Helping a large university event run smoothly with content, design, video, PR and facilitation

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is a thriving university based in London. With campuses at Mile End, Whitechapel and West Smithfield, it is one of the most diverse academic institutions in the world, with staff and students from over 160 nationalities across its community.

QMUL runs a successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme, which brings academics and business partners together to develop specific products, applications or approaches.

The university wants to expand this programme across its faculties and develop wider partnerships with commercial partners. The KTP team had planned an event for 2023, to highlight its successes and engage with both academics and businesses – and asked Padua Communications to help.

Impressed by our energy

“A couple of our KTP team saw Nicky Rudd from Padua Communications speak at an event at the University of Surrey,” says Dr Joanne Chamberlain, Senior Partnerships Manager, Science and Engineering at QMUL.

“We really loved her passion and energy, and thought she would make a great facilitator for our event. So, we got in touch and explained what we were trying to do and to see how she could help.”

The KTP team had received money from Innovate UK’s Capacity Building Fund to help them promote their work, but the funding was time limited, and the team wanted to use it to build a strong base of collateral in time for the March event.

“At first, we were just talking about facilitation,” says Natalie Nestorowicz, Business Development Manager, Health at QMUL. “But when we had our initial discussion with Nicky, it was clear that Padua Communications could also support us with a lot of the other things we needed – case studies, posters, presentation slides and more.”

Tight deadlines and a flexible approach

Working to very tight deadlines, we worked with the KTP team to produce a range of collateral. We used our project management, content and design associates to help manage the tasks, keeping in close contact with the client to make sure everything was accurate and approved for final sign off in time for the event.

We produced:

• 15 case studies, each with dedicated presentation slides
• 15 large format posters to highlight current and completed KTP projects
• Graphic design for case studies, slides, posters and pull-up banners
• Consultancy and marketing support
• PR support and a template for the team’s future use
• Video at the event, including highlights, social teaser clips and 12 individual interviews
• Social media updates before, during and after the event

On the day, we were there early to help with the set-up and to brief the photographer and videographer on the best things to capture, so the team had great visual content for future use.

Nicky facilitated the event, managing the welcome, introductions, panel discussions and Q&A sessions. This was an important part of the event, making sure we got the tone, language and content right, reflecting the often complex nature of the projects, and balancing that with the exciting possibilities and opportunities that the KTP programme delivers to both academics and business partners.

This was a project that showcased our approach – responsive, flexible and determined to get the best results for the client, even under a tight deadline with changing requirements. We were able to flex our team to bring in experts across the board, and provide a trusted extra pair of hands to a team that needed to be confident in their support.

A platform for growth

“We had more than 100 people at the event,” says Natalie. “We were delighted to see a good mix of academics, external partners and associates, and we had some excellent feedback. This was both about the event itself and the collateral we had produced.”

“We were delighted to be able to work with Padua Communications on this project,” adds Joanne. “We now have a great set of professionally-produced collateral that we can use on the QMUL website and at future events.

"Our event generated a lot of interest and we have had many new enquiries from academics and potential business partners, so the event achieved exactly what we hoped it would. KTP gained great visibility and we are well placed to promote the value of the programme to new collaborators.”

Find out how we can help you make your event a success by getting in contact for a free consultation today.