The WorldSkills Realisation by Chris Ridgeon

Picture of the WorldSkills Calgary 2009 Opening Ceremony, taken by Chris

My name is Chris Ridgeon and I am the Workshop Supervisor for Web Design at WorldSkills London 2011.

I first became aware of WorldSkills in 2008 when my brother won a gold medal in a WorldSkills UK event. My own involvement in WorldSkills, and specifically WorldSkills London 2011, started when I was asked to train the UK's Web Design Competitor.

However, after visiting WorldSkills Calgary 2009 to shadow my Canadian counterparts, I had a WorldSkills realisation! I knew that the WorldSkills Competitions were big events, but until you actually attend an Opening Ceremony, I don't think anyone can appreciate the scale of such a competition and the amount of people involved. Not only do we have some of the world's most highly skilled young people competing, but we have a whole network of professionals supporting them, and the event, throughout. Attending WorldSkills Calgary 2009 prior to our own event here in the UK not only brings a true realisation of the amount of work involved, but also makes you realise what an incredible experience it is for everyone!

My role at WorldSkills London 2011 is to organise the competition equipment and area where the Web Design competition takes place. For Web Design, this involves set-up of the computer systems, servers, software and other hardware required for the Competitors to work with. I think many would be amazed at the amount of different pieces of software a web designer can use and the many configuration possibilities we must account for. However, this is the same in most skills - it is the use of different tools and techniques that makes each Competitor's work interesting and unique.

At the moment, we are finalising what we call the 'infrastructure list' which sets out what tools will be available for the competition. This then gets published so we can procure the equipment and the Competitors know what they will have to work with.

WorldSkills London 2011 is going to be big and, after attending WorldSkills Calgary 2009, myself and the other Workshop Supervisors are excited and looking forward to making it the best WorldSkills Competition yet!