The last seven months may already seem like one big Zoom blur, leaving you wondering: what actually happened this year?. Our “Week Ahead” articles aimed to highlight the best events to come every week but as the year draws to a close, we’re looking back on what has been an odd, but successful year overall, for societies.
October
The year began with, what can only be described as, a baptism of fire for all societies. Despite our highest hopes, an online freshers’ week was unavoidable.
Speaking to The University Times in October, then-President of the Dublin University Philosophical Society (the Phil) Kate Maher said that “the major challenge was obviously everything being so new”, adding: “The Phil, as a society, relies heavily on decades of institutional knowledge but we had to throw out the rulebook, which was a distressing concept but it worked better than I ever could have hoped for.”
Ultan Pringle, who acted as both secretary of the Central Societies Committee (CSC) and chair of DU Players this past year, told The University Times over email that “with the loss of the fair this year, it makes sense for membership to decrease a little”. Nevertheless, he remained excited “by the idea that members who sought out and signed up to Players did so because of a genuine interest and enthusiasm for what we do and that’ll make for an exciting year for all of us”.
On the whole, the virtual freshers’ fair could be described as a triumph, with highs of online bonding and special guests, and lows of dodgy WiFi and the dreaded, but essential, ice-breakers.
November
Written at 5am by DU Players Ents Officer Antonia Brady, the 2020 Zoom reincarnation of DU Players’ Murder Mystery was a wild success, with 122 attendees. The DU Players and Trinity College Law Society (LawSoc) collaboration poked fun at LawSoc’s Mock Trial competition both in name and structure.
This was one of several DU Players Murder Mysteries this year, which all attracted an online crowd.
When Brady was elected in March 2020, she had no idea the turn her year as Ents Officer would take. In conversation with The University Times on a phone call, she speaks about how the society “straight away just jumped into the virtual life” and set up a Discord platform to enable their members stay connected during the first lockdown.
She explains that her experience as Ents Officer was a “learning on-the-job situation”. “The more we learned about Zoom events, the more we were able to adapt to them”, she said, adding that the Zoom breakout room update was “life-changing for planning events”
December
In December, Trinity College Law Society (LawSoc) hosted what most pop culture fans would consider to be the most high-profile recipient of the society’s Praeses Elit award this year. Musician Niall Horan drew an audience of hundreds to the Zoom event where he spoke about his “distinct Irishness”, postponing his world tour, and his business ventures. Horan was part of a slew of famous guests hosted by LawSoc this year, including Stephen Fry, Tom Felton, Katharine Viner and Daisy-Edgar Jones.
Speaking to The University Times, former auditor of LawSoc Jonathon Boylan explains how he managed to secure such esteemed guests. “It was kind of just shooting off emails and then we got lucky”, he says. “I think most of [the guests] were easier to get because things were over Zoom, in terms of scheduling.”
“We didn’t really plan the year. It was kind of done on an every-two-week basis so that we could stay flexible just in case things did open up”, says Boylan, who held out some hope of hosting an in-person event for almost the whole year. While he acknowledged the advantages of virtual events, Boylan firmly believes that “efficiency doesn’t necessarily equate to enjoyment”.
January
It’s been a dramatic year for the whole world, and in January, the Society for International and Foreign Affairs (SOFIA) addressed one of the major political concerns of the current moment through its panel on the crackdown in Hong Kong. The speakers, former MEP John Cushnahan, researcher at the University of Hong Kong Sophie Mak, historian Jeppe Mulich, and Irish activist Brian Dooley, had a captive audience of approximately 45 students as they discussed the city’s democratic future.
Speaking to The University Times, Secretary and incoming Chair of SOFIA Aminata Roth explains that to make the most of the exceptional circumstances, the society reached out to “as many international speakers as possible that we wouldn’t have been able to host in a normal year”. The society also made the most of the virtual year by keeping “a good geographical balance” rather than focusing solely on Europe and the US “as can often be the case in politics”, she adds.
February
A major highlight in the college calendar is the famous Trinity Arts Festival (TAF). This year, dancing, art-making and enjoying a festival-like atmosphere across campus was impossible, but for TAF, the show most certainly went on – and it was an undeniable triumph.
Speaking to The University Times in February, Festival Director Roisin Gowen reflected on the success of the festival online: “Having things online actually opened up so many new opportunities for us, and allowed us to invite speakers from all across the world for our ‘TAF Talks’ series.”
Gowen also believed that “a hybrid of online and in-person events is the way to go for the future”. Perhaps this is a turning point for the popular festival.
March
In an ordinary year, March is the month when our society social season would usually be in full swing. Some societies, such as SOFIA, decided to ditch their society ball completely for 2021, but Aminata Roth hopes that the highly-anticipated Ambassador’s Ball will go ahead in 2022. While she regrets that the society didn’t find a virtual replacement for the event, Roth maintains that “you really can’t recreate that experience online”.
Other societies persevered however – with some fantastic results. Antonia Brady highlights the DU Players Ball in week seven of Hilary term as the most successful DU Players event of the year “attendance-wise”. The Zoom event had multiple breakout rooms, live performances and over 110 attendees who were all “dressed up to the nines”.
Brady, as Ents Officer, also felt that it was important to “continue the tradition” of the DU Players Ball, despite the public health restrictions, so that when the restrictions are lifted “all these things we do every year, as tradition, continue”.
Trinity Vincent de Paul (VDP) also showed great resilience by producing an online version of their annual panto. This year’s musical was Toy Story, and a hybrid of recorded and live scenes made for a mostly seamless show, with the odd mishap, which Director Daniel Byrne insists was “the best part”.
April
In April, to wrap up the year, the Central Societies Committee (CSC) held its annual awards ceremony. The event, hosted by comedian and Trinity alumnus David O’Doherty, saw societies from all corners of campus take home awards.
DU Gamers and DU Players were joint winners of the society choice award. DU Gamers also won best medium society and best multi-day event for “Convergence: A DU Gamers Campaign”. The Dungeons & Dragons event, with an average of 50 attendees per call, was one of the society’s most successful of the year. However, DU Gamers secretary Grace O’Hanrahan maintains that her favourite event was the “Board Game Drive”, where participants submitted concepts for new board games.
The society for “games without screens”, naturally found itself managing online adaption “with a degree of difficulty” according to President Conor McDermott. However, as the saying goes, when another committee room door closes, a new tab opens. Card games became Zoom calls, character sheets became specialised websites and warming your hands up before a dice roll simply became a click.
Trinity’s societies could have seen this year as a write-off from the beginning. Committee members could have simply added the extra line to their CVs and closed their laptops for nine months, and no one would’ve blamed them! Instead, they showed up, and rather than waiting for normality, they embraced the abnormal. They provided community for freshers and society veterans alike, and when things go back to normal, we’ll be all the better for it – even if it’s just recognising another face on campus that you once saw in a Zoom box.
