Event Proposal: Ildhafn A&S Collegium 2016

I'd like to run another A&S Collegium, it's been a while! This will be an ungarbed event.

This will be a one day event, probably followed by a pub trip. Having run it as a one day event a couple of years ago, it seemed like everyone's brains were pretty full and people were pretty tired by the end of it.

• Stewarding Team
• Date & Time
• Location & Site Payment
• Format
• Classes
• Lunch
• Budget
• Baronial Supplies
• Class Costs
• Advertising
• Bookings
• Billeting & Transport
• Potential Pub Trip

Stewarding Team

Steward: Lady Vettoria di Giovanni da Verona (Shannon Wanty), membership #TBC, exp. Feb 2017 or 2018

Deputy Steward: TBC - volunteers please email me

Caterer for lunch & nibbles: TBC - I may do this

Date & Time

Saturday April 16th 2016. Site opens 9.30am, classes from 10am to 12.10pm and from 12.40pm to 4pm, in two streams. One hour break for lunch. 10 minutes of down time in between each class. We need to leave site by 4.30pm.

Location & Site Payment

The Birkdale Community Centre 134 Birkdale Road in Birkdale.

We've used this venue before, for the same event two years ago in fact, and it worked really well. This time we will have access to the back two classrooms and the toilet from 9.30am to 12.00pm, and to the whole area after that.

The cost is $125 for the day, which is a flat rate of $80 for the first four hours, then $15 for each hour after that. There is a bond of $100, which is due upon collection of the key.

Format

This will be a traditional Collegium, with a number of classes put on by volunteers within the group. I am aiming to offer two streams of classes throughout the day. Classes with similar skill sets will not be overlapped, but people will then need to decide which class they most want to attend. Where there are classes with similar skill sets (e.g. if we see a lot of fibre arts offerings), these may be clustered together as one stream, and I will endeavour not to schedule them against one another.

I am planning for the classes to each run for an hour; however, if someone wants to teach a class that is significantly longer or shorter than this I am willing to explore whether this will fit in the schedule.

I will be keeping time and giving people a "ten minutes to go" warning to ensure that classes keep moving and that no teachers are cut short because a previous class ran over. There will also be a ten minute gap between classes to give people time to make coffee/tea, go to the loos, and have a bit of a natter before the next class.

Classes

I will be looking for volunteers to run classes, primarily in areas they are already expert in. I will do this by advertising to the Ildhafn & Cluain lists asking what people would be willing to teach classes on. I'll also consult with William de Cameron as I believe he has the list made up last time of what people could offer and what people would like to go to - of course, in two years some of our needs and interests may have changed but this seems like a great starting point.

Depending on what sort of response I get, I may also approach people individually around the possibility of teaching classes.

I am looking primarily for practical or demonstrative classes, however, theoretical classes are also welcome.

I plan on having classes running from 10.00am until 4.00pm. This will allow time to set up and pack down at either end of the day, as the room is available to us from 9.30am to 4.30pm.

I would like the schedule to be in place ASAP, to give people plenty of time to see what will be on offer. Also, where there is materials cost & preparation associated with a class, this gives the teachers plenty of time to prepare. Please refer to the Class Costs section below the budget for costings that teachers would like to pass on to class attendees.

Lunch

I would like to provide a catered lunch each day, as this will enable people to just get on and focus on activities, without stressing about finding something to eat.

I have a couple of thoughts on how to best provide this, as I've just discovered a place that sells pre-prepared salads, delivered free, by the kg, so that may make it very easy.

Since people don't like plastic plates, I'll budget for environmentally friendly ones.

Budget

Due to the pricing of the site, this is a very low budget event. I am setting a break even figure of 20, as that seems reasonable since we haven't had many events this year.

I am budgeting lunch costs at $6.50 per person. The lunch budget includes an allowance for disposable plates, and also tea and coffee and nibbles throughout the day.

I am including miscellaneous costs as I am expecting to purchase at least one rubbish bag, and there's almost certainly going to be some other miscellaneous costs that I haven't thought of yet - but I wouldn't expect overall cost to be more than $15 in total.

Based on the budget above, and given that most people conveniently pay by internet banking, I propose not to round the cost to $15 per head but just to charge everyone $13.50 for the day. There is no Kingdom Levy,  and we don't need to charge for event membership, as this is an ungarbed event (see Kingdom Law, VII.4.1 p25 http://lochac.sca.org/laws/LochacLaws%20November%202015.pdf).

Participating older children/teenagers will be charged at the same rate as adult financial members. Participating children are those who are actively attending classes.

Non-participating younger children who are present will be free of charge if they're just tagging along, or $5 for lunch to be included for them.

Use of Baronial Supplies

I shouldn't need to use any baronial supplies for this event, as the event is ungarbed and the catering limited to stuff that requires little preparation, done ahead of the event, and that can be served from my own equipment onto disposable plates. In the event that I do end up needing to collect & return baronial equipment, I am quite happy to do so at my own cost.

Class Costs

I have not included any potential charges for classes within the budget. Not all classes will have an associated cost, however, I would expect that a couple of classes where there is significant material given out may have some cost to be passed onto the students.

I would like to get these costs advertised well in advance, with payment for these classes to be made directly to the person running the class by those attending, either in person or on the day.

As Steward, I am happy to confirm with those booking for the event whether they want to take part in a class with an associated cost, and to let them know the amount and how to pay for this. I will be customising the auto-reply message that people receive on booking to include something around these classes, along the lines of "Please note that some classes may have specific charges associated with them. The Steward will contact you about whether you are interested these classes, as prebooking will be required to allow teachers time to prepare materials".

Advertising

I plan to primarily advertise on the Ildhafn website, and to our local and national mailing lists, as well as on Facebook, and may request volunteers to forward the advertising to other groups. I would also like to look at putting together some event posters that people can put up in their workplaces if they like - I know there are a few people at my office who may be interested in coming along.

Bookings

Bookings will open ASAP, with bookings closing the week before the event, on Friday 08/04/2016.

Billeting & Transport

I expect that the majority of bookings will come from around Ildhafn city. However, we may have a few people travelling from Cluain, and there's an outside chance that we could get people from further down country

I will therefore be asking on the booking form if people are able to offer or would like billeting - but will be sure to say that billeting options are limited. In the event that we do get out-of-towners booking and are unable to offer billeting, I will also help with finding alternative accommodation options near to site.

Transport-wise, I will include on the event page relevant public transport information, but again, I will be asking on the booking form if people require or are able to offer a ride to others.

Pub Trip

Given that the Collegium is a daytime activity, I am inclined to booking a table somewhere for Saturday evening for those that would like to get together then.