NJCL 2008

Fall Planning: Nuts and Bolts Part 2

Posted by Brian at 12:13 pm on Friday, October 26, 2007

Before I get into the Fall Planning meeting itself, I want to say something about the site for Graphic Arts.  This was probably the hardest activity for which to find a spot, and the the reasons were twofold: 1) It has to be big.  You’ve got the main body of projects, then you’ve got scrapbooks, then you’ve got multi-media; and 2) It has to be off-line the whole week, because those projects aren’t going anywhere and they need to be secure.  So, you have to make sure there’s a space that you wouldn’t want to use for any other purpose and lock it down quickly, because if you can’t use it, neither can anyone else. 

Also, you have to make sure that the space still has room for moving around, even after all the projects are laid out.  With scrapbook, this is even more of an issue because some people will be sitting when they judge and some will be moving around frequently.  And with multimedia, you need AV equipment available- projectors, laptops, DVD players and VCR’s.  You’ve also got to have room to sit.  And, preferably, have this off somewhere by itself so that it doesn’t distract other judges.  Lastly, it really needs to be air conditioned, both for the sake of the projects and of the judges.

We debated a number of spots, but the lack of air conditioning nixed many of them.  There were two spots we finally looked at.  One was a sub-basement at Millett Hall, where the GA’s will take place.  The problem was that it had no elevator access, and it really wasn’t big enough.  So we found some space at the center of campus, and this is where Graphics are scheduled for right now.  Whether or not this stays the way it is will be up to the Committee, but so far so good.

On to Fall Planning.  The meeting took place on a Thursday and Friday, with Saturday left for the Committee and Exec. Board to conduct their own business.  We had access to every building we were going to use, and we talked to all of the building managers.  The first day was Martha, Grace (President), Emily Caulder (Secretary), Amy Elifrits (Creative Arts chair, because there’s always a contest chair present on the first day), Geri Dutra, Steve and myself.  We toured the major facilities, looked at some classroom spaces, stopped and visited the Classics Dept., and then met for our meeting.  This again was a three hour meeting, going over every single detail of the convention schedule.  A number of things came up from this meeting, especially in how we were going to conduct the final GA and Day in Old Rome.  Our procession ideas had too many gaps and wait-around times, so instead of processing to GA, we are instead processing from GA.  Grace came up with this after hearing what our overall plans were, and I think it will work pretty well when the time comes.

The next day, the whole Committee and Exec.Board toured the campus.  We had a lot of questions to answer from everyone since this was the first time everyone had seen the site.  There were all sorts of questions about “can we do this,” and “how will we do that,” but between Steve, the site managers, and myself, we were able to deal with just about all the concerns.

This lead to the breakout meetings.  Steve went with SCL to look at all the athletics facilities, Jeremy Walker met with Miami’s Press Office, and Martha and Geri met with the Conference staff.  I took the student officers around campus and showed them where Bazaar would be and what a typical dorm room looks like, then we viewed some places for the special event before That’s Entertainment.  Finally we checked out the Rec Center so they could form some ideas about Monday night’s dance alternative.  The students and I walked everywhere, which was useful; later at our meeting, they said their walk of campus was “rather easy” compared to some recent years. 

Then we met up with everyone and had lunch at Harris Dining Hall.  We got to see what a brunch at the dining hall is like, and even though it’s not the same set up as what we’ll have, the food will be the same.  Unanimous Rating: Optime!  We even got to sample some specialty pizzas to see how we liked them.  And we had soft-serve ice cream.  Don’t worry, THAT will be available during Convention .

Following this, we had our meeting with all the committee and exec. board.  Here the schedule really got nit-picked.  Things that we added or changed:

-Added a half-hour staff meeting before all test sessions
-Included 15 minutes before each Olympika and Ludi event for “registration”
-Decided how to include World Series of Certamen in the schedule so that all parties were happy
-Discussed how to do awards assembly so as to make it possible to have the final GA in mid-afternoon rather than in the evening right before the dance
-Fixed some errors that had cropped up due to multiple changes in the schedule
-Made time to gather students for a shot on the Monday evening news
-Figured out where and when to do officer-related meals and colloquia
-Planned when and where state pictures will be held
-Added a second project viewing that worked with Graphics Chair Dobbie Vasquez’s schedule
-Changed the time of the SCL Scholarship Breakfast
-Moved up Certamen Finals
-Made sure we were clear on the numbers and types of rooms needed for all Creative Arts contests

As you can see, just about every National Committee member had input on this schedule, so even though we thought we’d covered everything there were still things that needed tweaking.  We started this meeting at 1:30 and didn’t finish till almost 6:00 that evening.  But out of this came the (next-to) final version of the schedule for this year- Steve fixed a few things to show the board the next day so they could walk away with a complete and edited schedule.

The board picked their themes on Saturday, so now the rest of the work begins- finding decorations, working with the university to get things where they’re needed and when, finding a DJ, setting up the alternative activities, etc.  This is the point where the rest of the local committee kicks into high gear.

So now you know what it takes to make a Convention schedule.  It was a lot of work, but some of the most fun and interesting work either of us has ever done. 

About: Convention News, Miami University Campus, Fu, Contests | Permalink