Participant Information

Participant Entry Form | General Guidelines | Accommodation | Travel | What to Bring | Participant Guidelines | Awards | Animal and Human ethics

Realise the Dream takes place in Wellington from Sunday 7th December to Friday 12th December 2008. This event recognizes students who have carried out a piece of excellent research or innovative piece of work.

Genesis Energy is the principal sponsor of Realise the Dream and the Royal Society of New Zealand organises the event. DairyNZ andthe New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO are supporting partners of the event.

There are others organisations who sponsor awards and they can be found on the sponsors page

Realise the Dream runs over 6 days. The 2008 programme promises to be very exciting and will involve excursions to science and technology organizations; hands-on workshops at Massey University; and social outings including a visit to the Theatre.

Realise the Dream has evolved over the last 5 years and from 2008 will become two events. The first being the six days in Wellington and the second event will be the formal celebratory awards dinner which will take place the following March.

The participants are expected to do a certain amount of promotion about their experience at Realise the Dream and talk about their research. All participants will be given media training during the week long event in December to help them prepare for this. It is expected that the students will carry out the promotion sometime between the middle of December and the 1st of March 2009. Promotion may include talking to a school assembly; talking to service groups; contacting and talking to local radio or local media; A media and promotional guide folder will also be given to all students that will provide guidance.

Debbie Woodhall who is the Realise the Dream Manager will be communicating on a regular basis by email with all students selected for the December event. If participants need to make contact the details are:

Email: debbie.woodhall@rsnz.org

Address: The Royal Society of New Zealand
PO Box 598
Wellington

Phone: 04 470 5762 (work)
027 229 6380 (mobile)

Please read the following information carefully. It is designed to answer any questions that you may have about the event. The forms need to be completed and returned to Debbie Woodhall by 12th November 2008.

"Thank you for the fantastic opportunity you have given me. I would never had dreamed to come this far and I regard it as an honour to participate in such an amazing event. I'm sure everyone here, truly appreciates what has been organised for us. I have made a new group of wonderful friends have experienced science in a new light and have had a GREAT time."

Participant Entry Form

Click on the link below to download a PDF of the Participant Nomination Form. The form will open in a new window.

Participant Entry Form

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GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR PARTICIPANTS

Please read carefully! Every participant at Realise the Dream must be familiar with the information. It has been compiled to give you and your family answers to many of the questions you may have.

Accommodation

All participants will stay at Weir House, Victoria University of Wellington Campus together with the organising committee. There will be 24 hour adult supervision during your stay. The phone number for Weir House is: 04 463 3700. The address is Gladstone Terrace, Kelburn Wellington

Travel to the event

For those of you who require flights to Wellington then these will be booked by the Royal Society of New Zealand. A Royal Society representative will contact you in the first week of November to confirm your requirements.

Once a booking has been made you will be emailed an electronic ticket. You will need to take it with you on your departure to the airport together with personal identification.

Changes to flight bookings are at your own cost.

Participants will be met by event support staff at the airport.

For those who are travelling by car or train then please be at Weir House by midday on Sunday 7th December.

Early departure

If for some reason you need to depart early from this event this must be advised in writing to the event manager by the 12th November stating the reasons.

What does it cost?

All expenses for participants - travel, meals, sightseeing and other tours will be met by the Realise the Dream sponsorship. However, participants may like to bring some spending money with them.

Who comes?

Approximately 40 students who are mostly secondary school students and some intermediate students. Guest exhibitors from Beijing and Chinese Taipei also attend.

Clothing

You will need to bring tidy casual clothing for the five days including your school uniform which you will need to wear at the student presentations. You will need to wear tidy clothes for your 10 minute interview with the judges on Monday December 8th.

You are not required to wear your school uniform at the celebratory dinner in March but smart dress is essential.

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What to bring to Realise the Dream

Personal

enough clothes for six days. Closed comfortable shoes for walking. Sleepwear
School Uniform for the cocktail function hosted by the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO
Towels x 2
Hat, sunglasses, raincoat, insect repellant
Toiletries including soap, shampoo, toothpaste etc
Medication
You may want to bring your own pillow

Other

Props or devices you may need when talking to the judges
Camera
You are permitted to bring cell phones but these must be switched off during workshops, lectures, visits.
Fancy dress for the quiz evening (this can be a funny hat, mask or whatever you want to dress up as)

Each student will be given a key/card to their room. It is their responsibility to look after it. If it gets lost a fee of $60.00 will need to be charged.

"I really enjoyed attending Realise the Dream. I have not been with such a group of focused, motivated and enthusiastic students for many years. This experience has been a real morale and confidence booster, as well as a valuable learning experience in the area of science and technology. Many thanks to all involved especially the time and effort to organise such an event. I will never forget last week."

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Participant Guidelines

Poster

Each student who is selected for Realise the Dream needs to prepare a digital poster which explains their research.

Your poster will be displayed during Realise the Dream and be retained for other promotional opportunities.

Your digital poster must be sent to us on a CD by 1st December at the latest.

A template of the poster is attached further down the page. Please design your poster to fit around the logos. The logos must not be changed in any way.

posters-shape-the-surf (84K)

Tips for Poster Production:

Grab your audience’s attention with your title of your research.
Your poster needs to convey a summary of your research or technological practice that gives the reader a good understanding of your work. It should be focussed and convey a clear message.
Include photographs about your work or of your carrying out the research.
Keep diagrams simple and interesting.
Use a basic font such as Helvetica or Geneva. Use headings and subheadings to guide your reader through the information. Your poster should be able to be read from up to a metre away. If you can’t read the text then it is too small.
Acknowledge any support your have received while undertaking your research.
When producing your poster digitally we recommend you use one of the following programmes:- Pagemaker, Powerpoint, Photoshop, In Design, Freehand and Illustrator.
Your finished format needs to be a minimum of 300dpi at print size (A1)
You will need to send your electronic poster to us on a CD so that we can then hand to our printing designers to print it and laminate it on to an A1 poster. We will cover the charge for this.
This is to be received by us by 1st December at the latest. Please send to Debbie Woodhall, RSNZ, 4 Halswell Street, Thordon, Wellington 6135.
Example of lay-out template is below. Please do not alter the logos in any way. The design of your poster must fit around how the logos are placed on this example.

(Template to come later)

If you have any questions then please contact either Debbie Woodhall or Matt Weldon-Smith at debbie.woodhall@rsnz.org, or matt.weldon-smith@rsnz.org

Guidelines for using PDF file

Do not alter the logos of their position in any way at all. Posters will not be accepted if logos or positions are changed.
Colours of logos are not to be changed at all.
Keep at least 3cm of clear white space around the Realise the Dream logo at the top of the right hand side.
Do not print below the black line at the bottom of the page.
The poster needs to be printed on 150g A1 card and then laminated.

If you have any questions then please contact either Debbie Woodhall or Evan Thorne at debbie.woodhall@rsnz.org, or evan.thorne@rsnz.org

Judging (first part)

Each participant who attends Realise the Dream will meet with the judging panel on Monday 8th December. This will be a good opportunity for the participant to talk about their research and also a good opportunity for the judging material to ask questions.

Judging (second part)

After attending Realise the Dream each participant will become a Realise the Dream Ambassador. The role of the ambassador is to promote Realise the Dream and their research in their community and encourage other students to participate in their regional science and technology fairs and other programmes such as CREST and to be selected for Realise the Dream.

Good communication is an essential life skill and is vital to relationships in future careers. Being able to speak, write and present enthusiastically about a topic in a simple and engaging way is really important.

When the Ambassadors depart from Realise the Dream they will be given a media folder which will provide lots of choices of how they can promote Realise the Dream and their work.With this information, the guidelines and training they will receive during the week at Realise the Dream in December they will easily to able to complete the basic requirements for promotion in their community and more if they wish to do so.

The Ambassadors will need to submit evidence of the promotion they have carried out from December to the end of February about Realise the Dream and their research. This will need to be received by 1st March and will then go through another judging process on the amount and type of promotion the ambassador has managed to achieve.

2 minute oral presentation

Participants are required to prepare a two minute oral presentation that clearly explains their research or technological practice to the judges on Monday 8th December. Participants will have up to 10 minutes with the judges. The judges will also ask questions.

If the research has been carried out by a team of two students then the oral presentation can be presented as a team also.
Participants may use props or devices or show what they have made.
Participants are required to mention the key areas of their research or technological practice and the steps taken.
Electronic equipment for the presentation e.g. power point is strongly discouraged unless participants feel it is absolutely necessary. This may be the case for those participants who been selected from electronic/computer/robotic programmes.
It is important the participants have rehearsed their talk before coming to Realise the Dream.
Participants are allowed to be creative and use humour in presenting their oral presentation if they wish.

A workshop on communication and presentations skills will be given on Sunday afternoon. This will help you with any help you need in presenting your work to the judges.

This is the participant’s opportunity to share their work and tell others what they did, why they did it, how their work progressed and what it all means.

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Awards

There are a large number of awards at Realise the Dream, some of them are cash scholarships and others are international travel to science and technology events.

Most of the award winners will be announced at the Celebratory Awards Dinner in March 2009 but there will also be some travel awards announced at the informal BBQ at the end of the December event.

AWARDS STRUCTURE FOR 2008

The following awards will be announced at the BBQ in December:

4 x Travel Awards to the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition in 2009 (all expenses paid).
Sponsored by Asia New Zealand.

2 x Travel Awards to the Taiwan International Science Fair in 2009 (all expenses paid).
Sponsored by Dairy NZ and Royal Society of NZ

Teambuilding Award
sponsored by Genesis Energy $500.00

Leadership Award
sponsored by Genesis Energy $500.00

The next awards will be presented at the formal celebratory awards dinner which will be held in March 2009.

Genesis Energy Supreme Award For Research Excellence & Public Communication $7,000
Sponsored by Genesis Energy

Best Research Award for Yr 12/13 $4,000
sponsored by the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO

Best Research Award for Yr 9-11 $3,000
sponsored by DairyNZ

Best Research Award for Yr7/8 $2,000
sponsored by DairyNZ

Health Research & Promotion Award All expenses paid trip the London International Youth Science Festival in July 2009.
sponsored by Ministry of Education Mission-On Fuelled 4 School

Research Design Award $2,000
sponsored by AgResearch

Counting on Data Award $2,000
sponsored by Statistics New Zealand

Research Implementation Award $2,000
sponsored by Department of Conservation

Our Future World Award
sponsored by the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ

Future Business Award $2,000
sponsored by Industrial Research Ltd

Communication and Inspiring other Young New Zealander’s Award $2,000
Sponsored by the New Zealand South Pacific District of Kiwanis International

Environmental Focus Award $2,000
sponsored by the Alan Wilson Centre

Peter Spratt Memorial Award $2,000
sponsored by the Royal Society of New Zealand

Understanding our People Award $2,000
to be sponsored

Conditions of Entry:

Participants must attend Realise the Dream from the 7th until 12th December inclusive. Participants will depart Wellington on Friday 12th December in the morning.
Participants at Realise the Dream must have been enrolled in a New Zealand school at the time of their research or technological practice.
If your exhibit or investigation involves animals or humans please make sure that the proper ethical approval forms accompany this documentation. Please click here to view information regarding animal and human ethics

Consent Forms

Parents/guardians of exhibitors are required to complete and sign the consent form and send them back to Debbie Woodhall, Royal Society of New Zealand, PO Box 598, Wellington by 12 November.

Guidelines

Smart dress is required by participants at the celebratory awards dinner in March.
Smoking, consumption of alcohol or use of addictive/illegal drugs are strictly prohibited during the period for which the Royal Society of New Zealand is responsible for exhibitors. The Event Manager reserves the right to send exhibitors home for breaches of these conditions or for misbehaviour, after notifying parents/guardians. If a participant is sent home for misbehaviour then all costs are paid by the participant.
Exhibitors are required to attend all activities planned by the organisers unless special permission is received from parents/guardians.

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REGISTRATION INFORMATION

It is important that your description of your research and photo are sent by email. Please post a hard copy also together with the completed forms as soon as possible but they must reach the Event Manager by 12th November 2008 at the latest.

PLEASE SEND COMPLETED INFORMATION TO:

Debbie Woodhall
Email: debbie.woodhall@rsnz.org

The Royal Society of New Zealand
P O Box 598
Wellington

Phone: 04 470 5762
Fax: 04 473 1841
Mobile: 027 229 6380

"I found the week really valuable and a lot of fun. It really opened my eyes to the varied career opportunities in science and technology. It was great to see people who were so passionate about what they do and who were eager to share their work with us"