2018-10-03 Committee Meeting Minutes

Present:

• Bruce Turner (Building Supervisor)
• Paul Lancaster (SSC Entertainments Convenor)
• Lucy Brook (Entertainment Space Manager - Deputy Head)
• Spencer Percival (Secretary)
• Will Thompson (Performance Space Manager)
• Natasha Maurer (Technical Coordinator
• Tom Groves (Technical Coordinator)
• Polina Sevastyanova (Social Secretary)

Apologies:

• Adam Powrie (DoES)

Meeting begins: 16:05

Previous minutes accepted.

• Event run-through for the week
• For the darts competition we will be building a small stage to house the oche along the west wall (a diagram has been provided by Bruce which will be distributed by Paul
• Rigging for Rabbit Hole to take place during next week

• Ents Office 365 group will now be our central repository for information
  • All Users’ events will go on the calendar
  • Technical coordinator and publicity documents are to be stored in the files section along with meeting minutes
  • We are only trialling it for the time-being
  • It will help to keep everyone in the loop
  • Everyone has been asked not to do other people’s jobs
  • Users’ minutes will no longer be sent to committee
  • Office 365 is not our preferred platform, but it is the official platform of the University, so it’s what we will be using
• If someone sends a message on the Facebook page regarding anything other than training, socials or crew information then direct them to the email account
• There will be lighting training tonight
• Discussion around the Event Manager (EM) role
  • There have been issues in the past surrounding what an EM’s job is
    • There should be a clear breakdown of the EM role and what additional roles an EM can fulfil
    • Paul requested for everything that everyone says to be recorded
    • Paul - what are everyone’s thoughts on what they should be doing?
    • Lucy - have a typed up version of thoughts from Summer
      • Depends of competency of EM
    • Will - EMs should have a basic knowledge
    • Lucy - the level of information an EM can provide will vary with an EM’s competency
    • Paul - should an EM have to have a specific competency?
    • Natasha - that makes it harder for someone to be an EM
    • Paul - if you come in to be an EM and you’ve never touched a soundboard is that okay
    • Lucy - not for the events we do because the EM for us ins’t about event management, that’s more the event organiser
    • Will - you need basic knowledge because you need to be able to assess the situation
      • a basic issue to someone with the knowledge might seem like a big deal to someone without it causing a person without it to panic
      • That’s why you’ve got to know a basic level
    • Lucy - EM is point of contact between event organisers and tech
    • Paul - so do you think that’s what they should be because they’re not? Right now they’re the health and safety officers
    • Lucy - the EM should be speaking to the event organisers and keeping them in the loop
      • Only want one person speaking to event organiser so that they aren’t getting mixed information
      • They need to be able to convey only the relevant information to event organisers and provide realistic timelines
      • Need to be able to properly gauge how long problems are going to take to fix
      • Don't need to be the most knowledgable but need to be able to know what’s gone wrong
    • Paul - so they need to act as the interface?
      • Agreement from the room
    • Tom - that’s kind of been Adam so far with external acts
    • Lucy - Adam’s act management
    • Paul - external acts will forever be to DoES’s job because that’s literally why we pay them
    • Paul - lets go around the room to get everyone’s views
    • Polina - I mean everyone’s like said everything already
    • Paul - so you believe the EM should be the interface between the techs and the organisers and if you’re on a crew and everybody’s competent, what should the EM be doing? Like assuming there is no tech issue and everything is happening, what should the EM be doing?
    • Polina - make sure everyone is working together as they should be
    • Paul - genuinely asking because the role has no defined thing at the moment. We’re doing that now and trying to work out what people think but
    • Will - at least they should be acting as a liaison
    • Polina - should be communication with security
    • Will - there definitely should be
    • Paul - a basic level
    • Lucy - we talk to
    • Paul - if there isn’t one now, do you think there should be?
    • Polina - why should there be?
    • Paul - at the moment nothing exists for EM. However you’re EMing depends on the EM. So Tom basically same question?
    • Tom - there should definitely be a link to security
      • Should be directing crew as to what they should be doing
    • Paul - let’s say there’s an event where a specific lighting design has to be followed, does the EM have to tell everyone what the LX person wants, or should the LX person be the point of contact?
    • Tom - asked what Paul meant
    • Paul - would like to know who the crew should be talking to for an event about where lights should be and the structure of the rig, should the crew be talking to the EM and the EM to LX or should they go directly
    • Tom - if it’s in terms of what’s ebbing rigged where, the EM should know that
    • Will - thinks both
    • Paul - talking about who you’re actually talking to
    • Tom - should both do it at the same time
      • Will agrees
    • Paul - when the EM is not there, you don’t need to consult the EM as the tech leading that bit?
    • Paul - gave example from Catwalk last year where the EM had to tend to a situation in a different venue
      • In a situation like that, would it be okay for the lighting tech to be consulted directly?
    • Tom - if LX knows what they’re doing
    • Will - doesn’t think they should be making any changes without consulting the EM
      • EM might have set it up so that they have a certain amount of time, bearing in mind when run-throughs need to happen
      • The LX doesn’t know what’s doing on with everybody else in the room
    • Lucy - there might by asymmetric levels of information.
      • If sound doesn’t know what’s happening then that’s fine, but the EM should be kept in the loop
      • Just shoot them off a text to say what you’re doing
    • Paul - Natasha what do you think? We’re going in a circle.
    • Natasha - was under impression that EM was already supposed to be the liaison between users and techs
    • Paul - the role hasn’t been defined
      • The role has existed longer than the documentation around
    • Natasha
      • At generic base level EM should be responsible for everything
      • If they choose to delegate the role it should be their choice
      • They should know lighting and sound plans in advance
    • Paul - so you’re saying that the EM should have a base level of competency even if the problem that they’re coming to is very complex?
    • Lucy - the job that needs to get done is still the lighting person’s
    • Paul - does the EM have to remain central? What happens if the user is talking about something they want outside if there are massive issues going on?
    • Natasha - EM can delegate the role outside to someone
    • Paul - is that what the people think? The EM is not allowed to go and has to remain central?
    • Will - yeah
    • Natasha - if the want to go
    • Paul - I know that it’s obvious but they’ve never been a thing yet
    • Lucy - they need to be kept in the loop, however, if there’s an issue that is not directly lighting or sound that they have to help out with elsewhere, and they need to go help out with that then your lighting and sound operator should be competent enough that they know how to fix problems that arise, and as long as you are kept in the loop as an EM (by using a group chat) they therefore know what’s going on. And should be competent enough they don’t need someone to say
    • Paul - we’ve had three different suggestions:
      • EM should be consulted on everything
      • EM should be consulted unless they delegate
      • EM should be told, but that the LX, sound and projector people already have default authority over their areas
    • Lucy - The EM should be consulted on matters not relating directly to lighting or sound
    • Paul - Who makes the call
    • Lucy - the lighting/proto makes the call for lights and sound/proto makes the call for sound
    • Will - but EM makes the call that lighting guy is okay to do what they want to do
    • Paul - let’s say something within StAge breaks and the EM is somewhere else in the building, dealing with something (e.g. lower college lawn for grad ball), who makes the call? I’m using lighting but sound also. Something breaks like a profile, you’re the sound, do you have to go find the EM to ask them ‘can we make this fix’ and the EM says yes, do you go to the LX and the LX says yes but wait I’ve got to ask the EM, or do you just have to ask the LX?
    • Lucy - if it’s vital and the show can’t go ahead without this, you do it
      • If you can get by but it’s not the best option, then hold off
    • Will - I disagree, I think the EM should be consulted even if it’s urgent.
      • I think the EM should be told and then say do it
    • Lucy - if the EM’s about, yes, but what if the EM is not about?
    • Will - it depends on how not about the EM are, like if you can get them on Facebook messenger
    • Lucy - if they’re completely not contactable
    • Will - okay, yes
    • Lucy - if there’s a society there and a light smashed and there’s glass everywhere then you go and fix it
    • Will - yeah, okay, that’s a different, if the EM’s nowhere near contactable
    • Paul - yeah, reactive is different. When the ceiling fell in in main bar, I wasn’t about to find Will and ask him if I could clean up the dust
    • Lucy - no so those types of things should go ahead. It’s like the situations where we’ve had to make the call that this is not the best situation but it gets the job done and we need to open doors. That’s happened quite a lot
    • Paul - Yip, that’s a fact
    • Lucy - yeah, so in that situation if it’s not vital, wait until you talk to the EM, because doing this might mean that we have to open doors half an hour late and the event organisers are very much against that
    • Will - yeah, like anything that affects logistics needs to 100% be communicated
    • Lucy - through the EM
      • But if it’s this event can’t happen because we have no lights, then go fix it because if it’s gonna prevent fixing of the event, don’t wait for a response from the EM
    • Paul - so if we have this situation where something’s broken, consult with the EM, speak to the EM, do we therefore then have to make it that the EM has to be contactable?
    • Will, Lucy - yeah
    • Paul - Polina? If you don’t care either way I’m not gonna lie, I’m not gonna keep you here
    • Polina - I mean it’s like 4 past and people are waiting
    • Paul - I know
    • Will - This is important. We’ve got an hour for crew and it takes 5 minutes
    • Paul - we’re just trying to work out guidelines. Some thoughts on whether the EM, so should the EM be always contactable. Is it reasonable for them to be contactable? And is there a reason for them to be non-contactable, but telling someone
    • Tom - I feel like they should always be contactable, but then you can’t really foresee a reason why they wouldn’t and then it will happen.
    • Paul - there have been times when I’ve been EM, something’s gone wrong on lower college lawn and something like gradball, for one hour
    • Will - if there’s a moment when you’re going to be uncontactable, I feel like you should bestow the power of your role onto somebody else
    • Natasha - say it to the next person in line of command
    • Paul - there’s no line of command
    • Natasha - well you know what I mean
    • Will - you can get LX or sound guy on tech temporarily
    • Natasha - yeah, what I’m trying to say is that you have your EM, and then you have your people doing the sections like projections, light and sound, and the EM has assigned those jobs to get done for you, so you trust that the sound person will do sound, that lighting will get lighting done, trust that projections person will get projections done
    • Paul - but you don’t have to explicitly tell them that, or are you saying you should tell that should be by default
    • Natasha - that should kind of just be done by default. That’s why we have the roles now when people are signing up
    • Paul - that’s different to what we’re talking about over here
    • Natasha - but what I’m trying to get to is that if the EM does disappear and an issue occurs in like sound or lighting or projections, that then you can’t contact the EM, whoever’s jurisdiction it is under, it falls to them to fix it and then say this is how we’re gonna get it done, this is how we’re gonna fix it, things like that, do you know what I mean
    • Will - well it should be, well the EM should delegate somebody to be new EM and then that person should confer with the person whose department it is
    • Lucy - and the EM should have a phone on them
    • Will - the proper EM should be told what’s going on too
    • Lucy - don’t wait on a response, if you’ve sent a message, you’ve sent the message. That’s your part done. That’s your bases covered. Whether the EM sees that or not is then on the EM that they should have a phone on them that they can be contactable
    • Polina - no but surely the EM should always be contactable, because then they wouldn’t be doing a good job of
    • Will, Lucy - that’s what we’re talking about
    • Paul - is that what we’re then agreeing, that the EM can never basically be out the building?
    • Spencer - what happens if they lose reception?
    • Will - they shouldn’t be leaving
    • Paul - that’s what I’m saying. Does that basically mean that the EM has to stay? So when the event starts, the EM technically has to be in the venue the whole time? But we’re saying that goes for the whole setup as well?
    • Lucy - well for us the event starts when setup starts. For us that is the same thing.
    • Will - yeah, it’s all very much dependent on the evening too, if it’s setup for a BOP then obviously…
    • Paul - There are different, but obviously the try has to be general because if it’s a one person, two person event
    • Will - you’re fine
    • Paul - also, EMs leaving with the entire crew is also…
    • Will - yeah, exactly
    • Paul - I think fine. There are issues where the acts wouldn’t have someone to contact, and that’s why I sometimes get phone calls, but
    • Lucy - or just give users or the act management a way to contact you, like I gave HotDub my number
    • Will - and Radio 1 had mine
    • Lucy - yeah, like you just give them your number, then if you’re not contactable, you’re still on your phone
    • Paul - so the EM does have to be contactable at all times
    • Will - with no going home
    • Lucy - or if you go homeWill - you delegate it
    • Lucy - or you put your phone number on like you know the health and safety forms if you’re not staying, you put your name and a phone number
    • Paul/Will/Lucy - EM should be in the venue at all times
    • Lucy - if not staying then give phone number, same context
    • Paul - does anyone have anything to add to the point of the EM should be central or is that all and like has to be communicated and has to be in the building. Is that what people are kind of agreed on on that one or?
    • Natasha - the central one is quite mmmm, it’s mmmm. I like central but it’s also very hard to stay central. If you can’t stay central, at least stay contactable.
    • Paul - so I think we fairly agree that they EM has to stay central unless they absolutely can’t
    • Lucy - and has to stay contactable unless some weird foreseen reason means that you can’t
    • Paul - a phone isn’t enough on a club night because you can’t feel your phone on a club night and you definitely can’t hear it
    • Spencer - so is there anything instead of a phone?
    • Paul - no you have to stay central. You can’t be like on the floor
    • Lucy - no no
    • Paul - you can’t be like backstage, you can’t be, you could be in the green room or at reception, basically you have to make sure that you definitely are contactable
    • Lucy - yeah
    • Paul - or you delegate it
    • Will - yeah
    • Paul - is basically what we’ve come to
    • Lucy, Will - yeah
    • Paul - and we don’t have time to do the rest so we’ll have to do that next week
    • Will - we need to so SM as well at some point
    • Paul - we’re doing this next week as well

Meeting ends: 17:12