Events

[Rouan van Ryn]

Hi committee,

Turnout to Tuesday's event was very low, but I am anticipating that if
we can arrange our next event further ahead of time, we will be able
to contact lecturers (DALSL etc.) to invite their students, and have a
better turnout.

Aska, who was there on Tuesday, has expressed interest in joining the
committee. He also gave us some valuable input on planning for future
events. I have copied him into this message.

I propose that our next event be a Scrabble night. Scrabble was
successful last semester, has a wide appeal (compared to, say, a
technical talk), is a good way for people to get to know each other,
and is still doable even with small numbers. (Aska suggested a quiz,
but this requires a reasonable number; I think we should save this for
later on.)

Aska and I agree that we need a regular meeting time for events. I
feel weekly is too often (both for us and for members), so I propose
we aim for every 2-3 weeks. Let's stick with 5:30 on Tuesdays if
no-one objects.

I would also like to have the following event confirmed by the time we
have Scrabble, so that people have something they can come back for
(thanks Aska). I am thinking either a talk of some kind or a film
screening.

Aine, could you please book us a room like 217 for 5:30 Tuesday the
week after next (27th) and then a smallish lecture theatre such as 203
for two weeks from then (10th)?

Regards,
Rouan

[Aine Kelly-Costello]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the update, Rouan. Yes, scrabble in two weeks sounds
great, I will organize a room. The 10th is mid-sem break, and I
don't know what you guys think but I know I'm really busy the
first week after the break. So shall we aim for an event on the
24th rather than 17th?

Aine :)

[Rouan van Ryn]

I forgot you guys get a break. I'm busy every week, so pick a date
which you think will be best for most people.

[Aine Kelly-Costello]

Yes, I organized scrabble. I'm sorry, I thought you guys had
discussed that after I had left, I guess I misinterpretted that.
I totally agree we need a plan as well though :)
What would you propose? I agree with Rouan that it'd be good to
organize a talk of some description after midsem break. After
that, there will probably only be one more event, maybe a film
screening or similar?

So there is now an Fb event for scrabble and a room booked (Arts1
215., for Tuesday 27th 5:30-7, is that all good? For that it's
just spreading the word now.

It would be a good idea to have a committee meeting to discuss
mission and strategic plan (long-term) as well. Could we do that
at the end of the scrabble night?

Aine :)

----- Original Message -----

From: Aska <ayo...@aucklanduni.ac.nz
To: Rouan van Ryn <a.tk...@gmail.com
Date sent: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 18:43:24 +1200
Subject: Re: Events

Have you already decided to have a scrabble night? Have you
organised the
next event? I don't think it's a good idea. We do not need to
hurry. What
we lack is not the action but the plan. We need to plan!

[Aine Kelly-Costello]

I don't see the problem, to be honest. I understand that if an
event has low turn out it's possible that people might not be so
interested in the next one, but I don't think that that, per se,
was ever so much the problem in sem 1 as short notice before
events, and as you rightly point out, not a very solid plan.
Because I can honestly say, the events I did go to in sem 1,
everyone did seem to enjoy themselves, and I definitely did. Re
scrabble, Amy, who came last sem to scrabble, has already said
she'd be keen to come, as has another friend who I did
Linguistics with last sem.

If you really think we should cance like scrabble, I can do that,
but I really don't think it's necessary given we have 12 days to
get the word out to people (the "social" on Tues was very last
minute).

You are happy to be in charge of advertizing for us, right?
Obviously we all do our bit for that though.

And we can decide on another event before the scrabble, and
potentially have a committee meeting as well next week if you
guys are keen? Do you think a talk with going out to dinner
afterwards is a good idea? Rouan would you be interested in
talking about your research as we mentioned on Tuesday? And do
you guys think Tuesday 24 Sept is a good date to aim for for
that?

----- Original Message -----
From: Aska <ayo...@aucklanduni.ac.nz

To: Aine Kelly-Costello <ain...@gmail.com
Date sent: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 19:05:33 +1200
Subject: Re: Events

I thought what Rouan meant was having a meeting, not scrabble.
Either way I
do not think it is a good idea to have it now. We can get people
to come,
but if there is nothing to follow, we are going to lose them. We
need to be
able to tell them the next event.

Every time we fail an event, we lose people. They will not come
back and we
are having difficulties to get people to come. Those people who
attend are
those who do not return (obviously). So we need to make them come
back, not
lose them.

[Aine Kelly-Costello]

Yes, ok... so what about Rouan/my suggestion of a talk and date for that?

 

What part of the plan for scrabble is lacking do you think? Just spreading the word, right? rouan and I both have scrabble boards, a room has been booked and Fb event created. 

 

 

rouan/Nastassja, what do you guys think? 

----- Original Message -----

From: Aska

To: Aine Kelly-Costello

Cc: LLS Committee

Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 7:31 PM

Subject: Re: Events

It is not getting people to come to scrabble, it is can they come back. Also, if the turn out is low, then people will stop coming because they see the club as a total fail. I have experienced that before in different clubs.

We cannot come up with a well planned event in twelve days, given that we are not meeting up everyday and we all have things to do. We can come up with an idea, but would not be a well planned one.

We are rushing it. There is a famous proverb. A vision without action is a day dream. An action without vision is a nightmare.

[Aine Kelly-Costello]

OK, cool, but can I ask why you are not mentioning anything about what we could do for another event after scrabble, if that is your concern?

 

also, people who have been to stuff in the past appreciate it is often a small turn-out, but small is not necessarily bad. Like 2 or 3 is not great, but 7-10 even is fine I reckon.

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Aska

To: Aine Kelly-Costello

Cc: LLS Committee

Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 7:44 PM

Subject: Re: Events

No, organising scrabble is no problem. That is easy, but what follows is the most important thing. Also, it is better to get a large(r) number of people at once than having a couple of people turning up each time because a big even seems like a success. We can't give them an impression that this club has nobody turning up so is not worth anything.

I don't know if we should have it anyway or cancel it. Cancelling is just as bad.

[Aine Kelly-Costello]

But would you potentially be keen on doing a talk/dinner as already suggested? A Meeting is definitely a good idea too, how is this Tuesday night for you guys? I can do any time :)

----- Original Message -----

From: Aska

To: Aine Kelly-Costello

Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:03 PM

Subject: Re: Events

Because I cannot. I have no well planned idea that should follow. That is why we need to have a meeting and discuss.

[Aine Kelly-Costello]

5:30 till 7. We can just meet on those couches (or similar spot
on another floor if those ones taken) at 7 if that suits
everyone.

So, I'm sorry for not including you more in deciding on the
event, as I said I misinterpretted Rouan's email, but would you
still be all good to help us promote it (invite people on
Facebook, make posters if you have time/want to, etc)? I think
one very important element of a successful club is for the
committee to all work together with the same aims :)

----- Original Message -----
From: Aska <ayo...@aucklanduni.ac.nz
To: Aine Kelly-Costello <ain...@gmail.com

Date sent: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 20:19:12 +1200
Subject: Re: Events

During the holidays we can think more.

Ok, let's just do scrabble for now, and perhaps we can have a
quick meeting
after.
So how long have you booked it for.

[Rouan van Ryn]

Hi committee,

Aine, thank you for booking a room for Scrabble and taking the
initiative to sort out the Facebook event.

The main reason why we did not have a better turnout to Tuesday's
event was the short notice. This is why I wanted to get the next
event sorted well in advance. Scrabble was my proposal, but I see no
reason not to go ahead with it. Aksa, even if you do not like
Scrabble, remember that the event is for our members, not just for
you. It has already proven popular. We will have the following
event confirmed by the Scrabble evening, so that we can announce it to
members then.

Aska, if you tell us that we need more planning, I would like to see
you offer some input to the process. So far I have seen no
constructive input from you in terms of, e.g., ideas for future events
or a timeline.

Also, could everyone please make sure their emails go to the committee
list rather than just the sender when they reply?

Best,
Rouan

[Rouan van Ryn]

PS. I would be happy to talk about my research at some point in the
semester; I will see if that date works for me and get back to you. I
will probably present my research on the Pukapukan Definitive Accent,
which I plan to submit to Lingsoc this year.

Rouan

[Aine Kelly-Costello]

Cool :) thanks Rouan