The annual ITP Scotland Regional Awards Evening was held at the Edinburgh Apex International Hotel, overlooking the stunning Edinburgh
Castle. The event was attended by over 50 ITP members, including special guests from the event sponsor Fujitsu. Distinguished guests included Keith Vinning, Craig Raine, George Knight and Alan Spalding (all Fujitsu), Brendan Dick (BT National manager of Scotland) and Bob Cowie (Chief Engineer for Openreach).
Keith Vinning of Fujitsu conducted a presentation at the event giving a fantastic overview of the history and operations of Fujitsu.
Finalists Kyle Wells, Laura Armstrong, Stacey McKenna and Joanne Kelly compete for the coveted title of Scottish Young Person of the Year (YPOTY). Following a presentation and Q&A session from a panel of judges, the finalists had a nervous wait until later in the evening to find out who won the YPOTY.
Once again standards were high but there could only be a single deserved winner and the Chair of the judging panel, Gavin Costa announced that BT Retail apprentice Laura Armstrong had won for her fantastic in-depth presentation on Mobile Internet.
After receiving her award Laura said “The young person of the year competition has expanded my understanding of ITP. Previous to this I knew that I was a member of ITP but didn’t realise that it was not just a BT thing, but had numerous companies involved throughout the industry.”
Laura explained “I think that participating in this award has allowed me to develop my presentation skills. Previously nerves have got the better of me when presenting but I now realise that it is really important that you understand your subject well and practice in front of other people, who can point out things that are clearly wrong but you just can’t see it. No one likes to be criticised but I have learned to take things on board and develop myself so that these points are no longer issues. Overall I found that the YPOTY 2008 has been an excellent experience, hopefully more BT Retail apprentices get the chance to go through. In the future I would like to be involved in the ITP, but who knows what the future has in store”
Feedback came from Brendan Dick, National Manager, Scotland who was also a judge of YPOTY said he “ felt privileged to hear a range of very high calibre young BT colleagues as they competed in the final stages of Scottish Young Person of the Year. “ All four finalists demonstrated not just a high quality of research and knowledge in their chosen subject but also a degree of confidence and enthusiasm that did them credit”.
Brendan also commented that “I think with a changed format re the quiz the event had a better buzz about it and involved everyone, which was an improvement on the old format”
Brendan also said that he is more than happy to get involved again in the future.
Next up was the Annual Quiz where 6 teams - Fujitsu, West of Scotland, South West of Scotland, East of Scotland, Inverness and Old & New. The quiz was presented in a format based on the popular quiz show 'Test the Nation'. Questions were flashed up on a large screen and teams had a short time to decide on an answer and press the appropriate button on their keypad, extra marks were available for quick answers.
This led to frantic discussion around each table to reach a consensus although it was clear that on occasion the person with the button did not always wait for the rest of the team leading to much grumbling when the answers were wrong! The questions ranged from telecoms history through electronics to IP. After quite a tussle the East of Scotland team, headed by John Innes, were the eventual winners.
East of Scotland quiz team captain John Innes commented that “The East of Scotland ITP Quiz team has had considerable success in the ITP quiz over the past few years, winning the regional event on three out of the last four years. The quiz in 2008 was held in a very different format to that of previous years which saw much more interaction with members of the audience actually joining the teams at the tables. For the past few years the technical content of the quiz has gradually been changing to include wider telecoms industry topics reflecting the increasing participation of teams from other telecoms companies.
The East of Scotland team were delighted to find themselves paired with recent ITP Board Member and retired BT Network Operations GM Gavin Costa and his wife Linda. Gavin assures us that the team would have still won without his input but that they could have scored even more points had they paid a bit more attention to his answers. Wasn’t it always thus!
YPOTY finalist Stacey McKenna commented that “despite being unsuccessful in the competition all of the competitors were winners in many ways”. Stacey also commented that,” My night at the ITP awards in Edinburgh was really good. I got the chance to meet some really interesting people, all of whom are involved in many different projects. It was a great opportunity for me to interact with senior people from different organisations in the communications industry. I learned a lot more about ITP and its principles. I now feel far more confident in my presentation skills which will be sure to help me in my future career with BT.
Keith Vinning, Business Unit Director, stated that “Fujitsu is very pleased to have had the opportunity to support the Scottish ITP Quiz and awards night in Edinburgh, through both sponsorship and attendance at the event. It was a great opportunity to give all of the attendees a greater understanding of the role of Fujitsu both in the UK and globally and also pit our wits against Scotland’s finest in the telecoms quiz. The ITP and particularly nights like this, provides an ideal opportunity for networking at all levels and fellowship within the telecommunications industry. The quiz provided a great opportunity for the young bucks and the old codgers alike to show their mettle and a great night was had by all. Fujitsu will be back”.
The last word goes to the Scottish Chairman and ITP Board Member, Duncan Gray… “Once again the end of the year Quiz and prize giving dinner went very well and a big thanks is due to Pete Blyth, Alan Johnston, George Foster, Alex Wotherspoon, Lesley Shields and Glenn Somerville for their organisation, preparation and delivery on the night. The new quiz format worked well with feedback from both the teams and the audience being very positive.”
“The opportunity for networking was enhanced by the attendance of the Fujitsu team who, through an excellent presentation by Keith Vinning, brought a wider dimension to the evening’s proceedings. The technical challenges of getting the quiz up and running made for a nervous start to the night however it went as well as the committee could have hoped. All in all a good way to end one year in ITP and look forward to the challenges of the new.” – Duncan Gray.
