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Widely regarded as one of the highlights of the Graduate Development Programme, the 15 and 16 of September played host to the 2016 Annual Graduate Conference (AGC). The eighth AGC in Thales’ history; the theme this year was ‘innovation and future technology’. 

With around two hundred graduates from the 2014 and 2015 intakes having descended on the Heston Hyde Hotel in Hounslow, the day and a half event aimed to provide attendees with thought-provoking ideas surrounding the theme in question, as well as some useful pointers for their careers in Thales. Moreover, the conference presented a fantastic opportunity for the two intakes to network, both with each other and with senior members of management.

The conference began with an ice breaker involving the graduates constructing paper airplanes containing questions, and subsequently throwing them at each other. On paper this may sound chaotic and, in reality, it was. It provided, however, a great opportunity for the graduates to begin their networking and made for an energetic start to the day. Following the icebreaker, the graduates received informative talks about , innovation, and disruptive technology, as well as  various Thales UK  products.

On the afternoon of the first day, the graduates were given a Human Resources induction. The talk was abruptly cut off by a pre-planned technical failure and the sudden broadcasting of news videos announcing that an enormous, fake solar flare was taking place in outer space and calling for the graduates to save the world. Contrary to the hour-long HR talk detailed in the conference agenda, the graduates proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon saving hypothetical lives and coming up with a wide variety of ways to best handle the catastrophe.

After a busy day of learning and working in teams, the graduates were able to enjoy the evening’s plans for entertainment, otherwise known as ‘Thales Hosts the Oscars’. With the attendance of many of Thales UK’s Management Board members and other VIP guests, the graduates had the opportunity to network with senior management, as well as hear from Thales UK’s CEO Victor Chavez regarding his thoughts on innovation and future technology. 

Encouraged by graduate engineer and budding auctioneer Fergus Kidd, attendees were able to bid on a wide range of prizes. More importantly, the auction raised a fantastic £662 for charity so thank you to all who took part. The charity auction was cosponsored by

The celebrity guest was ‘The Gadget Show’s’ presenter Jason Bradbury, who entered the room on a type of hover board and dazzled his audience with exciting concepts of future technology and the idea of the ‘1000 year decade’, which he explained referred to the increasing rate at which technology is developing. 

This year’s AGC was, from the perspective of the committee organising it, a great success. Moreover, it clearly demonstrated the unwavering levels of enthusiasm and ambition within the graduate population. The AGC committee would like to thank everyone who attended for their involvement and hope that they both enjoyed and learnt some useful points from this year’s conference.