Started in 2013, Bright Network set off to create a free to join and innovative network of the brightest students and connect them with the best career opportunities.

Women in Technology, Engineering & Consulting

Bright Network now has over 180,000 members - all of whom are studying at or have graduated from top universities.

Diversity is critical to their mission in helping the brightest get ahead in their careers.

  • 75% of their membership is state-educated
  • 58% female
  • 40% BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic)
  • 43% are the first generation to go to university.

They partner up with over 300 leading employers including Accenture, Bloomberg, Civil Service Fast Stream, Deloitte, Dyson, Goldman Sachs, KPMG, Teach First, UBS and Vodafone

Bright Network combines innovative events, insightful and rich content and personal advice, helping students and graduates connect with their partner organisations.

The Event

Bright Network held their second Women in Technology, Engineering and Consulting (TEC) event at the IET London in September.

This event gave over 200 female members the opportunity to meet 18 leading employers such as Alfa, Insight Investment, J.P Morgan, Sky and Lockheed Martin.

The event began with a keynote from Sarah Rench - Senior AI Manager, Advisory - Data and Analytics at EY. Sarah gave an overview of what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, the challenges of Machine Learning, ethics and finally how organisations can prepare for AI.

Attendees then had the chance go over a case study by Clare Tomkins, one of EY’s Student Recruitment Advisers. It was an EY Idea Hack, which covered 5 prominent themes; ageing populations, diverse workforce, the financial range of those in the formal economy, preventing digital exclusion across critical social issues and using technology to revitalise health care. Members were given time to generate ideas, collaborate, refine, prepare and then pitch their innovative problem-solving ideas for the above themes.

Clare Tomkins also held a skills session covering skills highly rated by potential employers. Skills included creativity, emotional intelligence, collaboration, complex problem solving and cognitive flexibility. Each was then defined and followed up with activities.

Finally, members had the chance to ask senior female leaders from Bright Network’s partners such as Accenture, Atos, CGI, EY, Microsoft and Morgan Stanley via Glisser’s audience Q&A feature.

How Glisser engaged the audience

Given the age range of members, the use of mobile phones is extremely natural. So Bright Network’s decision to utilise this as a strength was an easy one. Glisser’s live slide sharing feature was used through the day to help distribute the content from various sessions straight to their devices. Combined with Glisser’s digital note-taking feature, members had the ability to make personal notes on their devices which they could then download as a single PDF. This helped to ensure members had as beneficial an experience as possible, whilst providing Bright Network with valuable engagement data which would then be used to improve future events.

When used in conjunction with Glisser’s live polling and Q&A functions, speakers and members had the opportunity to interact in real time. Speakers could instantly gauge the opinion of a room, enabling them to shape their upcoming content to keep it as relevant and beneficial to members as possible. When it came to the panel session, Glisser’s Q&A feature and the ability for members to upvote questions helped rank questions, whilst at the same time provided a voice to those hesitant to ask given the size of the room and prominence of the panel.

What Bright Network said about Glisser

“Glisser has revolutionised our events – both our clients and students love it! Our students live on their phones and the ability to vote in live polls, engage in Q&A and social media as well as downloading PowerPoints with their notes has helped us in increasing event engagement. Clients have loved the functionality and data capture they’ve received from Glisser. Plus, we’ve found the Glisser team really helpful and flexible with our events. We couldn’t be happier and couldn’t recommend Glisser more”

The Breakdown

  • Attendees - 263
  • Questions asked - 161
  • Votes up - 259
  • Downloads - 69
  • Likes - 180
  • Poll Votes - 305
  • Total Interactions - 974
  • Included engagement score
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