In mid-August, our CEO Katie and I boarded the early train to Manchester to attend NUS’ Membership Services Conference. Two days later we left with fewer business cards, notebooks full of ideas, and a greater understanding of the student experience through the lens of their Students’ Union.
With over two thirds of our Nightline services affiliated to a Students’ Union or Guild, the Nightline Association has been focussed on strengthening our relationships with these stakeholders. Regular meetings give them a space to ask questions and raise any concerns, as well as share ideas and successes. However, an online meeting can only do so much! We looked to in-person events to expand our understanding.
As former students’ union staff, I’d heard of Membership Services Conference as an opportunity to network, share best practice, and marvel at the buildings and resources of another, bigger, institution. It delivered on all three promises for Nightline!
Firstly, there were hundreds of staff there to network with, and not just from universities. For me, the standout of the networking was getting to know members of the Student Minds team, an organisation advocating for our common goal: student mental health support. It was reassuring to see lots of engagement from SU staff at the Student Minds session, and highlighted that the growing issue of poor student mental health is on their radar.
The conference also gives institutions the chance to share best practice and new initiatives on a wide range of topics. Between us we attended 15 sessions across the two days, a jam-packed schedule!
Standouts for me included a session on the ‘modern committee’ from Nottingham, which showcased their new model of support for student leaders. While in the past the Nightline Association (NLA) has had a less direct approach to individual volunteers, this session sparked ideas of what more we can be doing to support our students through preparation and training, but also reward and recognition.
Organised Fun provided an insight into Students’ Union’s risk tolerance with a session on most staff members’ least favourite job: the risk assessment. Running a Nightline service does come with risk, and it was useful to understand the concerns an SU might have, but more importantly, how to address them.
Particularly useful for me was ‘Comms for non-comms people’: a whistle-stop tour of impactful and accessible comms. As well as providing ideas for our own Comms strategy, the session had a toolkit of approaches that will prove beneficial to Nightline publicity officers as they advertise the service and recruit for new volunteers.
Much more could be written about our learnings from the two days, or the conversations that triggered new ideas (but unfortunately not about the karaoke, which we politely declined). The main takeaway from the experience however was the enhanced understanding of the context around which our SU stakeholders are questioning policy, or querying Nightline Quality Standards. We understand better the importance of demonstrating the impact of Nightline as a vital service for students, and have learned how we can adopt SU practices when supporting our student volunteers.
