Exec Meeting @ 2010-10-06 07:15:00
EXEC MEETING MINUTES
6/10/10
Meeting commenced: 19:15
1) Present: Fergus, Sophie, Nikita, Owen, Matt, Rob, Ed, Linas
Absent (with apologies): Tim
2) Outdoor screening rundown
-Rob enquired about the cost of the outdoor screening (~£2,200 was spent on the 2009 version.
-Panda Hire was paid £579.95. Future Projections was paid £2,317.55. Less than £3,000 is totalled. Matt Breeze didn’t pay FProj that much money last year - he managed to negotiate £1,000 discount due to delays from the finance office.
- Ed asked whether there was a Sound Associates cost for the Outdoor Screening, as we had received an invoice from them which was actually for the Arts Centre - it was discovered the Union had authorised £3,770 from our accounts for this invoice which we should not have paid. Nikita to investigate and complain.
-Better coordination was needed. No one knew who was making up and breaking down the film. The film did not start on time (partly because the screen deflated due to sensitive circuit breakers in the power supply). No outdoor trailers were run due to time constraints. We need more volunteers. No tech discussion took place prior to the outdoor screening.
-A complete list of everything that was used should be put up on the Wiki for tech and general organisation purposes- to help planning with future outdoor screenings. It needs all the inventory and which company it came from.
-The film snapped causing further delays. Thin tape was used even though we were playing in stereo - reference frames being left in resulted in multiple splices next to each other, leading to the snap.
- A member of the audience noted someone else smoking weed. However, there is not much the exec can do to monitor this at an event outside with that large of an audience. The Exec and DMs will need to be more vigilant next year.
-Van was quite close to the screen this year (as film was in Scope), resulting in less space for the audience to sit in front of the van. This should be reviewed next year if we have a scope film.
-Overall- people were in good spirits!
3) Outstanding Refurb issues
-Contractors, not estates, were doing the refurb. No quality checks took place because they were behind schedule, and as such they have still not completed works.
-FoH issues: LED step edges still need refitting, screws are too short to put into proper concrete so step edges are going to fall off.
-Lighting flickers when dimmed - university have deemed this a health risk. Projectionists are projecting trailers with lights off, which is not ideal as it is too dark to have people going in.
-No infrared sensors are yet on corridor lighting - they are meant to turn off after a few minutes.
-Emergency exits have not been modified, but one is broken: one will not close and the other will not open. New disabled places have not been built in L3.
-Filmsoc can no longer lock ourselves out of L3, which is a problem for security. The last people leaving the room need to phone security on 22083 - investigation into getting L3 keys from Estates needs to continue.
-Projection: Our sound mat has been thrown away, so speakers are not insulated. The tarpaulin sheet has also vanished and a speaker dented.
-The speaker cupboard door is very difficult to open and we are in danger of breaking a key as the door has to be forced, due to overpainting on the contractor’s part.
-The speaker cable is not in a suitable place - Andy would like to put a socket on the front, but it is usable at the moment.
-The exec office is far from finished. Fergus will chase up with Vanessa.
-Ed feels the office should be completed before the Getting Involved meeting. A lot of the tasks left (e.g. drilling) are tech related. Exec will complete the most part of the office, aiming for Monday.
4) The Union
-Fergus, Rob and Andy met with the Societies Officer, Finance Officer, Gerard Henry (Student Activities and Development Manager) and a representative from the Finance Office at the union (regarding their plans to take £1 from each membership). They have already allocated the money they are taking from us. They agreed and apologised for this happening after having told us that they would not do it - James Hall assured us this would not happen. ~£5,500 was spent on our publicity so we could not reprint it in time. (Cost of reprint of relevant sections was ~£1,600).
-We asked for a dispensation for the first term. Union said it was ‘out of their hands’. Proposal will be taken to board of trustees - who are meeting soon. It was suggested at the meeting that we could disincentivise memberships, which provided the union with ‘food for thought’.
-It was proposed that we change the ticketing structure completely:
PROPOSED NEW TICKETING POLICY
Crew: FREE
Crew Guest: FREE
University Member: £2.50
External Guest: £3.50
Five Film Pass: £10.00
(No Free Film for becoming a Member, passes not restricted to members)
-Crew members would still need to join the society, though membership could be reduced to the £1 minimum.
- One consideration required is that KPMG like our large membership base, however, we could add to our Terms and Conditions that we will add emails of all attendees to our listing, on an opt-out basis, ultimately increasing the circulation of our emails.
-If changes were made in January - the ticketing policy for those who had purchased memberships before January would remain as at present.
-Vote to changes taking place: Yes: 8
-Vote to implement changes in January, if feasible: Yes: 7 Abstain: 1
5) Current financial situation
-Took in £34,000 and spent £49,000 in 2009/10. Most of these purchases were long term investments and need not be duplicated this year. Lenses cost - £5,000; Computers and servers - £4,000 and the LCDs - £1,500.
-Constant areas of expenditure - film hire, transport, publicity, additional activities. Equipment maintenance was the largest and most varied department. Tech and IT can still have a budget but it would be best to cut down spending in some areas so we can aim for a surplus. Edward reported that IT shouldn’t need to spend very much this year.
-We need to start saving money for a digital projector - we did not put any money aside for that account last year in the end, and as soon as one probably needs to be purchased within the current decade we need to have the money saved.
-The easiest areas to cut down on are additional activities (pizza and sponsored events). However, we might get advertising with Dominos. Other areas to cut down on include prizes for AllNighter and travel - avoid people taking taxis home from Duty Managing and Projecting films outside bus times.
-Film hire and transport will go up this year (VAT increase). Publicity A2s will be going down due to the LCD screens. Matt mentions that the cost of booklets can be reduced if they were not glossed. LCD advertising will hopefully bring in some revenue. No new till rolls with preprinted terms and conditions on tickets - too expensive.
-We may have £26,095.58. This figure is not accurate because there are pending payments.
6) Getting involved meeting
-Taking place Week 2 Monday 7pm in L3. Linas, Rob, Matt, Ed and Ferg are ‘needed’ for presentation purposes but other exec are encouraged to attend.
-Pizza has already been announced. Worst case scenario is we get it 50% off. Fergus is waiting to hear back from Dominos about deal.
-Rob says pizza should be ordered before the president’s speech. Rob volunteered to buy the pizza and claim the money back. Roughly one pizza will be provided for every 3 people present.
-Social will take place after the meeting in the Dirty Duck. Secretary will announce the social.
7) Sponsored event
-Amelie, Thursday Week 4.
-Suggestion: wine, cheese, baguettes, biscuits and paté.
-Edward suggested that food and wine could be served on the balcony of L3 - it is a licenced area.
- Quiz could take place in B2.01/2, wine to be served outside. Secretary will call room bookings asap. Toy Story 3 poster to be given away? Top prize- boxset and another boxset? Second- other boxset. Third- last boxset. We could also offer AllNighter tickets and five film passes.
-A thread will be started by the secretary for suggestions of foreign box sets.
8) AllNighter
-Hot Tub Time Machine is being replaced by The Other Guys. We should make a slide on the LCD screens to advertise the change from the booklet.
-Raffle/quiz in between films. Will be considered closer to the time.
- Potential Prize: Paintballing game? This has been advertised as £30 at the Societies Fair, so we could buy one or two sessions for the winners. Fergus might approach them today at the fair.
-Shorts: TedX? We could make our own short film of how WSC operates etc.
-Free stuff. Red Bull? Rock Star? Fergus will contact - Ed noted that Jackie Smyth had offered contact details for Red Bull.
9) Weekly publicity
-Linas raised the point that, with the LCD screens, do we still need weekly leaflets? The exec said yes but we can produce less.
-Fliers will be produced for getting involved meeting.
-We will move our publicity leaflets onto lighter colour paper as they are easier to read.
10) Publicity runs
-First day: covered Rootes, AV and JM.
-Pigeon-holing & Departmental booklet shifting. Linas will arrange a publicity run for this weekend.
11) Constitution
-Proposal to implement in the constitution that people will cease to be crew if they have not renewed their membership by end of week 3. Another email should be sent out to all crew. Issue - the system for purchasing associate memberships is causing a problem - no one at the SU can remember what it is. It might be difficult for old associate members to renew their membership because of this. We will therefore be lenient where SU problems are causing somebody to be out of membership.
-Exec responsibilities:
-Emailing issues brought up by Rob. Emails had been waiting three months before being responded to. Exec need to review points in constitution. It was suggested that exec are passing responsibilities because they are not clear of their roles, which results in bad feelings. If an email has not been replied to for 2 weeks, other exec members should reply without fear of retribution. If this happens repeatedly it will need formal discussion as an issue with the exec member in question.
-Constitution needs updating urgently.
12) LCD screens
-TedX are very interested in getting full use of the LCD screens on the day they want L3 in Term 2. A discussion proceeded about whether we can give them L3 - waiting on schedule, but yes in principle.
-When can we start showing trailers? Nothing is stopping us hardware-wise, but other issues (such as the tills) are consuming the time of the IT Team, and trailers are a lower priority than the other problems.
-Sound on videos. It is possible to play sound from one screen only. Fergus explained he would like to play sound, whilst Edward contested it could easily annoy lecturers and be drowned out. A discussion proceeded, but the point was deferred as we cannot even show videos at the moment and enabling sound would be a two-click job.
- Discussion was had over introducing a new post, with the view of it becoming a 10th Exec position. The new post would be responsible for, amongst other things;
LCD Screens Content
Advertising - Internal and External
Main Screen Content - Advertising, Slideshow, KPMG Video
Union News Feed
Union Calendar
Facebook page
Twitter page
insite content
Videos of ‘Whats on this Term?’, ‘About WSC’, Trailers etc.
- Edward and Linas pointed out that most of these responsibilities weren’t in their job roles.
- Edward emphasised that he’d like the post created ASAP as the screens are causing a lot of work, nightly, on top of normal IT Officer business.
-Vote. In principal in favour of 10th exec member. Yes- 7 Abstention- 1
- Position would be filled immediately as a non-exec post, and, dependant upon that trial period, elected as an exec position at the next AGM.
13) Roller Banner
-Some minor changes will be made by Linas. Grey bar at the side to be removed, some text and image changes, centralise everything.
-No rush at this stage.
14) Lifetime crew proposals
-Natalie Tyldesley. Yes - 8
15) Spring term schedule
-Voting is open!
-Owen’s ideas. Foreign Thursdays to stay? Spring term seems a bit poor due to low quality and quantity of films being released at the moment, which means the schedule might be classics heavy. Suggestion of ‘A Century in Cinema’ (20s-00s)
-Gore-Nighter was suggested but did not receive much support due to worries over atmosphere.
-Lord of the Rings Trilogy across bi-weekly Saturdays?
16) Time and Date of Next Meeting
Week 3 - discussion to happen on exec thread, consensus that Wednesday was bad.
17) AOB
-Email about inventory: union did not want an update of our inventory but the inventory. Nikita emailed them but they have not replied. A thorough update will be done soon.
- Edward added that some people had done very long and silly hours trying to finish the refurb project in time. As such, they may not be particularly present at WSC over the coming week or so, due to other commitments they had neglected.
-Secretary will book a room Wed 27 October for Owen- 4-6pm (preferably L3) for the Spring Programming Meeting.
- Edward raised that emails should be read in a positive light, and that it was unlikely anyone was writing deliberately demeaning emails, so they should not be read as such.
Meeting adjourned: 23:50