FOSS4G'13

The working site for the conference committee of FOSS4G 2013

Gala Night

Last saved by Barry Rowlingson on May 16, 2013

Suggested Programme
  1. Drinks/snacks from 7.00 (using vouchers then paying bar)
  2. Food - buffet with tables to eat from 8
  3. Nerds from 9-10
  4. Music and dancing (?) from 10 - 12 (when is chucking out time?)

Stuff to do

Comments

Antony Scott on May 16, 2013:

Here are some quick notes from the call.

Barry Rowlingson on June 28, 2013:

Post-nerd entertainment: "OpenDJ".  We put out a call something like:

Call for DJs
 want to get the FOSS4G party going? We're looking for tunes to keep the energy up after our headline comedy act at the Gala Night in Nottingham. Mix and mash your faves into a playlist for the GeoGeneration and give us ten to twenty minutes of soundwaves in the geotent.
 Whether its dubstep or death metal, trad garage or the classic sounds of the 7th January 1998 - or you just want to play some of your favourite songs, get on the list and lets rip the tent roof off!

[need a link to an eventbrite page or doodle poll]

Have we figured out copyright/performance clearance yet?

Abi Page on June 30, 2013:

Do you want me to add the call for DJs to the volunteering? It will save having another poll?

Barry Rowlingson on June 30, 2013:

Not until we've had another meeting to discuss if we want to do this. I fear it might just degenerate into people playing rubbish tunes on their ipods and everyone else wanting to get the heck out of there.

Ant, Matt, when do we talk? I can do Mo, Tu, We, Fr.

Antony Scott on July 1, 2013:

Tue or Wed eve or Thur morn are good for me. Other times poss at a push (not after Thur lunchtime though).

Ant

Antony Scott on July 2, 2013:

Matt/Barry - Wed night at 7pm?

Matt Walker on July 2, 2013:

I'm going to struggle to do 7pm as I'll be getting the boys to bed, I should be done by 8pm or we could talk on Friday if we are all in Nottingham for the meeting?

Antony Scott on July 2, 2013:

8 is fine for me. Friday I will be somewhere between Morecambe and Grassington on me bike...

Barry Rowlingson on July 2, 2013:

I have no idea how good my home broadband is for skype voice, but I'll give it a go... 8pm Thursday.

Ant: are you doing a coast-to-coast?

Antony Scott on July 2, 2013:

Yup, Way of the Roses since you ask http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/mapactionwayoftheroseschallenge

8pm Wednesday surely? Thursday is Morecambe...

Barry Rowlingson on July 2, 2013:


Okay 8pm Weds (tomorrow).

Matt Walker on July 3, 2013:

Sorry but I'm not going to make the call as I have a migraine coming on.

Antony Scott on July 3, 2013:

Barry/Ant+ Mark., Jeremy, Suchith, Abi
Gala Night Notes 3/7/13
Barry/Ant (apols from Matt)
  • Music: if possible, ceilidh band or failing that some nice background music eg jazz trio or salsa band, between 10ish and 12. DJ could be fallback, but should be professional not playlists. Barry/Ant to look at options, @Nottingham people, any ideas for bands? Need to get booked by end July.
  • Volunteers - audio techie, setting room, ticket, clear tables etc, clearing up after. Say 10 people needed - could include some academic bursary people - @Abi could you add to list of tasks?
  • Layout - prob tables/chairs round the edge, but mostly a standup event. Wait for intelligence from recce visit.
  • Food/bar will be in EMCC we assume - await conf. from recce.
  • Room decoration: some thing to brighten up the tent would be nice -  bunting, banners, stage backdrop? Ant/Barry to research.
  • Another call needed within a week or so with feedback from the recce visit and music options.

Barry Rowlingson on July 6, 2013:

Had a look at bunting prices - for 200 quid we could easily get enough custom-printed bunting to go round the tent. At the end of the event we could cut it up and hand out bits as souvenir pennants.

Antony Scott on July 6, 2013:

Good. I have a lead on a band, will check it out and let you know.

-------- Original message --------

Steven Feldman on July 8, 2013:

Custom FOSS4G bunting sounds like a brilliant idea. If there is some extra we could use elsewhere around the site

Antony Scott on July 8, 2013:

OK here's a suggestion for a Gala Night band: Chris Conway http://www.chrisconway.org/index.html - he is based in Leicester and as you can see is multi-talented... actually my sister (who lives there) knows him and says he is very good - I think I might have heard him actually. I have emailed him to see if he's free - we would need think about what kind of thing we would want him to play. I'm not sure if a ceilidh is realistic personally, but his main areas seem to be celtic and jazz, both of which would be OK I think. Will let you know when I have heard back, but in the meantime  are you (Matt/Barry) OK with this?

Barry Rowlingson on July 8, 2013:

Haven't had a listen yet but looks good. The whole celtic thing would go down pretty well I reckon. Or maybe with his theremin. Would it be just him solo? That makes setup easier.

Antony Scott on July 8, 2013:

He is free, he is sounding out bandmates. We can have just him, or a band. Obviously an implication for cost. Do we have a budget - Steven (see thread)?

Steven Feldman on July 9, 2013:

@Ant see my post just now on budget - yes we can afford another entertainer for the gala night, what kind of cost are we looking at for this guy?

Antony Scott on July 9, 2013:

@Steven thanks – I’m waiting for a call from him, depends on whether it’s just him (should be under £500) or a small combo (a bit more). I’ll get some options from him and confirm.

Antony Scott on July 9, 2013:

Just had a call from Chris Conway. His Celtic chums aren't available, but the jazz ones are - he thinks that would probably work best anyway. He would provide a four-piece (keyboard, sax, guitar, drums) for £150 a head = £600. They could do a couple of 45 minute sets or one long one, they are pretty flexible on timings. Shall we go with this?

Steven Feldman on July 9, 2013:

Sounds good to me but I am a bit of a jazz fan. He will need to be able to adjust to a slightly beery standing audience but if he is ok with that then £600 is fine.

Thought - how about they do a short set during the drinks before the Nerds come on then come back for a slightly longer set after the nerds (perhaps a bit more up tempo)?

Barry Rowlingson on July 10, 2013:

Iván Sánchez Ortega has been trying to contact the Nerds to see if they want to do something with him at the Gala Night. They must have bounced him to their agent and she's asked me 'wtf?' (but nicely). I've told her that we'll persuade Ivan to do his thing on one of the other nights, since the Gala night is packed already and I don't see the Nerds wanting to try and arrange anything beyond their usual set pieces.

What's the deal with Ivan?

Steven Feldman on July 10, 2013:

He is off on another planet :)

Do you want me to msg him, saying back off?

Barry Rowlingson on July 10, 2013:

You can tell him the Gala night is arranged, we have other acts. Yeah "back off" would do.

I think I noticed "GeoGlobaldomination" on Rollo's timetable for one of the plenaries - is that the musical thing or something he does?

Antony Scott on July 19, 2013:

Update on music. Chris Conway and his jazz combo (4 in total, http://www.chrisconway.org/ccjazz.html) are ready to roll for £600. They are very flexible, will do a set before the Nerds and one after, or two after. I tend to think from a kit point of view it will be easier to do both after, unless we can set them up in a different location from the Nerds, in which case it will be easier to switch. Thoughts?
They don't need a contract - I am sure they are reliable (he's a good friend of my sister's), but we may want to send a confirmation letter (Steven?).
Anything else we need to sort?

Barry Rowlingson on July 19, 2013:

Need a PA spec for them (unless they want to play unplugged).

How tricky would a changeover be? What's the line up? A full drum kit would half an hour to set up and would have to be off stage during the nerds. A stage piano, guitars/brass/woodwind/amps is probably a much quicker job, but soundchecking is always an issue....

Also need to inform the EMCC (as per the "No Roy Chubby Brown" clause in the contract).

Steven Feldman on July 19, 2013:

Great that we have booked Chris Conway - can we get some details on http://2013.foss4g.org/programme/entertainment/ and also perhaps a link to some of their music

Re invite letter @Ant can you do and copy me in?

@Addy @Jo can you put an update on the entertainment page re Mike Parker

Re changeovers -
  • if it was doable a short softish set from Chris at the beginning while people are getting drinks and food in would be a nice warm up (say 7.30 - 8.00). 
  • Then a quiet patch while people scoff, booze and chat (8.00-9.00) and while we do a changeover for the Nerds
  • Nerds 9-10 (or a bit longer?)
  • Then as quick a change over as possible to not lose momentum with a more up tempo set from Chris 10.30 -11.30?
  • Encore?
Possible? Wrong?

Abi Page on July 19, 2013:

Volunteers - have you down for 10 people
I have a sound engineer who has volunteered - do you want him on stand-by or do you have someone at the venue sorting this stuff?
If you want him to help, suggest you get him involved fairly early on when discussing equipment requirements?
Let me know what you think.

Barry Rowlingson on July 19, 2013:

Also need to consider transport, food, accommodation for the talent...

Antony Scott on July 19, 2013:

The band is local, so I am assuming no accommodation needed. I am sure they would like food and drink though.

Antony Scott on July 25, 2013:

Re Steven's suggestion of Chris Conway set before and after Nerds. This sounds OK to me, but would probably only be practical if there was enough room to leave drum kit in place throughout.
  • Do we know how big stage will be (if not who does)?
  •  What PA are we going to be using?
  • Also - are we going for the FOSS4G bunting?

Barry Rowlingson on July 25, 2013:

I think Jeremy had/has a meeting with the marquee company and that might give us a fix on the stage dimensions. My vision was that it would be a substantial part of the width of the marquee (10m would leave 5m gaps either side for PA kit, nerd experiments equipment etc) and however deep necessary. Placed at the far end of the marquee from the tunnel entrance (there's no exits at that end to block according to the map). Anyway, Jeremy? News on stage and PA?

I'd love to get the custom bunting, but I'm not sure how much time I have at do stuff at the moment. Sorry.

Antony Scott on July 31, 2013:

@Jeremy,
  • Do we know how big stage in Geocamp will be (if not who does)?
  •  What PA are we going to be using?

Barry Rowlingson on August 1, 2013:

And has the entertainment been cleared with the EMCC as per the contract? And do we have clearance to play music? Or do we need to start downloading CC-licensed music from archive.org now?

Antony Scott on August 1, 2013:

Don’t know - @Jeremy, can you confirm? Or let me know if you want me to follow up.

Abi Page on August 8, 2013:

Query from a volunteer asking what would be involved in helping at the party. Very few people have offered to do this, so a summary of the task I can circulate would be helpful if you still need 10 people.

Antony Scott on August 8, 2013:

Off the top of my head, setting up/moving furniture, checking the door, putting up decorations (?) – I think the idea was to have a few volunteers so we could have a rota. Also we need a sound techie to help with PA etc. Barry/Matt was there anything else?

Antony Scott on August 17, 2013:

Just wanted to get clear on the running order for the Gala Night (following Barry's discussion with Nerds).  Is this roughly right? I haven't tied down times with Chris yet, so if we can confirm what we would like, I will check if that works for them.

6.00 Nerds arrive for setup
7.00 (?) Chris Conway arrive for setup
7.45 - 8.30 Chris Conway set 1
9.00 - 10.00 Nerds set
10.30 - 11.30 Chris Conway set 2

Steven Feldman on August 17, 2013:

That's what I had expected

Antony Scott on August 22, 2013:

This is what Chris Conway says they need for his set:
  • 2 jack inputs or DIs for keyboard and guitar amp output
  • 2 microphone XLR inputs - I can supply mic with XLR & stand. Sax player has clip on mic.
  • I'm thinking the drums might not need to be mic'd up as we are background.
Are we OK to do this?

Jeremy Morley on September 2, 2013:

Antony, just to be clear, who's providing the two mics (the XLR with stand, and the clip-on), Chris Conway?

So we need the PA to have two jack inputs and two XLR inputs but not to supply the actual mics?

Antony Scott on September 3, 2013:

Jeremy, yes that’s correct – he said to me:
“PA wise we aren't that complicated -
2 jack inputs or DIs for keyboard and guitar amp output
2 microphone XLR inputs - I can supply mic with XLR & stand. Sax player has clip on mic.
I'm thinking the drums might not need to be mic'd up as we are background. “

Let me know if you need any more info.

Antony Scott on September 6, 2013:

Steven we've not offered any expenses to Chris Conway et al - they are driving from Leicester, so won't have much, but assume it's OK to offer say up to £100 to cover car expenses etc?

Steven Feldman on September 6, 2013:

Absolutely

Barry Rowlingson on September 7, 2013:

Have confirmed from the nerds that they are bringing laptops/other playback devices for the show. We might want to keep one handy anyway to play b/g music before the band and during changeovers etc, anything that can play mp3s and have a jack output will do.

Jeremy Morley on September 9, 2013:

Is the timing at the top of the page still what's envisaged? Might be worth starting food from 7:30 to feed that many by 9?

Jeremy Morley on September 9, 2013:

OK, outcomes from meeting Shelley:

  • Shelley will print drinks vouchers, give them to us on Monday. May not be quite in house style but takes a job off us, though if someones wants to send her a JPEG of the conference logo that would be fine.
  • We should encourage people out of the EMCC between 6 & 7pm while set up for the food service happens. Bar will open in EMCC at 7, buffet from 7:30 to give time to serve everyone before nerds at 9.
  • The EMCC's licence runs till 2am. Bar should be open till 1am at least but depends on numbers - if numbers dwindle they'll close.
  • Do we want a space for the acts to change?  This could be conference suite room 3 (only 1 & 2 are being used to serve dinner) or a gallery room. Just have to confirm to Shelley.
  • Steven (alone) will have authority to tell the duty manager to "put some money behind the bar" if the free drinks run out too quickly.