Beginning of meeting
Chi: First, to clarify all limits of 25 ppl at welcome week showings INCLUDES up to 5 Exec/helpers. This means we need to determine how many Exec to have at meetings, but we will return to that later. Events are also capped at a duration of 2hrs. We currently can only show 1 film per event, with max length 105 minutes to account for time to setup. We can still show 2 different films in welcome week. I propose we have 1 film for events 1-3, and another for 4-6. We should also probably have a pair of very different films to ensure we still get variety. For welcome week the 2hr cap is also likely to be strict as spacing is tight. The main aim of these events is to show ppl what we do as a society, and convey our plans for the term, things are still relatively fine. We can decide films later or today.
Caius: We can do that later just in case they make further changes, like limiting time.
Chi: But hopefully that won’t happen. Potentially as a positive this person cap doesn’t work as a function of the room size, meaning we are no longer completely stuck to getting MS.02, for example the rooms upstairs in maths, if we can still maintain safe distancing. Potential issues are how we are advertising the difference in films to make sure people go to the better film for themselves.
Caius: How are signups done?
Chi: This is all handled by the welcome week system, so we don’t have to worry too much about that.
Lloyd: That is entirely the responsibility of the SU, so we don’t have to worry.
Chi: Currently on our schedule we also have 2 events on the 30th, but I’d like to move at least one of these to another day, so that we can get as much word as mouth.
Trev: We can also run all the films parallel on discord to get as many people as possible.
Chi: The only problem is then how we can go about advertising, as it is not easy to do via official means.
Tomas: We can just pick showing for each of the films probably and just stream it rather than running 6 events on discord.
Chi: So as mentioned before, the 25 cap includes exec, so I was going to propose that we have 3 per event. We also need different people to setup and pack down but that should be trivial for us since we have very little to do. I would also, in theory, like to do ALL of the talks at the start of every showing. However, I also understand that might not be the best way to do things, and I could always leave after the start, or if anyone else is keen, can you say now, or let me know.
Lloyd/Caius offer themselves up as sacrifices.
Trev: Surely, I also am needed at every event, which also makes things awkward?
Chi: We do currently have Tomas (W) as a backup, and theoretically if things are set up well and Trev gives us the file, we don’t really need Trev to be present. So… we can use some other arrangement.
Trev: Also regarding the discord, I did plan on doing it via remote desktop not from my laptop itself.
Chi: I think I will work out more about arrangements once we have confirmed the number of events, and the timing which people can make etc. Our society is also somewhat of a social society (believe it or not), so we need to somehow see if we can facilitate more conversation to encourage these things. First, we will of course encourage people to use online means, and advertise it heavily, with an emphasis on discord. We can also try some online welcome week events, advertised at our events, running things like party games, AMQ or even a drawing competition, separate to the W-Chan event.
Trev: I also wanted to suggest, since people are primarily social AFTER showings immediately end, we can run something in discord to encourage discussion.
Chi: I will return to that since we later need to talk about discord since it is of growing importance. Next on the agenda is Term 1 events. We need to realistically expect that the constraints placed on welcome week will also extend throughout all of term 1. This constrains us to only main series and film nights out of our normal events as possible in person. My proposed change is as follows; we have 2 main series showings a week, both showing the same episodes but on different days, likely Tuesday and Thursday, this allows us to maintain attendance. The event will also have to be very concise, particularly as we find out how tight the 2hr limit will be enforced. This might mean we need to tighten up intro music and slideshows. We will also likely be queueing outside before the event so this might be able to double up as informal social time. The break will have to be very short, only allowing for essential things, and will have to be whatever we have time for. The problem is MAINLY exec choice. I would still very much like to have an exec choice, with a limit of 2 episodes, with only 1 show chosen per showing so we eliminate the need for voting. Alternatively, we could still do voting, but for example done online by some means in a way that eliminate outside interference as much as possible (i.e. not just ahead of time on discord), or even trying to do it quickly by hands. I also think we can livestream them if it feels like we are exceeding our slots.
Tomas: I also think we don’t need to stream that much since we don’t want to encourage people not to come and lazily just watch via discord.
Lloyd: I also proposed we could theoretically split things into 3 showings, 2 of which are JUST the main series, and a 3rd showing which is JUST the exec choice, for example done on the weekend. This has the further benefit of meaning people have more choice as far as what they want to attend.
Trev: Can I additionally point out that adding 5*25 (for episodes on the longer end) is already 125 mins.
Intense discussing
Chi: If we were to adopt Lloyd’s method, we would need to have a GOOD structure in place for streaming since only 25 ppl would be coming in person. It might be much better to get something set up on our website in order to provide a better alternative.
Alex: we could also have 2 eps of 2 shows for Exec choice rather than, or along-side, a voting system.
Tomas: We might also have an issue of running too many events a week.
Chi: But we realistically will have most people attending at MOST one or two events a week. We could also go into more fine grain detail, signing up for just exec choice or just the main series etc.
Caius: I personally think this might be a little too messy and would take time out of the break etc.
Tomas: This also sounds like a real pain, to be honest, and might discourage people.
Alex: I also agree, and it sounds like a lot of micromanagement.
Trev: I am also happy to run up to 4 events, mostly 3 depending on the week.
Chi: Okay, if everyone is happy with this, do we like the idea of showing 2/3 on a vote system as a separate 3rd showing a week, with 2 dedicated main series showings a week. Also, what will we do with regards to stream people and voting.
Tomas: Personally I think we should just only have people at the in-person events vote.
Alex: I agree else we’d risk having external influence, e.g. via discord.
Chi: Finally, we can move on to film nights. Basically, it seems like it will have to be 1 film, and be streamed, ran once. We can still hopefully get a film shown by film soc. To ration out demand, we can use a signup system which uses the website (MEANING WE REQUIRE MEMBERSHIP TO ATTEND) to get peoples full name and student ID, which is required for track and trace. We can always open signups on Sundays at ~6pm for the upcoming week. We might also be able to run some other events throughout term 1, for example: oldskool anime night, theme showcase nights (yaoi night, mecha night etc.) or purely online events for ‘fun’, like party games, quizzes or AMQ again. This could also include non-anime themed things just to encourage socialisation.
Alex: Just to add, we can also start releasing emails on Saturday to give more leeway on the signups.
Lloyd: We can do things like this, perhaps also streamed on twitch to facilitate the logistics.
Chi: Again I would also like to potentially run a second art competition, for example maybe with rewards on discord or something to incentivise this. I think we lose nothing from trying these kinds of things. NOW importantly I think we need to talk about the discord, since socialisation is very important for the society, particularly in early weeks for freshers and maintaining membership of the society. Currently, our discord isn’t really serving this purpose. It is not necessarily bad, but it is clearly sub-optimal for allowing NEW members to SOCIALISE. As a result of the age of the server, we have a large number of exec-members and graduates, which alongside general culture, also means it can feel daunting and inaccessible. My first proposal might be a fresher ONLY section or a fresher role in order to help keep people slightly more together. We can also make some changes AHEAD of time to prepare for week 0. First, we can streamline the new user experience, clarify how server roles are assigned and where people can go for information. A new channel for ALL new people, like an introduction-style channel where people can talk before roles are even assigned.
Tomas: As mentioned, it can be pretty good to avoid ‘interrupting’ existing conversations which might be going on in general at the time so that people aren’t “talking over” others.
Trev: I would also like to propose small hangout channels in the discord, which we can encourage people to use particularly right after showings. We can also cap the size of the number of people in the voice to encourage small discussion rather than people talking over one another again.
Tomas: I also think that rather than trying to separate out freshers or new people, if we feel like there are problematic people, we should perhaps be more direct.
Chi: I think things are not that simple. However, I think we should consider a fresher role still.
Caius: Even if its just a temporary measure, we can use a fresher role on discord just for the purposing of @ people. I think the idea of an introduction channel with some implementation would be good.
Chi: I will also write up a better ‘guide’ for the society, including how to join the discord and gain roles etc. Finally, we ALSO need an introductory video of some sort.
Alex: Personally, I would rather not include my face or voice, and I think I’m not alone
Some agreement
Tomas: What is this actually for?
Chi: It would be for welcome week, general advertisement and maybe for screens around campus.
LOTS OF TERRIBLE IDEAS ENSUE; I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO WRITE THIS…
Ultimately Tom (Webmaster) is doing it…
Lloyd: Just to let people know, the bulk order is currently going through, leaflets would take around 7 days to get to us, so we need to start thinking about that now, and we need far fewer this year since we won’t be able to go around accommodation. Finally, we need to get on with filling in the handover document.
Chi: We also need to do the risk assessment and work out details for the quarantine events themselves.
Karl: How are we dealing with the library in meetings also?
Chi: Honestly, I think we cannot bring it in for the first term as I don’t want the risk this term.
Trev: We can also still lend things out if people look at the website and make manual requests, like by putting things in plastic bags while we wait for any potential bacteria to die.
Chi: Returning to the risk assessment…
Risk assessment filled out online as a group, nothing to see here.
End of meeting