November 14, 2018

NBS Invites Lawrence Tech Students to Volunteer at [re]ocon event

NBS believes in supporting and educating students in our industry to help set them up for future success. Throughout the year we host student tours, workshops and even a hosted a design competition this past February. Our goal is to expose them to career possibilities, connect them with vendors in our industry and educate them on the latest workplace trends that influence design.

This year we decided to invite 14 Lawrence Tech (LTU) students to our highly popular [re]ocon event to participate as volunteers, as well as experience what the event is all about, meet our team members, vendors and clients. [re]ocon is a large scale event with many moving parts, dozens of volunteers are necessary to keep the day running smoothly. Students were grouped in twos or threes and assisted with selling charity raffle tickets, making coffee and filling beverage carts, being a greeter in our front lobby, and posting to NBS social media accounts to capture the excitement and cool products.

After the event, the students were asked by their Professor Len DiLaura to share their experience in a short essay. Some of the questions the students addressed included:

1. What did you learn from volunteering?
2. What are 3 things that you didn’t know before coming to the event?
3. Describe some surprising applications for the workplace that you discovered.
4. Describe some some cool applications that you saw.
5. How was this experience beneficial to you?

We were thrilled to read all of the student essays and learn about their positive experiences. Below are some excerpts from their essays.

“Before this event I had never known about the importance of networking. I learned so much while meeting the different groups of people throughout the design field. Through conversation I really started to understand the co-dependence of the industry. In order to create a well-designed interior space the designer has to pull materials from many different companies and groups of designers.”

“I really learned how many ranges of places commercial interior design covered. It was not just purely offices; it was hospitals, schools, and other high traffic and population buildings. I was unaware of the immensely wide range of products and things offered in this field.”

“One of my favorite applications was at the Tarkett flooring booth. The vendor there explained how a client could turn a picture or custom artwork into a flooring tile. This was something I never imagined possible.”

“One of the common themes I saw throughout the event was increasing privacy in the workplace. Several vendors were promoting products that increase privacy for individual workers or for small workspace meetings.”