Exec reports - Public Relations

Introduction

The Public Relations Officer:

• Books rooms on Campus as required for Club activities.
• Organizes Wednesday evening Slideshows.
• Arranges publicity for any VOC events open to the public.
• A good position for someone who can handle the booking system on campus, and who is reliable.
• Organizes the Jared Stanley Memorial Lecture in the fall term (this has been run by someone else for many years now, not public relations).
• Previous years but not in 2011-2013: Coordinates with Ubyssey on publishing a 500 word VOC article with picture every month. Contact in 2011 was Jonny Wakefield ([email protected]) (2010-2011)

How to book rooms

First, you must be registered as the AMS booking representative for your club. This only needs to be done once with the AMS, the forms that have to be submitted can be found Here. Indicate club as "AMS Varsity Outdoor Club". This books rooms on campus, but not rooms in the SUB. Be sure to try and book at least a week in advance.

Examples of cases where you would want to book a room are the following: for a slideshow that expects a large attendance, for pre trip meetings for large VOC trips (fall and winter longhike, glacier school, etc), for the Jared Stanley talk, first aid courses, AST courses, etc. You are given the option to suggest a room, in general rooms in Buchanan work well, as they're open fairly late and other places would require a fee to open late. Rooms on weekends are more complicated, but the IKBC (library complex) has a few rooms that can be had free of charge (but have to be reserved well in advance).

Booking rooms in the SUB is a completely separate process, they have to either be done in person (with someone in the second floor of the SUB), or you might try to arrange for a room booking for the whole year (we applied for one for fall 2011 and still haven't heard the outcome). In general it's hard to get a reasonably large room in the evening in the SUB, although it would be convenient. Sometimes we might want to rent the Norm theatre to show a movie, this has to be done partly through the film society.

Note: IKB rooms are excellent for groups <100, Woodward for groups >100, Buchanan also has rooms for >100.

How to book the Norm

Confirm with both the FilmSoc and the AMS booking department that you can rent the Norm. FilmSoc needs to be on hand to work the projectors, AMS controls who actually books the room. To book the norm, contact [email protected]

Equipment can be booked by contacting [email protected]

How to Organize Slideshows

Follow the message board for people that have done interesting trips over the summer, or during breaks. Contact them and ask them if they'd like to give a slideshow. Advertise about a week in advance on the forums, and 'bump' the thread the day of the slideshow if no one else has commented on it recently. Ask them for a brief blurb and a picture of the slideshow, and post them in the message board, with enough time that they make it to the VOCene. Post them in the trip agenda and in the wiki page for slideshows too, although the trip agenda and the message board have much more visibility.

The projector is 1920 x 1080. Make sure people bring an appropriate VGA plug (Macs are usually the problem).

Alternatively to slideshows, it's possible to organize tutorials on how to do useful things, i.e., how to lighten your pack, how to make your own harness, etc. Jacob S. gave a few leave no trace seminars as well. Sometimes we show movies as well.

How to Organize the Jared Stanley Memorial Lecture

Jared Stanley was a member of the UBC Avalanche Research Group in the Atmospheric Science program. He was an avid skier and a keen scientist. Jared passed away in January 2005 while backcountry skiing at Mount Seymour. This is an annual lecture to honour his memory and remind us all to be aware of the risk we're taking in the backcountry. This lecture was taken over by the VOC in 2008, because all of Jared's friend have now graduated from UBC.

Organizational timeline

• Decide when to have this lecture. Usually in end November or start December
• Contact Jared's family to confirm the date. Anna Parton (apartonnp-at-gmail.com). They might also have ideas/wishes for speaker/movies.
• Book a room well in advance
• Decide on a speaker and movie. See previous exec reports for ideas. In 2010 we had a SAR member give a presentation and Klara S. talked about her avalanche experience (movie not mandatory). We had a beacon search at the end of the talk, and Jared's parents generously donated three Spot trackers.
• Advertise the event with posters and post on outdoor community website. Example ACC, BCMC, Wanderung and of course our own message board. Old poster available here: Media:JaredPoster.pdf
• On the night make a little sign for the wall and make sure that everyone can find the place.

Phil Tomlinson has organized this event the last few years. He would be an excellent source if you have questions!

Past Exec Reports

Exec report - Public Relations 2012 - 2013
Exec report - Public Relations 2009 - 2010
Exec report - Public Relations 2008 - 2009
Exec report - Public Relations 2007 - 2008
Exec report - Public Relations 2006 - 2007