Meet & Greet – Vietsoc Sheffield

OVERVIEW

Vietsoc Sheffield is the Vietnamese Society at the University of Sheffield — a community that brings together Vietnamese students and those interested in Vietnamese culture. The Meet & Greet is the society’s annual event: a welcoming space for new and returning students to connect, learn about the city, and get excited about the year’s upcoming events.

As the co-lead for this event, I owned some parts of the process — from early planning and budgeting through to execution and post-event wrap-up.

THE GOAL

A successful event meant attendees — especially those brand new to Sheffield — left feeling connected. They should know at least a few names, understand what Vietsoc is about, and feel genuinely excited to come back for future events. Beyond the social goal, it was also our first chance to introduce the new committee and set the tone for the year ahead.

PLANNING & ORGANISATION

Planning began several weeks out, starting with a breakdown of every workstream: venue, programme, games, social media promotion, and logistics on the day. I created a shared Google Workspace with a team calendar and structured folders so every committee member had clear ownership of their tasks and deadlines.

For promotion, I personally handled media creation and coordinated posting schedules across platforms. Running the internal communications alongside external-facing content meant I had full visibility over both the team’s progress and how the event was being received publicly.

CHALLENGES

The committee had not run the previous year, which meant there was no existing funding in the society account. Sourcing external sponsorship was also difficult because there are very few Vietnamese businesses in Sheffield to approach. I had to plan the entire event within an extremely tight, self-funded budget, which required careful prioritisation of where every pound went.

On the operational side, I noticed during run-throughs that some of the game formats had unclear rules. I rewrote and simplified the instructions myself before the day, ensuring every activity ran smoothly without confusion.

THE TEAM

I coordinated a team of five, spread across logistics, social media, and events. All of us new to running a society together. Keeping everyone aligned meant regular check-ins, clear task ownership through our shared workspace, and making sure each person understood how their role connected to the bigger picture. Motivation came naturally from building something from the ground up as a group.

ON THE DAY

Running the event in real time meant keeping everything moving in line with the agenda — transitions between activities, energy levels in the room, and making sure the committee were all in the right place at the right time. I kept a close eye on timing throughout and stepped in where needed to keep momentum going.

RESULTS

30+ attendees
5 committee coordinated
£0 external funding — self-managed budget

Attendee feedback was positive at that time — people expressed genuine interest in returning for future events, which was exactly the outcome we were aiming for. For a society rebuilding from scratch, bringing over 30 people into the room and leaving them wanting more was a strong foundation to build on.

WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY?

I’d start the budget planning even earlier and explore university funding channels more systematically. Going in with more financial runway would have given us more room to experiment with the programme. That said, the constraint also pushed creative problem-solving, which in itself was a valuable lesson in resourceful leadership.

SKILLS GAINED