Last blog for the week. I attended the afternoon "routes to IET membership" event at Savoy Place yesterday, and then stayed on for the evening address from the incoming IET President, Warren East. 

I am pleased that I could find the time to do that in person although the entire program is recorded here on YT:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd4Mrgvet9Q

Don't be put off by the 3 hour plus run time, it is simple to cherry pick sessions of interest. Incidentally, IET.TV gave me a cameo role as I was the only person sat in the front row of the Faraday lecture theatre - for a reason.

Savoy Place for me is all about networking opportunity, and I was not disappointed with:

• two IET staff members supporting the event on an away day from Stevenage - one trained in mental health support - I had no idea such a role existed
• one Fellow from South Africa, we had much in common, not just a fondness for free olives
• three plain vanilla members and one student member
• the entire Savoy Place catering team - stars - kept me fed and watered
• the concierge team, they know me by name now
• the Faraday room reception team, they know me from my time in the Mountbatten room this summer, playing with, er, I mean, supervising Lego activities
• Warren East, President
• Samantha Hubbard, Deputy President

I extracted maximum value from all of these opportunities and I am grateful indeed to the personal steer I had from Warren, very unexpected, very relevant. He took the time to consider my question immediately after the public Q&A had time expired, he noticed my disappointment and came to engage with me without hesitation. 

I also have two new collaborators for my team project to create entirely new STEM content for primary aged young people, then build on that to cover all secondary ages too. They have already provided valuable feedback and validation to my almost ready to publish project proposal - some IET members already know of my intention and have been supportive. One of the most experienced team collaborator is not an IET member, but wishes to be, so I will support him in doing that when he is ready, with my newly refreshed membership application knowledge. I intend to use that myself too and have made contact with an IET PRA.

Finally, and relevant to the IET Education volunteering team, one of my new network buddies wants to get involved with First Lego League, so I was able to pass along the information provided by Harriet.

I will return to Savoy Place next month for the regular London Network techical event, another networking and catering opportunity !

Another day, another school careers fair, this time the Milton Keynes Academy. A slightly different format, lots of different employers and educational establishments represented, some that I made great networking contacts with. The different year groups came in sequentially, so time was very limited, but it did mean that I engaged with more young people than yesterday.

I concentrated on the Magnetic Moments demonstration again as I can cut that down to 5 minutes per group of 5/6. Yet again one student knew what was happening and one maths teacher went off to look at the theory - good luck with that ! I used to know it, I definitely passed that exam, last century, For the advanced student : en.wikipedia.org/.../Magnetic_moment

Hope to get hands-on with the challenges

Thanks for the update Chris, I am very excited about your new demonstration, I hope it goes well and please do feel free to share with the EngX community

Oh, I forgot to mention, I was told that Silverstone Museum was an IET Faraday Challenge venue last year, something that I hope to get involved with in future. I also potentially have a local primary school on the hook for their maiden First Lego League entry - a very exciting prospect. I had spent two days in Savoy Place earlier this summer in the Mountbatten Room with 130,000 pieces of Lego and members families getting creative - that was fun. I will be at Savoy Place this Thursday (17 Oct) for the new Presidents evening if anyone wants to say hello. I have also just arranged to visit the IMechE One Birdcage Walk library that morning, a bit of nostalgia as my father was CEng IMechE.