The UK Headphone Society / UK CAN JAM 2009

[JohnerH]

Ok... Following from this...

Since I have got a little tiny winy more time, I'm going to put this out and see how much it brings back...

Plan:

To create/organize a committee that is officially responsible for the organization of annual UK Cam Jams.

Now, 1st point... I haven't got a clue how to officially setup such a thing or the cost involved.

2nd, would it be an elective committee (depends on how much interest there is in being part of it), or at the beginning would it just be appointed roles.

3rd, what roles would we need.

4th, when should we aim to get the 1st annual meet organized for, date wize.

Ok, these are just some on the top of my mind... Please, get your ideas out so I can start getting some paperwork together...


J

[omegaman]

Hope this gets of the ground, I keep looking at the other thread because I have to make a trip back to old Blighty later this year and would love to work it around this historical event !!!!!!!!!!!!

edit :- Just noticed the 2009 header, Never mind I could come back anyway, I will be watching !!!!

[Duggeh]

Still possible to organise a national meet in 2008, the one last year was in November, however if you're looking at some sort of difference between a national meet and a UK Canjam
(like say, a UK Canjam being a larger event which has the involvement on manufacturers and or sponsors rather than a national meet being where a group of folks get together of a day with their own gear only) then 2009 is more sensible for the extra degree of advance planning that would be involved.

Anyway I'm happy to help out in whatever capacity I can. As regards cost, theres the obvious ones like venue, accomodation, travel/transport to be thought about. Costs could be met by entry fees for those who atttend, and/or by money from manufacturers who want to have a table at the event. Raffle or somesuch would also bring in some coin, although it necessitiates prizes obv.

I don't know if it need be electrive, but whats important is that those who do get together for this are communicative and are active, and do not just throw their name in to feel involved and then turn out to be of no use. As for what positions are needed, I think that so long as there is one person who is recognised as gaffer, then other tasks and roles can be deligated as needed.

As for the date to chose, that, along with picking a location, is what is cause of the biggest headache. Whats important is to pick a place that's geographically sensible, irrespective of how vocal some people who live, gasp, 75 miles away maon about it. Theres always going to be someone who has to travel further than someone else. Whats most important for the location is that it be generally accessable to a decent number of people (and to my mind, this means it has to be in a city in England) and that the actual location for the meet have the appropriate facilities, that is to say, space, tables, wall sockets, accomodation, good parking and a bonus on that, a decent loading/unloading area, and of course, a bar.

Date is less important than location, or at least less contentious. If its suitably far in advance, most people can plan around it. Just don't stick it during a difficult holiday time (christmas/new year, peak of summer) or during the exams period (which is quite broad once you factor in the major universities) then you're gonna be okay.

Theres some banter. To pick an arbitary date and place, and start the bickering probably, how about Manchester again and in early April? Weekend of saturday 4th?



-ps-

I'm so glad this posted, my browser crashed when I hit post and the idea of typign that again wasn't nice.

[shadesbass]

I'm also happy to help out.

There's a couple of ways to go about deciding a location - either we hold it somewhere that is roughly central (e.g. somewhere on this map), or we alternate going North/South for each meet.
As Duggeh suggests, I think a central meeting place would be best to encourage the maximum number of people to come, which in turn provides a greater incentive for companies to exhibit their products and hopefully provide some financial backing for the event.
An alternating scheme would work better if/once the event has grown in popularity and reputation (i.e. when people are prepared to travel further for one meet and know that next time it will be on their doorstep).

I can't really think of anything else to add to Duggeh's comprehensive post, apart from that April 4th works for me.

[JohnerH]

Righty then...

I don't really know what I'll be doing on April the 4th but I'm sure I can get out of whatever I might be doing at the time.

Now, organization...

I'm going to suggest some positions and then people that are interested in them or have better one or better distribution of duties please say so...

1st Position: The Gaffer

ie.: the guy the coordinates the lot, mainly does the logistical work and recognizes when all the different parts are done...

2nd Position: The Location Dude

ie.: The guy that gets the venue, oversees where it's going to take place (within the region we agree upon) and sorts out the contracts for the venue etc.

3rd Position: The PR Dude

ie.: Get the public relations going with the several companies and possible/probably does the advertising for it as well.

4th Position: The Web Dude

ie.: Setting up a page for the event, updating it if and when it's necessary, basically he'll be in charge of getting page up and putting everything on that is fed by all the other members.

5th Position: The internal logistics Dude

ie.: The guy that catters for who's actually coming, the gear that will be available from the members involved and setting up a game plan within the venue to where everyone is going to be.

6th Position: Treasurer / Financial Dude

ie.: The guy that deals with the funds, what available to whom and where the money's coming from. Either from ticket fees, raffles etc... Ans subsequently distributes the funds where they are needed. Cash flow maintenance.

Also I was wondering about setting up a proper society, registered and all...Anyway got any ideas?

Let me know what you guys think so far...

J

[shadesbass]

They all sound like sensible roles. Assuming we can find 6 people willing to be on the 'committee'...
I would be happy to be the web, internal logistics or treasurer/financial dude, although my web page experience is practically negligible (i.e. google pages, but that may be enough for this purpose), so I'd probably be better at one of the other two - basically anything that involves an Excel spreadsheet!

What do you mean by a "proper society"? How does one go about registering such a thing?

[JohnerH]

I mean like, you know how there are clubs and what not?

Getting something of a sort as Headphone Society.

I'd probably be interested in the Internet Logistics or the Location Jobby...

But like you said we need more people...

J

[JohnerH]

So I guess there's not that much interest in this then...

J

[omegaman]

Originally Posted by JohnerH

So I guess there's not that much interest in this then...

J

I am also amazed myself by the lack of interest in this thread, I thought all the UK Head-fi'ers would jump on this, If I am considering jumping on a plane from Spain it can't be that hard for people to consider driving up/down the motorway.

Maybe not many people have seen it yet ???

[adamus]

I'd be up for it. would it not be sensible to do it near london or in the midlands though?

[qib]

definitely up for it as a supporter, not for the committee though. Im not good with that sort of thing. Hope this kicks off proper.

[JohnerH]

Originally Posted by adamus

I'd be up for it. would it not be sensible to do it near london or in the midlands though?

First and foremost we need to get some organization people up.

If it is going to kick off I need to see more people interested in this, or otherwise the whole thing will just flop...

Any ideas on how to get this through to the right people?

J

[omegaman]

Start PMing UK headfiers you come across on other threads with a link to this one, With the lack of UK meets maybe just nobody comes into this section ?

[Bizzel]

I'm glad I noticed this thread! I've been away for a while and finally got back to reading and posting on a regular basis. I'd love to help out, perhaps more with the web side of things.

The next couple of months are busy for me as I'm starting my university course (in Durham, which is a lot closer to the common meet locations!) but I'll see what I can fit in if needed.

[MarkyMark]

I travelled up to the meet in Manchester last year from London. I don't mind doing that again as it's pretty much a central location for the whole of mainland UK and provided you book well in advance, train fares will be reasonably priced (got caught out with that last year).

We used the Days Inn hotel for the meet and it was a good venue. It is well located right near to the station, has a good sized meeting room and it means you can stay right on site at a reasonable cost (was about £50/night IIRC). So why not consider that again???

Cheers.