the torch when it comes through the Dorset area from July 12th. Dr. Keith Wilkes, the Dean of the School of Tourism, commented that “the fact that Alexis, Dorothy and Debbie were chosen is a fitting recognition and reward for their long standing contributions to various communities and groups within Bournemouth and Poole”.
Dr. Debbie Sadd has also completed her PhD concerning the Olympics entitled: Mega-events, community stakeholders and legacy; London 2012 around the impacts on the site residents in London and she will be working as a volunteer during the Games in the Basketball arena.
Dr. Matt Frew is also pursuing research around the Olympics. His ground breaking research looks into the use of Live sites and social media: ‘Live Sites and Social Media: from policy to practice’ This is a study that focuses on how the policy of mega-event Live Sites translate co-created convergence/promotion to active participation through social media.
As well as lecturers being involved in London 2012, the School of Tourism have also helped place lots of current and former students from the school in high profile positions associated with the Olympics. Below are highlighted a few examples of the varied roles that our School of Tourism students have acquired:
- John Millard: involved in a consultancy project on motivational techniques for staff at Sodexo Prestige for the Olympic Games.
- Rachel Rhodes will be a London ambassador for a week during the Games at Heathrow Airport
- Emma Lincoln is working for a ‘behind the scenes’ catering company supplying catering services to the Olympic Broadcasting Services. She has also been offered a Games Maker role in the Events Services team at the Handball Arena for the Paralympic Games.
- Aini Maensivu, position as an assistant venue manager at Eton Dorney the rowing venue.
- Charlotta Eriksson, volunteering during the Olympics, as part of the Press Operations Team as a photo team member at Excel
- Zoe Poole, Rongrong Zhang, Eleanor Cole, among many students working for Sodexo
- Sophie Ridge – will be working working within the Sport Information Team for the Gymnastics and the North Greenwich Arena.
- Shun-Han Chang working in Weymouth as an interpreter
- Jessica Bailey working with one of the marketing partners to deliver their hospitality programme centred around the Games.
- Mustafa Saricalar is also working on the Games as a transportation team leader
- Leroy-Winston Scott will be working at both Games looking after the National Olympic Committees with roles including driving the delegations around from athletes to ambassadors and will be based at the Olympic village.
- Valentina Tkachenko is working with Jet Set Sports an Official Olympic Games sponsor
- Harriett Clarke – is going to be a volunteer at the Paralympic Swimming. In addition she will work on the Ceremonies in Weymouth & Portland.
- Lucy Vollborth – will be part of the protocol team, particularly language services and will be based in the Athlete’s village.
In addition to this the School has been asked to arrange and supply the volunteers for the ceremonies at the sailing academy affectionately known as ‘WAP Vollies’ and the internal interview process has been managed on behalf of LOCOG by Caroline Jackson and Virginia Bailey. Students involved include: Sophie Wrench, Rosemary Carter, Amy Unwin.
Former School of Tourism student Emma Needham has got a job as a Hospitality Co-ordinator for the Corporate Hospitality side of the Olympics. Emma commented that “Being a former Events Management student having the opportunity to work on one of the largest international hallmark events is a once in a life time opportunity and I am so very excited to be a part of it.”
With so many people involved in the Games this summer, it looks set to be an interesting summer for the School of Tourism.
Read MoreBA Leisure Marketing invites all Alumni to 21st celebrations
Alumni are invited to join this celebration of 21 years of Leisure Marketing, organised by a group of current ‘BALM’ students.
Come celebrate, catch up and be reBUnited with alumni friends and lecturers of Bournemouth University. See how the course and University has evolved and raise money in memory of accomplished Leisure Marketing academic Mike Morgan.
Saturday 17 March 2012, 7:30pm – 11:30pm
The Balfour Suite, Bournemouth Football Club, King’s Park, BH7 7AF
Price: £15 – book your tickets at: http://balm21st.eventbrite.co.uk
Dress code: Smart casual
The evening includes full buffet, venue bar, team quiz, networking activities, speeches and a raffle with proceeds creating a commemorative legacy for accomplished academic Mike Morgan.
Please forward any memorable digital photos taken whilst on the BALM course for use on the event night. Also if you have any dietary requirements or queries please email us at: balm21st@gmail.com
We look forward to celebrating with you!
As BALM students, we like to think about the environment! Please consider using public transport to the
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