After Your Expedition

These bold ‘First Steps’ have already set you apart from other young people. This is an opportunity to continue your personal development journey to wherever your ‘Next Steps’ may take you.

Whatever your plans may be, studying, university applications, apprenticeships, careers or simply everyday life, the Next Steps Learning Conference will be a great opportunity to identify and bring together the skills you developed whilst on expedition and what you are going to do with them in the future.

The weekend is designed to help you evaluate and use your experiences from the past summer and learn to articulate these to employers in your future. The event will be delivered and run by Andrew (Scotty) Johnson and Mark Taylor of Syncro Consulting, along with some amazing guest speakers. Scotty was the Chief Leader and the programme director of the first BSES Leadership Development Programme in 2006. The day will also include guest speakers from a variety of UK companies who will share with you their personal learning journey via anecdotes, personal successes, mistakes and top tips.

›       Develop a clearer understanding of your personal highlights and learning as a result of the expedition.

›       Define your personal strengths and weaknesses

›       Confirm a future plan on developing your personal style and brand

›       Be better prepared in the skill of articulating your personal experiences both on your CV and during interviews

The gathering is held annually on the last Saturday of January. It is the chance for you to meet up with friends made over the summer and formally present your expedition to your family, friends and peers at one of the most prestigious venues in the country – the Ondaatje theatre in the Royal Geographical Society.

There are two main events to the day:

This is where a small group of people from the expedition will plan and deliver a presentation to over 600 guests in the RGS. You may also be involved in the production of a display that will be put up in the building for attendees to view and learn about your experience.

After seeing your friends in waterproofs and boots for a month, this may be where you can no longer recognise people as everyone gets dressed up for a dinner and dance in a central London hotel.

BSES holds two competitions through the year and announces the winners at the Annual Gathering, when everyone meets up after your expedition. You should bear them in mind whilst on your expedition, and will be told how to apply when you return.

BSES Photography Competition
We want to see all the amazing images you capture whilst wandering through the wilderness!

There are four categories you can enter photos in:
1. Science Research / Conservation
2. Adventure
3. Teamwork and Camp Life
4. Wilderness

BSES Travel Writer of the Year Competition
Why not try your hand at travel writing and tell the wider world your reflections on your weeks in the wilderness? It could be a diary entry, a poem or an article written for a magazine. Entertain us!