EASA Ireland 2008_Final Report

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Contents

volume 2

1.0 Site 1.1 Site Layout 1.2 Accommodation 1.3 Sanitary 1.4 Electricity 1.5 Health, Safety & Insurance

1.5.1 Insurance

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1.5.2 General Advice for Future Organisers 1.5.3 Medical Cover

2.0 Duties

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2.1 Waste & Recycling

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2.2 Food & Kitchen 2.3 Participant Duties

2.3.1 Questions

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2.1.1 Questions 2.1.2 Recommendations

2.3.2 Recommendations

3.0 Info Point

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4.0 Registration

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4.1 Introduction 4.2 The Waiting Game 4.3 The Process

4.3.1 Info Point: Registration Set-up 025 4.4 General Advice for Future Organisers 4.5 Registration ‘Kit’ 4.6 Suggested Process

5.0 Transport

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3.1 Location 3.2 Equipment 3.3 First Aid 3.4 Lockers 3.5 Lost & Found 3.6 Recharging 3.7 Tokens 3.8 T-Shirts & Hoodies

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5.1 Pre-EASA Organisers’ Transport 5.2 EASA Participants’ Transport

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EASA008 Event Review

5.3 Post-EASA Organisers’ Transport

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6.1 A Section Through Ireland 6.2 Connemara Excursions

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6.0 Excursions

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8.0 Workshop Fair 9.0 Meetings – Organiser,NC & Tutor 10.0 IT Lab 11.0 Bar

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12.1 Overview 12.2 Lectures 12.3 Entertainment

12.3.1 Dublin 073

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12.4.2 Barbeque 12.4.3 Final Exhibition 12.4.4 Final Presentation & Closing Ceremony

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12.4 Functions

12.4.1 EASA008 Official Opening

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12.3.1.1 Centre Bar UCD

12.3.1.2 The Tivoli

12.3.2 Letterfrack

12.3.2.1 Local Pubs

12.3.2.2 Live Acts

12.3.2.3 National Nights

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12.0 Events

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11.1 Where to Locate the Bar 11.2 Issues 11.3 Lounge Area & Bar – General 11.4 The Undercroft 11.5 Bar Management 11.6 People Management

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7.1 Tools 7.2 Workshop Materials 7.3 Stationery

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7.0 Tools, Workshop Materials & Stationery

T

he final site layout evolved out of necessity rather than a definite plan.

Considerable time and effort went into debating where everything should be located, with the exception of the containers, which was very much a late call. Having the Accommodation centralised was important from a security point of view, and having it centralised and out of view from the public made even more sense.

As such, there were very little reports of larceny during the Assembly. Once the accommodation was decided upon, the Undercroft was a space of critical importance to us, a living room and kick back space feeding onto the accommodation tents. The location of the sanitary cabins fell into place when one considered the location of the water supply and the sewage tank.

The Info point was originally decided for the hallway in the college, but the suggestion of locating the 7m dome centrally and using it for the info point made sense. Practically, it didn’t work with the leaks that appeared as a result of the horrendous weather. As a result, the info point was moved inside after the first night.

1.0 Site The site lay-out was a mixture of using what we could of what existed, and adding everything else that we needed to make the campus work to the best of its abilities.

The Undercroft was possibly the most successful part of our accommodation strategy, giving people somewhere warm and dry to hang out that was easily accessible from the tents, fairly centrally located and mellow.

Text: Conor O’Brien, Sean Feeney, Francis Keane & Hugo Lamont Photo: Roland Nemeth [HU]

Having a selection of internal spaces for use by various workshops worked exceptionally well with each workshop disappearing every daily into the little spaces in and around the campus and village made available to us by the village community.

1.1 Site Layout

Obviously the layout of the site to prepare it for EASA depends hugely on the existing buildings, the climate, terrain, surrounding context and the organisers’ plans for the event. All we can do it report on the set-up of EASA008 and try and passon any advice that we have picked up .

Washing ones clothes and then drying them in the open air was never really an option for easa participants in the west of Ireland. The wash/dry service provided to all the participants in Eilis hall was a lifesaver, if somewhat overburdened during the middle weekend.

However, not having a centralised area for the organisers was a real disadvantage. Having the key nodes of activity; the Info point, the office, the storage containers, the tools depot, the stationary depot in disparate locations meant that organisers were constantly on the run from one to the other, constantly looking for the keys!

1.2 Accommodation The primary assumption when it came to accommodation at EASA in Letterfrack was that everyone was going to be sleeping on scaffolding. A long and protracted effort on behalf of Billy led us to an Irish scaffolding company whom were interested in providing the scaffolding for the event. Initially it was considered to be for free, then for the transport and labour costs, the final scaffolding bill rose to an unexpected €8500. There was one major hiccup which revealed itself at a very late stage indeed was that the scaffold module was 6 foot, not wide enough to sleep people sideways on the scaffolding. This significantly reduced the capacity of the tents. While on site, the scaffolding was erected slightly higher than expected, and as a result, some of the corner modules could not be assembled as there was not sufficient space

from the roof of the tent. The metal scaffolding trays were also quite sharper than initially expected, proving to be exceptionally uncomfortable. However, this was quickly remedied by the provision of sheets of OSB which were laid down on top of the trays.

While the initial intention was to make sure that everyone was to be sleeping indoors, the team came to the realisation, as the college revealed its plans for restoration work and a summer exhibition, that this was no longer a viable option. Eilis Hall was considered, but a study of the floor construction revealed that it would not be capable of holding three levels of scaffolding. The Co-op was also another option to sleep people in, but it was still too small to sleep everyone. It was agreed that it would be better to sleep everybody, excluding the organisers and tutors, in the same conditions, so as to not create an unequal situation among participants, as what happened in Switzerland in 2005.

And so the tents were examined. Initial proposals included one huge big top to sleep everybody. The preferred choice was for one large marquee with raised timber flooring. However, this was working out to be quite expensive at €20,000. This price was outside of our budget at the time and further options were explored, most significantly, festival big tops.

These tents were working out to be a quarter of the price of the marquees and they also offered considerably more space. Having the one big top was discounted as it was thought that a bigger tent would be significantly colder and draughtier. Upon reflection having the two big tops probably led to more draughts as the entrances and people sleep >>>

>>> -ing near them were doubled. Initially both participants and tutors were sleeping in the tents until a deal was finally reached with the primary school only a couple of months before the event.

The floor structure of the tents was subject to many proposals, from timber palettes, to straw, to what we final settled on, stadcover flooring with a dampproof membrane. We have to be immensely grateful to SIGA for coming on board and providing a sponsorship in kind with the Damp proof membrane and tape for the odd 400m2 floor space of both the tents. The Stadcover was ordered with the intention of having a bit extra for outside the tents, which in the end worked out to be as important as the flooring inside the tents, especially the spare units which were used outside the events tent.

The midges were an extreme worry for the organisers in the run up to the event. A plethora of options were explored to avoid the anticipated unbearable situation whereby people would be bitten all night.

Netting to cover all the sleeping areas was considered, as well as using left-over festival tents within the larger big tops. In the end, 500 bottles of Avon skin so soft were purchased, the only sworn repellent according to the locals, and large fans were placed at both entrances to the tents. Thankfully, the apocalyptic situated that was feared near arose as it was too wet and windy for most of the event.

The big tops were not up to the standard expected.

They both had a multitude of small holes in the canvas, which were patched up over the course of the event. The extreme weather conditions that prevailed during the event exasperated the situation, however, it was not long until people started to adapt to the new environment which they found themselves thrust into!

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1.3 Sanitary While sleeping in a large tent with over one hundred people can just about be tolerated, with a nightly dose of copious amounts of alcohol being the sleeping aid of choice, having a cold shower is absolutely not an expendable luxury. As such, no expense was spared with the provision of quality sanitary provisions. VIP Festival toilets and showers were provided with plentiful full provisions ensuring hot water was available all day every day (8 tanks of propane were used costing over â‚Ź500).

Unfortunately, the boiler in one of the shower cabins stopped working with a couple of days to go, by which stage it was too late to send out a gas boiler specialist. However, having the two shower cabins meant that a hot shower was always available and the participants were quite appreciative of that.

We discussed our layout plans with the local plumber, Ulick Joyce (absolute sound man) at a good stage before the event and we went to work digging a trench to take the water supply pipes from

the main water tank for the college, which thankfully was across for where the sanitary cabins were located. The sewage feed directly into the septic tank for the college which was right beside the chosen site for the toilets.

The tank was emptied before the event just in case there was an overflow of sewage.

Also, the availability of showers and toilets in Ellis hall offered more facilities during peak hours. They were also crucial for the organisers and helpers who were sleeping in the school before and after the event.

1.4 Electricity Again, Paddy Ruddy, the electrician for the college was immense in his contribution to setting up the electrics. Not only did he offer advice on what we should be using, he put through all the orders for all the armoured cable (270m in total), lighting, fuses, etc. that were needed. We had to be careful with not overloading the electrics as any over draw of electricity could potentially blow the mains fuse, outing power to the entire campus.

Thankfully, there was an outside connection point for the cable powering the events tents. This cable needed to take a considerable load, 40 amps to be precise.

1.5 Health, Safety & Insurance

1.5.2 General Advice for Future Organisers

Health and safety and insurance go hand in hand in Ireland. It’s a big issue and is something that maybe has a greater weight in this country than it does in other countries.

Nevertheless, it’s something that should definitely be considered from an early stage of planning.

Time-line: Begin looking for insurance as soon as you have officially established your company/organisation and have the basic information that they will require to give you a quote (numbers, dates, location etc.)

1.5.1 Insurance We used an Insurance Broker to track-down insurance companies who were willing to offer Public Liability Insurance for an event such as EASA....and there were very very few.

EASA is quite unlike anything most insurance companies will have come across and the concept of sleeping people on the now traditional ‘EASA scaffold platforms’ was particularly worrying for them!

We issued our Broker with a reasonably clear description of our activities, along with the standard information such as location, dates, duration of event, number of participants, age profile, occupation of participants, etc. It is best not to ‘hide’ anything from insurance companies as it is vital that you are covered in the event of an accident. Initially however, it may be prudent to tone down anything which might discourage insurers from offering you cover. ‘EASA Bar’ and ‘Power Tools’ should never be mentioned together!

Rather than try to individually indemnify the owners/tenants of each building we used, we bought a Public Liability Insurance policy which covered the whole event. After that, whenever a venue owner asked for us to indemnify them, we simply asked our Broker to issue another Letter of Indemnity under the same policy. Due to the fact that our event was bi-located and used spaces belonging to amyriad of owners/tenants this policy worked well for us.

Our premium was €5000. Expensive, but in truth they could have charged twice or three times this amount and we would have had to pay it. There was no competition as only one insurance company would offer us a quote.

We added a number of new venues after paying the premium and the Insurer covered them under the initial (inflated) fee. We had to buy seperate Fire & Theft Insurance for our rented mobile fridge unit and also for twelve Mac laptops. Both of these policies cost a few hundred euro each.

Insurance Companies: Check if there are any insurance companies who deal with student or voluntary organisations - they may offer the most competetive price and be more understanding. Ask your University and Student’s Union if they can help you in any way.

Cost of Insurance: Try and get as many quotes as possible to ensure that you are getting a fair and competetive price.

Type of Insurance: Discuss with your Broker the type of insurance policy that would best suit your event. Public Liability is the major issue but certain hardware may also need to be insured (AV equipment, laptops, tools & machinery....)

Sponsorship: Approach insurance companies about sponsoring EASA to the value of the insurance policy premium they are charging.

1.5.3 Medical Cover Find out exactly what medical facilities exist within range of the host location; hospitals, private clinics, accident and emergency centers, ambulance services, cardio units, etc. It will be very important to note opening times for each facility, for instance ambulance services may have a different phone number for night shifts.

Make a list of contact details for each; names, addresses, phone numbers and opening times. Write a letter to each of these contacts outlining the dates and nature of the event. Following up with a phone call closer to the time is a good idea.

Having a dedicated medical presence on site is recommendable. If not a doctor, then a nurse or similar is usually perfect. Obviously, the more remote the location, the more provisions need to be

>>> made. EASA has enjoyed a good bill of health

over the years with nothing more than superficial cuts and bruises, however the potential for more serious injury is still strong and should be planned for.

Aside from that, it’s a good idea that a number of organisers have up to date first aid training. It can be of vital importance in the event of an accident. It also looks good for insurers and people responsible for the hosting location and facilities. First aid kits should be prepared also.

The proximity of people and conditions mean that the scope for illness to spread is high. Letterfrack was a real tester for the immune systems, but thankfully nothing viral set in. Equally, something bad in the food, or water can have a potentially devastating effect on an Assembly. I don’t think you can do much more than have good relations with medics in the area, on the off-chance that something occurs.

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Keep a few first aid kits well stocked at Info Point and in any other populated, high risk zones. Keep an accidents report book at Info Point, this is vital in the event of somebody making a claim, or taking legal action.

Waste & Recycling

Waste production and the resultant management system that you put in place are a major part of any transitory event. The majority of the waste is produced when there is no established system. As the organising committee it is your responsibility to set up and communicate a system to all participants.

2.0 Duties EASA is run for students , by students.

There’s an ethos of everyone getting their hands dirty to help out, and, in the case of duties, we mean literally getting your hands dirty!

Text: Eilish Beirne & Hugo Lamont Photo: Sandor Lilienberg [HU]

Obviously there are vagaries concerned with local conditions: in Letterfrack, we were extremely isolated, and bin collection was a massive issue, especially given the campus location at the entrance to Connemara National Park and the extremely heavy rainfall.

2.1 Introduction to Waste

Aside from the amount of waste generated during the event, a huge issue to the organisers before and after the assembly are the respective preparations and cleanup. This is something that goes unseen by the vast majority often participants and is an extremely tiring, dirty and frustrating process: working to a deadline before the event means that things are rushed by necessity beforehand, while the clean-up afterwards is a seemingly never-ending task when energy levels are already extremely low. With the organisers doing all the work before and after the event, it’s important that participants pull their weight during the event.

2.1.1 Questions What are the different waste types and why are they important?

There are two waste types, domestic and construction. The distinction is due to a couple of important reasons: firstly, domestic waste is generally messy and small scale, while construction waste is often clean, large scale and recyclable. Domestic waste will be most prevalent around where people eat, drink, sleep and hang out, while construction waste will generally be stored near the workshops. Domestic waste needs regular collecting, while construction waste generally only needs to be disposed of at the end of the event.

Domestic Waste What types of domestic waste will we be separating?

What are the different functions that will take place during EASA that will produce waste? SEE FIG 1

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Which company will collect our domestic waste?

Will the company used currently onsite be able to handle the quantities of waste produced?

Will this company be able to direct us to another company?

Will this company be able to deal with all the different types of waste produced during EASA What are the requirements that this company requires for separation?

Construction Waste What types of Construction waste will we be separating?

What construction workshops will be running during EASA? What types of materials will they be using?

Which company will collect our Construction waste?

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Does this waste need to be collected in a skip?

How much does it cost to deliver this skip?

What size is this skip?

Where will it be located?

How will it be delivered?

Is there easy vehicular access to the waste storage area for delivery?

When will it be emptied?

How much does it cost to have the skip for longer?

How much does it cost to get a larger skip?

Is there a delivery charge, is it extra to deliver a larger skip?

Do we need to separate this waste or does the collection company have equipment to separate metals, timber, plastics?

Fig. 2: Types of Bins

LIDDED: Smelly waste / outdoor bins Landfill bin, Organic bin, Bins located outdoors

Bins Are the bins clearly marked?

Is there a clearly legible symbol for each bin?

Do people understand this label?

Is this symbol attached to the bin so if bins are moved when emptied labels do not get mixed up?

Is this label weather resistant?

UNLIDDED: Indoor bins, Cans, Bottles, Paper

Do we have enough bins in each area?

SEE FIG 1 for types of waste generated in each area SEE FIG 2 for sizes and types of bins Can we source enough bins onsite and avoid buying any?

Are they the right size and the right type? [see FIG 1 and FIG 2]

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Where will we store waste before its collected?

Is the location close to the workshop areas, but visually removed and enclosed?

Is there an area for additional storage for set up and clean up as there will be more waste generated during these times?

How often do bins need to be collected?

Generally arrange collections as often as possible.

How much storage space do we have to store waste?

Is it possible to arrange delivery of bins at short notice if storage containers are full?

(If not order extra) Can extra collections be arranged for set up and clear up?

Is waste collected charged by each collection or by quantity or by type?

Is there a flexibility in how much waste is collected each time?

How many storage bins are located onsite? >>>

PEDAL BIN: Toilets, Kitchen

SKIP: Building materials, Blocks, Concrete, Timber waste

>>> How many extra storage bins do we need to source?

How much do these storage bins cost to rent?

How much do each storage bins cost to empty?

How much do each storage bins cost to deliver?

Fig. 3: Sizes of Bins

What kind of plastic bags will we use?

How much extra will bio-degradable bin bags cost?

Are there color coded bin bags available that will make the bin labelling clear?

2.1.2 Recommendations EASA 2008 established a waste management plan with the aim of setting a template for the management of our waste during the event The main lesson learned with this event was that the waste management system must be fully set up before the event starts. The good thing about waste management is that the majority of the organising can be done before the event with sourcing and labelling bins, establishing a visual graphic and setting locations for bins. If this system is set up then it should run itself. If it is not set up then you will spend the two weeks running around after yourself as 400 people produce a lot of waste each day. It’s very easy to organise and distribute bins from one location but once the bins have been distributed around campus, making a coherent change across the board is challenging.

Bin locations and symbology system should be blatantly clear so that people don’t get confused. The reality is that most people do not want to have to think when they go to a bin. They just want to get rid of what is in their hand. Graphics are the way to go. Text labelling is handy alongside strong graphics but most people won’t read it.

A suggestion for next year is to design some kind of ‘suspension device’!! which would suspend the actual pieces of rubbish that go in the different bins above the bin.

Eg: i) a piece of crumpled paper and crushed clean milk cartons above the paper bin; ii) crushed cans above the cans bin iii) clean empty whiskey bottles above the glass bin.

There were issues with the amount of bins on campus. We tried to minimise the number of bins that were bought as it was a wasteful expense – what do you do once the event is over with 40 used bins? The plan was to move bins from the eating and workshops areas during the evenings to the events tent and this way minimise the number of bins required.

The failing in this was that bins were not labelled with their locations and were moved and then not found and then not emptied.

Bins should be labelled with their location.

There should be a map with the locations of the bins marked on it so that duties manager can make sure all bins are emptied.

LARGE STORAGE BINS – Main waste storage area 1100L bins on 4 castor wheels

MEDIUM BINS – Areas of high intensity of use i.e. Bar/Social Area/Eating area 240L 2-wheeled bin

SMALL BINS – All around campus 60 L Bins

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Duties

It is the responsibility of all participants to keep the campus clean. It is not the duty of organisers to clean up after 400 people but they must manage and organise the duties so that participants know what they are doing and everyone does their amount of duties. Unfortunately certain people tend to always do their duties and pick up the slack for other people.

2.3.1 Questions

Do you have a timetable included in the Starter pack?

Does the timetable allocate equal number of duties to all countries?

Have small countries been grouped together so that the same amount of people are on duties each day?

Is there enough people on duties each day?

Are all participants aware of which countries duties team they are allocated to as there was some confusion with Erasmus students last year.

Have enough cleaning supplies been purchased?

Is it easy to buy more supplies if they run out?

If so have quantities been underestimated so that wastage does not occur?

How much cleaning equipment can be borrowed from existing supplies onsite?

How much more equipment needs to be bought?

Can it be borrowed from somewhere else?

Can supplies and equipment be bought through the account of the onsite organisation and their suppliers? Will a reduced price be given?

Participants’ Duties Can any oversupplies left over be sold / given back to There are three main issues as a duties manager: be organised existing organisation onsite? in terms of having all the necessary equipment to hand at the Is delivery included in the price? start so that people can get to work right away rather than waiting around for you to get your act together; be hyper-enIs there a reduction in price for buying in bulk? thusiastic and diligent about the process; and make sure that Is this company the cheapest? There are generally big there are as many people as possible involved - it takes less changes in price for buying in bulk and between different time, and is fairer to those who show up early. companies as cleaning supplies are something that companies don’t think about and will just pay without genuinely considering alternative costs.

Has a preference for ecologically sensitive supplies been established?

Has a cost comparison between eco-sensitive products and conventional products been done?

Have you approached an environmental agency as a non profit organisation and asked for sponsorship in kind or supplies sold at cost?

Has a Duties Station been set up where all supplies are collected and returned?

Are all participants aware that they must assemble at the Duties Station when they are on duty?

Are all participants aware that they must return their supplies to the Duties Station?

Is the Duties Station located near to the kitchen so that cleaning supplies are easily located for kitchen clean up and so that the duties manager and breakfast manager can help each other in the mornings?

Has a list of duties to be done each day been drawn up?

Has a map outlining duties to be done each day been drawn up? [See FIG 1] Has a copy been put up by the Duties Station so that participants can find out what needs to be done each day if there is no Duties manager around?

When drawing up the list of duties have you accounted for all spaces around campus?

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Have the different duties been broken down into teams?

Have supplies packs for each team been organised?

Does each team have the cleaning equipment and supplies necessary to carry out their tasks?

[See FIG 2] Is there a template for a daily sign in sheet for duties? [See FIG 3] Has this been pinned up on the wall by the Duties Station Are participants aware that duties are allocated on a first come first served basis?

Are participants aware that they must sign their name beside the duties that they do?

Are participants aware that they must operate as a team and may not leave before all duties on the list are completed?

It is imperative that a map with all the locations used on campus are marked. The duties manager spends most of his/her time explaining where places are and what equipment is used to participants on Duties. This can be avoided if:

- there is a clearly marked map which visually pinpoints all the areas that need to be cleaned

each day

- there is a list with people broken into teams

- there are packs with all the cleaning supplies required for each team ready for each day

- there is a daily list of duties and participants sign their names beside the duties completed.

This way there is a record of who has completed their fair amount of duties and a list to ensure all the duties have been completed each day.

3.0 Info Point The Info Point has a very important role to play during the event itself, and is something that is better off planned down to the absolute minutiae than let evolve organically: the later will happen anyway!

Text: Hugo Lamont Photos: Roland Nemeth [HU]

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he first thing to recognise about the info point is that it is the hub of the event; immediately after that it’s important to remember that it’s generally the hub of the event for people who don’t know what is going on - participants at EASA for the first time, visitors, curious locals - so it’s important to have a well-organised, clean, spacious and secure info-point.

Before I go any further, I’d like to admit that we by no means had an ideal info-point, as we essentially had to move it three times: Colaiste Eoin [Dublin]/ InfoDome [Letterfrack]/Link Corridor [Letterfrack]. Obviously we had counted on the move from Dublin to Letterfrack, but the ludicrously heavy rain forced us to abandon the 7m InfoDome due to the danger of elecrocuting ourselves [seriously].

We then moved into the Link Corridor, which was superior in a lot of ways but had a major issue in the lack of space, something that I’ll come to later.

3.1 Location

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The infopoint should be

1] central and visible

2] spacious

3] close to or attached to the office The infopoint in Elefsina007 was great - you had clear visual links to the IT lab, the tools depot and the bar, as well as overlooking the bulk of the workshop space.

Furthermore, there was a lot of clever design involved as well: the ground floor was raised, so that the people working behind the desk were higher than the people coming to the desk, and there was a very useful second storey where is was possible to work on your laptop without being disturbed. In short it was a really excellent infopoint, and a great blueprint for future events.

It’s difficult to get an ideal location for the infopoint, and compromises have to be made. However, I think it’s important that it is very close to the organisers’ office.

There’s going to be huge traffic between the info point and the office, and there needs to be somewhere that organisers can work in peace while still being

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Busy at Maths Cecily Weeks getting down to work at the Info Point.

Why not?

Photo: Roland Nemeth [HU]

contactable at a moment’s notice. It’s also great to be have somewhere that you can cat-nap you end up working such long hours that a 20-30 minute nap can make a huge difference to how you feel for the rest of the day.

3.2 Equipment It makes a ton of sense if the infopoint is located directly beside the stationary depot: you need absolutely endless amounts of pens, writing pads, staples, hole-punches, folders, clips, rubber bands etc. People end up taking all your stuff [either by accident or design ...] so it’s necessary to be well-stocked.

3.3 First Aid First Aid kits and fire-extinguishers should be kept at the info point - we were extremely lucky to have a fully qualified nurse as part of the team for most of the event, and she certainly got a lot of work! It’s vital that First Aid kits are treated with the utmost respect and kept in highly sanitised conditions - it’s absolutely useless having them if [for example] the scissors used to cut cloth bandage has been ‘borrowed’ by one of the organisers to cut paper.

It’s important that organisers know what to do when people come to them injured or sick - most of the time it’s just a case of good sense, but that can be in surprisingly short supply for the sleep-deprived. It’s a great idea for the organising team to take a First Aid course and to pin up a notice Beyond the usual stationary requirements are of Dos & Don’ts in a visible place - at least then if something communications devices, in all their forms: goes wrong and panic ensues there’s a guide as to i] a landline is especially useful for keeping down mobile bills and reliability; what to do. ii] walkie-talkies are very handy for keeping in touch over short distances, especially as regards night-duties, key marshalling etc. iii] megaphone - absolutely essential for shouting at people, getting attention etc.

If the infopoint is connected to the organisers’ office as suggested above, you can cut down quite a lot with the amount of IT equipment on the desk; if not, it’s important to have an utterly reliable A3 printer [with plenty of ink and paper] and a quiet area where organisers can work without being disturbed while still maintaining a presence at the infopoint.

3.4 Lockers

We managed to borrow fifty lockers from a local school [Kylemore Abbey, the Hogwarts Castle school overlooking the lake on the way into Letterfrack], which proved invaluable. We were also given a hundred padlocks from one of the student unions, each with three keys. Great - more keys! The idea was to rent the lockers to each country’s NCs for a deposit of €10.

Participants could then lock their valuables - laptops, cameras and passports generally speaking - in a secure area overseen by members of the organising team.

>>>

>>> This went off pretty well, despite the

fact that we had to move the lockers from the InfoDome on the second day; however, that’s not to say that the system couldn’t be improved.

Something as simple as printing out the various countries’ flags and sticking them to the door of the locker, as well as labelling the keyrings clearly with the country name [and preferably flag] would have made a noticeable difference.

It’s also the sort of job you can give to somebody who joins the organising team very late - as you’ll find out, it’s actually difficult to delegate jobs at a late stage, when you feel as though you’re one of only a few who actually knows how to get a specific job done. In reality, there are a hundred little jobs that can have a positive effect on the EASA experience that you can dole out to people who are good enough to volunteer, and this is just one of them.

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3.5 Lost & Found People lose stuff. It’s a fact of life, and not all the finger-pointing and hand-waving in the world is going to change it. In a chaotic environment like EASA, people will lose quite a lot of stuff, including things that they never would misplace at home, like passports, cameras and laptops.

It’s advisable to keep three or four lockers [unlocked for ease of access] behind the desk with boxes in them that you can whip out fairly lively - these are for smaller items like cameras, memory keys, phones, pens, passports, cables and leads, rings, hairbands etc.

Lost and found clothing is bulkier and should be kept in a series of boxes on one side of the info-point. It’s important to be able to keep an eye on it, but it’s generally not as valuable as the smaller stuff - in terms of priorities, it’s more important to keep people looking for their lost jackets out of the infopoint where they will wreck the precious equilibrium you’ve worked so hard to create. It actually makes sense to have two large plastic cartons side by side so that people looking through the pile can actually just go through it by shifting it into the next carton rather than tossing it on the floor. Hmmm ... wish I had thought of that three weeks ago!

3.6 Recharging It’s important for participants to be able to recharge their phones without people unplugging them, taking the lead or even [in a worst case scenario] taking their phone. If you get two 4-plug adaptors you should be able to charge eight phones at a time, which is plenty. Just put a sign over it saying Recharging Only and be strict with it; if you want to be super strict you can mark the time and take the phone out after an hour [all phones should charge fully in an hour].

Also, everyone has been told to bring their own adaptors, so just tell people to go and get their own rather than trying to borrow somebody else’s at the info-point - it’s not your problem.

3.7 Tokens Tokens for the bar are a very important source of cash over the event: probably the most important. It’s a very, very good idea to keep a separate strong box for the tokens and money earned from them - that way you can estimate pretty >>>

Next!

People lining up on the stairs to get shouted at when they have questions for the Info Point. Look how nervous they are!

Photo: Roland Nemeth [HU]

>>>accurately how much business the bar is do-

ing. Your token system should be difficult to forge - most people won’t even try, but there are a few graceless people who will try and cheat you, despite everything that you’ve tried to put in place for them.

3.8 T-Shirts & Hoodies We could have sold a million hoodies in Letterfrack - that’s because it was the worst August in 26 years. It’s a really good idea to have t-shirts and hoodies on display at the infopoint, preferably in a very visible spot. People like to have something tangible to hold on to from EASA, and hoodies and t-shirts will sell: obviously which one sells more is dependent on the climate. It’s a good idea to keep a separate box for t-shirt/apparel sales as well, much as you should with token sales - it lets you know how many you’ve sold for stocktaking purposes, and how many you can afford to give out.

4.0 Registration Registration is one of the staples of EASA, like the Workshop Fair and National Night . It’s important to try and get it done right, to learn from previous mistakes and to get the event off on the right foot.

Text: Sean Feeney & Hugo Lamont Photo: Roland Nemeth [HU]

Registration is one of the few times in EASA where it pays to be hyper-organised and stick to a prescribed system with which all the organising team are familiar.

It was particularly difficult in Dublin because while we were heavily subscribed in terms of helpers, there were very few organisers present, most of them still working on the site in Letterfrack. You therefore had a situation with many people willing to work, but not enough people around to show them how they can best help, which is a frustrating situation for all involved.

The registration eventually went pretty painlessly, but it’s important to remember that many people have made long journeys [especially when the event was held in Ireland] and are tired and dying for a shower. This can make people a little ... eh, irritable.

4.2 The Waiting Game It’s important for people to have something to do while they wait - for example, it’s a great time to check e-mail, so if it’s at all possible, have a strong wireless connection. Similarly, if the weather is good and there is available space, having a couple of footballs and frisbees is a great idea; if there’s the chance, table football and chess are great options as well.

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It also makes sense if there are sandwiches available - it keeps people happy, stops them from wandering off looking for food and hopefully will speed up the registration process by keeping people nearby. As mentioned above, may people have been in transit for extended period of time, and are dying for a shower, so it’s a serious relief if everything is up and running - people are happier in general and won’t give you as much guff as they may otherwise.

So, in summation, ways to keep 400 sleep-deprived, stressed and sweaty students happy while you keep them waiting:

i] internet connectivity

ii] sports and games

iii] food

iv] showers >>>

4.3 The Process The Registration process went relatively smoothly once we got our system in place and had reduced the queue by asking the NC’s to register their participants. Rather than everyone standing in a lengthy line, the NC’s instead collected all the passports, got their team to fill out our Disclaimer Form and then brought everything to us.

Much simpler.

4.4 Info-point: Registration Set-up As we were only spending three days in Dublin we set up a temporary info-point there which was configured to deal with the registration process.

Though temporary, it had to have all the basics required to run the info-point, including the right personnel. The Organiser who dealt with the Applications & Visas Process initially oversaw the registration process.

We had two Registrars so we could process two lines at the same time. Each Registrar had a laptop with all the relevent information and a printer in between them. The Registrars welcomed the NC’s on behalf of the EASA Ireland team, crosschecked all the applicant’s details, ensured all fees had been paid (and if not, collected the correct fee), ensured that the Disclaimer Forms had been properly filled out, issued the EASA wristbands for the whole team, and registered independent Tutors and Guests.

Two Helpers assisted each Registrar; one taking photographs of the passports and coutner-signing

disclaimer forms, the other handing out Starter Packs and issuing locks to NC’s who required a locker for their team’s valuables. They also answered general enquiries from participants who came to the desk. The Helpers were the key to taking the pressure of the Registrars.

Other team members relieved the Helpers as soon as the initial pressure was off and once the system was up-andrunning for a few hours. The Registrars were relieved by two of the Helpers who by then understood the process.

Registration continued until the after midnight as people arrived from the airport. Due to a tight programme of events for our 3 days in Dublin we continued to register people all through the night to ensure that there weren’t any delays in the morning.

4.5 General Advice for Future Organisers: Our system worked well once the process was fine-tuned, especially when we asked the NC’s to help. The most important thing is to have all neccessary hardware, technology, information and personnel in position before everyone arrives. Try and ensure everyone registers as soon as possible, ideally during the first 24hrs. The first few days are incredibly busy so the Organising team shouldn’t be distracted by those who are late in registering.

In hindsight, we would recommend that at least 3 of those team members who initially set up and run the Info-Point should continue its management. They know how it works, where everything is, where everything has gone to and the answers to all the repetetive questions! Each day, between 8am and 9pm, one of them should be on Info-Point Duty in two shifts. The night-shift can be manned by other helpers who don’t need to know where everything is.

>>>

4.5 Registration ‘Kit’ - Personnel: 2 Registrars, 4 Helpers - 2 Laptops (each with all relevent files, lists etc) - 1 Printer (paper, ink) - 2 Digital Cameras - Cash boxes - Organisers Lockers (secure) - EASA identification bracelets/tags - Folders (Application Forms, Disclaimer Forms, Fees list, Guest list, Lock Deposits list, etc) - Starter Packs - Locks (for Guest’s lockers - min. of 1 locker per country to begin with) - Office Equipment & Stationary (staplers, pens, scissors, sellotope, duck-tape, etc....)

- ‘Lost & Found’ Box - you will need this almost immediately!

4.6 Suggested Process

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It’s difficult to know best how to handle the registration process - probably the best idea is to have 4 teams all doing the same thing so that there isn’t any serious queues or hour-long tailbacks. The main problem with the process is that everyone wants to get it over and done with quickly, but it’s important to do it right - it saves time if everything is on file during the event, and if something serious should happen, it’s vital to have the necessary information to hand quickly.

So, if we go with 4 teams of 4 people: i] divide the country list into 4 [alphabetically] and have a big sign behind each table telling them which countries you are catering for per table: >>>

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Albania Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina CLEA Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic

Denmark Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Kosovo Latvia

Liechtenstein Lithuania Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania

Russia Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey UK Ukraine

>>> ii] Try and deal exclusively with the NC for each country. Sometimes this is impossible, as many of the participants will have arrived before their NC, and in that case you just have to adapt to the circumstances. However, if you take a firm stance on the importance of NCs at an early stage, it will reinforce on both them and their participants their role during the assembly. iii] Ascertain from the NC from every country who has and who hasn’t paid the participant fee. Ideally at the stage of registration all this information will be on file, but it often isn’t. It’s important to stress to the NCs that they should include the names of those people who have paid the participation fee when they are transferring the fee itself.

Everyone should have paid a long time in advance of registration. However, there are always issues with some people: sometimesvisa issues,

sometimes late replacements, sometimes a personal agreement with the organiser, sometimes staying as a guest etc. No matter what the issue, this is the last chance to get people to pay, so it’s important that they do so. People in general don’t mind paying for things and appreciate that they are sort of holding things up, so just be friendly but firm regarding the circumstance. It’s actually desirable to have some people pay at this stage, as generally cash is very, very thin on the ground at the start of the event.

iv] Get everyone to sign an insurance waiver - it may not be absolutely waterproof in terms of legally binding, but it’s a long sight better than nothing v] Essentially just try and get everything done country by country so you’re not constantly rooting through a whole rake of files and so things don’t get misfiled. Obviously the optimum way this can be done is through the NC organising his/her participants, but you can do the dirty work yourself as well. As long as people know there is a system in place to deal with things, that they won’t be waiting too long and that there’s something for them to do while they’re waiting, they’ll be cool.

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Transport

Due to the bi‐locational nature of EASA 2008, transport between Dublin and Letterferfack became a major issue. Apart from the consistent relocation of organisers and equipment before, during and after the event from one location to the other, the logistical problems with all the EASA participants and tutors travelling across the country together required substantial time and energy to pull off successfully.

5.0 Transport Potentially, transport doesn’t have the same importance in other EASA Summer Assemblies as it did in EASA 008, but it was a hugely important aspect of this assembly.

Text: Emmet Kenny Photos: Sheparding latecomers on board in Dublin , right, Jurrien van Djuikeren [NL] Disembarking in Letterfrack, overleaf, Roland Nemeth [HU]

This journey, as labelled “A Section Through Ireland” will be covered in the later chapter dealing with Excursions, which would be a more suitable position, owing to the similar processes which took place in the organisation of the activities involved. This section remains concerned with the mobilisation aspect of EASA. For purposes of clarity, this section is broken up into three separate parts, namely: Pre-EASA Organisers Transport; EASA Participants Transport; and Post-EASA Organisers Transport.

5.1 Pre-EASA Organiser’s Transport

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EASA organisers spend a lot of time in transit, progressively more as the event approaches, due to meetings with sponsors, collections and deliveries of materials and supplies and general movement of people in order to prepare the site for the Assembly. A list of organisers, complete with driving licence details and access to own vehicle should be drawn up and referred to for these matters, so that the driving duties can be shared out fairly, avoiding the onus of all transport falling on one or two people within the organisation. Friends outside the organisation with cars should also be approached for their help in this regard. A calendar based at the organisers office or similar is very useful for marking down future trips which can be clearly read by all organisers. This way, anything else that can be done / collected on the same trip can easily be written alongside and time-wasting second trips can be avoided.

EASA Ireland Ltd. chose to rent a large van before the event to assist in the transport of materials and supplies. This turned out to be completely necessary and an investment of great worth. The list of materials to be transported before the event is endless and the more space set aside for this the better. Once again, the driving duties should be shared out

among the organisers with driving credentials as the van will be on the road far longer than one person can be. As many organisers as possible should be able to drive the van so that there are always options for the team when a materials run coincides with other important duties.

As stated above, a schedule of all trips should be drawn up at the organisers office and all vehicles should be used to their full potential during these trips in terms of transporting materials and people.

5.2 EASA Participants Transport The majority of participants will arrive to EASA via the nearest airport. The very first thing the organisers should do is to inform all participants with details of how to get from the airport, or train/bus station, etc., to the Assembly headquarters. This can be done quite simply by listing directions on the EASA website, or group emailing all participants before arrival. A map of the public transport systems of the location should also be included along with insiders guidelines on the best routes and fairest prices.

The movement of such a large number of people to one specific point, ie EASA, creates an opportunity to deal with transport during the Assembly in an efficient and productive way. When based in a city, such as Dublin, existing public transport infrastructure should be used to its full as moving large amounts of people is its function. >>>

This gives the added benefit of providing the participants with choice rather than fencing them into a strict schedule dictated by the organisers team. It also showcases the reality of the visited city to the, more often than not, insulated EASA community. The operators of the public transport of the city should be approached for a sponsorship deal in which participants would receive transport cards giving them free or reduced fares. It was the intention of EASA Ireland Ltd. to try and secure free public transport for all participants during their stay in Dublin but unfortunately in this case, it did not come to pass. The opportunity remains for future organisers however, and a simple plea based on the educational aspect of the Assembly and the positive representation of the city to 400 future professionals should hopefully secure a better result elsewhere.

While existing public transport should be used as much as possible, some situations can be better organised by private transport companies. If there are issues with cost or safety for the participants on certain public transport routes or times, the responsibility should fall on the organising team to provide alternatives, such as the return double-decker buses provided by EASA Ireland Ltd. for a nominal fee of €2 per participant on the night after the official opening at Dublin Castle, where the other options were an expensive taxi or a dangerous trek through the inner-city at night.

For rural / bi-locational EASA’s private coach hire or similar from the nearest city should be employed to ensure everyone’s safe and timely arrival. This represents a costly but necessary addition to the EASA budget. Approach all local coach operators for a quote, and since this will represent a significant commission for the companies given the large amount of people, it is appropriate to ask for a discount or a sponsorship deal. Once you have received a few competitive quotes, it is then possible to play each company off each other to get yourself a better deal.

Similarly, once EASA has finished, most participants will need return transport to the nearest airport/train station. Again, when dealing with a large group like this, it is always advantageous to use the collective power of numbers to get a better price for all involved. Details of all participants departure dates should be collected and similar times and dates grouped together so that the organising team can organise transport for them at a much reduced rate. For example, the return coach journey from Letterfrack to Dublin cost each participant a total of €20 compared to the €35 that would normally be required if travelling individually.

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6.0 Excursions There are two schools of thought regardign excursions, and they echo the debate over National Evenings: should there be one big one with everyone involved or a series of smaller ones that are easier to organise and manage?

E

xcursion days have long been part of the EASA event as an outlet for the participants to take a break from their workshops and interact with participants from other workshops. It also gives them a chance to experience the surrounding area and get a sense of the context of the location of EASA, which is always important. As mentioned in the transport section “A Section Through Ireland�, the travel day between Dublin and Letterfrack during EASA 2008, is included here due to the similarities in terms of organising these separate events.

6.1 A Section Through Ireland

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The journey between the two locations of Dublin and Letterfrack, as a relatively long distance trip between of approximately six hours by bus, ensured the stops en route were inevitable. The opportunity was taken to further emphasise the theme of Adaptation and the contrast that exists between East and West by making this journey into an important event in itself. We dedicated a full day on our Assembly timetable to include stops that would be architecturally important and also very relevant to the theme. It was intended that this day would instigate a fresh approach to the workshops during their travel and ideas would start to take shape even before arrival in Letterfrack.

It was crucial for us to group the participants together in each bus according to their workshop to help in this regard. Given the close proximity of people travelling long distance by bus, it was an ideal opportunity for the participants and tutors of each workshop to get to know each other and start the process so that little time would be wasted in this regard in Letterfrack. Given the strict quotas handed down to the tutors and the rounds system >>>

>>> imposed at the Workshop Fair, it was quite simple to plan the

Letterfrack Lakescape

groupings of each of the buses based on numbers of participants per workshop.

Text: Emmet Kenny & Hugo Lamont Photo: Mirjana Uzonovic [SER]

There were eight 53 seater coaches used in total with the breakdown as follows: Coach 1 – Adapta-Bale; Small Interventions; Architectural Answers to the Digital Revolution.

Coach 2 – Lunch Box; Light and Space; Adopting Green.

Coach 3 – Green Room; Kraftka.

Coach 4 – Zauna; Teleology; Designing the Inevitable.

Coach 5 – Exaptation; Lightscapes; Too Cool for Stool.

Coach 6 – Flux Culture; Adapta-Lab.

Coach 7 – Nomadic Instamatic; Umbrella; Material Adaptable Jouer; Extended Me.

Coach 8 – Repp; Hum-Arc; Make Your Adaptor.

In order to showcase a variety of different buildings and places, coupled with the fact that many of the stops would not have been able to handle such a large group attending together, the coaches were grouped into two’s with four different routes planned. We decided on three stops along the route for each group loosely tagged as: Stop 1 – The Edge of the City Stop 2 – Eiscir Riada Crossing Stop 3 – Western Hub

Route A Route A Route B Route B Route C Route C Route D Route D

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Brookfield Community Centre

Brookfield Community Centre and Creche [above], in Tallaght on the outskirts of Dublin. designed by Hassett Ducatez Archtiects, it was the winner of the 2007 Downes Bronze Medal, awarded by the AAI in May 2008.

The building sits in an area of strong social deprivation on an open tract in Tallaght on the edge of Dublin city. Built without civic infrastructure in the 1970s, Tallaght is predominantly a low-rise, low-density area housing some 70,000 people.

The building form keeps ‘slipping’ as one rounds the corner so that it cannot quite be visually comprehended as a finite thing. Being too long and not right-angled, the mass appears as fluctuating colours and proportions. The panels [masonry, metal, glass] have a strong optical presence given by colour amd by changing transparencies.

Inside the building the tone changes to introduce warmth. The interior is made with otherwise unfinished basic building materials: music rooms, games rooms, computer, exercise and work rooms open onto one another as a sequence of fields of colour [metal panels, paint, resin] on the floor, walls and ceiling.

Photo: Edwin Gardner [NL]

Ratoath Community College

Ratoath Community College [right], Jamestown by McGarry NĂ­Eanaigh Architects is one of several projects that have seen the Department of Education contract critically acclaimed practices to design much-needed schools for new suburbs of Dublin that sprawl well into Kildare, Louth, Carlow, Wicklow and even as far as Meath.

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Ratoath is a rapidly expanding commuter village north of Dublin. It is characterised by a small village core enveloped by sprawling housing estates. Ratoath College is the first significant public institution in the village; the project is quite ambitious in aiming to provide a sense of place and identity amid the rapid development and population explosion experienced in the area over the last 15 years.

The layout of the building on the site divides vehicular movement from the outdoor social space and playing fields. The geometry has allowed the preservation of the majority of mature trees throughout the site. The plan allows for efficent internal circulation: general purpose areas resolve the geometry whilst creating connections between multiple internal and external spaces. Specific classrooms are positioned within the plan for optimum use conditions. General classrooms face south onto the outdoor playing areas, computer rooms face north to avoid overheating and technical rooms are isolated for acoustic reasons. The floor to wall ratio is very efficient for a school of this type allowing an enhanced external fabric and a higher degree of detail throughout.

Photo: Alexa Alewa [IT]

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Clonmacnoise

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We felt that Clonmacnoise was a particularly appropriate midpoint for our journey across Ireland. The most important crossing point of the Shannon for over a thousand years, it was the site of one of the most important Christian monasteries of medieval Europe. Clonmacnoise was a centre for European learning, with novices and pilgrims travelling from mainland Europe to study and pray.

It was a scriptorium from the eighth to the tenth centuries, producing world renowned works such as the Books of Kells and Durrow. Metal workers in gold, silver and bronze produced some of the era’s finest works, including the Tara Broach and the Ardagh Chalice; unfortunately, this evidently led to a large number of raids on the monastery.

The monastic settlement has seen many violent and destructive periods in its history and was destroyed by fire at least thirteen times. It was attacked approximately forty times from the eighth to the twelfth century. In 1552 it was finally reduced to ruin by the English garrison in Athlone and from that time onwards there were no monasteries in Ireland for almost 300 hundred years.

Photo: Jurrien van Djuikeren [NL]

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iven the shortened period of workshops this year, due to the more academic nature of the stay in Dublin, in addition to the excursion窶人ike nature of the Section Through Ireland, there was a debate within the organisation about whether or not to provide the typical EASA excursion for the participants in Letterfrack.

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After much consideration, we reached the conclusion that given the importance of the site of EASA this year, that it would be a greatly missed opportunity if the participants did not get to explore the wider Connemara region, in order to better understand this importance. Designating the middle Sunday of the Assembly as Excursion Day, a variety of activities and locations were then drafted up, after which two key factors were discovered. Firstly, none of the activities would be able to accommodate such a large group of people as the full Assembly, meaning that there would have to be a choice for participants who would then be grouped to partake in one of many different excursions. Secondly, some of the activities were costly and our budget did not allow us to be reckless with the organisation of excursions which could then have a knock on effect for more vital expenditures, such as materials or food.

The costly excursions were not just abandoned there and then, as these were exactly the types of activities we wanted the participants to experience. We set out to discover whether or not participants, if offered such a chance, were willing to pay for their own excursion. An electronic poll with excursion possibilities was posted on our website, the EASA blog and in the monthly newsletter, urging people to vote for their preferred option, highlighting the fact that they would have to pay for it themselves. This proved very successful with approximately 200 replies which confirmed that participants would be willing to pay for such an excursion and also gave us an idea of the approximate numbers that would be interested in each activity ahead of time so that >>>

6.2 Connemara Excursions >>> negotiations could begin with the relevant companies providing these activities. In all we offered nine excursions, with each varying in cost. These were: Killary Adventure Centre Deep Sea Fishing Scubadive West Inis Bofin Island Beach Horse Riding National Park Hike Cycle Tour Galway City EASA Olympics

€50 €42 €10 / €50 / €80 €15 €35 Free Free Free Free

In order to make everyone aware of the excursions, as well as to get final numbers in time to book them, we posted the list at the Info Point, announced it at tutor and NC meetings, printed it in Umbrella and set a deadline for sign up and payment. We tried our best to inform everyone of the situation and re-iterated the fact that the deadline was final as we needed to reserve places with each company ahead of time.

Unfortunately, this deadline was consistently postponed in order to facilitate every participant who was late in signing up. A better plan of action would have been to hand out the list to every participant in the starter packs, and collect names and appropriate payment on the journey to Letterfrack, where we would have been assured of having all relevant information.

This was originally intended by the organising team, however, during the confusion at the start of the event it was not carried out. In any case, although the numbers changed on a day-by day basis in the run up to the event leading to problems with the excursion companies and coach hire companies, in the end all excursions which were desired took place and given the feedback received, were very enjoyable for the participants.

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Dorothy Cross & Extended Me

Dorothy Cross with members of the Extended me and Repp workshops. Dorothy [as we have mentioned before], was extremely forthcoming with her time, her expertise, her home, her studio and even her boat. She brought people out fishing and swimming, showing them well-hidden caves and coves before bringing them back to Tully and cooking up the mackerel they’d caught. She did this very much off her own bat, but to be honest, we couldn’t have planned it better!

Photo: Jurrien van Djuikeren [NL]

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Diamond Hill The path up to the summit of Diamond Hill in Connemara National Park. Light & Space [tutored by Hungarians Sandor Lilienberg, Daniel Domolky and Andres Czizer] performed an invaluable service almost as a by-product of their workshop by photographing all aspects of the assembly to a professional standard.

Photo: Daniel Domolky

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Natural Tricolour A very cleverly obseved photo from another Hungarian member of the Light & Space workshop, Gergely Takacs.

Photo: Gergely Takacs [HU]

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Inishboffin Beacons The twin beacons to guide boats into the harbour of Inishboffin. The ferry trip to Inishboffin was a heavily subscribed excursion - good thing the weather was just about adequate to set to sea!

Photo: Edwin Gardner [NL]

7.0 Tools, Workshop Materials & Stationery Tool Supply As has been mentioned previously, in Tutorpacks, Sponsorship documents and on the website, we were determined that – given the facilities and heritage of the location – construction workshops would be the dominant element in this Summer Assembly.

Obviously one of the main issues was to source enough hand tools and power tools to provide at least five large building workshops with not only the right tools, but enough tools to equip these five teams of roughly 10-20 people. With a 10-day time period alloted to workshops in Letterfrack, it was important that people weren’t standing around with empty hands when they could be working.

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Text: Billy Mooney Photo: Jurrien van Djuikeren [NL]

N

o real need to elaborate on what this passage is about. The type of tools necessary for an EASA can be broken down into two distinct categories.

Handheld tools will be used by almost every workshop. We tried to provide all hand tools deemed necessary before the event, however this will always be an unrealistic exercise. Luckily for us, Letterfrack village had its own hardware store beside the EASA camp. Not only did this allow us to get extra hand tools he hadn’t gotten before the event, it also allowed us to bring tutors to the hardware store and show us exactly what they require – the easiest way to overcome language issues. A rough list of hand tools used at EASA 2008 would be: Clamps Handsaws Hacksaws Hammers Mallets Sledgehammers Screwdrivers Chisels Pliers Wire cutters Files Wrenches Spanners Spirit levels Measuring tapes

More importantly is the provision of power tools. These are very expensive and as a result it has always been the onus of organisers to source power tools as a form of sponsorship in kind. This proved to be a difficult task, and the finding of and securing of a company to give us power tools turned out to be quite a fight (our tool supplier wanted to pull out one month before the event!). In the end our tools were supplied free of charge by Milwaukee, with some other tools being supplemented by Speedy Hire.

During the assembly each tool was numbered and added to an inventory. As a form of monitoring, tools were signed in and out of the tools depot by tutors, or by specific participants assigned by each tutor. Care must be taken to ensure that tutors do not let people use tools whose inexperience may cause themselves danger. As organisers, we were regularly aghast by the general ignorance and lack of basic experience with power tools displayed by many participants. We were forever looking out for potential injuries, and further to power tools we also supplied large amount of hard hats, gloves, masks and safety goggles.

List of power tools for EASA 2008: 5 Chopsaws 10 Circle saws 6 Jigsaws 1 Reciprocating saw 17 Cordless drills 7 Corded drills 7 Electric sanders 2 Planers 2 Angle grinders 1 Impact wrench 1 Industrial hoover 1 Electric generator

respective workshops working location before the event begins.

General supplies were located at our materials depot and were free for any workshop to take as required. Tutors should always be encouraged to clearly mark any materials they need, whilst attempting not to be overly greedy.

During the assembly tutors continuously approached us various ‘shopping lists’ for materials they needed. We adopted the policy of doing our best to serve the workshops and see them well finished. However, many of the requests were either absurd or prohibitively expensive, or both. We had to learn when to say no, and when to offer alternatives – this was especially true in the closing days of the events. Tutors can occasionally get taken away by the enjoyment of their workshops and adopt the stance that the materials depot is some sort of magical place where anything is available, or that organisers can provide anything that they may need. It takes a mix of patience and leadership to qualm these requests whilst not damaging the drive or ambition behind a workshop.

Inventory of general supply materials used at EASA 2008:

OSB MDF Timber lengths Steel sheets Steel angles Fabric Rope

7.2 Workshop Materials Material lists should be assembled well before the event begins, and will be largely informed by tutor correspondences leading up to the assembly. Our material lists were actually quite accurate as some material we ordered too much of (MDF and paints), and only two materials were found to be lacking (timber lengths and fabrics). Any materials we ran out of were subject to order and delivery from Galway.

Materials can be organised in two different types, those which are workshop specific and those which are workshop general supplies. Specific materials are fairly obvious, ie straw bales to be used by adapt-a-bale, and ideally should be placed in their

150 sheets, measuring 2440 x 1220 and of varying thickness 130 sheets, measuring 2440 x 1220 and of varying thickness 1800m, made of various section sizes 7 sheets, each measuring 2440 x 1220 13 lengths, each measuring 6.2m 300m2, made up of white fabric, white felt, black fabric 1300m +

7.3 Stationery Used most often by research, lightweight workshops and the organising team, stationary was available at the depot beside our onsite office. Most items were used up in the opening days as workshops were eager to claim and good bundle of supplies and built workshops are in their sketch and design period. Most students tend to bring their own supply of stationary goods, and after the event we found we had a huge amount of stationary supplies left unused. This said, there some things which were forever running low in supply and we found ourselves having to purchase more – scalpels and cutting knives, clay, metal rulers, cutting mats, spray mount.

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8.0 Workshop Fair The Workshop Fair is one of the given events in the EASA Summer Assembly.

There ‘s always going to be a Workshop Fair, it’s just up to the organisers how it is run. Essentially there are two differnt approaches: the participants either walk around desks where the tutors have set up presentations, or else they are seated and the tutors present their workshops from a stage. EASA Ireland went with the former approach, but it very much depends on the space available and your own preference.

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Text: Billy Mooney & Hugo Lamont Photo : Edwin Gardner [NL]

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eld in the student centre of UCD, this event was a platform for participants to decide upon a workshop and sign up to it for the duration of the assembly. In previous years the norm was for tutors to get on a stage and give a presentation of the workshop to the whole assembly.

We decided against this method for many reasons – it favours those with better English, it favours those with the hip skills to impress people (which is by no means a gauge for the quality of a workshop) and, importantly, it is also very unfair on those workshops who happen to go last – no matter how enjoyable and interesting the presentations, a serious case of information fatigue is unavoidable.

We organised a situation whereby each workshop was given a table and wall space to promote their workshop and interview participants. Participants, armed with some knowledge of the workshops from their starterpack, had two hours to peruse these stalls, and talk face to face with tutors before they made their final decision. >>>

>>> After the initial round, tutors gave us their final list of participants, sticking to the quota we had decided upon weeks before.

These names were displayed on a large message board, and any participants whose names were not chosen had another thirty minutes to meet with the workshops who still had vacancies.

Tutors’ reactions to this method were mixed. Some loved the ability to interview participants and hand pick those they felt were best for the workshop, whereas other tutors felt that it was an insufficient way of getting their message across to all 300 participants – a complaint voiced mainly by workshops with only one tutor.

One of the frustrating things for organisers is when participants fail to sign up for any workshop. There’s really no excuse for this – workshops are one of the principal reasons that EASA goes on, and a big part of the organisers’ efforts go into securing sponsorship and materials. It’s important for organisers to identify any stragglers who haven’t signed up for workshops; it’s actually more difficult to do this than it seems, but it is a very worthwhile effort, especially when it comes to identifying where people actually are

[or at least should be] during the assembly.

Time-consuming as it is, probably the correct thing to do is to have photocopied versions of each workshops sign-up sheet and then mark each participant off against their country on the registration sheet. Doing this as soon as possible after the end of the workshop fair is preferable, as it allows you to have the information ready for the next Tutor and NC Meeting.

The next step is identifying those participants who haven’t signed up for workshops to their NCs at this meeting so that a sort of “second-round” Workshop Fair can go ahead, where those workshops that didn’t fill their quota of participants can be assigned the leftover participants who didn’t make any commitments. Maybe this seems a little bureaucratic and pedantic, but I think it’s important that people pull their weight and contribute to their workshops. You enjoy yourself more at EASA if you’re involved with a workshop; furthermore, people who are just wandering around or sleeping all the time have a negative impact on other participants’ workshop attendance.

Final Exhibition The Workshop Fair is one of the given events in the EASA Summer Assembly.

There ‘s always going to be a Workshop Fair, it’s just up to the organisers how it is run. Essentially there are two differnt approaches: the participants either walk around desks where the tutors have set up presentations, or else they are seated and the tutors present their workshops from a stage. EASA Ireland went with the former approach, but it very much depends on the space available and your own preference.

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Text: Billy Mooney Photos : Sandor Lilienberg [HU] & Ceren Kiliç [TK]

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t the conclusion of the assembly each workshop was required to present their workshop results in two formats. The first was an A1 poster which was to be printed and displayed in Ellis Hall for a week – we provided all the tutors with a poster template during the assembly. Further to this, each workshop had to make a three minute stage presentation in the form of a movie, picture slideshow or just spoken word.

Needless to say, people will always take more time than allowed so some measures should be put in place to put a cap on this. The whole point of the final presentation is to gather everybody together in one spot ond reflect on the various experiences different people had had, this particlaurily important as due to the weather very few workshops were outdoors and visible to passers by. After the the final presentations all organisers got up on stage, recived our applause, and officially closed the event.

From an organisers point of view the final presentations were an amazingly rewarding experience. So many of the presentations were of a high quality, and really displayed all the great work done by tutors and participants. Organising the event means you are very much removed from the event, keeping it afloat as opposed to actually getting involved in it. Having the opportunity to sit back and see what people had done with all the means and materials we had fought for for months was a great way to be able to close the event with a genuine sense of pride and achievement.

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Meetings - Organiser, NC & Tutor

Get ready. Pray that the months of answering EASA related questions and thinking on your feet will stand to you.

Organisers’ meetings Team meetings and general on-site internal communication was an area we had never placed any thought or structure into before the event. As a result, once registration began we all became incredibly busy and internal community fell into complete disarray. Given that during the opening days of the assembly the team was split between Dublin and Letterfrack, it was a few days before we were able to have complete organisers’ meetings and manage to get some handle on things.

In the end we adopted a system of having daily meetings everyday at 7:30pm, after dinner but before any lectures or events for that evening. During these meeting we arranged the working roster for the next day and ran through the plans for any upcoming event, as well as discussing general issues. There is no way to predict the amount and range of fires which will need to be put out during an EASA and a high level of communication amongst, and flexibility within, the organisation is paramount.

One idea which we discussed, but regrettably never pursued, was to invite the tutor from Umbrella to come to end of each meeting so we could relay important information which should be put out in the next issue.

NC & Tutor meetings

Escaped Tutors Extended Me tutors Tine and Emilie at Dorothy Cross’ studio in Tully. Don’t ask.

Text: Billy Mooney Photo: Jurrien van Djuikeren[NL]

These meeting will happen for two reasons – either as organisers you have news or issues which you need to inform the EASA populous about and are using the NCs & tutors as a conduit todo so, or, a meeting has been requested by the NCs as a method of discussing any issues they have.

It is best to neither have too many organisers at this meeting nor to allow them to trespass too much on the team’s time. In terms of format most meetings opened with us discussing what we needed to, and afterwards the floor would be opened to the NCs and/or tutors. On average there was a meeting every three days or so, the only predetermined one was during the first night in Letterfrack to tell everybody the house rules for the event. On reflection it might be a good idea to host these meeting right before an organisers’ meeting so the more reasonable problems brought up can be discussed in private amongst the larger organisation team.

One thing which happened a number of times was hosting a joint NC/tutor meeting to discuss general issues first, then letting the NCs go to allow for a tutor only meeting.

NCs will generally want to bring up issues their participants have (health, wealth, lost property, troublesome locals, sleeping arrangements, etc) as well as the plan for upcoming events. Tutors will generally want to discuss workshop materials and put forward a ‘shopping list’ of materials the workshop needs.

On this point, it is best to inform tutors of a meeting early in the end so they can spend all day considering this shopping list.

Both NCs and tutors will have some very real and serious concerns, as well as some childish and bogey ones. Organisers will need to exercise care and consideration in terms of highlighting which of these problems are relevant, and of these which are solvable. As always you are better served by being honest, hard nosed and be willing to suggest alternatives where possible.

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aving the Letterfrack IT lab already available for use was a huge advantage to us. We did make some primary contacts with HP and Dell, however both expressed no interest in providing a temporary IT lab similar to the one installed on the boats in Budapest in 2006.

10.0 IT Lab The Workshop Fair is one of the given events in the EASA Summer Assembly.

There ‘s always going to be a Workshop Fair, it’s just up to the organisers how it is run. Essentially there are two differnt approaches: the participants either walk around desks where the tutors have set up presentations, or else they are seated and the tutors present their workshops from a stage. EASA Ireland went with the former approach, but it very much depends on the space available and your own preference.

Text: Conor O’Brien Photo : Edwin Gardner [NL]

There was much debate whether to give each workshop a limited amount of printer credit; of course we would foot the bill but having a system in place would somewhat regulate wastage and unnecessary use. In the end, we decided to just leave the printing free of charge to everyone. The results of this open system was that every printer ran dry, and we ended up spending about €2,000 on printer ink alone, that’s excluding paper. We had four printers; one plotter, one A3 colour laser, one A4 b&w laser, and one A3 inkjet.

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The plotter inevitably was used to print out a lot of full colour prints for National Evenings and other frivolity which seemed to drain the ink considerably. In conclusion, open systems may be easier than dealing with credit, however, the absence of any control mechanisms lead to obscene wastage of materials.

This logic can be applied to all materials and stationary that are made available to workshops without any limits on what they can use or take.

On top of the 30 machines we had available in the IT lab, a sponsorship deal with Apple computers supplied EASA with 10 MacBook Pros which were mainly used by workshops involved with video editing. We have John Murray, tutor of the Teleology, to thank for arranging that one! Each Mac Book was labelled with a number, and these were given out by signing your name when you take one from the office and signing that it has been returned. Panic-stations set in one day

when one of the MacBooks was not returned to John as each machine is valued at around €2000. Thankfully, it was left in to the Info point and once the alarm was raised the matter was quickly resolved.

Each workshop was created a user name although in the end I don’t think that this was really necessary as most people never logged off the machines and also each workshop folder was accessible to all users.

The following programs were installed on all the machines in the Lab; • Photoshop CS3 • In-Design CS3 • Illustrator CS3 • DVD and CD burning software.

• Adobe Acrobat Professional • Autodesk Autocad • Microsoft Office • Google Sketch-Up • Rhino Storage space in the end turned out not to be a problem really. We were anticipating having to take off about 1Tb of data from the Network but in the end this turned out to be just 18Gb! There are a few reasons for this: i] A lot of people brought an external storage device of some sort with them, whether it be a USB key or a portable hard drive. ii] Any files that were left on the desktop and not filed properly in the workshop folders >>>

IT Lab Letterfrack

>>> were deleted automatically when the person logged off.

iii] All the graphic and video editing was done on laptops. Only one machine in the lab had Adobe Premiere installed on it.

The network connection to the college was about 2 Mbps, this was due to be upgraded to 100 Mbps over the course of summer but unfortunately was not in place in time for easa. That said, I think everyone was quite pleased with the network connections on offer. The wireless networks around the campus were set-up specifically for the event, as well as an upgrade of the connection from a 2Mbps to a 10Mbps for the duration of the event. This took considerable effort and money, especially to wire-up the Event’s tent and also the Crèche. This is due to the fact that the cabling around the college is optic fibre and to connect a transmitter into this system requires an expensive adaptor. We probably went to too much effort on this one as the Events tent was not really used by workshops during the day, excluding the last few days of course!

As detailed previously, we invested quite a lot of time and effort into setting up the IT Lab in Letterfrack to accommodate our needs. It was a bit makeshift, but the result [above] was adequate.

The costs for the wireless are listed below: i] €90 for the area outside the IT lab. ii] €260 to set up signal transmitter in the main building iii] €260 to set up receiver in the Creche building iv] €260 to set up receiver in the main tent v] +21% VAT on the sum of i-iv vi] €200 for connection upgrade €1252.70 Total

The Bar The Workshop Fair is one of the given events in the EASA Summer Assembly.

There ‘s always going to be a Workshop Fair, it’s just up to the organisers how it is run. Essentially there are two differnt approaches: the participants either walk around desks where the tutors have set up presentations, or else they are seated and the tutors present their workshops from a stage. EASA Ireland went with the former approach, but it very much depends on the space available and your own preference.

Text: Hugo Lamont & Paddy Roche Photo : Natasa Jukic [Bih]

The Bar is the nightime hub of EASA - parties over the years have been phenomenal, and we did our best to keep up the good work.

There are a few issues between balancing parties and workshops, but we felt that the participants gave it their all on both accounts – we certainly sent them home exhausted and looking forward to a few good nights worth of sleep. Much as many of the nights seem to run under their own momentum, there’s a lot of preparation that goes on behind the scenes.

11.1 Where To Locate the Bar?

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Having parties in different places every night is a good idea. Variety is certainly the spice of a good night out, and constantly returning to the same place night after night can get a little boring, no matter how great the company. However, relocating the sound system and bar every night is not really practical.

Some parts of the bar are more trouble to be moved than they’re worth, i.e. the fridge, the deep freeze, the coffee machine (which needs to be plumbed and hooked up to mains electricity) etc, so it’s important to take this into account if you’re thinking of having parties outside the bar.

Furthermore, with a new location come new and often unforeseen problems. These really do run the gamut of irritants, from obstructions behind the bar, problems with water supplies, cups getting knocked about or lost right through to more serious problems like a lack of security and imposed closing times. With these issues under consideration, there’s obviously a conflict between having a very organised, very user-friendly static bar and having a more mobile but much less professional bar.

11.2 Issues In Ireland there are two main issues: the weather and the law.

Obviously the weather in Letterfrack was utterly turgid, and it was vital that we had an indoor venue so that people could shelter from the rain and relax, get comfortable ... and then go wild and wreck the place. Outdoor drinking – “knacker drinking” in the local parlance – whilst a staple of many Irish summers, was off the cards.

We had previously considered that the bar would be in the café adjacent to the courtyard – there were a number of reasons that this didn’t pan out, notably because of a lack of co-operation from the new lease-holder. In glorious 20|20 hindsight, things worked out for the best: the weather meant that there would have been very, very limited use of the courtyard as an outdoor party space, and we more than likely would have run into trouble with the residents of the on-site cottages due to excessive late-night noise.

This leads on very neatly to our next issue: John Q. Law. We pretty much skirted the law regarding the sale of alcohol onsite. When I say skirted, I’m being a little disingenuous: the local Garda, or police officer – of whom there was only one in Letterfrack and the surrounding countryside – was well aware of what >>>

– we didn’t even sell t-shirts there – we could honestly say that we weren’t selling alcohol.

Whether this would have stood up in court is a very moot point. Fortunately, it didn’t come to that.

11.3 Lounge Area & Bar - General It is important to have a lounge/relaxation area for people to hang out when they are not in their workshops. It’s ideal to have a place close to the sleeping area so it works as a gathering/meeting point. In Ireland we had the undercroft space and in Greece they had the volley ball court - this just goes to show how diverse the space can be.

There’s no prescribed place, and without doubt the venue will locate itself within the site once you have a good feeling for where everything else is.

This space should have some place to sit down – couches, chairs or beanbags are a great option. We got very lucky with some crash pads in Letterfrack. They had been left behind in the co-op from the construction of the creche roof.

As that was only a one storey drop, the roofers were allowed to use crash mats – essentially 2m long sausages made of tough sacking and filled with polystyrene packing material – rather than harnesses and rigging. These crash mats were comfortable,light and easy to move and practically indestructible. It’s nice to sit down after a day’s work!

11.4 Undercroft

>>>

we were up to and was content to let things play out as long as there were no major incidents that he couldn’t ignore.

The Vintners Association [essentially composed of representative of all Irish pub owners] are notoriously protective of their trade and an extremely powerful lobby group in terms of influencing legislation. It’s fair to say that they’re vindictive in terms of alerting the Gardaí if people are selling alcohol without the appropriate license and, as selling booze is essentially a license to print money in Ireland, obtaining that license is time-consuming, complicated, expensive and by no means a done-deal, even if all your paper-work is in order. You end up having to go up in front of a magistrate, which is never enjoyable ...

As it was, we operated a token system, where people bought tokens at the Infopoint that could be used to buy food and drink – including alcoholic drinks – at the bar. In theory, we weren’t selling alcohol at all: we were selling tokens to members of a club who were then entitled to drink at a club social gathering.

Furthermore, as there was never any cash on-site at the bar

The undercroft worked out perfectly for us for a number of reasons, many of them – interestingly, I think it should be said – architectural. Firstly, its situation on the lower level of the campus was hugely beneficial: it was essentially soundproofed by a giant retaining wall and, furthermore, couldn’t be seen from the road, or even from the upper level of the campus. Obviously this meant we didn’t attract adverse reactions regarding noise from the neighbours, nor could any passers-by see what we were up to.

On the same subject, the reinforced concrete structure, especially in the absolute massiveness of it, was both hugely effective at deadening sound as well as being uber-hard-wearing. The place was pretty much indestructible, whilst also being [due to the floated and polished concrete floor] relatively quick and easy to clean.

Thirdly, the outdoor space provided beneath the piloti was absolutely vital for the function of the space. We didn’t want people to smoke indoors [it’s illegal in Ireland, and even though we were doing a good few illegal things during EASA, we didn’t want this to be one of them] and this gave smokers a sheltered outdoor place where they could light up and enjoy their filthy habit. Lastly, the dispersal of the locations of the two implements involved in any money-token-booze transaction was close to ideal. We couldn’t be accused of selling booze – as mentioned above, there was no money taken at the bar– and without a knowledge of the long >>>

Conor has the conch Look at Conor having a good time!

When did this happen?

Photo : Rosie Keane [IRL]

the trade is going. It’s advisable to have a token system that is handed in over the bar rather than just marked off on a card - it’s a helpful way to get a realistic and reliable idea of how much trade you’ve done.

Beyond the stock-taking element of the role, there are other jobs that fall under the remit of the bar manager: setting-up an alternative bar, liaising with other organisers about the evening events, talking to bands and DJs, managing the transition between the national night and the bar area, ensuring staff knows their duties and shift times, closing the bar, preparing the sound system and ensure it’s operational with all leads [have a backup – in Ireland, somebody broke ours through a bit of horseplay and we had to find one the next day) etc.

>>> at the far end of the machine hall [near the sawdust vents],

it seemed like a long way between the two, which would play to our favour with the Gardaí. Luckily, it actually wasn’t a long way ... and it was all indoors!

11.5 Bar Management

The only way to manage the bar successfully is to have a bar manager with permanent bar staff. It may seem a little much when everybody else on the organising team is running around multi-tasking like crazy, but the bar is the major revenuegenerating resource of EASA and is absolutely vital to an enjoyable event in terms of the atmosphere it generates, but also the successful staging of the event by providing an on-site revenue stream.

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The manager is the decision maker with all bar related issues. A huge problem is that everyone will have their own opinions and this leads to all talk and no action. The bar manager will not work behind the bar most of the time. He/she needs to be free to do stocktaking.

It makes sense if there is a smooth transition in personnel between the organisation element and the event management element. For example, a team of two in charge of putting together all the entertainment events in the run up to the assembly allows one of these two to run the bar and one to run the actual event itself. From having the experience of working with each other previously, they should be able to co-operate very effectively, and indeed a lot of their work will be done in tandem.

The most important issue for the bar manager is to keep the bar fully stocked at all times, and to keep an eye on how

As mentioned before, having a two person team to run events and the bar is a useful tactic, especially if you have members of the team that have experience in this field. There’s a lot of collaboration necessary between night-time staff, and it’s vital that people are responsible and don’t get too carried away with the swing of things!

11.6 People Management

In general helpers liked to work behind the bar. It’s enjoyable working behind the bar with a bunch of your friends, looking at other people going wild, and most parts of it are pretty easy: here’s a token, here’s a beer. However, it can be a long night. We generally didn’t shut the bar until dawn, as there were always people up drinking, and then you’d do an initial clean-up.

It’s generally pretty difficult to get to sleep having been up all night, so it wasn’t unusual for the staff to unwind with a few beers in the morning.

However, it’s important that there’s a rotation between staff as well. People liked to have the next day off because they had a late night, and some did not want to work the next night because they worked the previous night and missed the party. As we’ve mentioned before, it’s not an especially taxing job, and one you can give out to people who come on board to the organisation fairly late, so there’s little point in expecting the same sort of dedication you’d expect from other members of the team who have been involved since the get-go.

The solution is to have a bar rota made before the event. This way people know when they are working and when they have time off – it’s far easier to make sure that everyone works equal amounts when you’re working it out on paper beforehand, rather than under pressure when you grab five quiet minutes in the middle of the event. >>>

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Events

EASA 2008 had a full program in terms of events with lectures on over seven days and 2 contributors staying for a large portion of the event. This is not to mention the night time events which included live entertainment in the events tent, nights out in the local pubs and of course the national nights.

The following section will breakdown the all the events that took place during the event into 3 simple sections and examine each event in terms of cost, the benefits of each event and the potential pit falls associated with each.

12.0 Events During the Summer Assembly Events during EASA are actually quite difficult to organise. They’re very much last in line when it comes to funding, as it’s far more important to sort out accommodation, hygiene, workshop materials, food ... essentially everything is more important to the practical success of the assembly, as you know that parties are going to be pretty awesome anyway.

That said, well-planned, unique events are important to the mood of EASA, and especially the memories that people take away from the Assembly. It’s well worth putting in the effort to have great parties, but also events and venues that are a little out of the ordinary.

Text: Neal Patterson & Hugo Lamont Photo : Ceren Kiliç [TK]

12.2 Lectures We had begun putting together a wishlist of lecturers and speakers roughly around October/November 2007.

Certainly we’d all been mulling over it in our heads for the previous couple of months, and it was revealing to see how everyone envisioned the lectures going. Beyond the initial debates about who we should invite to speak, there was a series of discussions over the form the lecture series should take. The Swiss model of a lecture marathon at the start of the event has huge benefits in terms of:

i) only having to organise facilities for essentially two days of lectures;

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ii) scheduling lectures early in the assembly so that they can still have a viable influence on the work shops in days to come, and

iii) freeing up time later on in the event to concentrate on workshops.

Obviously, there’s a lot to recommend this approach, especially when it comes to deciding a rational program and making life easy for the organisers.

On the other hand, you run the risk of the audience becoming quite stale and the event getting off to quite a sedate,

unspectacular – even boring – start, especially if the lectures are all scheduled in the same venue. I think that this is quite an important issue: EASA isn’t supposed to be an extended semester of college, and if people are expecting something lively and then find themselves sitting in a dark room all day, they can become restless which leads to an uneasy atmosphere and an unsatisfactory lecture.

Dublin versus Letterfrack As mentioned previously, one of the earliest decisions we made was to start the event in Dublin, for reasons that have already been laid out. That decision made, the event became a lot more rational and more and more of the program fell into place, seemingly of its own accord. Giving ourselves an extra day at the start of the event [EASA Summer Assemblies normally start on Sunday, whilst ours started on Saturday] enabled us to spend another meaningful day in Dublin outside of the uber-time-consuming registration day, which went a long way to shaping our lecture series.

Feeling that each location should play to its strengths, we earmarked many

>>>

the overall entertainment.

12.3.1.1 UCD Centre Bar The initial plan for having this night out in the Student Centre Bar arose when we met the then UCD Students Union President, Barry Colfer, early in 2008. However over the course of the following 5 months we let our contact with the SU deteriorate and as a result when the SU representatives changed they had little or no knowledge about our event. It sounds like a bit of stupid move on our part, but we had been absolutely assured that there would be no problem, and as a result, had moved on to other more pressing issues. It meant that when the time came that we needed to contact the SU the personnel there had changed. They were just settling into their new roles and the last thing that they wanted to worry about was a small scale student’s event in the month before college started back.

The result of this was that a venue that we had assumed we would be able to use for free ended up costing us €1000.

The problem was that because we lost contact with the students union they no longer wanted to support us in the way in which the previous president had suggested.

12.3 Entertainment Due to the importance of entertainment to the whole EASA experience there was a specific sub-group of organisers set up to deal with night time entertainment. This was a 3 person group that included 2 of the main organisers and also one person from outside the EASA team who had experience in organising and promoting live events and as such had a lot of contacts in the realm of entertainment. This connection actually enabled us to get a lot of the acts that played at EASA to play for no fee.

In Dublin we found that the main issue for us was not actually finding entertainment acts for the nights but actually finding venues in the city, that we could afford, to host the events in. This was largely due to the fact that in Dublin the draw of getting 300-400 people into

your club or bar was not enough of a benefit for them to do it for free. Or if there were places that would do it for free the prices of the drinks were too high for EASA. The biggest problem for the events in Letterfrack however was costs associated with getting the entertainment acts out to such a remote location. We had to provide travel expenses for all of the acts that played out there and also provide decent accommodation for them.

12.3.1 Dublin With only 2 nights of entertainment being organised in Dublin it was mistakenly thought that it would be an easy task to achieve. The fact is that due to the high prices generally paid for renting venues in Dublin it actually proved to be quite time consuming in the scheme of

The bar was worried that it would not cover its costs for the night. These included staff (security and bar) and the late night licence extension. The proposal was that the €1000 would be given as a deposit, However if they made enough money to cover the costs EASA would receive a portion of the €1000 back proportional to the amount spent. The threshold amount set was €4500 at this point €200 would be returned and another €200 for every €1000 more than that.

This was not a very good deal for EASA Ireland and we did look at alternative venues for that particular night.

However due to the fact that the event was approaching so fast and that any licence extension needed to be sought on the last Friday of the previous month we found ourselves in a position where we just had to accept that deal as there were no other viable alternatives at that stage.

Another consideration was that this particular venue required insurance from both ourselves and also from the company who provided the food for the night. This was another problem that resulted from leaving the final booking of the premises until the last minute. This particular problem was only solved one hour before we would have passed >>>

>>> the deadline for booking the venue

and if this happened it would have been a very quiet first night at EASA! The only involvement that the Students Union ended up having in the evening was that they provided the DJ and the equipment for the night. This turned out to be a large problem. Firstly we had arranged with the SU entertainments officer that we could also allow another DJ to play using the SU equipment. This information however was not passed on to the DJ that arrived on the night and as a result we had to make last minute phone calls to see if we could remedy the situation. This was particularly problematic because the DJ that the SU provided was not of the same musical tastes as the general EASA body. This is a major issue when handing out the responsibility of entertainment to someone outside the EASA organisation and I would avoid this situation if possible and if not it would be essential to see the particular DJ before his performance at the event.

12.3.1.2 The Tivoli Theatre The night of entertainment planned for after the official opening was seen by all the organisers to be more important the first night. This was because the first night would work regardless with people meeting up for the first time. It was therefore important to get a good venue that was both close to Dublin Castle and that we could get or organise transport back to Colaiste Eoin from quite easily.

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A number of different venues in the city centre were pursued. While some venues offered us rental for free the drink prices in these establishments was particularly high even for Dublin and other venues were quite low standard. Choosing a venue for the night then became an act of balancing the cost of the venue versus its quality and the cost of the drinks in each venue.

The final venue for the evening the Tivoli Theatre actually came about as a result of a connection to the owner. This is why it is very important to exhaustively search for all the various people all of the organisers know early in the event. It is more likely that a friend or family member will sponsor you ahead of some unknown company. The initial price for the venue for the night was €700 and while this was cheaper than the first night with venues offering us free rental we couldn’t have accepted it at this price.

We then explained to the venue that we couldn’t afford it at that price but we suggested ways in which we could lower the

The Tivoli Theatre The night at the Tivoli was a great success. People had been out and about in town all day, separated in quite small groups during the walking tours. The Official Opening was a very enjoyable event, but quite restrained, and the night at the Tivoli was an ideal way for everybody to go out and have a good time. Within walking distance of Dublin Castle and hired out exclusively for EASA with private buses running a route back to Coláiste Eoin, it was an ideal venue for the only EASA party that woulod happen in Dublin proper .

Photo : Roland Nemeth [HU]

price. This included reducing the security staff, because the crowd that comes to EASA is not likely to cause fights or problems, and also there being no necessity for a lighting engineer for the night. This reduced the price to an acceptable level of €180. This is compared to a usual rental fee of €2000 per night; this highlights the importance of relentlessly pursuing every opportunity.

The entertainment for this night was sorted out by our connection who promoted live acts in Dublin. He bookedboth the bands who played for free so the only expense to the organisation was for transport costs etc. The DJ that played

after the bands was an in-house EASA DJ, Sandor Lillenberg. All of the equipment that was needed for the bands and the DJ was already in the club which meant that the entertainment for the night actually worked out quite cheap. >>>

they could get a large amount of repeat custom if they made a good impression on the assembly. A good way we found of selling the idea of drinks promotions to a bar is to play up the benefits of needing less staff if all they have to do is hand out cans rather that pouring individual pints all night.

12.3.2 Letterfrack

EASA event within their premises.

Night time events outside the confines of the EASA campus are a necessity. They encourage interaction between EASA and the local community in a social environment. They also prevent the participants from getting cabin fever and the monotony that can be associated with partying in the same venue every night for the course of the event. It also gives some of the organisers a night of where otherwise they would have to be operating the bar in the events tent.

The proposal for the bars was that we would schedule a particular night in their bar on the event program and that they would provide music and drinks promotions on that particular night. The nights that we had set aside were Wednesday 13th, Tuesday 19th and Friday 22nd.

Both Mollies and the Bards Den accepted our proposal; however, Veldons did not want to run either drinks promotions or provide music. With this in mind it was decided that Veldons would be the venue on Friday 22nd as it was seen that it would be a quiet night prior to the final exhibition. The Bards Den Chose the night of Wednesday 19th as it was the first to decide and Mollies was given Tuesday 19th.

12.3.2.1 Local Pubs It is essential when thinking about planning events outside of the event to treat all the possible venues in a fair and similar manner. This is to ensure that you make no enemies and nobody can claim to be treated unfairly, especially in a community as small as Letterfrack. With this in mind each bar was approached with the same proposal for having an

We found that the two obvious selling points to the bars were the ability to give them a packed house on nights when the pubs would mostly be empty. In doing this there was also the possibility that

The main issue with this proposal for the bars was that we had little or no control over these nights and in doing so we had to place a large amount of trust with the bars. So while it absolved the organisers from booking entertainment it also took the control of the night away. Secondly while both Mollies and The Bards Den had agreed to do a drinks promotions, selling cans over the bar at â‚Ź2 a can, it was not properly advertised by either the organisers or the bars themselves and as a result both of the bars were left with a large stock of cans that they were unhappy about.

12.3.2.2 Live Acts The various live acts that played in Letterfrack meant that there was a variety in the type of entertainment provided at the assembly. Most of the bands that played in Letterfrack were organised by the music promoter that we had on the entertainment team and as such agreed to play for free all that we had to provide for them was travel expenses and accommodation for the night that they played.

Before we agreed on how much the travel expenses would be we took an average figure of the return bus journey from Dublin to Letterfrack, â‚Ź35 and multiplied this by the number of people who >>>

The Dead Flags The Dead Flags play two kind of music: Rock AND Roll.

Happily, they played both at Letterfrack.

Photo : Edwin Gardner [NL]

>>> were

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playing in Letterfrack. This gave us a rough figure that we used as a budget for all of these bands. Within this budget then some money could moved around between bands depending on their particular arrangements. All of these bands were paid in cash on the night of their performance.

The bands that were not organised by the promoter however fell into a grey area because it was not clear who was communicating with them. This resulted in one band being paid late and for more than we had expected because no fee had been discussed with them prior to the event. The problem was that the entertainments team falsely presumed that because they had a number of friends within the organisation within the event that they would play for free plus expenses, similar to the other bands. However this was not the case and the band looked for a fee from us after the event that we had to pay because it had not been discussed with them. In this case as soon as someone has agreed to play it should become the responsibility of the relevant committee to agree fees etc.

The only other night of entertainment outside of EASA events was the night of the BBQ. DJ Whippy was hired to play.

The reason for hiring entertainment for

this night was that it was seen as the big day of enjoyment for the participants and that there would have been no time for the organisation of entertainment in house that night because of the excursions. DJ Whippy usually plays out of an old ice cream van and the organisers thought that it would be perfect for the BBQ day. As a result of the weather this idea flopped and the DJ had to play inside the events tent. We still had to pay DJ Whippy €600 despite the fact that he couldn’t bring the van down so it turned out to be a bit of a waste of money. Also the DJs themselves wouldn’t take orders from us when we were told by the police to shut the music off. Terms like these should be discussed in much more details with all the acts before the event commences and any deals are made.

12.3.3 National Nights The National nights are one of the rare occasions where the responsibility for providing entertainment is shifted off the organisers and as such gives them a break. The four national nights were as follows: Central Europe and Scandinavia France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland

Ireland, UK and the Balkans Ireland, UK, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina Mediterranean Night Portugal[?], Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta Eastern Europe and Caucuses Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria The initial reason for the Mediterranean night containing so few nations was to accommodate the EASA009 presentation. However the presentation didn’t actually happen on this night as the Italians had to prepare for their national evening so there is the potential for a re-shuffle of the national night layout within the 4 day format.

The main issue for discussion with regards to the national evenings is whether it should take place over one night or aver a series of nights as happened at EASA008. There are positives and negatives to both systems. >>>

National Evenings Balkan, UK and Ireland National Night. The Balkans really got into the swing of things – no shortage of Yugoslav costume, singing, drinking and Marshall Tito masks!

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Photos : Daniel Domolky[HU]

Multiple National Evenings > >>

12.4 Functions

i] less nights of entertainment to organise. ii] gives every country a good opportunity to represent themselves and their culture. iii] a large mess every night that the organisers end up having to clean. iv] lots of quite drunken nights.

One National Evening

12.4.1 EASA 2008 Official Opening The importance of a good opening ceremony cannot be overstated. It gives the event a gravitas that both sponsors and the media can associate with, allowing both an opportunity to interact with the event in a situation that they would be familiar with.

i] only one night of cleaning up has to be done. ii] there is less pressure on countries to put on large displays/stands etc. iii] one extremely drunken night where there can be severe problems.

12.4.2 BBQ The barbeque the took place on the middle Sunday was a great opportunity to provide the participants and tutors with a meal and occasion that could be the highlight of the event.

Overall neither system is right or wrong.

It really depends on each event individually and how the organisers fell about the two different systems. Which one will suit you’re event the best is really your decision.

12.4.3 Final Exhibiton The Final Exhibition is the opportunity to gather all of the production of the workshops together and as such should be well organised.

12.4.4. Final Presentation and Closing Ceremony The presentations along with the final exhibition are a great opportunity for all the people involved in EASA, participants, tutors, guests and members of the public, to see the product of the assembly. It is also another event that can be sold to sponsors.