Kung hei fat choi!

Nei hou from Hong Kong,

Well one graduation down and one to go!
I'm here with colleagues from across the university to organise and run our graduation ceremonies here in Hong Kong which are taking place through our partnership with the VTC in the city.
Dave, Dom and Mick from the Awards and Exams team, Netti from Innovation North, Richard from Business & Law and Bobby from our event partner Logistik are like my new family - there's nothing like being taken our of your usual surroundings to help you bond with people.

I normally get excited at our UK graduations, and it really serves as a good reminder why we're all here, but in Hong Kong although we are running the event in the same way, it is so different. Students bring flowers with them, teddies, and even want to have their photos taken with us  (although Richard has been the most popular so far!!!) which is kind of strange but brilliant at the same time. Chinese New Year has also been celebrated this week, so it has been an extra special celebration.

This experience has been (and still is!!) fantastic and besides being able to explore a new city, fabulous food and culture, I have a newfound appreciation and understanding of just what goes into running our graduation ceremonies. Although our team are always involved in Graduations every year, our role is quite specific in terms of looking after PR including website and photography, but this time around I have been an usher and have the extremely important job of directing the students down to the stage at the correct time! It sounds easy but really, when you speak a different language and even gestures can be easily misunderstood, it's not as straightforward as it sounds! Luckily last night's first ceremony went well, and hopefully tonights will too.

Today was fabulous - we had a free morning and after breakfast Dave and I headed up to the Peak - the highest point on Hong Kong island, on an old tram which almost felt like it was ascending vertically!!! The views were fantastic though, it was definitely worth it.

Tomorrow is our last day in Hong Kong and we'll fly home tomorrow night, arriving back at Manchester early Monday morning. Most of us have been living on 5 hours sleep a night if that, which isn't down to what you think - anyone who has ever had jetlag will know exactly what I mean! It's a strange feeling knowing that it is hours past your bedtime, you are geting up in 4 hours, yet you aren't tired. I'm sure my body clock will begin to adjust just as we're ready to leave!!

As well as getting to know colleagues from various departments across the university, some of whom I'd never even met before, it's also been nice to talk to academics out of their usual settings and have somewhat less formal conversations with them. It really feels like were one big team.

Anyway, it is 4.15pm now and we need to get suited and booted ready for the ceremony starting at 7 - we're packing down tonight so it might be another late night...

Helen
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Sheepskin coats

My role here at Leeds Met means I'm tasked with raising the profile of sport at the University and I'm proud of some of the advances we have made in recent months.

Our Twitter updates keep a growing number of sports fans up to date with the latest scores and goings on within University Sport and links into our well-established Facebook page. We've continued to develop our audio offerings on our Soundcloud page, interviewing players and coaches to highlight their successes.



One of the projects that I've been most excited about this year has been the redevelopment of the University Sport website. With Leeds Met finishing third in the BUCS overall tables for the 2008/9 season, it was clear that the website was in need of a redesign in order to showcase our successes and better represent our stature at the pinnacle of British university sporting achievements.

The new site www.leedsmet.ac.uk/sport has been launched this week and I'm really pleased with the look and feel of the new design. Thanks and doffing of hats must go to, Andrew Ramsden, Duncan Worth, Glenn Herbert and Pete Butler who have done a sterling job in designing and putting it together and putting up with my constant prodding, questioning and hassling for the last six months! The new navigation means that (hopefully) you'll be able to visit each sports club's information with ease, using the fancy icon scroller Pete & Andrew designed. The images that Vicky from Icon took for the site headers are awesome as well and add a real wow factor to the user experience.

Since September 2009 I've been working with the University's excellent video production team to produce a weekly sports video. In the seven episodes since its inception, Carnegie Sports Weekly has registered over 11,000 hits on Leeds Met's Youtube channel which I'm absolutely chuffed with. We've covered a variety of sports from hockey to volleyball, football and boxing and I've relished the opportunity to get in front of camera and make a fool out of myself! It's only when you work with a camera pointing in your face and a script that you can't remember, that you realise the skill and talent that a TV presenter must possess. Without this natural talent, I've had to make use of the camera technicians' patience and quite a few takes to get it right (well over 20 is the norm!)

Last week though, my best John Motson commentary skills were put to the test as we trialled a new project and a first for University sporting action...a live broadcast!

Following the success of our students' involvement with the Northern Ballet Theatre's production of Peter Pan before Christmas, we decided to let them loose on our sports teams. Netball provided an ideal platform to trial this new coverage and a crunch match against arch rivals Loughborough to see who finished at the top of the league was too good an opportunity to miss.

We duly managed to rope in a number of students to film, direct and produce the footage and ex-England international Tracey Neville kindly agreed to commentate on the game. I was expecting to front the coverage as usual, but in the end managed to get promoted to the dubious privilege of being the second commentator for the game!

Despite a real lack of technical knowledge of the game, (despite a few sneaky games a lifetime ago at school) Tracey put me at ease and we had an absolute ball in the end. I soon got used to the swing of the match and for the first time was able to appreciate the various nuances of netball and the skill and speed at which the elite game is played.

The four 15 minute quarters flew by and the game had a dramatic climax as Leeds Met were able to hold off a Loughborough comeback and win the game by a point! I was really proud of everyone who was involved in the project and the students did a fantastic job aided by our incredibly capable in-house video production team. I'm really looking forward to continuing our live coverage and have definitely got the bug, so Motson you better watch out!

Well I'll finish my ramblings and leave you in peace, but on a final note there are two issues dominating office politics at present. One is the new office pet, Palaquin who has received a mixed reaction from colleagues and the other is the seeming obsession with the American television series Glee which also has completely divided opinion. Spare a thought for us as we grapple with these two heavyweight issues...

Mark


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