#enactusuk

Friday: 

We touched down in Grantham on a rainy Friday night, which was a stark contrast to the vibrant atmosphere in the assembly hall. The night started simple for us, with the usual icebreakers, an introduction to the weekend’s agenda, and a hearty dinner. What followed afterwards was more unorthodox though. The whole of Enactus UK huddled around a giant bonfire under the night sky, complete with *free* drinks (mulled wine, beers, whatever you'd like!) in our hands. It was a great start to a great weekend; a night of merriment, music and dancing under the night sky. 

Saturday: 

Despite the great start on Friday, Saturday was truly the highlight of the weekend. 

You’ll be surprised how much you can pick up in a such a short amount of time. We started our morning with outdoor games to "warm us up". It did not. The weather was freezing. But the warmth and enthusiasm of our fellow Enactus peers did help to warm our moods. Afterwards, we then split up into different knowledge streams for different seminars, Asuka and Kim went for the Presidents/Vice Presidents stream, Kelvin and Kelly went for the Management Positions seminars, while Jenny, Gowtham, Theodore, Wilic and I went for the introductory stream Project Leaders and Members. That was when the real knowledge gaining began for us. 

Everyone was given an attractive array of seminars to attend, ranging from recognising the importance of and how to conduct a needs assessment, to employment skills, public-speaking tips and project management techniques. Each seminar lasted between 30 mins to an hour, and we had full flexibility in which seminar to attend in each stream, and I was deeply impressed with how much you can learn in just 30 minutes. 

My favourite seminar was on Waste Management. Rather unorthodox, the key emphasis of the seminar was not to see waste as a liability, but to turn it around, and see it as precious resource. To see it as an income-generating asset which can sustain lives through entrepreneurial action. We saw first-hand, past successful examples by Enactus Sheffield in turning rotting avocados into soap, and factory byproducts into sanitary towels, dramatically improving the sanitation conditions in an African village. Other teams also spontaneously came up ingenious ideas on how we can turn things we thought as waste into a product benefiting lives. 

We ended the day on a high note with a formal dinner. The canteen was turned into a beautiful dining hall, and everyone dressed up and looked our best. Our long day of learning ended with an array of wine, beer, cocktails and shots. There was also a lot of silly dancing and conversations with people you’ve never met! 

Sunday: 

Sunday morning repeated similar to Saturday morning with outdoor games, but given our late night the day before, many of us skipped the high elements games. (Sneaky) 

The remainder of the morning was split into a massive Enactus UK photo taking session, and reflection sessions on how we can improve Enactus back at our own universities. 

Enactus LSE came back from Grantham with new perspectives on how to approach our projects,and new ideas of how to engage LSE and our wider community. We can’t wait to share our thoughts with you, and I hope this has inspired you to go for Grantham Training Weekend 2015! 

Please rest assured that no matter your degree or future career choice, you will learn something new about how businesses work, you will meet passionate, genuine peers, and you will learn so much more than the theories we learn in our classrooms.