Ashley Tambe, the Honorary Secretary at CIPA Informals, offers a personal glimpse into this year’s Student Conference. From early morning preparations to the closing of the conference, here’s a firsthand account of his day.
“With 160+ attendees, informative talks, and lovely feedback, it’s safe to say that the student conference was a success! It was a pleasure to be co-hosting this event alongside Lee Davies.”
7:00
“I wake up (way too early for my liking). Strangely, I’m nervous about the moot court, and not the hosting itself. Sounds weird, right? I can explain. For hosting, I have plenty of friends in the crowd to give me a reassuring thumbs up. There’s no script to follow. If there’s anything I forget to mention, I can always compromise. Plus, I will be joined by Lee Davies who is a hosting expert, and can I always just look to him if I need him to jump in.
Now the moot court on the other hand, I was given a witness statement to memorise, and a character to role-play. Firstly, despite having reviewed all the documents on the train to Birmingham, I’ve already forgotten it all. Secondly, as an expert witness, I will need to respond during cross-examination in a way that won’t unfairly bias the trainee volunteers, and that’s harder than it sounds. The trainees spent weeks preparing arguments, and the strength of said arguments will largely depend on the responses that expert witnesses provide on the day. I’ll need to have another read-through of the documents during breakfast!”
9:30
You know how I said I wasn’t nervous about the hosting? I take that back. I arrive at the venue and feel immediately overwhelmed by the buzzing atmosphere. I see familiar faces from last year, members of the Informals committee, and colleagues at my firm. Before I get to say hello to anyone, I’m quickly whisked away for interviews, photos, and a brief chat about the day’s logistics. By the time that was over, there were only 10 minutes until I had to hit the stage! I run over to my friends for a quick catch-up, then check in with the committee members at the Informals stands. Riddhi and Epseeta suggest that Lee and I should walk on stage while Eye of the Tiger is playing in the background. I playfully pass this on to Lee. He makes it happen.
12:00
“Honestly, that went much better than expected. The crowd was very enthusiastic, and I made people laugh a few times. The sessions were fantastic too. Guy Warner, who was part of the session on the new exams, is a phenomenal presenter. I need to get tips from him in case I’m ever doing a presentation like that myself! It was also interesting to hear about different career perspectives from Phillip Lendon, Daryl Bradley, and Debbie Slater. Before I announced a 30-minute break, I told everyone to set themselves a challenge of befriending at least three people who are not already a part of their companies. Now my job is to dart around the drinks lounge and make sure people are doing so!”
14.45
“In the past 2 hrs, we’ve had a session titled ‘Starting Out in Patents: Don’t Journey Alone’ ran by Penelope Aspinall from Jonathan’s Voice, Andrea Brewster OBE from IPinclusive, and Elisabeth Pauli; in addition to a delicious lunch break. Again, the session was lovely and informative. I particularly liked the usage of an online poll that would be displayed on the whiteboard behind the speakers. It’s a smart way to keep the crowd engaged. Also, I’m getting into the groove of hosting now. Next up, the moot court…”
17.10
“The day draws to a close. The moot court was extremely well done. I was mind-blown by the quality of the arguments presented by the trainees who volunteered. One of them had only been in the profession for 6 months, yet argued as if she was a partner with hundreds of cases under her belt! I didn’t mess up any lines as an expert witness, though I did fall off the stage at one point. To be fair, I was told that I played off the fall well. I closed off the session by announcing hot topics (including upcoming yoga sessions, a football tournament, and a student induction day). Time for drinks!”
The Yellow Sheet 
Thanks for the account Ash, I really enjoyed reading it
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