It’s 10am and a little earlier than this (lazy) Features Editor would care to be up, but I was beaten to it by the ever keen VP Media & Comms Adam Parker. He did offer the services of his house overnight so that I could get monitoring him from the crack of dawn, and, much as it pained me to turn him down, I decided it wasn’t very professional. But what generosity from your VP eh?

Actually tracking Parker down proves difficult, as you may only recognise him as a blur of brightly coloured SUSU t-shirt, but I find him in the depths of the Union in the IT & Media Marketing Office (IMM). Having been assured that he is "amazing in the mornings", I find that the stress and strain of the elections are beginning to dent the chirpy, cheeky chappy demeanour. Voting opened at 9 this morning, and Parker is desperate to achieve the highest ever voter turnout, beating Nick Culley! He is putting the final touches to posters encouraging students to vote, while simultaneously managing to harass most members of the IT and Marketing teams and have an argument with the printer. A quick visit from SUSU President Alex Tanfield to talk elections and we are on the move, but not before I’m given a lollipop – a bribe for me to write nice things? Well, I’m not adverse to him trying.

Next up is a call from the TV station manager of Loughborough University. Parker has for the first time ever helped arrange a live link-up of election night between two UK universities, an example of the work SUSU.TV does as head of the National Student Television Association. Despite me explaining that my legs are quite short and struggling to keep up, Parker takes 3 steps at a time charging up the Union stairs, while shouting "see, I’m an ideas man", with more than an echo of David Brent. We then enter into some innovative poster placement to encourage voters, and gloat over the very snazzy Voting Bus.

Next it’s on to some regular duties for Parker, checking in on SUSU.TV editing the video footage of Campaign Week, before again running back across to the Union. Parker’s regular claims that he’s an excellent sportsman seem mildly more believable based on his fitness levels…but are probably still rubbish. We bump into Henry Potter, AU President, who finds it hilarious that I’m following Parker for the day, and clearly thinks Sports Ed. Tim got the better draw following him. They get deep into secret discussions about how to infiltrate the student body and encourage voting – these two might have careers as undercover spies ahead of them at this rate.

Back in Media Resources, Parker is checking that none of the Scene team have broken any of his beloved Macs, while shouting design ideas at editors and organising a camera for SUSU.TV’s independent elections video reporter, Shiny Dave. In IT I learn the valuable nugget of information, that while Joel can type 150 words/minute, that is still not fast enough to keep up with Parker talking. It’s back to the elections grindstone now, checking up on results night graphics while approving campaign ideas and more voting posters. This almost results in broken office equipment in attempting to cut more posters than the guillotine will allow; IT confirm "Adam Parker has a tendency to bite off more than he can chew." Reverting back to David Brent mode after this minor setback, Parker announces, "There’s no I in team but there is an I in independence". I congratulate him on his ability to spell and ask if he has any other clichés he’d like to share; I am promptly informed that I’m close to being sacked, and shut up.

Parker explains that in theory, his role is strategic not operational, but that he is particularly hands-on. Indeed, having spent all weekend working on election plans, it doesn’t feel like the beginning of the week for the VP. He’s rushed off his feet and works long days, claiming that the most productive time is after 5 o’clock when uni is winding down. This is all very interesting and indicates dedication to his role, but I’m quite concerned that it’s lunchtime and a break doesn’t seem to be on the horizon.

Back in the Sabbs office, Parker is trawling through emails and messages on Facebook that arrive as a result of his being an Admin on all campaign groups. Parker then demonstrates his favourite trick of logging onto other people’s computers from his, and scaring editors in the Media Resources room when their computer begins acting of its own accord. I have to admit, this is much funnier from his position.

The afternoon begins with an Election Committee meeting which Parker is late to, as per usual I am led to believe, but we just about make it and are loudly greeted as ‘Parker. Parker’s bitch’. Thank you Potter. The meeting is short and sweet as everyone is busy, but important plans for results night are discussed. There is a minor disagreement over what the Sabbs team will wear as they discuss black tie, but Parker refuses. I can only attribute this to Parker not actually owning a suit, but he seems to be genuinely excited about a t-shirt being delivered tomorrow that he and IT will be sporting. His sense of style relying on SUSU branded clothing never fails to disappoint and later, SUSU.TV Director Jeni Bolitho-Jones looks less than impressed on being given advice on what to wear from Gok Parker himself.

The rest of the day is dedicated to firming up the timetable for Wednesday night, in an extremely complicated but very pretty colour-coded document, planning everything down to each five minute interval, while Parker’s phone is constantly buzzing with queries and questions.

I leave Parker late in the afternoon to head home and write this up, but he probably won’t leave until it’s dark. He’ll spend a few more hours psyching up the promo team to encourage voters, checking edits on SUSU.TV, answering questions from the Scene team on his newly designed template, and bouncing around in the IMM office. He still hasn’t had any lunch, nor has he shut up for longer than about 30seconds – just feel grateful that I’ve only included a select few of his words of wisdom.

Apart from being an expert on the finger drums and essentially a Duracell bunny, Parker is thoroughly enthusiastic and not quite as stupid as he looks on technical matters. Meanwhile, I’m exhausted and happy we’re not doing the same thing tomorrow. It’s a particularly busy day with election fever rife, but take my word for it, this VP doesn’t sit still regardless of what’s going on. I hope the next VP Media & Comms can follow the example of someone devoted to their Union and moving its media departments forward.