Context
Organizing First Fridays was one of my earliest assignments when I began my Co-op term with the VPRIO. Officially on its second year, the project's underlying goal is to build a Community of Practice for grant facilitators, research managers, and other research development professionals at UBC. In hindsight, my continuous work on this project was crucial since it laid the foundation for the skills and partnerships that I would later come to rely on the most during my time at the office.
My Role
The primary workflow consisted of the following steps:
- Coordinating with my supervisor and other colleagues to find a speaker
- Meeting with the speaker to discuss the Lunch-and-Learn format, along with their proposed topic/target audience
- Gathering material (e.g. presentation title, description, and speaker biography) for the marketing newsletter
- Updating the website with the necessary details and sending out RSVP reminders to the research development community
- Ordering catering (if in-person)
- Setting up the Zoom meeting room (if online)
Towards the end of my tenure, I also constructed a process document so that future Co-op students would have a template which they could use to approach the First Fridays tasks.
Seeing A Whole New Side of Research
Sample First Fridays Announcement Email
Sample Presenter Slide Deck
Excerpt from First Fridays Process Document