Warwick Speakers hosts Ben Sundell

Members of Warwick Speakers attended a special session of their weekly meeting with Students’ Union (SU) President-elect Ben Sundell on the evening of Tuesday 14 May.

The event began with a brief introduction of Mr. Sundell’s history at the university, including his Politics and Sociology degree and his current role as SU welfare and campaigns officer, which was given by Sam Crawford, society president.

Following this, Ben gave a 20 minute speech in which he hoped to give “a flavour of why [he] ran and who [he is].”

Mr Sundell opened his speech by explaining his regret at having not run for welfare officer the first time round last year, and his snap decision to run for the position on the resignation of welfare officer-elect Ben Hodges, describing the post as a “fantastic opportunity to make a difference”.

He contrasted this by saying that he had decided to run for SU president before Christmas, and despite having doubts hoped he would be the best person for the job. He stated that “when we have [these] chances, we owe it to ourselves to stand up and take them.”

He then went on to describe his vision of a “passionate” and “proactive” SU which will be “more involved in the local area” to help “combat the biggest poverty in the world… a lack of hope.”

He later returned this point, imploring those in the room to “use your talent to try and help others… be defined by the impact [they] want to make”.

On the topic of the actual campaign, Mr Sundell admitted that, except his manifesto, the campaign fell into place the Thursday the week before the election, after having experienced “the joy of having a more prepared candidate having bought all the yellow paint in Leam”.

He described the campaign as a difficult period in which he didn’t eat for two days, but in which he found himself “[getting back] in touch with students” which kept him going.

Following his speech, Sam engaged the president-elect in a question and answer session from the floor.

Amongst the answers he gave, he said that when going into lectures, Mr Sundell tailored his speech to the year of the people he was speaking to rather than by his course, that he considered the biggest speech on his campaign to consist of all the little ones in accommodation kitchens, and that he valued having positive campaign tactics.

Mr Sundell also pointed out that his YouTube video had the lowest hits of all presidential candidates and, as such, it was clear that different platforms have different levels of effectiveness.

When asked how much he spent in addition to the campaign budget provided by the SU, he gave a rough estimate of £100 spent on materials such as paint and tape, stating that if he could change one thing about the way the SU regulates the election it would be providing an allowance for posters as well as printing, because, for example, quality of paint may have an effect on campaigns.

The final question of the evening came from the society president and was “what makes a successful speaker?”, a question Warwick Speakers ask all of their guests.

Ben answered that eye contact and honesty were the most important traits, stating that “people are perceptive”, and can tell where your heart really lies.

After this, Warwick Speakers continued the evening with a game called “table topics”, inviting anyone else in the room to speak on a topic presented to them at random.

For Mr Sundell’s round, he was asked to give a speech that the SU should provide horse drawn carriages for those travelling from Leam.

The event was well attended and lasted approximately two hours. Jonathon Goggs, former vice-president of the society, said: “It was a fantastic meeting – Ben was game for everything, and when you have people who have never been to a Warwick Speakers session before asking questions, engaging and even participating, it bodes really well for next year.”