As a researcher on the 2018 Big Bang Fair/Terrific Scientific event, I designed the majority of the graphics for the event, as well as assisted in the development and exhibition of the science demonstrations we showed to the public.

The Big Bang Fair is an annual four-day event held at the Birmingham NEC convention centre, with the aim of encouraging students (primary through to sixth form) to consider careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).

As the BBC, we offered four different activities, related to our Terrific Scientific primary school science campaign and to our newest campaign Super Movers.

To help retain interest of visitors between our activities, I developed a stamp rally system. Inspired by the many stamp rallies Japan holds at festivals and events, attendees are given a stamp card on arrival and each activity results in the card being stamped upon completion. Complete all four and earn a bonus stamp that’s the URL to a webpage of bonus content.

It did a fantastic job at holding visitor attention, especially younger audiences. I strongly recommend doing something similar if you’re planning an event that takes place over a large area, or has many small activities!