002
www.easa008.ie
Contents
volume 3
1.0 Company Information & Legal Status 1.1 Introduction 1.2Why Do We Need To Set Up A Legal Structure? 1.3Legal Status 1.4 Company Limited by Guarantee 1.5 Charitable Status 1.6 Approved Bodies
006 007 007 008 009 010
2.1 Banking 2.2 Budget 2.3 Cash Flow 2.4 On-Site Revenue Stream
012 013 014 014
3.0 Office Set-up
*
2.0 Accounts & Finances
3.1 Internet 3.2 Phone 3.3 Fax 3.4 Computer 3.5 Scanner 3.6 Printer 3.7Networking
4.0 Filing System 5.0 Visas & Applications
*
017 017 018 018 018 019 019
**
*
5.1 Application Deadline 5.2 Application Form 5.3 Quota 5.4 Application Process 5.5 Guests 5.6 Fee Payment 5.7 Visa Applications 5.8 Free Visas 5.9 General Advice for Future Organisers 5.9.1 Communication 026
004
www.easa008.ie
*
5.9.2 Finling & Administration 5.9.3 Visa Application Process 5.9.4 Fax Machine
027 027 028
024 024 024 024 025 025 026 026
* *
* *
* *
EASA008 Organisation Review
6.0 Documentation
6.3.2 Minutes
*
031 031
031
032
*
*
* *
6.4 External Documentation
*
6.1 Documentation Before & After the Event 6.2 Internal & External Communication - Introduction 6.3 Internal Docuementation 6.3.1 Agendas 031
* * * * *
*
*
*
*
036 038 038 038 033 039 039
*
*
8.1 Introduction 8.2 Organisers 8.3 Helpers 8.4 Communication 8.5 Security 8.6 Jobs 8.7 Shifts
* *
9.0 Workshop Applications & Tutor Communication
*
*
* 048
10.2 Material Sponsorship
049
* * * ** *
*
* *
11.0 Public Funding
*
*
*
10.1 Private Sponsorship
* *
*
* *
* *
**
*
052 052 054 054 056 056 056
*
11.1 Internal Funding 11.2 National Funding 11.3 Local Funding 11.4 Professional Funding 11.5 Educational Funding 11.6 Enviornmental Funding 11.7 Cultural Funding
*
*
*
*
042 042 043 044
**
10.0 Sponsorship
*
9.1 Workshop Applications & Selection 9.2 Tutor Correspondence 9.3 Workshop Management During & After The Assembly 9.4 Key Workshop Dates
*
*
*
* * * * * *
*
*
7.0 Website 8.0 Team Management & Internal Communication
If I could stress the importance of establishing the organisation as a legally acknowledged body as much as I’d like, I’d probably be accused of starting a cult. You’re going nowhere otherwise. We were extremely lucky to have very close ties with a company that is involved [amongst other financial issues] with the legal establishment and day to day management of charities, charitable funds, non-profit agencies and non-governmental organisations. They knew exactly what procedures we needed to go through, what information we’d be required to submit, how long the process would take, who we’d be dealing with and what we should expect as an end result. Their advice and experience in these matters were priceless, and have stood us in good stead over the last two years. Despite having very limited exposure to the legal system [outside that relating to architectural practice] or company regulation, you can familiarise yourself quite readily through reading texts and asking advice from friends and contemporaries involved in finance and accounting. We did a lot of this prior to setting up EASA Ireland; while you tend to absorb information that’s next-to-useless alongside something absolutely vital, an overall understanding of what you’re trying to achieve, knowledge of terms and jargon and those fragments of extra-layman knowledge work in your favour when discussing issues with financial professionals. That said, there’s no reason to be scared or nervous about setting up a company, or, more specifically, a legal identity for a voluntary organisation: people do this sort of thing every day. Secondly, there is a lot of information out there regarding company setups, from first principles through to best practice. Much of it is published by government agencies, and civil servants are generally more than willing to help once they >>>
1.0 Company Information We received a great deal of assistance from L&P Financial Trustees in setting up the company. Always very approachable and willing to answer questions that we had – and we had a bundle, owing to our particularly strange charitable status – they had an important role to play in how smoothly the company ran. Text: Hugo Lamont & Sean Feeney Photo [far left]: Sandor Lilienberg [HU]
>>> hear what the aim of the company is and have established that you’re for real.
Throughout the set-up of the company, and in fact throughout the period leading up to EASA we kept in mind that as long as we were thorough about the initial set-up, and logical and honest about our actions through the company, there would be no upsets and few surprises.
1.2 Why do we need to set up a Legal Structure? Legal structures are there to i] provide protection for members ii] facilitate collective action iii] facilitate management of the group/project Essentially what we were looking for was the ability to operate effectively in the financial realm, e.g. fundraise, establish credit lines, borrow money, apply for tax exemption and sponsorship from public and private bodies. Our other major concern was the protection of individual members from responsibility for the actions of the group, e.g. debts, insurance claims etc: this is absolutely vital, especially when taking into account that everyone involved in the organisation was working entirely pro bono, and that the company was a non-profit company. There is no money to be made, and we’re certainly not making any out of it, so it’s extremely important to protect yourself in case of any claims that may be made against you rather than suffer the expenses privately.
1.3 Legal Status Every adult is recognised by law as having a separate legal personality, without which you cannot bring proceedings in court or enter into contracts. Where a group of people come together as a company, with all the proper registration and actions in accordance with various Companies Acts, the company acquires its own
EASA Ireland Ltd. EASA Ireland enjoying a nice cup of tea at one of the weekly Monday night meetings. Fergus Naughton looks fairly wary of the camera [front right]. Photo: Conor O’Brien
legal status, known as incorporation. Generally, this means that members of the company are not individually liable for the debts of the company. After taking advice from several sources, we set up a company limited by guarantee. It seemed to make most sense to us as a group before we had approached our financial advisers, and we were strongly advised that it was the most appropriate option to take. This will be covered in more detail below, but the essential points are that: i] there are no shares in the company; ii] members guarantee to pay a certain (usually nominal) amount towards the debts of the company if/when it is wound up.
1.4 Company Limited By Guarantee Companies and company regulation is overseen by the Department of Enterprise and Employment, through the Companies Office in Dublin Castle.
008
www.easa008.ie
To register with this body, you have to furnish them with a Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association. The Memorandum contains the name of the company, the names of the first members, the objects (aims) of the company and the amount the members must contribute if it is wound up. It’s normal to include a wide and vague-ish list of objects, as the company is only allowed to do things within the power of its stated goals. The Articles are usually much longer because they contain detailed rules about membership, membership processes, control of the organisation, procedural details etc. Many of these are set out in the Companies Acts and can’t be altered. Others can. Luckily, there is a standard form of Articles set out in the Companies Act of 1963: with help from our financial advisers and some legal consultation, we were able to adequately adapt these articles to fulfil our brief. >>>
Directors
> >>
A company limited by guarantee must have at least seven members, who control the company by means of AGMs (annual general meetings) and other general meetings. A board of directors is appointed by the members – which in our case was simply us appointing ourselves – who then assume responsibility for the management of the company. The directors of EASA Ireland are Sean Feeney, Francis Keane, Hugo Lamont, Ronan McCann, Billy Mooney, Conor O’Brien and Neal Patterson. Normally, a company limited by guarantee must use the word limited in the name of the company. However, in order to appear less commercial, it’s possible to appeal to the Minister of Employment and Enterprise to omit the “ltd” from the title. As we are a strictly non-profit organisation, this was something that we felt would be beneficial – then again, perhaps keeping the “ltd” makes the company seem more legitimate on first impression, so it’s very much a matter of choice.
1.5 Charitable Status Contrary to popular belief, there is no register of charities in Ireland. Getting charitable status is not an alternative to acquiring legal status. Rather, the two are linked by fundraising, financial and tax issues. To be recognised by the Revenue Commissioners as having Charitable Status, the group must have a constitution and must be “the subject of a binding trust for charitable purposes only”. Basically, the company has to guarantee that any money received by the group will be used only for charitable purposes. Luckily, charitable purposes extends to “the advancement of education”, which was both our credo and our crutch. However, there are serious issues regarding charitable status in Irish law, something that may not apply under different legislation in other host countries. Essentially, >>>
>>> while you can be recognised as a charity legally by the government once the Charities Offices okays your submission, you don’t become eligible for tax-free status for two years. This is to dissuade people from setting up charities and then doing a runner with the donated money, which is obviously a necessary and fair intention, but had a severe negative impact on our fund-raising intentions.
If your company has no tax-deductible status, you’re at a severe disadvantage when it comes to soliciting sponsorship from private companies. There is little incentive for small companies to sponsor the event if there’s nothing in it for them. So, given that we had honourable intentions and yet had no use for a two year waiting period until we could be granted tax-free status, we were forced to investigate other options. As mentioned previously, we had close ties and were always well-advised by the financial firm we shared office space with, and it was a combination of their knowledge and our own research that led us to an interesting aside in the legislation covering charitable status. If we could get the approval of the Department of Finance, we could be recognised as a non-profit body concerned with the advancement of education, which would grant us tax-deductible status. This offered us a lifeline in terms of the effectiveness of our fund-raising efforts.
1.6 Approved Bodies
010
www.easa008.ie
In order that potential sponsors could avail of tax-relief on donations to EASA Ireland we needed to apply for authorisation from the Department of Finance to become an ‘eligible charity’ or an ‘approved body’. Initially we applied for charitable status and to do this we had to prove that our organisation’s aims were purely charitable and had to structure our Memorandum & Articles of Association to support this. In addition to this we had to cite examples of past activities and supply material evidence which would uphold such a claim.
Company Information Several issues with legislation, epecially tax legislation, will differ from country to country. The Swiss organisers of Bergun005 found it more beneficial to establish an association rather than a company. Our priority was to make sure that we weren’t individually liable for any debts that we ran up and that the running of the company – the bureaucracy – wasn’t going to be overly time consuming.
Over the course of a month we made our application water-tight and answered all of their questions. Only then did we realise that upon approval of our charitable status we would have to trade for 2 years before donations to our company would be eligible for tax-relief. Basically the approval would be useless to us apart from the ‘feel good’ effect of being a charitable/’not-for-profit’ organisation. Nothing, however, feels better to potential donors than being charitable AND saving money. Therefore we had to begin another more uncertain process of applying to become an ‘approved body’ as they are eligible for tax-relief upon receipt of approval. There are three types of bodies/institutions who are eligible to apply for this status, and on paper we were none of them. We were neither an established ‘primary, secondary, or third-level institution’, nor were we a ‘body for the promotion of the observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ and this left us with only one other category; that being bodies ‘approved for Education in the Arts by the Minister for Finance’. Luckily one of our team was acquainted with the Secretary of the then Minister for Finance (now Taoiseach, or Prime Minister) and in him we had a valuable contact who would ensure our application was on top of the pile. Speed was of utmost importance and in the world of bureaucracy a contact on the inside is worth his/her weight in gold!. Our application and supporting documentation spelt out the many reasons why we should be granted approval and an emotive cover letter stressed the vital importance of being eligible for tax-relief in order to attract sponsors! Within 6 weeks we were ‘approved’ by the Minister for Finance via the endorsement of EASA Ireland by the Minister for Art, Sports & Tourism. This added an invigourating edge to our sponsorship drive which was on-going; another beneficial reason to sponsor the good ship EASA!
2.0 Finance For the majority of the planning period, financing the event is the most important and time consuming aspect of the organisation. It’s important to be thorough and responsible regarding things as basic as filing and correspondence. Although it puts responsibility on one set of shoulders, it makes sense to have one person as the secretary/financial officer of the country. Obviously it has to be somebody totally reliable, able and honest, and therefore will probably be one of the most capable people in the organisation.
O
n the face of it, architecture students have no real business managing a six figure bank account. However, as with many of these engagements with officialdom, they come with the territory of running an assembly. 2.1 Banking From the outset the decision was made to have a treasurer, one single person to manage and monitor the finances. Tasks included setting up bank accounts, arranging for online banking, chequebooks and credit cards, paying bills, lodging cheques and managing the petty cash. Use of the company credit card and online banking was restricted to just the treasurer, whereas there was always two cheque books on the go [one in Dublin and one in Letterfrack) which could be used by any one of the seven directors of the company.
012
www.easa008.ie
A second bank account was set up for the participants’ fee payments. This account had a debit lock applied to it, which means money could only go in and not out; a very necessary precaution against the risks of posting bank details on the website and in emails. All of the banking activities were full of practical lessons, the most important of which we could pass on would be to never underestimate the sluggish pace at which things get done in banking. Financial advise from professionals was of massive benefit as well and should always be sought. >>>
>>>
2.2 Budget
Quite a difficult thing to give words to, yet the budget for the assembly served many functions in the run-up to the event. The EASA 2008 budget had two very separate lives. The first versions was a static document based on previous assemblies’ budgets and on the advice of event managers. One thing we were strongly urged to do was to place a contingency of 20% on our expected expenses. Initially done in January 2007, the first budget was periodically updated every few months, as dictated by major changes in the planning of the event (during this period our expected expenditure ranged from €230,00 - €312,000). These figures would serve as a guideline for the work ahead of us. We had always adopted the principle of overestimating costs – if even just to toughen our resolve. Several months before the event we had reached a stage whereby all major planning decisions had been arrived at, and the existing budget was no longer really adequate as a means to monitor the appropriation of our funds. A second budget was thusly formed – a live document whose figures could be altered at any stage, and the effects these new figures had could be checked against.
Credit Shock Text: Billy Mooney Photo: Tine Bernstorff Aagaard [DK]
Incomes were divided into three categories i) received incomes which is what you can actually spend ii) speculative incomes were the mix of received and promised incomes and what we planned the event around iii) and the potential budget which was a more hopeful figure but ultimately not needed. Likewise expenses were broken down into different categories, and the budget was structured in such a way as to highlight the percentage spending of each category, a good tell of when things start going overboard. One thing to note is that figures in a budget are never real until the money is actually spent. A large contingency is of paramount importance to allow for unseen expenses or losses of incomes – for example our expenses increased by some €15,000 in the penultimate week before the event.
>>>
2.3 Cash Flow
Our cash flow for the organisation of the event is best summed up in the diagram above. Several things should be noted: * our initial funds were made up of good will gestures from architectural practices we had some connection which, it took a while for more funds to arrive. ** participants fees are the single largest injection of revenue. However, not all were recived on time and would keep coming in right up until registration. *** see note on on-site revenue stream **** Even three weeks after the event we were still due to receive €45,000+, with much of that to be paid out as well.
014
www.easa008.ie
2.4 On-site Revenue Stream Despite months of planning and anticipation, the arrival of some 350 people is amazingly sudden, and any areas of the organisation that aren’t sufficiently planned for will inevitable fall into disarray. There is no better example of this than our onsite revenue stream management which, frankly, ranged from appalling to non existent.
During the event there were a number of cash incomes – EASA money coupons, t-shirt and hoody sales, excursion tickets and even late participation fees. All of these transactions were carried out at the info point, which whilst that may sound efficient it also meant that all incomes were lumped together, with no real structure for monitoring or categorising the money received. This raised problems when trying to see if everybody had paid for their excursions, as well as many other problems. Cash was regularly withdrawn from the info point for things such as breakfast supplies, workshop materials, paying local labourers, etc. There is nothing wrong with this apart from the lack of monitoring the money in and out. Further to this there were two occasions where we removed cash and lodged it into the bank, as at times we were handling massive amounts of money. One thing we did note was that we had underestimated the available revenue stream of the participants. We sold out of many items, mainly at the bar, and in general we received more cash than anticipated. When the event was done and over, we had approximately €12,000 cash in hand. If we were to estimate the amount of cash received on-site the figure would be around +/>>> €23,000 . However due to a lack of proper financial
Cash Flow Chart Put in some guff here about cash-flow.
>>> management during the assembly this figure is very hard to accurately calculate.
One theme which is consistent in this document is the idea of amalgamating the info point, materials store and tool depot into one large, well-managed location. In order to maintain order over the finances it would make a lot of sense for the treasurer to be stationed at this location.
Office Set-up In the aftermath of the event, it often happens that you – intentionally or otherwise – play down the significance of events in the early part of the organisation’s lifespan. It would be utterly remiss of me not to comment on our luck in securing office space for the duration of not only the build-up to the assembly, but also, perhaps just as importantly, the winddown after the event. 3.0 Office Set-up Basic groundwork that should help you getting a working office up and running without making too many mistakes or wasting time trying to re-invent the wheel. Text: Hugo Lamont
Describing the EASA Ireland office is like trying to describe Doctor Who’s Tardis - except messier. We had the use of basically an entire floor of office space [probably about 120m2] within ten minutes walk of the UCD Archtiecture School at Richview. How we came to be offered it is an unlikely collision of circumstances, and one that isn’t likely to repeat itself, so it’s not desperately important to go into it in any great detail; suffice it to say that we were extremely lucky. We only realised how lucky we were as the event neared and we began having to take delivery of and store a wide range of awkward and space consuming materials, ranging from cases of power tools to rolls of sheep-insulation, boxes upon boxes of breakfast cereal to hundreds of editions of magazines, sponsors literature, cardboard and modelling materials, digital projectors, laptops and DVD players, handtools, sheetsof foam, timber, plywood ... basically almost everything that was used in Letterfrack spent time in out Dublin office. Some of it is still here. Beyond providing a space for meetings [and a big secure warehouse!], there was something of a clubhouse atmosphere to the office. We had enough space and powerpoints that we could have about 15 people – essentially the core EASA Ireland team – working together. In reality this was a rare occurance, with college and work commitments competing with EASA for primacy in terms of time, but there was a really great buzz to the place when it was full of people in the months leading up to the Summer Assembly.
016
www.easa008.ie
One of the elements of having our own office space that we took for granted was the security of the space. We shared an entrance, kitchen and several transition spaces with the financial office upstairs [who had previously owned the whole building], and their emphasis on security was of huge benefit to us. We knew that the building was utterly secure and that we could safely leave laptops, documents, even cash, lying around and that it’d be safe and where we left it. Having our own office outside a university campus provided us with a distraction-free work environment, an important degree of autonomy from any college authorities or regulations and with an air of independence and seriousness that a room in a student union office couldn’t have mustered. The perception of self-sufficiency that your own business address gives you was more important than we had initially imagined; we were lucky in that it was actually a pretty cool written address as well! >>>
EASA Ireland Team Members [l-r]: Paddy Roche, Fergus Naughton, Eilish Beirne, Emmet Kenny, Ronan McCann, Hugo Lamont, Blaáthmhac Ó’Muirí, Ruth Hynes, Conor O’Brien, John Murray, Helen-Rose Condon, Francis Keane, Sean Feeney,Billy Mooney
>>> 3.1 Internet
at the moment!] compared to a phone call.
It’s absolutely vital that a fast internet connection is set-up as soon as you can. We had a couple of months of piggy-backing on somebody else’s wireless for a while, which was less than ideal, but definitely better than having no connection at all.
3.2 Phone
It’s certainly preferable to have a wireless connection; this shouldn’t be a huge issue if your office isn’t too remote [which in itself would be a pretty serious issue].
Again, before you do much else, get a landline and answering machine set up. If it’s anything like Ireland, organising your internet and phone connection is a bureaucratic nightmare – it takes a long time for anybody to come out and do the work, they’re hardly there for 15 minutes when they do arrive and then there are generally some start-up issues – but it’s absolutely vital that you get a landline sorted out.
You end up doing a huge amount of communication on the internet, with lecturers, potential sponsors, suppliers, members of the EASA network. That said, e-mail is by no means the most efficient way to communicate: it’s pretty easy to ignore [I’m ignoring several e-mails
You’ll end up spending a long time on the phone, and it is definitely a more time-efficient way to get results from sponsors and get answers from suppliers and lecturers than e-mail. As I’ve said above, it’s pretty >>> easy to ignore e-mails, but it’s just rude to ignore
>>> 3.3 Fax I thought that these had gone the way of the do-do, but it turns out that not only are they useful, they’re necessary. Some companies, embassies, universities and other people with whom you’ll be in communication will only accept faxes or hard copy letters: obviously, faxes are pretty much instantaneous, compared to a minimum of a couple of days for letters, many more than that if it concerns foreign embassies.
018
www.easa008.ie
That said, it’s not really necessary to have a dedicated fax machine when there are a number of options open like combination fax/photocopiers/scanners. Just make sure that you have a fax machine.
3.4 Computer This is something that we didn’t do, and makes a great deal of good sense to do. While it sounds like an expensive extra when everybody already has a
laptop, there’s a lot to be said for having a central computer that acts as a backup and as a central library/filing system. We used external hard-drives, but these can be pretty fragile – they’re not really protable hard-drives and while they can handle a little bit of transport, they will pretty much break with the first serious contact they take. It makes a lot of sense to get a reasonably cheap desktop that you can then plug a bunch of external hard-drives into if you need the extra space. It doesn’t have to be particularly powerful, because it’s not really going to be used for memory-intensive programs.
3.5 Scanner A scanner is another necessity. If you decide to go ahead and get a desktop, then it makes a a whole bunch of sense that you have a scanner that just hooks up to it - this saves time, bother and frustration with uploading the right software to your laptop >>>
Hot-desking If there were a couple of recommendations I’d put above everything else [bar effectively setting up the office with landline and a wireless network, which is absolutely vital] it would be that you i) get an office desktop; ii) get a destop A3 laser printer that prints to edge and is quick and iii) that everybody gets themselves a 1Gb+ memory stick.
>>>and other related compatability problems that go with constant changes between systems.
In fact, just like external hard-drives, scanners perform an awful lot better when they’re not moved around. Even though most of them are pretty portable and will advertise themselves as portable, you’re obviously better off with just keeping it in the office and hooked up – obviously you can see that I’m fairly pushing the desk-top option ...
3.6 Networking
laptop, there’s a lot to be said for having a central computer that acts as a backup and as a central library/filing system. We used external hard-drives, but these can be pretty fragile – they’re not really protable hard-drives and while they can handle a little bit of transport, they will pretty much break with the first serious contact they take. It makes a lot of sense to get a reasonably cheap desktop that you can then plug a bunch of external hard-drives into if you need the extra space. It doesn’t have to be particularly powerful, because it’s not really going to be used for memory-intensive programs.
3.5 Scanner A scanner is another necessity. If you decide to go>>> ahead and get a desktop, then it makes a a whole bunch of sense that you have a scanner that just hooks up to it - this saves time, bother and frustration with uploading the right software to your laptop
4.0 Filing System A decent filing system is a part of any well-organised set-up, allowing the team to function without constantly re-doing things that have already been done, wasting time looking for things which are scattered everywhere or disturbing other team members to ask where they’ve put an important piece of information. There’s no point re-inventing the wheel: we adapated our filing system from the Danes and would encourage others to further adapt our own filing system to their needs. Text: Francis Keane & Hugo Lamont
T
he system we used was based on a model we got from the Danes. It works fine, but requires discipline to keep it working well. For example – and it sounds like the most obvious thing in the world – whenever you’re finished creating a document, your last step should be to just put it in the fil ing system. It became frustrating when you’re looking for something that you know exists [because you have a hard copy of it] but can’t find it on the hard drive because the person who created the file hasn’t uploaded it there.
As will be mentioned in the section relating to Team Management and Internal Communication, a lot of the problems can be resolved by adopting this one filing system early and sticking to it rigourously. If you adopt it early, there should be no problems with people having devised their own filing systems, which understandably they can be loath to give up. If everyone makes the effort to stick to it rigourously, you’ll soon find that the filing becomes a matter of course, a good habit. Over time you’ll find that certain sections are underused, and that other sections will require many extra folders to deal with the amount of information that you’re building up. The system that we took on board has been both added to and refined over the year: for example, there are a number of extra folders in the Communication Section to deal with specific publications and documents. The point I’m trying to make is that the system is very much a bend but don’t break system. It can be altered at many different junctures, but you really should try and stick within the outlined structure for it to be effective and successful.
020
www.easa008.ie
I’ve mentioned above that having a dedicated organisers PC would undoubtedly aid the successful cataloguing of material throughout the organising term. A large hard drive can be used to backup the EASA PC, but shouldn’t be used as a mobile device. As we learnt - twice - they break if bumped around. We labelled files as below; date[yyyy_mm_dd]_subject_organiser’s name[IN CAPS]
022
www.easa008.ie
Visas & Applications 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 Visas & Applications Because of the time-frame, with participants dropping out and being replaced at a moment’s notice, it is important for NCs to keep in constant contact with the organiser[s] in charge of visas and applications. There is often a waiting period associated with visas, and waiting for the last minute to see if you can travel is stressful and irritating. Text: Sean Feeney
5.1 Application Deadline During the INCM007 in Motovun, it was suggested by the EASA Ireland team that the Application Deadline would be set earlier than usual so as to allow the participants avail of cheaper flights to Ireland and to allow the organising team collect the participation fee earlier in an effort to improve EASA Ireland’s cash-flow. We found the new deadlines for application and fee payment to work well and would encourage future organisers to use them. This earlier deadline also allowed more time to deal with any problems, especially with visa applications. Deadlines used for EASA008: Application Deadline Friday 4th April 2008 Re-distribution of places Friday 18th April 2008 Deadline for Second Round Friday 25th April 2008 Payment Deadline Friday 2nd May 2008
5.2 Application Form The form was available to download from our website by early March. This year a new ‘E-MAIL’ field was added in the ‘Contact Details’ section of the form. We only added this half-way through the application process when we realised that this information was needed for a variety of reasons, especially in dealing with workshop and visa issues.
024
www.easa008.ie
5.3 Quota The excel spreadsheet which determines each country’s quota was revised during the INCM007 in Motovun to make it more flexible and transparent. We found it to work well and there were no complaints. Ultimately those who really wanted extra places got them during the redistribution process. Our quota was announced at the beginning of March 2008. We decided upon a maximum capacity of 300 participants and
50 Tutors as our initial quota figures. These were based on factors such as accommodation capacity, transport capacity, workshops capacity, and budget capacity - each participant ‘costs’ roughly €700 and each workshop has its own relative materials cost. Food, in particular, has a very definite ‘cost per person’ limiting factor attached to it. This year’s Lost Countries were Estonia and Iceland, whilst Moldova and Montenegro, though they had applied for places, didn’t send anyone in the end. Portugal is a going concern, not having had more than one participant since 2005.
5.4 Application Process One Main Organiser dealt with the whole Applications & Visas process. Initially two people were working on it together but this was discontinued to improve efficiency - it was easier for one person to keep track of any application changes and to look after all correspondences with NC’s. In hindsight it would have been better to split the workload, one person taking the countries who didn’t need visas and the other taking the countries who did require visas. Up until the Application Deadline the process simply involved receiving, checking and filing the applications from each country and ensuring that they hadn’t exceeded their quota. At this stage, most communication with the NC’s will involved requests for missing >>>
within the application form.After the Redis> information >>
tribution of Places the process involved offering the (few) extra places to those countries who requested them. Most NC’s who requested extra places did so when they sent their full quota of applications. Between May and the beginning of EASA a number of extra places became available when some countries had participants drop-out for a number of reasons, and when we realised that we could accommodate a few more participants. Once the Payment Deadline was over the Visa Application process began in earnest.
5.5 Guests This was a difficult issue for us. We were very limited for space so we could not offer accommodation for Guests. We decided that we could offer registered Guests their daily meals with the rest of the participants for €10/day but that they would have to organise their own accommodation. We also limited their stay to 4 days - though this wasn’t strictly enforced in the end but it did serve to discourage people from coming for the whole event as Guests when they didn’t get a place in the initial quota. We had 10 Guests who stayed for varying lengths of time and the only trouble was collecting the correct fee from them during the event. It was more difficult to collect the fees from Irish guests, who were friends of ours, as they had the flexibility to come and go and were therefore unsure of the dates and duration of their stay.
5.6 Fee Payment The Fee Payment Deadline was set a little earlier as a result of the earlier application deadlines. This earlier deadline helped us in two ways: 1. Cash-Flow: It improved our cash-flow at a time when we were beginning to pay out for products and services. 2. Places: It ensured that people were committed to attending EASA. Anyone who dropped out now would either lose their fee or have to ensure that someone else took their place - this is very helpful from an organiser’s point of view. We set up a seperate account within our bank account to receive foreign bank transfers. This allowed us to more easily verify the payments made and it was also safer from a security point of view. We received roughly 70% of the fees by the deadline and after two weeks a further 20%. At least 2 countries requested to pay the fee in Ireland since bank transfers from their countries were very difficult or impossible. Most Tutors, and all the Irish participants, paid their own fees separately which added a little more complexity to the area of fees. >>>
Visas = Well Worthwhile I bet there’s a lot of people – primarily those who come from the Eastern Mediterranean region– who are wondering why they went to all the trouble of applying for an Irish holiday visa. It’s not as though we have the weather.
> >>
5.7 Visa Applications
This process became a very time-consuming and labourious one. It accounted for at least 80% of all time spent on the Applications process in its entirety even though only 15 countries required visas. One issue which complicated the process was that there were a number of students studying and working abroad who required Irish visas. They couldn’t easily travel home to apply to the Irish embassy/Consul there so they had to apply via their closest Irish mission who weren’t always very happy to process ‘unusual’ applicants. They usually rang the organising team to confirm that we knew of these people.
5.8 Free Visas There has been a good precedent of EASA organisers securing free visas for their participants, in EASA005 Switzerland, EASA007 Greece, INCM004 Macedonia, INCM005 UK and now EASA008. In late January we approached the Consular Section of the Department of Foreign Affairs about issuing free visas for our participants. The situation was complicated by the fact that for a number of years now the Department for Justice has been dealing with visa applications. However, we made a good and understanding contact within the Consular Section and having furnished her with sufficient information material on EASA and a letter outlining our request she managed to secure free visas for us. Luckily the visa fees are collected by the local foreign Irish mission and the Dept. of Foreign Affairs still has control over these missions. Once we had the quota figures we supplied the Department with the final number of visas it would be offering for free. After we received all the applications we sent a simple Word .doc to them with details of each participant who would be making a visa application. Their full name, country of origin and passport number was posted on the Dept. of Foreign Affaris intranet so that each foreign mission could check the list to ensure only registered EASA participants were getting free visas. It also helped to legitimise each applicants bone fides during the application process. The Department then sent an internal memo to all their foreign missions to advise them of the free visas and that they should expect to receive visa applications from people attending EASA008 in Ireland. Again, this added some extra legitimacy to our event in the eyes of the embassies. Roughly 90 free visas were issued in the end.
026
www.easa008.ie
5.9 General Advice for Future Organisers The applications process is very time-consuming, especially the visa application stage. If possible assign a team member who is not pivotal in your organisation and dedicate them to this task. Organisers with good background knowledge of EASA and the sponsorship campaign should not be wasted on this task as they will be much more valuable attracting vital funds for EASA. Someone who comes on-board later in the campaign (who may not have the answers to questions asked by potential sponsors) would be ideally suited to perform this very important but time-consuming administrative role.
5.9.1 Communication Contact the NC’s in early January to advise them of the likely application deadlines and when to expect the application form and final quota numbers. This is a timely means of finding out who is the acting NC for each country as this can change unexpectedly. Much of this information should be posted concurrently on the easa blog. It should also act as a reminder for them to progress with choosing their participants. Ensure good communication from NC’s don’t be afraid to be demanding if information is not forthcoming but always try to be understanding. If they have diploma/project deadlines which co-incide with EASA deadlines ask them to commit to sending the info on a specific date. If NC’s are not returning your emails then you should ring them on their cell-phones - this is the surest way of getting information from them. Issue clear instructions to all NC’s on exactly which information you require during the application process and how you want it delivered e.g. all applications as .doc files in as few emails as possible and with the correct filenames for each file. And they shouldn’t send the form unless the participant’s photo is inserted. This will save you valuable time which can be lost chasing NC’s for missing information. >>>
> >> 5.9.2 Filing and Administration One folder for each country into which all relevent information is filed. An excel spreadsheet is very useful for keeping track of all data pertaining to applications, one column for each set of data e.g. quota for each country, actual numbers of participants, tutors, guests attending, outstanding issues, payments received/outstanding, number of vegetarians, boys, girls etc. The Application Form template should be available for download as a MS Word document, preferably as an older version in case participants don’t have the latest version. The template’s filename should be ‘Country_NC/Tutor/Participant/Guest_Name.doc’. This clear file-naming system will save you a LOT of time during filing and make invididual participants easier to locate. Once the NC’s have applied for their participants, ask them to send you an Excel file with the following information on their party: Title/////Name/////Email/////Phone/////Arrival date/////Departure date. The final two columns can be filled and sent to you later. This information is very useful when producing mailing lists for important information as the event draws closer. This document can be updated by the NC as things change, which they invariably do, all the way up until the event itself.
5.9.3 Visa Application Process This is by far the most time-consuming and frustrating part of the applications process. Be warned! Approach your Ministry for Foreign Affairs once you have produced your information documentation with a view to securing free visas, or at least some recognition, for your participants. Draft a cover letter explaining EASA, its aims and how important it is to have the full participation of all European countries. Mention the fact that Irish, Greek, UK, Macedonian and Swiss Ministries have previously offered free visa to EASA participants. Special emphasis should be put on the financial hardships faced by countries who require visas in attending EASA and how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could make a very noble. and generous contribution to your event by providing free visas. It would also be beneficial at this point to have, and include, Letters of Support of other well-respected State Departments, Politicians, Mayors and political parties, Universities, National Architectural Associations and >>> Academic Institutes.
Visas = Time Visas and Participant communication are too big a job for one person alone. There’s a large amount of bureaucracy involved, so it’s necessary for somebody to be available during office hours. In hindsight, every major job should be shared between two people.
>>> 5.9.4 Fax Machine Vital. You will need access to a fax machine in order to send signed Letters of Invitation to embassies and consulates. Less than 50% accepted digitally signed or scanned documents. Also, as problems arise you may need to fax letters to ask the Consulates to expedite certain applications.
028
www.easa008.ie
Faxing many countries in eastern Europe (and countries of the former USSR) is less than straightforward. Often the line is dropped inexplicably and your transmission is lost. Or incomplete. This requires you to be sitting beside the faxmachine for hours at a time which is both frustrating and inefficient. It is therefore vital to have one available for your exclusive use during this stage of the visa application process.
030
www.easa008.ie
Documentation
I’ve written before that EASA is one of the most over-documented events of its type: given the number of photos taken by participants over the course of the assembly, it seems that pretty much every single moment has been captured ... and will soon be appearing online.
Documentation Before & After 6.1 With that said, it’s important to draw distinctions between documentation of the event itself and the documentation of the organisation. In essence, in documenting the event you are recording something that has happened, whereas the documentation required in/by/during the organisation is necessary for something to happen.
6.2 Internal and External Documentation - Introduction There is a symbiotic relationship between documentation and communication: by documenting something, it generally means that you want to communicate the results to somebody else, and your methods of communiqué – your documentation – reflect strongly on yourselves. During the organisation period of the event, much of your work is done with the aim of convincing people – some sceptical, others more receptive – to support your event. As such, everything that they receive has a degree of influence regarding how they consider EASA. It’s evident, then, that the standard of documentation is important to the success of the event.
6.3 Internal Documentation In considering documentation as an essential facet of public relations, it is necessary to consider its role inside the organisation. Much of the importance of internal documentation is dealt with in chapters
4.0 Filing and 8.0 Team Management & Internal Communication, but it is relevant to present it here both to give a balance between internal and external communication and to stress its importance within these other parts of the organisation. Internal documentation is, again, hugely important in terms of communicating your ideas and results amongst the organising team. Probably the most important aspect of internal documentation regards settling agendas and recording the minutes of team meetings.
6.3.1 Agendas Agendas define what is to be discussed during meetings. EASA is a sprawling event with ludicrously varied demands, and if you do not have a structure to what you’re going to discuss, you can end up talking about dozens and dozens of things and not getting anything done. Secondly, it’s quite difficult to get everyone in a room together, so it’s important that this [precious] time is spent wisely. Having an agenda that you have discussed beforehand allows you to go through items in a rational way, recognising that you do not necessarily have all the time in the world to discuss everything.
6.3.2 Minutes Minutes are the most important part of internal documentation. They’re not hugely enjoyable to take, but they’re absolutely vital for the efficient >>>
6.0 Documentation Documentation is vital to the success of the assembly and the organisation, before, during and after the event. This section stresses the importance of effective internal and external [or out-going] documentation, and tries to give an accurate representation of why certain standards are important. Text: Hugo Lamont
>>>
running of the team – once things are set down on paper, people are loath to change them. Obviously, this helps maintain forward progress. One of the main issues with EASA’s non-heirarchical structure is the fact that debates can literally run and run, without necessarily coming either closer to agreement, shedding new light on an issue or being as productive in terms of results as they are in consuming valuable time. Having minutes to hand which give an accurate and fair representation of what has been discussed previously and what has been decided on is both time-efficient and saves friction between team members. That said, it’s important for the minutes to be circulated and agreed on within a two or three days. If minutes are to be meaningful and consequential and not just one person’s opinion of what was discussed, it’s important that they are circulated quickly while the meeting is still fresh in attendees minds, and that any amendments are made and signed off on within a couple of days. This is best accomplished through e-mail. While it can be a tedious task, writing and amending minutes is a highly efficient way to document team communication, and vitally important.
032
www.easa008.ie
6.4 External Documentation External Documentation includes every piece of documentation that is intended to leave the office. Obviously it covers a wide range of documents, and even more when you consider that what your doing is effectively trying to monitor every piece of written
information that goes out of the office, be it hard or soft copy, for accuracy, tone, readability, design and presentation. This may seem pedantic, but it’s worthwhile considering that for the most part, these documents are your introduction to the many companies you’ll be asking to sponsor you, the government agencies you’ll be asking to fund you and the people you’ll be asking to support you. It is vital that you appear reliable, reputable, well-organised and professional. For example, your spelling, syntax and grammar should be correct. It’s such an amateur mistake to have incorrect spellings, unfinished clauses and poor grammar in e-mails and letters that people will genuinely be put off and dissuaded from taking you seriously. If you have problems with this area, simply get someone to read it over for you to check it out before you send it out. Ditto for tone and content: if you think that you need a second opinion, ask for one. It’s far better to re-write something – or even simply edit something that you have previously written – than send off a document that could raise the hackles of the person you’re trying to butter up! Presentation is hugely important. As architects, it’s a particular strength and something to play up. People are impressed by well-presented documents, by the quality of paper that you use, by how the document is put together ... it’s definitely something with which you can score points. There are a couple of vital issues that you have to make sure you get correct: i] there should be unity across all the media that you’re using for the length of the event. Everything, from the website to the headed paper to the >>>
sponsorship documents to the tutorpacks should >>>
share similar traits. As things progress you will definitely see limitations in your presentations, but it’s up to you to work around these limitations. Use your imagination, but preserve brand unity and recognisability. It does you no good if halfway through the sponsor-drive you get sick of the particular presentation style you were using and change it up – people won’t recognise what they’re getting and won’t know that it comes from the same people. It sounds a little ridiculous, but it’s just the nature of the game. ii] make a cool logo. We had several open logo competitions in 2007, and yet we never really had a logo until Conor came up with the stickum tape effort pretty late in the day. Looking back on it, our efforts were so farcical that from the outside it must have looked like we were actively trying to waste time. Having an open logo competition with no jury and then trying to reach a consensus with no time limit? You’ve got to be kidding ... iii] use basic fonts that are web-compatible and that everybody has on their computer. Obviously they’re not as cool as some of the other ones that are available, but it’s vital that everything reads the same, that everybody can open it and that there is a coherent look to all documents. We simply used one seriffed typeface [a bold italic Times] and one sans serif typeface [Arial]. It gives your documents consistency while affording you a degree of variety. Very much up to yourselves, however. iv] use decent quality paper and materials - it’s a little more expensive, but makes a good impression. Nobody likes the feel of that tissue-paper thin printer paper, so, if you’re sending letters or
documents with print on both sides of the page, get yourselves some nice, weighty paper.
7.0 Website The website is the vital element of communication. It’s the go-to place for sponsors, supporters, people who are interested in the event, lecturers and helpers ... all of these outside the participants, tutors and NCs from EASA who are there looking for specific pieces of information. As such, the website has to appeal both to those who are ‘leafing through’ the page and those who are in need of information quickly. It has to be clearly navigable, professional, easy to update and of high visual quality.
034
www.easa008.ie
Text: Conor O’Brien Photo: Daniel Domolky [HU]
T
he original website was launched during the INCM in Motovun in October 2007 website. The idea of the website was to provide a platform for information for all potential tutors and participants. Approaching Christmas, and with a sponsorship campaign that was struggling to get off the ground, it became clear that the website is a key tool in selling EASA to potential sponsors. Over a brace of emails, a template was chosen for the website: it aims to provide clear and easily obtainable information on every aspect of the event, from the competition to the history of EASA. The website was constantly updated; a key feature is the news section on the home page which records each update. The splash page is really an integral part of the website, providing links to all sponsor’s websites while also counting down the days until the event started. The NC list is one thing that was constantly in need of updating throughout the year, however leaving the file in excel format and also putting our email addresses onto the website led to a daily barrage of spam for not only us, but also all NCs. Dearest beloved….
Team Management & Internal Communication
One thing to remember is that all organisers and helpers work on a completely voluntary basis. As people will most likely be arriving from after work or college the office needs to be a fun and jovial place to be – something to make sure people want to go, instead of just feeling a duty to go.
After the event, when people ask about EASA, especially those who have little or no knowledge of the event, it’s difficult to know where to start. One of the things that I find myself saying over and over again is that it is a steep, steep learning curve - the event encompasses a huge amount of activities, personalities, nationalities, legislation and administration, and initially, despite the fact that architecture offers a reasonably well rounded [and certainly lengthy] education, we had very little knowledge about how to go about things.
8.0 Team Management & Internal Communications Effective team management is something that is actually quite difficult to write about: each team has a different dynamic, and is composed of different personalities in different circumstances. However, there are some aspects that won’t change, and they include drive, the ability to listen, patience, a commitment to having everyone contribute and the willingness to take on the worst, least attractive and least rewarding jobs yourself.
036
www.easa008.ie
Text: Francis Keane, Hugo Lamont & Billy Mooney
However, one of the most striking aspects of organising EASA008 was the opportunity to work hard in a team in which you weren’t at the bottom of the ladder. It’s difficult to gain any experience in this field in college – generally the teams are small, the timeframe is short, and most people don’t actively work towards making the team element of the project function as well as it possibly can. Furthermore, the organisation of EASA008 was real, not just a project: we had a responsibility to the staging of the event, to sponsors, to lecturers, to participants as well as to each other. We weren’t playing business: we were dealing with hundreds of thousands of Euros, all of which we had had to raise ourselves. It was a serious business. If it went wrong we could have looked around for somebody to blame, but the real blame would have been squarely on us. Management is a difficult business, but endlessly fascinating. The ability to get the best out of disparate personalities is one that can be practised and improved by close observation, regulation of temper, tone and action, sensitizing yourself to others’ moods and opinions, handing off responsibilities and delegating, letting people have input into spheres where you’re competent and most importantly by listening and considering people’s opinions. >>>
>>> Certain people have a natural ability to lead, others are far
more comfortable in a responsive role, where their hard work, their questioning nature and their natural reluctance to hog the limelight make them an effective counterbalance to the former. Even natural leaders need to know when to step back and let others assume the mantle. The best leaders aren’t the loudest: they are the ones who step up to the plate when the pressure is on and things are going wrong, who right these wrongs as best they can and who reassure their team-mates that they’re going in the right direction. EASA is a non-heirarchical network. It’s up to the hosts how they choose to set up the structure of their own organisational team, but we agreed that a non-heirarchical structure was appropriate. In private conversation with friends of mine far more experienced in the business world, I was told time and time again that this was an unbelievably inefficient way to run a company, and there’s a lot of truth in these assertions: nevertheless, few people volunteer to be bossed around. What’s more, EASA is a once-off event. EASA Ireland doesn’t happen every year, so it’s not like you would submit to one of your peers being president for the year, because you’ll be the president next year: it’s a one-shot wonder. There is no next year. Anyway, having a single person at the top would place far too much pressure on one set of shoulders, especially in a voluntary organisation. Having a team of equals at the top, whilst inefficient, is safer and a wiser choice. To use a sports analogy, the organisation needs a captain, not a manager. Captains are a part of the team. They take the field, do the same thing as all the other players, muck in and try and get a result to the best of their ability. Some lead by word,
most lead by deed. Managers are remote from the team. They exercise more control, are knowledgable about how to get things done, efficient in day to day dealings, but don’t get involved at the sharp end of the game. As I said at the start of this piece, it’s a steep learning curve. Some people performed admirably and visibly grew in calmness and authority as the year progressed, others showed great flashes of leadership and inspiration at times and then were less prominent on other occasions, whilst others were content with doing mammoth behind the scenes work, taking direction and quietly performing their tasks. I think that everyone grew up a lot and became more reasonable and more considerate in a short period of time, which I think is one of the great and oftunmentioned benefits of organising EASA.
8.2 Organisers Predetermining rolls for organisers is clever, but there must be flexibility within these rolls to cope with the inevitably unpredictable. If you want to create a roster system for your helpers prior to the event, you must know exactly who is going to be present on each day of the event. As idyllic as it sounds, it is unrealistic to rotate organisers jobs each day. The core jobs should be taken up by leading members of the organising team and remain their responsibility for the duration of the event. I think these jobs can be delegated well before the event (3 months+), so that each organiser has a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of his/her job. Once the event has commenced, these organisers are responsible for initiating the successful undertaking of these jobs from the outset and training in their helpers. As soon as helpers are able to manage a job, organisers can become more flexible and the whole event becomes less of a burden on everyone. Ultimately, however, responsibility for ‘a job’ must lie with the dedicated organiser.
8.3 Helpers Outside of the core group, you will have helpers drafted in to help during the event. Your ability to organise these helpers prior to the event will depend entirely on the level of commitment pledged by each individual helper. As non-hierarchical EASA is, helpers are there to take instructions from organisers. Feeling underused is generally the only complaint a helper will have and it can happen extremely easily. The important thing is to try and be cordial to one and other. Organisers can generate tremendous team spirit with enthusiasm, patience and positivity.
038
www.easa008.ie
Delegating helpers to tasks will be a daily affair. Organisers can either decide this amongst themselves and post it on a notice board, or they can set meetings and delegate jobs face to face. EASA008 had to make some drastic adjustments on condition of the weather, so meeting the entire team each evening to announce changes, give advice and distribute jobs was very helpful. I believe the entire team should meet at least every second day. With a room full of people, an organiser can make sure everyone is used, get feedback from different areas and engage with people directly; O: “X, you are on bar duty tonight. Ok?!” H:”Yessir/mamm”.
People are far less likely to miss a job when personal affirmation is given. I’m reiterating the significance of face-to-face communication a little, but I firmly believe it to be important in the fraught environment of an EASA. Especially when dealing with a team that aren’t your employees, but your volunteers.
8.4 Communication Having a well considered internal communications strategy is also crucial. Whatever the location, walkie talkies are very important. Mobile phones will be in heavy use for external calls, so it’s a good idea to save on battery and expense by not using them to communicate internally. My monsterous August phone bill will testify to this. A centrally located, dedicated space for organisers would be very helpful. This should be close to info point. At easa007 in Elefsina info point was a double decked scaffold tower. While participants were dealt with at ground level, organisers could remove themselves to the deck above to relax and carry out small administrative jobs. The organisers office was located well away from info point in Letterfrack, which was highly inconvenient and lead to chaotic management of daily administration. Two large notice boards are required at the least. One is for organising helpers, so that everyone knows where one and other is. And the second is for communicating the main events to participants daily.
8.5 Security Info point is manned 24hrs a day. It is therefore obvious that it should be in close proximity to items of value. Lockers, IT lab and other sources of expensive equipment should all be visible from
Workshops (2 leaders)
- acquire and distribute tools - acquire and distribute materials Infopoint Administration (2 leaders) - registration - walkie talkie control - first aid - cash in/out - lockers Bar Management (1/2 leader) - source and price suppliers - stock taking - placing orders - managing tokens Food Management (2 leaders) - source and price suppliers - stock taking - placing orders Waste Management (1/2 leader) - setup system - communicate system - enforce system
Site Maintenance/Incident Response/Security (2 leaders)
info point if possible. Accommodation areas should have one single entry point where people are most likely to congregate. Any other access points should remain shut except for emergency escape. High vis jackets indicate vigilance at night and can deter unwanted guests. Security remit can be sociable and the long hours can be passed with a few beers, whilst sharing shifts and keeping an eye out. In the unlikely event of a suspected internal high larceny, we felt the best course of action would be to evacuate and lock the accommodation zones and invite nc’s to help partake in a cursory search of participants gear. We were very pleased to report that EASA008 had no major trouble with theft. A drunken young local made a sortie into the tents and procured of a large bottle chilli whiskey (god only knows why). He was escorted out and watched until he left the premises. I think physical confrontation should be avoided where possible, as it may draw unnecessary attention from the authorities and even legal action.
- deal with daily onsite issues - report incidents & accidents - communicate with plumbers, electricians, etc - facilitate workshops Event Management (1/2 leader) - welcoming bands/lecturers/dignitaries - av equipment - seating - refreshment Press/Photographer (1 leader) - Record the event - Record sponsorships Transport (shared) - Lecturers in/out - Tools/materials - Food/beverage - Emergency
8.7 Shifts: Info Point : 00:00 – 07:00, 07:00 - 14:00,
14:00 – 20:00, 20:00 – 00:00.
Security (depending on necessity): 20:00 – 07:00 Breakfast Duty & Lunch Prep: 07:00 – 10:00 Waste Duty: 09:00 – 11:00
040
www.easa008.ie
9.0 Workshop Applications & Tutor Communications A vital part of making the workshops a success, on-going communication – to the point of collaboration – between organisers and tutors in the period between the workshop proposals being chosen and the event itself is a timeconsuming task which requires patience, pragmatism and problem-solving abilities.
042
www.easa008.ie
Text: Billy Mooney
D
ifficult to stress this enough: the Summer Assembly revolves around workshops. The workshops are not only vital to the success of the Summer Assembly where they are carried out, but also to future Assemblies. Sponsors react extremely favourably to well-carried out, well-documented and well-presented workshops, and each year the uphill struggle for sponsorship is renewed in the next host country. 9.1 Workshop Applications & Selection Second only to location and theme, workshop selection is paramount in terms of giving form to the nature and result of an EASA. Deciding from the outset that we wanted to push the quality of workshops, we put in place several changes in the structure of EASA so as to reap a larger harvest of workshop applicants. These changes included creating three tutorpacks, counting tutors as separate from a nations quota of participants and reducing the fee for tutors to 50% of their respective nations fees. Needless to say this also attracted a number of shoddy applications from people who just wanted a free ticket, yet luckily enough these applications are easy enough to spot. Potential tutors had to complete our application form and submit a poster and any other graphics they so wished in order to submit their workshop for approval. Out of the 60 workshop applications we received (this number would have no doubt been even larger where it not the competition we hosted as well) we ended up selecting 21 workshops to accompany our three predetermined workshops – Green Room, Lunch Box and flux Culture. Unfortunately due to
problems on behalf of the tutors, the workshop aDABtation was pulled before the event, giving us a final number of 23 workshops. Of our final selection about 60% were straight away winners, with the remainder being judicially decided amongst the organising team. With there being legitimate reasons for pushing built/media/abstract/theory workshops, we decided the fairest approach would be to strike a broad enough datum that could, in the very least, cater for the varying tastes of 300 participants.
9.2 Tutor Correspondence For us, there was a little under four months for back-and-forth correspondence between ourselves and the tutors. To be fair, some workshops are fairly autonomous and easy to predict what they might require. Other workshops did require a lot of pre-EASA management and this was either due to the unrealistic scale/ambition of some workshops, or as a result of a lack of information and a lack of identifiable competence of behalf of the respective tutors. >>>
Workshopping There’s a wealth of activities that go on both inside and outside workshops. Some of them are a bit weird. Photo: Roland Nemeth [HU]
>>> During this period tutors will need to be
informed about standard material specs and sizes, availability of materials, working locations, potential spaces for interventions, and the availability of skilled technicians/craftsmen to name a few. Some weeks before the event we released all of this information in our document Tutorpack 2.0. We also found that we had to quell some of the sillier ideas from the some of the tutors, as well as the tendency for some tutors to forget about EASA amidst their exams and holidays, something to be very much fought against. In the end though, what’s important is that both the organisation team and the tutors have an understanding of the workshops’ activities before the event begins. To this end, one main organiser was assigned the position of ‘workshop guy’ to liase with all of the workshops, outside of the three pre-determined ones.
9.3 Workshop Management During and After the Assembly During the assembly several responsibilities fell to the workshops team – material supply and provision, tool/equipment supply and provision AND supervision, planning work
shop events with tutors, securing locals permission for installations and more. As there was already in-place the role of ‘workshop guy’, it was an easy transition for that person to become manager of the workshops team, with two or three revolving helpers. As it transpired, tutors were very pleased with this system of having one clear and identifiable person to liase – a noted improvement on previous years. Most workshops ran relatively smoothly, thanks in a huge way to the Letterfrack Hardware who supplied many of the items we had forgotten to supply ourselves. Further material runs were subject to a trip Galway, the nearest major city, which unavoidably meant tutors had to wait at least one or two days. One thing to always be watchful for is material theft, basically tutors stealing materials clearly marked for other workshops. This is as regrettable as it is likely, and very disappointing considering that you are expecting tutors to know better. Tutor meetings were a good platform to tackle the above mentioned issues, and in the end we had two tutors meeting and two joint tutor/NC meetings. One thing which was poorly handled was the fact that tools, >>>
> >> stationary and materials were placed
in three separate locations – and we would strongly suggest to future organisers to consider creating one big depot to store everything.
9.4 Key Workshop Dates
044
www.easa008.ie
Release of Tutorpacks Workshop Submissions Deadline Workshops Selected Release of Tutorpack 2.0 Workshops Promotional Poster Deadline Workshop Fair Final Exhibition and Presentation
2007.11.09 2008.03.23 2008.04.04 2008.07.16 2008.08.01 2008.08.11 2008.08.23
046
www.easa008.ie
10.0 Sponsorship Finding and securing sponsorship is the most important task during the organisation of EASA. Without money, the event cannot happen. The search for sponsorship is wide-ranging and often extremely frustrating. It’s important to make contact with companies and corporations at the October-November stage of the year; this is when companies will be making their sponsorship budgets. Time spent on the phone building a relationship with someone in the appropriate department is worth a dozen e-mails, so it’s important to make contact as soon as possible. Text: Billy Mooney
W
hen organising an EASA you are engaging in many activities that will place you in positions where you are really relying on people outside of the event to pull through for you. The more people you can talk to about the event the better. People react to it in many different ways – some are immediately drawn to it whereas others will cast a sceptical eye over this drunken student debacle placed before them.
It is of upmost importance to find the people who get, and love, what EASA is. These people will fight your case in your absence and do all they can to help – out of nothing but decency and good will. This is coupled with their capacity to operate in the professional working, something which organisers will inevitably lack. On the other hand the sceptics will do nothing for you and once found should be left be.
10.1 Private Sponsorship A task which requires a huge level of intelligence and abililities, the procurement of funds from private sources is very complex and will take up a huge part of the organisers time right up until the assembly begins.
048
www.easa008.ie
The first goal should be to set up the correct infrastructure to set about searching for funds. Further to creation of the correct company type to benefit this cause, we also created a template for a basic sponsorpack. This document contained information about EASA general and its history, as well as information about our theme and location, company status and the benefits for potential sponsors. This template was then altered literally dozens of times by various organisers to pander for different types of corporate sponsors (construction companies, banks, architects, developers, materials suppliers, food companies, etc) as well as a significant number of company specific documents which were created. A small number of the team will need to be assigned to private sponsorship as each meeting will increase experience and confidence in giving presentations and meeting people. Said people should possess excellent people skills, confidence and a calm nerve. Private companies are very professional operators and it doesn’t take much to turn them away from the idea of supporting EASA.
>>>
> >> Another
lesson soon learned was that whereas most transactions between companies are the trading of goods and/or money, we were engaging in the business of convincing. This lesson should be remembered in the planning of presentations and letters being sent to potential sponsors, and an effort to use judgement and foresight to put yourself in their position should always be made. Our sponsorpacks were structured in such a way as to offer companies a ‘shopping list’ of sponsorable items. Such items included main assembly sponsors, workshop sponsor, event sponsor, assembly friend, etc. As it transpired, the search for corporate sponsorship was very disappointing. There may have been a large amount of factors behind this, none of which was more blatant then the advent of an economic recession in the ten months leading up to the event. Furthermore there was a misjudgement from our behalf in terms of the timing of our main sponsorship drive. Most companies decide on their budgets in December, and any companies we approached after this date were quick to use this as a reason/excuse not to sponsor the event. We would urge future organisers to get a good understanding of the financial structures of companies in their countries and plan sponsorship drives accordingly. Previous EASA’s had always received one or two massive sponsorships (ranging from €40,000€100,00). We initially thought that we may get the same treatment. However, what we found was that companies were very reluctant
to give us financial support and instead our budget was reached at through a large number of small amounts of sponsorship (our single largest sponsor came in at approx €24,000). This meant a huge workload for us, which at times gave us serious cause for concern about coming anywhere near our required amount of funds.
10.2 Material Sponsorship By far the easiest form of sponsorship to obtain, inviting companies to become ‘material sponsors’ offers organisers the chance to acquire necessary materials for the event and gives companies the chance to promote their products to a large gathering of young architects. We found companies very willing to donate materials and even invite us to visit their factories and premises. The standard model was for us to arrive at a ‘material list’ and approach the company with this list, and luckily for us only one company was unable to give us all we asked for. Any surplus materials, which were required after the initial deal, were given to us at a highly discounted cost. In return for materials provided companies wanted the generous use and application of their logo, provision of on-site banners, provision of leaflets to participants, provision of promotional items to participants as well as a supply of photos of their materials in use during the event. EASA 2008 received a wide variety of materials free of charge, ranging from scaffolding to tools, timber, model making supplies, paint, varnish, stationary supplies and insulations. One approach which we found effective, if cynical in the extreme, was to ask companies for financial sponsorship first, >>>
> >> and then allow them to offer materials as
050
www.easa008.ie
an alternative. This meant that either through guilt or a feeling of involvement, they are more likely to give more materials or offer free delivery, something which will save the organising team a lot of effort. Consideration should also be given to the store and transport of materials before the event, what to do with extra materials after the event and an effort to photograph sponsored material in use should always be made.
Funding from European Level, National Government, Regional Authorities and State Agencies is probably the most obvious means of financing an event such as EASA. The backing of a governmental department or state agency early on will convince other public and especially private/corporate sponsors that your organisation is professional, committed and that your event is of great importance. The most important rule for organisers is to approach bodies as soon as possible, by phone, email etc, a letter or sponsorpack can often take a lot of time to prepare and may get thrown in the bin, it is often better to wait until you have developed a reliable contact insde the organisation before you send on hard-copy promotional information. Research the aims of the organisation before approaching them for support, that way you will know how to sell your assembly and what events in the program will appeal to the organisation in question.
052
www.easa008.ie
Many bodies will have grants schemes that EASA will be able to apply to for funding. The most important aspect of applying for grants is to be mindful of deadlines for applications. Most grant schemes are highly competitive and EASA Ireland would advise making informal contact to the grant agency long before considering applying for any grant scheme so as to discuss with the administrators the best way of selling your event. Organisers should be flexible in the programming of their assembly, often a workshop, lecture or other event can be organised to appeal directly to the grant in question. Many grants and public bodies will pay you in installments or may only provide funding after they receive receipts. It is important to know what receipts you are planning on supplying a funding organisation with. It is of the utmost importance to maintain proper accounts and a continuosuly updated financial plan of the assembly long before the event. EASA Ireland raised approximately €100,000 of public funding from 10 differnet public bodies and grants schemes, this was approximately 40% of our fiscal budget.
This figure does not include the in-kind value of support from many other bodies and organisations. Funding was obtained from the following public organisations and bodies:
11.1 International Funding Leargás – The European Commissions Youth in Action Program Leargas is the agency set up by the Irish Government’s Department of Education and Science to distribute European Commission Youth in Action funding. Youth in Action 2007-13 is a Europe wide funding scheme aimed at bringing young people from many different nations together for informal education activites in the spirit European citizenship. There are agencies in all European Union countries who distribute funding for Youth activities. EASA Ireland received Youth in Action funding for the Flux Culture seminar/workshop which involved 28 students from 15 different countries. The seminar discussed the issue of migration in Europe and how it effects the built environment, a topic which was relevant to the aims of the program
11.2 National Funding The Department of Community, Gaeltacht and Rural Affairs EASA Ireland received financial funding from this Government department as 11 days of the assembly were to be held in a rural area (Letterfrack - Connemara). The department were happy to support an event like EASA bringing business, culture and entertainment to a rural community.
EASA Ireland considers this allocation as vital in covering the financial burden that came with such a rural location. Locating the event in such a fringe region brought hidden expenditure in the form of logistics and vital services. Future EASA organiser’s should be aware that such funding may be available from similar government departments if the event is in a rural/fringe location, likewise organising an event in a problematic or developing Urban location may bring an opportunity to apply for funds from a relevant urban or development department.
11.3 Local Funding Galway City and Council Enterprise Board Dublin City Council Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA)
Professional Funding Sean O’Laoire, President of the RIAI, opening EASA008 at Dublin Castle [right] Photo: Roland Nemeth [HU]
11.4 Professional Funding The Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI) The RIAI provided EASA Ireland with very generous direct financial assistance and a lot of in-kind support. The RIAI were very receptive to the aims of EASA Ireland from the get-go particularly as they have resources set aside to assist young and student architects and more significantly to promote the reputation of Irish architecture abroad. The RIAI provided the use of their city-centre meeting suite for a press launch many months before the assembly which was of great use in publicising the event to sponsors and the general public. They also provided a lot of advice, contacts, magazines and goodies for the starter packs. The President of the RIAI Sean O’Laoire officially opened the assembly in Dublin Castle on Sunday 10th of August, EASA Ireland felt it appropriate to honour the contribution of the Institute in this manner. Future organisers should not underestimate the importance of their event and how eager their architecture foundation will be to support their event.
054
www.easa008.ie
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) EASA Ireland received a very generous financial donation from the RCSI. donation was triggered by a sense of empathy between the professions of architecture and surgery and facilitated through personal links between the organising team and contacts in the RCSI. Future organiser’s should note that there may be strong connections between professional chambers and institutes in their home state and should rtry to exploit them. Professions that may be worth pursuing include engineer
ing, surveying, medicine and accountancy. The Office of Public Works
11.5 Educational Funding The Higher Education Authority The Higher Education Authority is an Irish government agency, effectively an arm of the Department of Education, which is the statutory planning and development body for higher education and research in Ireland. In addition it is the funding authority for the universities and a number of designated higher education institutions in Ireland. The HEA has a certain amount of funding for informal academic events, however it is an extremely competitive area with many bodies and events vying for funding. EASA Ireland felt that Architecture was not getting a significant proportion of such funding and that the Humanities and Sciences dominated the area. In support of our application we cited the following as reasons to support our event: - Developing Architectural services as an export market for Ireland by promoting the Irish architecture to a foreign audience. - Promoting Ireland as an architectural knowledge destination and the Irish architectural schools as destinations for foreign and exchange students. - To educate and inform the greater public on the work of architects which will be beneficial to the sector in the domestic market. - EASA is an important event for informal research, which may spur greater research and investigation in Irish architectural schools. The HEA agreed to provide a small grant towards our event. In recognition EASA Ireland publicised their support by advertising the HEA as sponsor of the ‘Contemporary Ireland, Contemporary Architecture,’ lecture which featured young architects, many of whom taught part-time in Irish Architecture Schools.
056
www.easa008.ie
11.6 Environmental Funding
Letterfrack (far right) Photo: Gergely Takacs [HU]
11.7 Cultural Funding The Arts Council of Ireland