Best-New-Society

Best New Society Application Form
 Note: The society must not be in existence more than 2 years including any
provisional or probationary period.
 All application forms must be typed. Handwritten applications will not be
accepted.
 Three printed copies of this application must be provided to the adjudicating
panel by the deadline.
 A copy of this application form must be uploaded to your online application portal.
 Text boxes will extend as you type and where word limits exist it is clearly
stated. Adjudicators have a lot of material to read so concision in answers is
appreciated. Remember adjudicators awards marks for facts above all else so
make use of bullet points, etc. when appropriate.
 Please read through the nomination form in its entirety before filling it out in
order to avoid repetition of material.
Marking Scheme
 Each application is marked by three separate adjudicators. The marks listed
throughout refer to the marks each individual adjudicator awards.
 The Best New Society marking scheme consists of a total of 200 marks. This is
divided as follows:
o Application form: consists of four sections (organisation & events,
finance, publicity, and other) with multiple questions worth 90 marks,
o Portfolio: a mandatory portfolio of supporting documents worth 10
marks.
o Interview: an interview worth 90 marks.
o Discretionary marks for overall impression worth 10 marks.
GOOD LUCK!

Background Information
Name of Society
ITTD Engineering and Technology Society
College
Institute of Technology Tallaght Dublin
Name of person submitting
Christopher Mc Clelland
Phone Number
086 055 6498
Email Address
ittdengsoc@gmail.com
Date of the founding of the society
01/10/2014
Total number of members
134
PLEASE PROCEED TO SECTION 1

Section 1: Organisation & Events
Total marks: 45
Please read each question carefully and answer what is asked. Where appropriate
use of bullet points, and delivery of key information is encouraged. Remember
adjudicators have lots to read so brevity, while giving complete answers, is
appreciated.
1.1 Please detail the society’s aims and objectives.
Tips: These should be the aims and objectives as outlined in the society’s constitution.
The aims and objectives of our Society are as follows:
1. To develop a social and fun society whereby member can enjoy themselves
whilst taking part in a range of social events and activities.
2. To develop a society that encourages members to get to know one another and
encourage individual development of committee members and members.
3. To support students from 1st to final year with subject experts and support
networks. Establish and maintain a peer support program.
4. To promote the Engineering and Technology Society within and outside ITT
Dublin.
5. To promote the college (ITT Dublin) in society and within industry.
6. To foster cross disciplinary relationships between the academic schools at ITT
Dublin with a view to creating successful Synergy Awards teams.
7. To promote an entrepreneurial spirit within the group in order to inspire idea
generation for events, innovation and enterprise.
1.2 How has the society’s work fulfilled these aims and objectives? (5 Marks)
Aim 1: “To develop a social and fun society whereby members can enjoy themselves
whilst taking part in a range of social events and activities”.
and
Aim 2: “To develop a society that encourages members to get to know one another and
encourage individual development of committee members and members.”
These aims were most important to us as a society and were addressed by
running events that students wanted to get involved with. The events were
extremely successful in achieving this and members repeatedly commented on
how much they enjoyed themselves. We have been successful in creating a
society where people have gotten to know each other. In order to achieve this,
we created a logo and hoodies that were burnt orange in colour to represent the

official colour of the engineering department at ITT Dublin. The vibrant colour of
the hoodies has really given the engineers a visible identity around the college.
The result of this is that engineers from first year to final year now actively
socialize and greet one another on a daily basis. This was not the norm in the
college making it one of our proudest achievements to date.
Aim 3: “To support students from 1st to final year with subject experts and support
networks. Establish and maintain peer support program.”
This aim has been addressed by the creation of the Peer Support Program. The
program is a joint effort between the society and the Engineering faculty at ITT
Dublin. Gerry Ryder of The Engineering faculty having previously attempted to
establish a Peer Support Program, approached the society about helping with its
formation, and thus far the society has successfully run workshops weekly since its
inception. This year, the program consists of second and third year members of our
society volunteering to meet first year students once a week to give them guidance
and help on any course material they may be finding difficult. Following our
inaugural year, this program will be reviewed and it is hoped it will be expanded to
provide support for all years.
Aim 4: “To Promote the Engineering and Technology Society within and outside ITT
Dublin.”
In order to promote the society we realized that creating a brand for ourselves was
key. To do this we created a logo to represent the ideals of engineering and our
society. The cogs represent mechanical engineering, the light bulb filament is an
electrical network to symbolize electrical engineering, the various colours on the
cog represent synergy and cross disciplinary relationships, the Wi-Fi symbol
represents networking and together they form a light bulb to represent the
generation of ideas. Also, through our relationship with Engineers Ireland we kindly
received financial sponsorship for our society and we were invited to attend the
Young Engineers Ball in November of 2014. This, along with the society’s
attendance at a number of talks at Engineers Ireland, has provided our society with
a presence within the organization and has led to our Chairperson being requested
to become a committee member for Young Engineers Ireland. Outside of Engineers
Ireland, we have attended the BICS networking forum over 2 days, and as a result
have gained many new friends external to the college. We feel that the relationships
that we have created with societies external to our college will play a key role in the
success of our society in the years to come. Internally, the society got involved with
a number of other societies within our college and even 3D printed a working radio
for the Radio Society, in the shape of their logo. Finally, we ran a pub quiz in ‘The
Grand Social’ on Liffey street and the proceeds were donated to the Saplings School
for Children with Autism in Rathfarnham. The monies generated at this event were
used to purchase gardening materials and equipment (toys, games, paint etc.) for
the school’s garden. The society and staff members of ITT Dublin then went to the

school during the Easter break (Wednesday, the 1st of April) and spent the day
working in the garden for the children. This is a project we are all very proud of, and
it has served to create a relationship with the school that we hope will continue for
many years.
Aim 5: “To promote the college (ITT Dublin) in society and within industry.”
Further to promoting the college in the ways detailed above the society has
recently purchased a quad copter (drone) that has high quality video
capabilities. The idea behind this drone is to create prospectus videos for any
society or faculty within the college that wishes to do so. The videos created will
further promote the organization both in society and industry.
The society also organized IT Tallaght’s first ever 3D Printing competition. This
competition was adjudicated by professional and industry members external to
the college, including lecturers from DCU and UCD along with industry
professionals from Hewlett Packard and 3D Printing Dublin.
Aim 6: “To foster cross disciplinary relationships between the academic schools at ITT
Dublin with a view to creating successful Synergy Awards teams.”
During our first year we were very lucky to have two members in the society that
had won first prize at last year’s ‘Student Synergy Awards’, these awards provide
an opportunity for ambitious and enterprising students to build a real world
business venture. Having previous winners in our society created a great buzz about
the competition and encouraged members to take part. Members that showed
interest in the competition were mentored by our two past winners in the society.
The past winners made themselves available and gave advice and guidance. The
mentoring within our society has strengthened their applications and as a result
three of our members have been shortlisted for this year’s ‘Student Synergy
Awards’. The teams that our members have become a part of consist of students
from varying disciplines and we are hopeful that their ideas and entrepreneurial
skills will see them do well in the competition at the end of April.
Aim 7: “To promote an entrepreneurial spirit within the group in order to inspire idea
generation for events, innovation and enterprise”.
Many of our event ideas have come about as a result of meetings and
brainstorming sessions. These sessions have allowed ideas to flow and evolve
into events and also business ideas that will be entered in the Student Synergy
awards.
1.3 Please give details of the society’s committee structure and how committee
members functioned as a team. (5 Marks)
The committee comprises of:

 Chairperson & (Vice Chairperson)
 Treasurer & (Vice Treasurer)
 Public Relations Officer & (Vice Public Relations Officer)
 Secretary & (Vice Secretary)
 General Committee Members
The committee led the society by holding regular meetings to discuss ideas for events,
networking, and promotional activities. The workload was then distributed by the
chairperson to each member of the committee within their responsibilities and society
members were encouraged to take on tasks and projects if they wanted to help. Roles
could then be assigned from committee members to the vice committee. The Committee
would then carry out their task and report back to the chairperson. The chairperson
then amalgamated the combined efforts of the committee and presented the final work
to them. The chairperson then liaised with the Sports and Recreations Officer in our
college regarding the ideas and events planned.
It should be duly noted that during the day to day running of society events the
Chairperson sought the input of the committee and upon realizing members’ individual
talents, delegated work that went beyond the remit of their role in the committee,
playing to peoples strengths making a formidable team.
Having organized the event, the society would then pull together on the day of the
event to perform the various tasks in order to ensure the event’s success. Following the
completion of the event, the committee would meet for debriefing. During debrief the
committee would discuss any issues the event had presented in order to better plan in
the future.
1.4 Detail the society’s membership numbers, and how you went about
attracting new members to the society. (4 Marks)
Tips: It is important to detail the society’s membership numbers as a percentage of the
overall campus population.
Total Membership: 134 Paid Members
Total Student Population: 2900 Students
Membership as a percentage of the college population: 4.62%
The society attracted new members using a number of different methods:
 We set up stands on society open days.
 We displayed our 3D printer and promoted its availability to new members.
 A 3D printing event was hosted by the society to encourage membership. In
conjunction with this event the society ran a week of workshops teaching non-
engineering students how to create 3D models and at the end of the week a
competition was held to judge the best creation. This was a great success and
attracted new members from outside engineering
 We held a joint event with the Radio Society, where we built them a working 3D

printed radio, in the shape of their logo as part of radio week.
 As part of Engineers Week 2015, we set up a stand in the main foyer of the
college displaying the radio created for the Radio Society as a focal point.
Furthermore, Engineers Week coincided with Valentine’s Day. Within the
society a gender gap was noticed, so we came up with an innovative way to
diversify the society further. This was achieved by handing out 300 red roses to
the students, mostly women of IT Tallaght, which generated a great buzz about
our society. We also ran a raffle for Valentine’s Day with lots of brilliant prizes
and offered a free strip of tickets to every student who signed up for the society.
This was a great success generating a phenomenal interest level in our activities
and society.
Following on from our initial 79 members our events such as the 3D printing event and
the Valentine’s day / radio week were successful in gaining another 55 members
bringing our total to 134 members (the biggest in our college).
1.5 Please list the number and variety of events held (15 Marks)
Tips: Please include at the start of this answer a simple statement as to the total number
of events held this year before preceding to detail them.
During our inaugural year we participated in 12 events in total. We hosted 6 events
ourselves attended 3 events and were involved in organizing 3 joint events both with
other societies and the school of engineering in the college.
Events Hosted (6)
3D printing event: This event was the first competition of its kind to ever be hosted in
our college. The event aimed to showcase and promote 3D printing to students and the
community. The event reached far and wide and boasted participants including
children from local schools who prior to this event had not previously been exposed to
such a technology. The event took place in the main Foyer of the college and was a
resounding success. We had a display of each student’s ideas printed for all to see and
we also had a full feature display from 3D-Printing Dublin, a local business. We had
adjudicators from UCD (Shane Keavaney), DCU (Dr. Heinz Lechleiter), 3D printing
Dublin (Nigel Byrne) and Hewlett Packard (Kevin Dooley). Prizes were awarded for
first, second and third places, and there was a junior prize for the school children called
the Next Generation Award. Approximately 150 people attended the event and 29
people competed.
Open night: As part of the college’s open evening presenting the benefits of
undertaking a degree in engineering to potential students, we were approached by the
college to run the open evening on their behalf. We set up a stand in the college and
showcased all the benefits and exciting technologies available to students at IT Tallaght.

As part of the event, many of our members volunteered their time to be present at the
stand and to talk to potential students. We shared our experiences with prospective
students during the evening and provided them with information and advice regarding
their future study path. Approximately 80 people attended the event and 7 society
members volunteered.
Valentine’s Day: We realized that we did not have a proportional number of women in
our society, so we made it our objective to further diversify the society. We bought 300
hand wrapped roses and our members roamed the college with armfuls of flowers
handing them out to students. We also ran a raffle giving away loads of boxes of
Cadburys Milk Tray, cinema vouchers and other prizes associated with Valentine’s Day.
We received a huge response gaining 55 new members and we also had great fun
making people smile. Over 2 days the event reached most of the college (2900 students)
and 20 society members volunteered.
Whiteriver Karting: When we asked our members to vote on a fun event they wanted
to attend, it came down to a unanimous vote for a go karting trip. Our committee then
organized an event at Ireland’s premier outdoor karting track: Whiteriver Park. The
event was a team endurance-style race whereby members were grouped into teams of
four for the day. This allowed members to get to know each other better whilst having
fun. 34 members participated in the event and 1 of our sponsors took up the invitation
and joined in on the day.
Social gathering (Pub Quiz & Club Gravity): On the 26th of March our society
booked out ‘The Grand Social’ in Dublin’s City centre. We ran a pub quiz and then held
a DJ night (Club Gravity) that continued into the wee small hours. For our DJ night we
enlisted the talents of Mr. Philip Galvin Jnr., one of Dublin’s best known DJs who boasts
sets at Electric Picnic and Life Festival, to name but a few. We also teamed up with Eoin
Curtin on the DIT DJ society who played alongside Philip on the night. For this event we
extended invitations to every college society through our BICS networking rep. The
proceeds of this event went towards our Savage Garden Event for Saplings School for
Children with Autism, Rathfarnham. Approximately 80 people attended the event.
Saplings savage garden: The society wanted to give back to the community, and
following a number of meetings, the resounding choice was that we wanted to
contribute to a children’s charity. We became aware that Saplings School for Autistic
children in Rathfarnham was planning to have their school garden renovated. We
extended an offer to provide man power required to complete the renovations free of
charge. Furthermore, we pledged to donate all of the proceeds from our social
gathering event to the school. The proceeds from our social gathering enabled us to buy
games, equipment, tools, paint and varnish for the project. On the day, we separated
into teams to complete the tasks set by the school’s management. 25 members
volunteered their time during the Easter break under questionable weather conditions.

These tasks included:
 Sanding and varnishing the playground equipment
 Painting the garden fences.
 Planting flowers and herbs.
 Placing planters throughout the garden.
 Cleaning the front porch of the school.
 Painting the front porch of the school.
 Painting the entrance hall to the school.
 Building a sensory walkway for the children.
 General maintenance, repairs and painting touch ups.
 General cleaning and tidying of the garden.
Joint Events (3)
Go Karting Joint event with the Karting Society: Together with the go-karting society
we ran a joint go-karting event at Kylemore Karting. This event was great fun and
allowed us to mix with another society and create new friends. Our Chinese members
particularly enjoyed this event as most of them had never driven before and this gave
them the opportunity to drive for the first time.
Radio week: For Radio Week, the Radio Society at ITT put out a request for any
societies that wished to get involved with them to contact them with ideas. We were
delighted to get the chance to work with such a well-run and established society and
ideas were flying about. Finally we decided that we would offer to build a fully working
radio in the style of the ITT FM logo. The radio was Printed on our 3D printer in the
foyer of the college over two days during radio week and received a lot of attention. We
also made appearances on the ITT FM station and some of our members hosted
segments on topics such as “women in engineering, sustainable development, tech tips
and the benefits of being a part of our society”.
Engineer’s Week: A number of our members volunteered during Engineers week to
teach young school children about the fun side of Engineering. This was an event
organized in collaboration with the Engineering faculty in the college. At the event our
members showed the children how electricity worked, how bridges are built, how
helicopters fly, how computers work and lots lots more. This event took place off
campus at the Rua Red centre in Tallaght and was a very rewarding experience.

Events Attended (3)
Engineers Ireland Ball: A number of our members were invited to be guests at the
Engineers Ireland ball as a result of the society’s new relationship with Engineers
Ireland. The society then opened the event to all members and we went along and had
an amazing night. Other societies from around the country attended the Ball, and the
society made use of this as a networking opportunity. 2 members attended the Ball.
Engineers Ireland Talks x2: The society attended talks at engineers Ireland
throughout the year in order to gain new ideas and skills. These talks included a talk
about wave energy and a talk about the future of the 3D-Printing industry. Our
members actively engaged in discussion at these events that were attended by industry
leaders. 14 members attended the talk.
1.6 Please detail the challenges encountered by the society this year. (5 Marks)
 Gaining initial recognition for our society
We are the first ever academic society to be recognized by IT Tallaght. Historical
academic societies have failed to be recognized by the college because the standard
expected of them is so high, and the College does not recognize societies established
from one discipline. This forced us to work to very exacting criteria, and provided a
challenge that motivated us to strive for excellence. The standards imposed on the
society were not only met but were surpassed, surprising many people in both the
student and staff bodies to become the biggest society in the college this year.
 Building members
Ordinarily membership is not usually difficult to obtain however we were a new
society starting with no members or reputation and facing the stigma associated
with an academic society. Following the initial open days back in September of 2014
we had amassed a membership base of 79 members. This was done through
generation and promotion of the society’s aims and objectives. Following on from
September we further developed our membership numbers through the use of
events detailed in the previous section.
 Coming up with ideas for events
As a new society, we had no annual events to carry forward from previous years (no
template). Also, as an academic society, ideas for events were less obvious initially.
This challenge was overcome through conducting meetings and asking members
what they wanted to do. A huge amount of creative thinking went into creating

these events from scratch, providing templates for future events.
 Hoodies Issue
We had an issue regarding the logo on our hoodies being misspelt. The society
immediately made contact with the supplier in order to rectify the mistake.
However, the supplier never rectified their error and simply took back the hoodies
and ceased contact. The solution to this was that our chairperson contacted another
supplier and had our hoodies logoed and delivered within two weeks.
 Getting initial Funding
As a new society we had no funds to carry forward from last year. The society raised
initial funding in the amount of €778 through our sponsorship cards, which saw us
rank 6th overall in the college. This was the best of all the societies in the college for
funds raised, only superseded by well-established sports clubs who use the funds
raised through the raffle cards to pay for their sports gear. Outside of the college we
actively sought sponsorship and were successful in attaining €2000 in sponsorship
from Engineers Ireland, Asgard Engineering, Gizmo Gadget Shop and Radionics. We
also attained funding from the Engineering faculty in IT Tallaght to purchase our
drone.
 Securing continuity for the society
The challenge involved ensuring the good work of the society would continue
throughout the years. To overcome this challenge, we put a number of measures in
place. (Please see section 1.7)
 Proving ourselves to doubters (people said this society would never fly)
At the initial stages, the society met with many comments from people saying that it
would never work. These doubts came as a result of previous failings of academic
societies to attain recognition. This was a challenge we were more than happy to
accept and we have taken great pride in showcasing just why our society will not
only succeed but it will thrive.
1.7 What systems have been put in place to ensure the continuity of the society
and to ensure its ongoing success? (6 Marks)
 Shadow positions
The society recognized that the most vital tool for ensuring continuity is its people.
At the beginning of the second semester, the society had outgrown its initial
structure and an EGM was called to review this. The result was such that we created
vice positions for each key role on the committee. The persons elected for these
positions had been extremely active in the society and their election to these new
shadow positions has allowed them to see how each role on the committee

functions. This has allowed these members to learn the skills necessary to bring the
society to the next level next year.
The following persons were elected to the various shadow positions:
 Alan Crowther 1st Year (Vice Chairperson)
 Artur Leiten 1st Year (Vice Treasurer)
 John Arigho 3rd Year (Vice PRO)
 Enda Russell 3rd Year (Vice Secretary)
 Handover document
The society has called an AGM for the end April to re-elect new committee members.
As part of this AGM, the committee members have created a handover document to
guide the new committee further. All information will be incorporated in this
document to assist the new committee with the day to day running of the society,
along with passwords, usernames, contacts, account details, historic documents and
any other important information.
 Funding
The chairperson has secured funding from the Engineering Department in IT
Tallaght to add to the balance that will be carried forward next year. This will
provide the society with a sound financial base from which to plan its events.
Furthermore we hope that our funding from the Engineering faculty will be
matched by the college pending our application for a grant in September 2015.
 Events
The events created during our inaugural year have been developed to become
annual events. The success of the events organized in our initial year has brought
considerable interest from the college and industry, this will be vital to the ongoing
success of the society.
1.8 How has the establishment of the society contributed to campus life? (5
Marks)
Tips: Please detail what specifically the society adds to campus life that would be missing
if the society hadn’t been established.
As Engineering is one of the most difficult and time intensive courses generally
engineering students have little time for socializing outside of the classroom. As a
result, Engineering students tend not to become active members of societies. Our
society has demonstrated to engineers the benefits of being part of a society and it has
also shown the college the benefits of having an active Engineering & Technology
Society.

 Our Society has given engineering students a voice and a presence in the college.
Since the creation of our society Engineers have become more active throughout the
campus. The society has provided its members with a platform from which they can
engage with the engineering faculty at IT Tallaght. As a result of this communication
platform the engineering faculty listened to the requests of the societies members
leading to the procurement of a brand new 3D printer for the college and also a
state of the art quad copter for the society itself. We have put a strong emphasis on
branding in the form of our choice of a vibrant orange colour that we incorporate in
to our posters, flyers and hoodies too make our society stand out amongst the
crowd. As a result we have noticed a change in the colleges perception of engineers
as a whole. The branding has made engineers stand out and engage more with
college life.
 Bringing people together:
The society in its short life time has created many social events for its members to
attend. These events have gathered people from all disciplines in the college and has
allowed students who don’t normally engage with others outside of their own
course. This gives them an opportunity to meet other students from different
courses.
 Changing the perception of engineers in our college
When Disciplines are combined and people work together amazing results can be
achieved. The Engineering & Technology society allowed engineers to show their
talents to the college e.g. Synergy awards and 3D printing the radio society’s logo.
For a long time a lot of people had no idea what an engineer is or does. The society
has educated people by way of our events, achievements and social media. Also
given people a taste of what it is to be an engineer with our 3D printing event where
anyone, regardless of discipline, who wanted to get involved could design
something to be 3D printed.
 Our Peer Support Program:
Due to the heavy academic workload and nature of coursework, Engineering has a
high drop-out rate. The society formed the Peer Support Program, providing
assistance to first year students. Without the formation of this society first year
students would not receive this support and as a result some of them may have
dropped out.
 Our society is unique.
We are the first academic society to be recognized by the college. This makes us
unique and provides the college a new perspective, paving the way for future
academic societies. One over our objectives was to forge academically orientated

events with a social atmosphere e.g. 3D Printing Event.
 Our work with Other Societies:
We have brought a new dynamic to the campus as we are a society that looks to
actively engage with other societies. Some of our collaborative efforts and events
include the LGBT dunk tank, radio week, and go karting event, as well as providing
our quad copter services with trained operators to record aerial footage for both the
college and other society’s events.
 International Students
IT Tallaght has a link with ‘Nanjing University’ and during the fourth year of their
studies they take the opportunity to travel to Ireland in order to obtain an Honors
degree. In previous years the Nanjing students tended to keep to themselves and
not mix with their Irish classmates outside of college. It is one society’s proudest
achievements to say that the Nanjing students actively engaged in all our events and
even sent messages of thanks to our committee members saying that they really
enjoyed themselves and thanking us for organizing the events. Additionally the
society has members from a number of countries around the World, including
Brazil, Germany, Austria, Zimbabwe, Estonia and Nigeria.
Section 2: Finance
Total marks: 20
appreciated. It is mandatory to include the following in your portfolio: Bank
statements if available, otherwise confirmation letter from Societies’ Officer that
your balance sheet is accurate; Letter from Societies’ Officer confirming grants
received from your institution. Also useful is a detailed breakdown of income and
expenditure, sample of receipts, sponsorship request letters and replies if any.
2.1 Details of income and expenditure? (5 Marks)

2.2 Describe the methods of financial oversight within the society and the
success of your financial management. (5 Marks)
The society has been successfully managed financially. Successful fundraising and
sponsorship was secured, and the society has continued to conduct events to generate
an income. The current state of funds in the society are discussed among the committee
and all expenditure is agreed based on the funds available. For each event a budget is
discussed and agreed between the Chairman and the Treasurer, once the figure is
agreed the funds are then released by the Treasurer. The society’s attitude towards
finance has resulted in a healthy balance being maintained in the account despite
organizing several events. All transactions made within the society require the
agreement of the committee before proceeding. Transactions are conducted by way of
cheque and require 2 signatures for validation. When society funds are handled by
members other than the Treasurer, the member handling the funds signs for them,
assuming responsibility until the Treasurer has received them. Upon receiving the
funds the Treasurer counts the funds to verify the total and signs for receipt of the
funds. All receipts, invoices and bank deposit slips are kept for financial record to
ensure a transparent paper trail.
The treasurer kept up to date accounts and constantly informed the chairperson and
other committee members of the bank balance during meetings in order to ensure
sufficient financial oversight was had whilst planning events.
2.3 Please provide details of the success and innovation of securing funds for the
running of the society. (10 Marks)
Type Source Amount Total Percentage
Sponsorship Asgard Engineering €1500.00 41.90%

Engineers Ireland €350.00 9.78%
Radionics €150.00 4.19%
Total €2000.00 55.87%
Fundraising Membership Fees €237.00 6.62%
Raffle Cards €778.00 21.73%
Radio Week Valentines
Raffle
€320.00 8.94%
Table Quiz Event &
Raffle
€245.00 6.84%
Total €1580.00 44.13%
As the society is in its inaugural year the committee members all agreed to attempt to
secure sponsorship. Initially the society procured funds through a membership drive.
Several members of the society manned a desk during Clubs and Societies Week,
encouraging new memberships and taking a payment of €3.00 per membership for the
year. A total of €237 was raised. To further increase the society funds a Raffle was
conducted, raffle cards were handed out to members of the society and a total of €778
was raised. The Treasurer secured a further €1500 in sponsorship from Asgard
Engineering, and the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson secured an additional €500
from Engineers Ireland and Radionics respectively. The society has organized three
events to increase and maintain society funds. The first was a 3D-Printing event
encouraging new memberships. The second event was for Valentine’s Day, again to
encourage new members and a raffle was conducted raising €320. These events
combined generated €557. The final Event was a table quiz in ‘The Grand Social’ which
generated €245. In total the society has generated an income over its inaugural year of
€3580.
Section 3: Publicity
Total marks: 25
appreciated.
3.1 Please give details of the creativity, innovation and variety of methods used
to promote the society and its activities this year? (10 Marks)
Tips: It is important to detail variety of publicity methods used as well as the creativity
and innovation of society publicity.

When it comes to promoting the society, we had a number of challenges facing us. We
are after all an academic society, making it naturally more difficult to attract certain
types of people. As stated in our constitution, we want to connect people, and in order
for that to be beneficial, we need a wide variety of people.
On Campus
 Our 3D printing night gave us our first advertising opportunity to reach out to
our existing members and attract some new ones. We created posters and flyers
offering free pizza to all who came to the event and joined the society. The
posters were placed strategically throughout the college and leading up to the
event we handed out flyers and placed them throughout the college, synergy
centre and student union.
 It was the day before Valentine’s Day during a committee meeting, we were
discussing various topics when the spirit of the forthcoming day inspired us to
close the gender gap in the society. Within a few hours, we had ordered 300
hand wrapped roses and printed off flyers promoting our upcoming raffle. We
handed roses to the students of IT Tallaght and tried to make their day that bit
more special.
 We created a promotional video documenting our events over the course of the
year.
 We have actively engaged with other societies such as the Radio, Go-Karting and
rainbow Societies.
 Although we already had a Facebook page, it was a closed group exclusively for
our members. After gaining permission, we created a Facebook ‘like’ page so we
could promote the society and actively interact with our sponsors, members and
local and international community.
 We posted pictures of our events on the like page and tagged other societies and
people so others could see what we have been up too.
 We did joint events with other societies like the ITTD radio society to try and
acquire other members.
 We placed flyers and posters all around our college and other colleges.
 We negotiated with the I.T department of the college to have one of our posters
for the Club Gravity Event appear on all the screens of the computers in the
college when logging in.
 We created a personalized logo that would stand out and go on all of the
society’s posters, flyers and anything that is associated with the society.
 Instead of the normal blue hoodie, we ordered orange hoodies with our society
logo. We wore our hoodies to all the events we attended in order to promote the
society further and make our members stand out from the crowd.
Off Campus

 For our 3D printing event we got the attention of the local newspaper the
Tallaght Echo. We were featured for our 3D printing event, Radio week,
Valentine’s Day and our charity event at the sapling school for autistic children
in 2 separate feature articles.
 The society invited members from DCU and UCD as well as members of industry
to adjudicate the 3D printing competition.
 Further to the 3D printing event the owner of 3D Printing Dublin wrote an
article about the society on his website.
 For our Pub Quiz we had our poster put on “The Grand Social’s” website where
they advertise events and posters put up at the building itself.
 A facebook like page was set up to promote the society within and outside the
college. The Public Relations Team went to great lengths to maintain a presence
online for the society, generating huge amounts of traffic and interest.
3.2 Please detail how you actively engaged with your members this year (5
Marks)
Tips: This question seeks to understand how the society actively communicated with its
members over the course of the year.
 We created Facebook events that are open to the public and invited all the
members to them.
 We emailed all the members with updates and info on what the society is up to.
 We posted regularly on the Facebook like page and group page to make sure the
society’s activity is visible and accessible to its members and group. The group
page is used to engage with society members, while the like page is used to
target a much broader audience.
 We created various events and outings to entice our members to be active in the
society.
 We had regular meetings with both the committee and the members to get them
involved in planning and setting up events. Over the last 2 semesters we have
conducted a committee meeting at least once a week, with increased frequency
during event planning, since the society’s inception. Additionally we held our
AGM in September 2014 and our EGM in February 2015.
 The society communicates with its members through facebook, e-mail, text,
whatsapp, posters, flyers and digital media.

3.3 Please detail the success of your publicity in raising the profile of the society
both on and off campus. (10 Marks)
On Campus
 When the society was set up at the start of the college year, we had 79 members.
After the combined efforts during Valentine’s Day, engineer’s week and radio
week, the member list grew to 134 members.
 Opening our events to all societies increased the numbers showing up to the
events and encouraged more people to sign up.
 After creating a like page, our publicity and the number of people viewing our
post increased, along with people posting their own interesting information and
problems that needed to be solved. This was one of our end goals to help our
members.
 Our increase in publicity led us to create great relationships with other societies
around ITT Dublin and allowed us to run joint events. We have built good
relationships with the Radio and Rainbow Societies which resulted in a number
of their members joining our society.
Off Campus
 When setting up our Pub Quiz and club night we had our poster design put up in
“The Grand social” bar in town and on their web site this led to more people
outside the college to show up to our pub quiz, where approximately 80 people
attended.
 After our night out in “The Grand Social” the profits made on the night went to
our charity event at the Saplings School for Autistic Children. Allowing the
society to give back to the community giving people a better opinion of the
society.
 Actively engaging with societies form other colleges like attending the BICS
Forum and having a Dj for the DIT Dj society play at our Pub Quiz event this gave
us recognition in other colleges.
 For the 3D Printing event, Valentine’s Day and Sapling Savage Garden event we
had the Tallaght Echo Take pictures and print a story about the activities of the
Engineering and Technology Society showing the local community the
achievements of the society.
 The facebook like page set up by the society has generated a huge amount of
interest on and off campus, attaining a reach of 1296 people, and has been liked
by people from Ireland, The U.K, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Canada, Germany,
Mozambique, Zambia, United States of America, Austria and Chad.

Section 4: Other
Please read the question carefully and answer what is asked. Please note the word
limit.
4.1 What would it mean to the society to win this award and why do you feel the
society merits the award?
Note: While there are no specific marks for this section it will inform the discretionary
marks awarded. There is a word limit of 250 words on this answer.
We, as a society, have worked hard together to build an interdisciplinary network of
peers that will amalgamate the various cultures, interests and facets of the college that
are normally separated by their nature. As our name implies, we are an Engineering
and Technology society. But we are also more than that. We aspire to bring people
together under the flag of innovation, and mutual support. We believe that our society
has brought a new dimension to our college, in that students can join a society that will
give them access to cutting edge technology and a network of academics and friends in
the college, and in the future, post grad and alumni.
Our future plans are ambitious and bold. Our sponsors and investors have showed
fantastic support and faith in our society and it would mean a lot to say that with their
help we won the best new society award. We have big plans for next year including a
big intervarsity event that will be extended to every college in Ireland. With BICS
recognition it would help to secure our future sponsors and give us the recognition we
will need to back the societies ambitious for next year.
4.2 Any other information which you believe should be included.
Note: There are no marks for this question, it is merely for crucial information which
hasn’t been covered in other sections that you feel is of vital importance to your
application. It is not necessary to fill in this box.
We have raised a significant amount of capital through fundraising and sponsors (more
than any society in our college history) and we are spending the money in areas that
will spur our growth and give members unique opportunities to access new
technologies such as a 3D printer, and a state of the art quad copter. These assets are
within full reach of anyone in the society and we hope to give members access to many
more technologies as our society grows.
Please Note:
 There will be an additional 10 marks for your portfolio, 90 marks for your
interview and the adjudicators will also award 10 discretionary marks for
overall impression.

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