Events Management Students Step into Industry with Successful Line Dancing Event

Our team of Events Management students at the University of Chester was tasked with planning and producing a live event in aid of a local charity. We chose to raise money for Age UK Cheshire and our team decided to form Boot Strap Events and hold a “Step Into Line” line dancing fundraiser.

Tell us about your event.

Step Into Line was an event that we were all so excited to produce. We poured our hearts and souls into the event to make it an exciting and memorable night for all attendees.

We successfully raised a total of £1959.80 for Age UK Cheshire. After months of planning, the evening was filled with live music and line dancing and ran smoothly.

We were supported by the amazing Line Dancing Instructor Sue Bell and Musician Thorne Hill, who both kindly agreed to take part. We were amazed by the support of local companies for our raffle; one of the prizes was a free visit to the new Picture House cinema in Chester.

The turnout and support from all the attendees were overwhelming and so much greater than we ever anticipated after setting a donation target of £250.

We are so overwhelmed with how well this event turned out and with how much support we received. This event was the first event the team has ever put on, and it has further encouraged us to want to enter the events management industry.

Why was this a good experience for your Future?

The event was a great experience to understand how to professionally work and effectively communicate as an Event Manager to achieve the event's goals with other contractors like our venue, as well as our entertainers. The event also gave us a great opportunity to develop our organisational skills, working towards many deadlines and ensuring that all the behind-the-scenes work was completed to high standards.

Working with Age UK Cheshire was a great experience, and we were delighted that we got to work with them, as the support they gave us was amazing. They provided any help they could from start to finish and we are happy to say we now have connections within the organisation. The event overall was great for networking with people already in the industry. We have met many people including a representative from Northlight who has given us great insight and understanding into the production of events like Step Into Line.

During the planning of the event, there were many things that, as a team, we had to take into consideration for the event like the theme, the venue, and what we thought was possible. For Step Into Line to be successful, we also had to consider each other’s strengths and what areas of event management each individual would like to improve on. Considering this enabled us all to work to our strengths including, creativity, finance, and organisation for the benefit of the event. It also allowed us to work on specific areas as a team to enable us not only to build our teamwork skills, but to build other skills such as technology skills, time management, and creativity.

Why Age UK?

Age UK Cheshire is an incredible charity that works closely with older people.  We have had the privilege to be able to work closely with Age UK Cheshire and would love to raise as much as possible for them.  Their aim is to combat loneliness in the elderly community within Cheshire.

We are aware that loneliness is very common among students and realised how tough it can be for the older generation, who are often isolated. These similarities made us want to help the older generation by supporting the activities of Age UK Cheshire.

We were so incredibly thankful for all the donations through ticket and cowboy hat sales, as well as our successful raffle and cannot thank the participants enough for their generosity. The money raised will go towards Age UK’s work of supporting older people across Cheshire, from their befriending service, which helps tackle loneliness, to its work in dementia as they support those living with it.

Tell us about your degree.

We would highly recommend the Events Management degree as it is very informative, and you learn more about the industry than you would normally think of. You meet many amazing and like-minded individuals and are fully supported by the faculty staff. We have thoroughly enjoyed our student experience and the opportunity to put on this event would not have been possible without the live event module. We are so grateful for the experience. 

Emily, Events Management Student

Make sure to check out our Events Management course page to discover how you can belong at the University of Chester.