Every Notts online seminar has these eight types of people, which one are you?

We all have bad wifi

3 years ago

With the year finally coming to an end, we are all (hopefully) attending our last online seminar for good. There will be no more awkward waiting for other people to show up, or rushing to quit Teams before the endless flurry of thank you messages crashes your computer. Is it something we will miss? Probably not. But being able wake up at 8:59 am to join a 9 am from bed was a silver lining.

There is something bittersweet about saying goodbye to the online seminar life and to the many types of people we have encountered through it. Of course everyone’s a little different, but here are the eight types of people you’re guaranteed to have encountered in every Notts online seminar.

The question is, which one are you?

The enthusiastic learner

First up, if this is you, consider yourself very lucky. The enthusiastic learner is always two steps ahead, sometimes starting the teams call before the tutor even does.

No matter what the topic is, no matter how hard the content, they know the answer to literally every question, and we mean EVERY question. Being a walking encyclopaedia can’t be easy work, but we all know that one student who is basically running the seminar at this stage.

The clueless one

Now this is the kind of student massively in debt to the enthusiastic kind above. Textbook clueless Teams attendees always begin a breakout room with the same question: “Sorry guys, which week are we on again? Wait, what was the question?”

We’ve all been there at some stage, brain fog gets to everyone eventually, don’t worry about it.

The waffler

Is this you? The waffler is a classic combo of the clueless student and the know-it-all, not quite sure of what’s going on, never really understanding the question, but grasping just enough to be able to ramble on for 5 minutes when the tutor finally chooses them to pick on.

They’re possibly the most skilled contestant amongst the lot with a perfect balance of “I’ve not really done the work” and “I’ve done just enough to blag it.” We envy the confidence.

The accidental microphone user

Every seminar has to have at least one instance of an accidental mic fail. Whether it be the sound of a student munching their daily meal of pesto pasta, slurping a much needed coffee or – worst case scenario- that deathly awkward sound of a conversation with housemates, discussing just how boring the seminar is. Ouch.

The one with the ‘broken’ laptop

Speaking of technical issues, after almost a whole academic year of online learning you’d think any tech problems would have been ironed out by now, but there are still a few managing to exist with a broken camera AND microphone still.

Genuine laptop issue or sneaky way out? It’s a constant guessing game.

The prolific phone user

Everyone knows the temptation of those pesky Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat notifications staring at you whilst you try your best to pay attention to the seminar on your laptop screen. But not everyone can hold out for a whole 50 mins.

We all know that one person incapable of going a whole meeting without texting every minute. It’s an addiction, what can we say?

The one too busy to be there

Now this is a committed UoN student. If you’re one of those people to attend a seminar even with 1000 other things to do that day then you’re a real credit to yourself, even if it does mean sneakily writing essays whilst the lecturer says their piece. Big round of applause for the effort, and extra points if it’s not just last minute work for your next Teams call.

The one just getting by

Last, but not least. Possibly the most common type of Notts seminar attender is the one just about getting by. Confused, mildly stressed, and with deadlines and exam prep up to your ears. But you know what, you’re still attending the Teams calls and you haven’t failed yet. We are going to take that as a win.