New COY 7 Update

[Chris K's]

Hi All,

(Inger reply to silly stuff is at the bottom)

IMPORTANT STUFF:

The more info I have the more I will be able to request. So a wish list of what we want from the University, Office of the Premier and NYDA would be great. (including legacy projects etc....)

I have been in contact with all of them about the conference since the first meeting and have had some luck getting big events funded by them in the past so please have a little faith and keep fingers crossed. We may get lucky. 

NYDA - Jabs and I will plan to meet the NYDA on Monday. I was initially calling the Sunday meeting with everyone so I could get a breakdown of needs. I think I have that now so we can cancel if others were unable to attend and go directly to meet with the NYDA on Monday at 11am on the beach front, North Beach Hotel. Contact me if you will be able to attend. 0765422207

The Miss Climate Change was introduced by a local youth photographer, Mandla Mkhize who wanted to find the group organising on behalf of the youth. He has approval from COP17 and a lot of support behind him already. I already passed his info on to the group. The value add there is its great promotion (listed below), which I feel we need a lot more of. The event is at Durban's city hall, which could be utilized for the conference's entertainment, which on the GANTT is empty. Transport is always an issue, but R5 gets you to right there from the university and sure the taxi's would make a deal. UKZN also has buses. I don't know the full agenda but it may be nice to utilize City Hall for a press statement. "On the steps of city hall..." always goes a long way Regardless, it would be a good opening party for those who want a feel of Durban's nightlife and doubt we will be able to have much of a party at UKZN if supplementary exams are taking place.

Here are the details he just sent me and his contact details below - Please liaise with him:
Confirmed:  City Hall is confirmed(capacity 1800), Lighting, Security, 1000 A1 posters confirmed, 5000 flyers confirmed, 7 Radio interviews confirmed, 4000 sms confirmed, Banners, 50 models finalists confirmed, R15000 worth prices confirmed

Mandla Mkhize(Photographer)
Fotopride ( Managing Member) KZN Photographers Development Association (Chairperson) Cell: 073 0109 248 Fax :086 510 6960 Email: foto...@hotmail.com

Food: Does Fry's need to cook on campus or does the group need to cook for breakfast only? Does anyone have any quotes for breakfast? I would recommend trying to raise money to pay Fry's to do breakfast too, especially since they are sponsoring all the other food. Please send quotations if possible or a head count. Cooking facilities on campus that I know of are: CJ Cafeteria downstairs, Varsity Club, Campus Cafe, Jubes, or residences. I am not sure what kind of equipment is available at CJ or Varsity Club as they are both shut down, but I have seen them used from time to time when the University is hosting people over extended periods. 

Accreditation is about students getting in and out of campus at UKZN and avoiding security issues at the gates. Might be needed for venues and food too, or will there be enough space and food for everyone who happens to be around?

I might still be able to facilitate accreditation to COP 17 but doubt it at this time. I wouldn't want to be the nominator though. Maybe the group can propose best candidates and I can forward them to a few people to see what happens. 

Media/Promotion - Will pass on some contacts. I have some great contacts from the local and international news agencies who are in South Africa. The emails may need some cleaning up but the numbers are good. Is it Chris and Jabu dealing with the media and press releases? Is there going to be any banners, posters, or anything of that nature, email/sms blasts for updates/etc.? 

Is there an international spokesperson or someone who would be best to do big TV interviews with CNBC Africa, SABC etc? If so when will they be coming to South Africa and will they/could they be in Johannesburg for a day?

Audio Visual (Video recording, mic, speakers, screens, camera people etc.) - UKZN has audio visual office in Sheptson. Have they been approached? Have any news agencies agreed to stream or do anything live? How are things moving from the conference to the website etc?

Transport: I would recommend finding out the main arrival times and trying to get the UKZN bus to do a few rounds if possible, but if a shuttle is running then that should be fine. 

How far is Sherwood from campus and how is this being facilitated daily? 

Security - Was there a social functions committee meeting that approved the conference? If so security isn't really too much of an issue, just assign volunteers to be your security. RMS will be around regardless. But they will chase people away if there wasn't a social functions committee meeting, so need to make sure someone always has copies of the approval.

I will try to see if I can get t-shirts funded for everyone but can't promise I will be able to deliver on that one. How many total, 700 or so? Then I will try and get 50 special ones of a different color for organizers/volunteers. 

Local participation - working on sending the registration details around. Were other university's notified, particularly departments dealing with climate related issues?

 

Sustainable Legacy Projects: What do we have in this section?

Inger, a bit harsh, but expected from our local English South African firecrackers who can justify just about anything. Glad provisions are being made for local participation. Sorry if it made you a bit uncomfortable. However, based on the email addresses listed in your email you should be able to see where my concern is coming from. Regardless, I have been helping from outside the meetings by meeting with the Vice Chancellor, Executive Dir of Corporate Relations, Premier's office and the NYDA. Bheki was attending meetings on my behalf and keeping me in the loop. But he wasn't getting much communication/information and I never received any minutes or updates from my group, so there's the communication breakdown. Plus I just noticed your email wasn't included on the emails I had been sending around, so another. O'well, water under the bridge. Lets move forward. 

Best Regards,

Chris

0765422207