Exec Meeting @ 2012-02-19 14:15:00
Exec Meeting - Sunday 19/02/2012 - 14:15 - B2.03
1 Welcome and Apologies for Absence
Present : Edward McCutcheon (former chair), Michael Lee (latter chair), Fergus Cooper, Timothy Green (minute keeper), James McLachlan, Enrik Nako, Louise Formby (late with apologies), Clarissa Gillingham, Rob Maas, Matt Wilkinson, Richard Townsend, Scott Griffiths
Apologies : Oliver Bell, Harry Austin
2 Intro to Exec Meetings
Ed opened the meeting by explaining the proceedings to the newcomers. He informed all those that the meetings will be lengthy so try not to re-state a previous point, acknowledging agreement is sufficient, also make it known if you need to leave or would like a break. Ed also requested that, due to the formal nature of the proceedings, it would be appropriate if members
restrained direct invective at others attending or other members of the society.
3 Handover Progress
The chair then requested an update on the progress of each of the exec officers' handovers.
President: handover was declared to be about 3/4 complete, with only a few items left.
Vice President: Tim had already become the room booking contact for the society. Otherwise Fergus informed that he and Tim still need a further discussion about some of the other responsibilities.
(At this point Tim was asked if he could inform central timetabling about the AllNighter running on until about 10:00am the following morning).
Treasurer: Only box office returns were left to handover.
Films Officer: James has been piecing it all together, and now has only several questions left. He is ready to takeover chasing films when he is given the word. Otherwise he declared that everything relating to the Ads is now the within the purview of the Chief Projectionist. The responsibility of the Spring AllNighter quiz was given to Scott.
Chief Projectionist: Tim stated that the entirety of the handover was left to do.
Chief Duty Manager: Yet to change hands. Ed stated \The CDM is irrelevant."
Publicity Officer: Clarissa stated that Louise believed that the handover was almost complete.
Technical Officer: Rob was still waiting on his handover from the previous incumbent.
IT Officer: This was almost complete.
Marketing Officer: No Need.
4 AllNighter
The following points of discussion are related to the Spring AllNighter 2012 that would be held on 24th February.
Confectionery Stall
Whether this would be going ahead, and the details had yet to be decided. Those in attendance were informed that Andrew Maddison would not be funding such a stall and so it could not go ahead unless alternative funding was found.
Tim G, Matt W and Fergus offered capital in order to fund it, and so the stall would be going ahead. Fergus volunteered to run the operation; managing the stock and money. Rob M would assist Fergus in buying the stock from Costco. To prevent an unnecessary large discussion, the exec decided that Rob and Fergus would use their own initiative in choosing the items for the stall. The takings would be used to pay back the people that had funded the stall, it is possible that all leftover stock could be sold to the crew tuck shop at cost price. All proceeds would be donated to the society.
Publicity
The AllNighter publicity had already been distributed after a successful pub-run on the previous Saturday. Otherwise, the A0 is now adorning the front of the SUHQ building, as well an A4 on Xananas bar top. Scott informed that the AllNighter trailer was almost finished, and that it may even be ready and converted (into DCI compliant format) for the second showing tonight. It is intended that this will go in the Adverts and Trailers in the place of a normal trailer (and not as a marketing
video).
The AllNighter stall has only been advertised on the Thursday and so it will only be held on the Thursday 11-4 in the SU Atrium; this stall will need to be manned. It was intended, by the IT Officers, that the stall sign-up page would be live on the website after the meeting.
Scott suggested that flyers for the event could be handed out in places like the Library Foyer and the Piazza. It was decided that this would probably be unnecessary.
(At this point Louise arrived)
Crew Snacks
As a piece of general information everyone was reminded that AllNighter crew snacks are about £50 of "sugary crap" for the event's stall, in order to keep them awake and active for the 12 hours, or so, of the AllNighter. It is only ever officially to be used by those staffing the event -
a sign will again be used to make crew aware of this.
A motion was proposed: That the society should buy crew snacks (as outlined above) for the AllNighter. The motion was carried unanimously.
Running Order
Ed stated that he would be busy before the event, but that he should be back in time for its start. The exact nature of the intermission entertainment was discussed (as the running order of the films had already been decided), and the final consensus is shown below along with those
organising them.
First Intermission: quiz to be held (Scott).
Second Intermission: Raffle (President), Qualification Prizes (Tim G) and Exec Handover (exec).
Third Intermission: Quiz answers (Scott), pre-mystery reel (Tim G).
Fourth and Fifth Intermission: Fergus to organise showing trailers for next term's schedule, as well as every Iron Sky video that we have.
(The meeting was adjourned temporarily.)
Tim G is to organise the Pre-AllNighter meal at Gusto for 5:00pm. He is also to book around 20 into Varsity for breakfast.
5 New Constitution
It transpired that the Societies Officer (Matt Rogers) did not attend the Societies Committee and so our new constitution was not looked at nor ratified. It will hopefully be taken to the next committee meeting on Wednesday.
6 Summer Term Publicity
Items
Tim G brought up the topic of whether summer term booklets should be bought. A long discussion was had, the main points of which are summarised below.
Booklets should be bought: Fergus suggested that it would be necessary training for new (and older) publicity team members - such training might be necessary to avert a major problem within the skill set of the publicity team (that could also cause loss of ticket sales) given that George and Rob G will be leaving at the end of the year. Ed assured the committee that
assuming that there were no loss of money due to the AllNighter and the ticket sales for the remainder of the term held steady, the cost of summer term booklets would be viable. Booklets probably encourage more people to come to lesser known films. Awards have been won in previous years because of our booklets. The booklet would be 2/3 the length of the normal
booklet.
Should not be bought: It is difficult to tell, however, one can be reasonably certain that there was no noticeable drop in ticket sales last summer when there were no booklets. If the Air Conditioning project costs more than is budgeted (£5000) and ticket sales for the remainder
of term do not hold steady, it could put us in financial difficulties.
It was posited that the booklets would cost around £2000 for 2000 booklets. Ed noted that if the committee decides to have booklets, due to their expense, they had better be distributed well.
The following motion was proposed: That the exec gives permission to the publicity team to produce summer term booklets in a quantity to be decided. The motion was carried with eight in favour, two against and two abstentions.
Quantity
It was decided to purchase the following items in the following quantities.
Booklets: 2000
Louise said that her committee would attempt to order 1500 to reduce costs.
A2: 2000
2000 were ordered for spring 2012 and for summer 2011. The 2nd thousand costs around
£100, it was thought that for this reason it would be better to stay on the safe side and purchase the 2nd thousand.
Business cards: 10,000
More than 5000 were thought to be required, the 2nd 5000 are around £50. The same argument was applied to justify 10,000.
A4: 8000 (including the 2000 for the booklets)
This number is 1000 more than spring 2012, and 1500 less than summer 2011.
7 Chair Handover
To a round of appreciative applause, Ed bid the chair farewell and invited Mike to takeover the proceedings.
(Another break was held)
Mike then took the chair and was promptly handed the sledge hammer by the Technical Officer. He then attempted to continue the meeting without Scott...
8 Lifetime Crew Status
Lifetime Crew Status is a ticketing policy for people who have put large amounts of work into the society - it grants them free tickets to all events including AllNighters. Fergus requested that the exec review the criteria that is used to grant this status, as it is currently a bit woolly, but in general is always granted to exec members that complete a single term. It was stated that this was unfairly biased towards exec members, and has been granted to exec members who didn't necessarily deserve it. It was agreed that any change in the policy should not be applied retrospectively. It should be noted that some of the new Exec members felt uncomfortable voting on this issue and there was a brief discussion on whether their abstentions should count toward the vote totals. Such abstentions would count.
It was suggested that people should have to be recommended for Lifetime Crew status. After the discussion waged for quite a while the following motion was raised: That the decision on a new system for granting lifetime crew status be deferred to the next Exec meeting. The motion was carried with eleven in favour and one abstention.
Fergus then requested that the exec make a decision on whether Lifetime Crew status be granted to Alex Ware. After another discussion the following motion was proposed: That Alex Ware should be granted lifetime crew status. It was stressed that exec members should make their decision based upon the old criteria. Ed then requested that a secret ballot be held. The
motion was carried with nine in favour, one against and two abstentions.
(Another short break was held.)
9 Summer Term Schedule
James informed those present that the Schedule had been sent to the Troys, and that he will keep exec up to date on any news regarding this. With regard the Brass Soc Brassed Off Screening, James suggested to them that they pay for the screening as well as some possible slots next term when we could show it. No response has been received on this point.
James will be ordering the trailers and posters for next term during the next week. Tim G advised James to communicate with Fergus (Digital Trailers Coordinator) to see which trailers have already been collected.
10 Outdoor Screening
Prior to any discussion a motion was proposed: That WSC should hold a screening at some outdoor locale. The motion was carried unanimously.
James then asked which day the event would be held. Mike informed him that Tocil field had already been booked for Wednesday 27th June (Term 3 Week 10) due to booking clashes with WSAF.
James then enquired about which certificates our license allows us to show. Ed informed him that the route taken last year to show a film with a certificate higher than a U was unsuccessful, but, that it is likely that we will be able to obtain permission to show a PG as well.
James asked the Technical Officer and Chief Projectionist about the aspect ratio limitations. They informed him that both x-wide and scope were possible, but that x-wide would be preferable.
A list of films was then proposed as possibilities: Beauty and the Beast, How to Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3, Toy Story, Kung Fu Panda, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ratatouille, The Incredibles and The Lion King.
(Following discussion on the possibilities of showing a Star Wars film, it was agreed by general consensus that George Lucas (of Lucasfilm) is a Massive Tit.)
A shortlist was then created:
Beauty and the Beast
How to Train Your Dragon
The Lion King
The availability of all of these films will be investigated by James. A decision on which one will be deferred pending the result of the investigation. James will add "Outdoor Screening TBC" to the website schedule.
Matt stated that in previous years we have had complaints about the noise level, and suggested that we send letters to the local residents inviting them to come along. It was decided that this would probably not be necessary, but that it can be decided nearer the time.
11 Members' Free Films
Clarissa requested that the exec decide on the members' free films for next term, so that this could be put in the publicity. Due to commitments in several forms of advertisement at least three films had to be chosen. It was decided that these would be My Week with Marilyn (Tuesday week 2), Wanderlust (Thursday week 7) and In Darkness (Tuesday week 9).
12 Maintenance Contract Update
Rob M informed the committee that progress is currently being held-up. Andrew M has been attempting to contact Sound Associates in order to clarify a few points on the contract, to currently no avail.
13 Time and Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on Monday week 8 at 7:00pm. The room is TBC, Tim G is to attempt to book a room on the science concourse.
14 Any other Business
Another AllNighter point was brought up: Tim G will need to book either L4/5 for the entirety of the night as a crew rest room.
Matt W proposed that some members of the IT team should be given access to the Projection Suite, for the purpose of repairs etc. It was suggested that a key box like that of the Duty Manager key box would be most appropriate.
A motion was proposed: That the IT team should have some form of key box that would grant them access to the Projection Suite. The motion failed to pass with six against, three in favour and three abstentions.
James M requested that the new exec be granted exec privileges on the SU website. Matt W said that he would see to it.
Fergus proposed that the Digital Trailers Coordinator be given the power to contact external film trailer distributing companies directly, without having to go through an exec member. After discussion, the proposal was altered so that it would be at the discretion of the Marketing Officer whether the Digital Trailers Coordinator could do this.
The following motion was proposed: That the Marketing Officer will be given permission by exec to delegate to the Digital Trailers Coordinator, at the Marketing Officer's discretion, the power to contact external entities directly to order trailers. The motion was carried with eleven in favour and one abstention.
(Tim G left to DM the film. Fergus took over minuting the meeting.)
Rob G requested that the exec discuss the time taken to write a review and create a slide, and whether they are both worthy of the same reward (complimentary tickets). The consensus was that they took roughly the same amount of time. It was also agreed that the Publicity, Marketing and IT Officers would have a meeting to achieve greater consistency in the presentation and style of all media.
Meeting Ended at 17:57