Technology, Teenagers, A Duke and a Green Screen!

13 June 2012

The Watermill’s Outreach Director, Beth Flintoff, helps out at a technology event for teenagers.

I arrive at the hotel in Basingstoke slightly late because of flooding on the A339. The hotel is heaving with staff – even the car park is smoothly attended. Gosh. Perhaps this is a rather bigger event than I had anticipated. I reach the most enormous hall – a converted series of indoor tennis courts –someone attaches a microphone to me, and I start to run through my notes. Scanning around the hall there are film cameras, photographers, and – blimey – there must be more than 450 people here, about 300 of them teenagers. The unceasingly efficient staff from the Basingstoke Consortium, who have helped put the event together, look even more focussed than normal. Still the penny doesn’t drop, but I phone Heidi, our Outreach Assistant, and ask if she has time to pop over and take some photographs. 

 When everyone is gathered, Maggie Philbin, the Tomorrow’s World presenter, takes to the stage to welcome everyone and explain how it all works. And it’s not until she says there will be a special guest that I finally get it. Oooooh. The fuss isn’t because The Watermill are in the house, but because we have an HRH coming. The Duke of York, no less! I’m thanking my lucky stars I decided against jeans.

This is the kind of event I absolutely love: it’s big, practical, exciting, and rooted in good intentions – a philosophy that young people should have the highest possible ambition. Teen Tech, who set this up, put together stands and activities from technology businesses and the companies challenge the youngsters to have a go. My role is to compere a challenge in which they design an app for an IPAD or Smart Phone. I know very little about technology, but all I have to do is facilitate the event and support the kids when they deliver their pitch on a rather intimidating stage. Luckily there are experts from a technology company who actually know what they’re talking about.

It’s all going pretty well, the students are brilliant. We are half way through a batch of presentations when someone whispers in my ear: ‘can you slow it down a bit, the Prince is coming and he wants to see the pitches’. Damn it, I can’t think of a single thing to say. I start talking like I’ve got a plum stuck in my mouth, and ask the audience to clap a bit more. Then after a few minutes, someone else whispers ‘actually, the Prince won’t make it in time, can you speed up again because we’re running behind now.’ 

He does make it, of course, in the middle of the lunch break. 300 students, mouths half open with sandwiches, listen to HRH talk about the technology ambassadors of the future. They can’t resist taking photos on their phones – but at a technology event, that’s difficult to criticise. At the end of the day, the young people seem genuinely inspired, maybe because the prizes from the businesses are truly brilliant and they had a star guest, but hopefully because it’s the event that’s brilliant and they have received an insight into their future. And I’m inspired, because a nice man from the BBC showed me how they do green screens, and it’s really cool.