Become A Board Member!
The Bètabanenmarkt Foundation is responsible for organizing two of the largest career events in Leiden: the Bio Science Park Excursion and the Bètabanenmarkt. This is an immense task, which is why the Foundation is run by a different student board each year! Do you want to organize the next Bètabanenmarkt for your fellow science students? Sign up using the form below!
What will you do and what will you gain?
As a board member, you will be tasked with organizing the Bio Science Park Excursion in November and the Bètabanenmarkt in March! As the scale of these events is quite large, the tasks are divided into six distinct functions: Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Logistics, External Relations, and Promotion. Each of these functions has its own responsibilities, which are described in greater detail by previous board members below.
Besides the divided responsibilities, there are also some general tasks that each board member will do their part of. These include the acquisition of companies for the excursion and market, weekly meetings with the board, meetings with the Supervisory Board and collaborators, keep in contact with the study associations of the faculties, and, of course, helping each other out with their tasks.
During this part-time board year, you will learn a lot of soft skills, such as networking, calling and e-mailing, planning and organizing, working together in a group, as well as social skills and function-specific soft skills. Such a board year also looks great on your CV, and you will be invited to many fun and meaningful events!
Depending on the week, you will spend around 10-20 hours on your tasks. Perfect for those who still have a couple of courses left to finish in their study or for those who only have a few mandatory lectures.
Interested? You can fill in the interest form using the button above! Note that the interest form is not a definitive board application, so feel free to sign up even if you are not completely sure yet. We will come in contact with you and you can ask all the questions about what a board year at the Bètabanenmarkt entails!
Functions within the board
To efficiently organize the Bètabanenmarkt and Bio Science Park Excursion, each board member fulfills a specific function with their own rresponsibilities.
Read more below about each of the functions you can fulfill as a board member!
Chair
As chair of the board, you will take the lead in organizing all board meetings during the year, ensuring they run smoothly and productively. You will maintain a broad overview of the organization and stay informed about the responsibilities, progress, and challenges of each board member. In addition, you will look after the board members and create a positive working atmosphere. You will also be the main point of contact for the university, representing the board and helping to maintain a good working relationship with them.
Throughout the year, you will develop leadership and decision-making skills, as well as gaining valuable experience in planning and maintaining contacts with stakeholders!
Secretary
The main task of the secretary is to write the minutes of all the (board) meetings. However, this is not the only task. You will also be responsible for managing the mailbox and handling all outgoing communication that doesn’t fall under another specific function, such as answering emails from students.
Your role will be the most versatile within the board. You’ll support other board members when needed, take on random tasks that come up, and make sure communication runs smoothly from all sides. This means you’ll often be the first point of contact for students, staff, or external partners, and you’ll help keep everything organized and on track. You actually know best what’s going on with every board member.
Treasurer
As Treasurer, you will be responsible for all the financial aspects of the Foundation. This includes keeping track of the budget, making payments and setting up and confirming quotations to order all the necessary material for the events. You’ll be closely working together with the commissioners of Logistics and Promotion to make sure everything is set and ready for the Bètabanenmarkt!
Besides working internally, you will also be setting up and sending out the contracts and invoices for all the participating companies. Throughout the year, you will learn a whole lot about bookkeeping, budgeting, contracting and much more!
Commissioner of Logistics
As Commissioner of Logistics, you have a wide array of responsibilities. You are responsible for the practical matters when organising the fair, ranging from planning to arranging the catering to ordering decorations. Your day could start with doing inventory and ordering missing items, have a meeting with the coordinator of facility matters and finish with working on the floorplan. If you enjoy having a large variety of practical tasks, this is the position for you!
Commissioner of External Relations
The Commissioner of External Relations is responsible for overseeing all communication and collaboration between the foundation and its external partners. These partners include the companies participating in the Bètabanenmarkt and the Bio Science Park Excursion, as well as various educational institutions engaged with our activities.
In this role, you will be tasked with supervising the acquisition process and maintaining effective, professional relationships with our partners throughout the year. In close cooperation with the Commissioner of Logistics, you will help coordinate one of the most visible and influential aspects of our events: the involvement and representation of participating companies.
Serving as Commissioner of External Relations offers the opportunity to develop a wide range of professional competencies. Throughout your term, you will strengthen essential career skills such as strategic communication, stakeholder management, and public presentation, all while gaining valuable experience in a dynamic, outward-facing position.
Commissioner of Promotion
Of course, last but not least: Promotions. This role is the most creative, versatile, and enjoyable of all the responsibilities you can have as a board member. As part of your duties (and if you’re good at your job, it will feel more like creative opportunities!), you’ll be responsible for creating all promotional materials, both online and offline. This includes goodies, posters, Instagram/LinkedIn posts, and even promotional videos.
Additionally, you will plan, write, and coordinate the distribution of promotional texts, such as faculty-wide emails, Brightspace announcements, and much more. Stakeholder management is also a crucial part of the job description, as you will need to interact with various people to ensure that everything is posted on time.
Another fun aspect of this role is that you will have full responsibility for the promotion budget (which is quite substantial), allowing you to unleash your creativity on how to spend it! In addition to the tasks mentioned above, live interactions with students through physical promotions at the university, student associations, and vocational schools (Hogeschool or MBO) are also of your responsibilities.
Beyond promotion, every board member will interact with companies during the acquisition period, which is also a fun and rewarding part of the job!
All in all, promotion is what you make of it. As Albert Einstein once said: “Creativity is intelligence having fun!”
Interested? Fill in the interest form and we will contact you!
The interest form is not a definitive board application