The art of attracting visitors to the Inspiration Day
The visitor record at Material Science’s Inspiration Day this spring was no fluke. Programme manager Mikael Ersson shares some keys to a well-attended event.
March 24 was Material science's annual Inspiration Day at KTH, where students from high schools get the opportunity to meet teachers, students and alumni from the master's degree program. This year, the participation set a new record with 300 visitors on site, and the event was fully booked several weeks in advance.
“Previous years, we have contacted upper secondary schools from a larger part of Sweden, but this year we were fully booked even before we had time to send out all invitations”, says Mikael Ersson, programme manager for the education.
He can see why Inspiration Day has become so popular. It is a relevant and fun event for the students, which is proven by the fact that the visits are initiated by high school teachers who have attended previous years. At KTH.se, there has also been a registration link and information and many have signed up via the website.
“But we also have a very good collaboration with the Järnkontoret, which in turn has contacted schools in the local area.”
At various stations, the young visitors got to learn more about, among other things, memory metals, 3D printers for metals, superconductors and different properties of materials at a temperature as low as - 196 C. They also got to meet teachers who told about the program and current KTH students shared their experiences. There were also alumni who could talk about what kind of job they got after KTH, as well as some of the companies that hire engineers from the program.
“Something that is really appreciated is the great commitment from the students at Material science. This year we had 30 students acting as guides and station hosts. The students became a good link between the high school students and the researchers who showed their work at the various stations.”
