OUSA conference, a bit of business and the serious wobblies...

Over the weekend of the 15th – 17th April 2011 I made more new friends and met more new and interesting people than I could’ve ever imagined and it’s all because I went to the OUSA Conference. I’ve been looking forward to it since I first became involved with OUSA at the back end of last year but had no idea what to expect from it.

Conference is the AGM of OUSA; it’s meant to be a business meeting to give members the opportunity to vote on business matters and decide on policy motions and whilst that all still happens, it’s also a great excuse to meet up with a massive bunch of students, get to know the OUSA staff and have a bit of a knees up in the evenings.

This year it was held at the home of the OU itself; the Walton Hall campus in Milton Keynes, and I was grateful that my first ever conference was held on the home turf of the very organisation I was there representing. For anyone who hasn’t been, the campus is incredible. Not only are there some amazing buildings (thinking in particular of the Jennie Lee Building) but being a student very dedicated to the OU I feel a certain pride walking round the campus; everyone who’s there is there because they share a common belief and it radiates through the whole place, whizzing round the ring road at the speed of light creating a certain electricity in the air! Okay maybe that’s overdoing it a bit but it’s a great place to be, I highly recommend a visit to any student.

The business elements of conference were actually very interesting, hearing people plead their cases for and against certain motions and then having the opportunity to vote is really quite enthralling (and waiting that split second to make sure you’re not the only person who’s voting a particular way is introspectively hilarious). In between business we had the opportunity to listen to presentations by OU staff and academics.

I could go into massive detail about every single aspect of conference; the motions, the University Challenge quiz (students versus academics, guess who won!), the disco, the networking, the hustings, the voting, MY hustings (I stood for a trustee position and had to do a live hustings in front of half of conference - the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done in my life to date), food, drink, entertaining etc ad infinitum. But I won’t, I think all I need to say is that conference was amazing. A weekend brimming over with things to do and people to talk to has GOT to be enjoyable for anyone.

OU students really are so friendly and approachable, and being there with a shared purpose gives you an immediate conversation starter for 10; “so, what are you studying?”, “so, what region are you from?”, “so, what are your plans for the future?”, a hundred different questions you can get talking to someone with.

Now, I’m actually quite shy and nervous when meeting people. I can put on a bit of an act and muddle my way through but I have terrible confidence in my abilities to talk to ‘strangers’ so conference was fantastic for helping me overcome some of that. My trustee hustings was, as I say the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done. So much so that I almost withdrew my candidacy 10 minutes beforehand, through sheer crippling nerves, but getting up at the lectern and talking about myself for two minutes then answering two on-the-spot questions was a really good thing for me to do. It’s helped me realise that things like that are never as bad as you think and if you don’t know the answer, admit it. Honesty is always appreciated and falseness or lying rarely goes unnoticed and unpunished.

I’ve come away from conference with a completely renewed vigour for OUSA. Heck, I’ve committed myself to another few short courses alongside my MSc (at another institution, sadly) just so I can continue being involved with them, so over this coming year I’m gonna work my socks off and make steps to improve my confidence so that next year when I go back to conference I’ll not be struck down with a case of the wobblies again.

Watch this space.