Youth Commission Big Conversation Conference
The conference focused on the six priorities which the youth commission think are the most important for young people in North Yorkshire. The people who attended the big conference ranged from the Crime Commissioner herself, serving police officers, school teachers, council staff and many other people.
On the day we as the Youth Commission arrived at the Cedar Court Hotel for around 12:00. This was so we could practice our speeches and have a run through of the whole presentation together. Once we’d had our run through it was nearly time for everyone to start arriving. As people started to come through the doors, they were asked to sign in and were then shown to their table by the Youth Commission members. We had placed the information sheets on the tables and put a sign on showing each tables topic.
The tables were split into topics to have a variety of conversations around the room. Whilst people were arriving there was many different conversations going on around the large room, many visitors were grabbing tea or coffee and biscuits that were kindly provided by the hotel for us. Once most people had arrived the Youth Commission started to get ready to present.
To get the conference underway our coordinator Jade who helped lead the Youth Commission, welcomed all visitors to the conference. Jade then handed over to Julia Mulligan North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner to say a few words too everyone about the Youth Commission and how we have helped and why she wanted a Youth Commission to be set up when she started in her role as the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Once Julia Mulligan had finished her warm welcome she handed over to us – North Yorkshire Youth Commission members to start our presentation. We shared with everyone our statistics for our six key priorities, said why they are important too young people, our key findings, important quotes from young people on the topic and our recommendations for what the police can do, what different partnerships can do and what us as Youth Commission members can do to improve life for young people in North Yorkshire.
During our presentation we had three different films to show. These short films were about the Youth Commission six key priorities and why they are important. We choses to show a short film on Missing Young People and Exploitation, giving an overview of this topic and support details /numbers for people and places where young people could help, if they were ever in this situation.
After we had presented our findings we then took a ten minutes break, this gave everyone time to go to the toilet, grab a fresh hot cup of tea or coffee and take in the finding and recommendations from NYYC presentation.
After the 10 minute break we then had around five to ten minutes for the people on the tables to have a couple of minutes to have a chat about the topic on their table and to come up with around two questions per table to ask the panel. And to also ask some questions to the young people from the Youth Commission who were on each table ready to answer questions or maybe give help to think of a question to the panel which was to come next.
After the break we went straight into the question panel. I chaired the panel and after I introduced myself, I kicked off the panel. I started the introducing who I was, my age, which area of North Yorkshire I live in and how long I’ve been part of the commission for. After introducing myself I then asked the panel to introduce themselves too the room. The panel consisted of all the Youth Commission members and two serving police officers. After introductions I the played a final film called ‘you said we did’. This film showed Police officers talking about the different things they have done since the Youth Commission had started linked to the six priorities. Once the film was over I compared questions from the tables to the panel.
During the next 20 minutes there was many questions asked to the panel members in which they responded to each question and all gave great answers too! Also lots of ideas from both people on the tables and the panel about how we could work together in the future. I then thanked everyone for their questions and thanked the panel for their responses and handed back over to Julia Mulligan to close the conference.
Julia Mulligan thanked everyone for attending the conference and thanked us as the Youth Commission for all our hard work and dedication to the commission.
After the conference had ended we had photos taken with Julia Mulligan. Finally I was asked give an interview about the Youth Commission, what we’ve done, what I think I’ve gained from it and what I’d say to anyone who wanted to join or was unsure of joining. It’s been a fantastic experience and I was more than happy to recommend joining the Youth Commission!
Overall, the day for me was amazing. After we’d talked about it for so long in the Youth Commission meetings about the big conference and seeing all of our hard work from the past two years all being put together and presented and making a change to the future. I loved being part of the Big Conference in 2018 and can’t wait to be a part of the next Stage!!
Amy Judge.