Duties
1) THE CALENDAR
The office manager will prepare the
calendar and email it to you. You may find it necessary to remind them of the
first due date- the 2Oth of the preceding month.
Media Distribution
Most of the media like to get the
calendar 2 weeks before the first listed event, and
some have specific deadlines, which are
listed. I find it easiest to just send it all out on the 2Oth. See the Media
Distribution List for a specific list of media. You should contact these people
when you get a chance and make sure everything's still current and they still
want a monthly calendar. You should also expand the email portion of this list
and reduce the fax portion, it saves a lot of paper, and it's easier. ( -Email
it-Hand carry it-Snail Mail it-Fax it)
Bulk Email Submission
Every week, on Thursday evening, a bulk
email is sent out to all HSU students. In
order to have events, updates and
workshops included in the email, pick up one or more forms from the Clubs &
Activities Office, fill it out, and return it to by 11 am Thursday each
week (Best time to submit is the previous
Friday).
HSU Events &
Activities Web Calendar
This is an online events calendar
sponsored by the Clubs & Activities Office. To get events on this calendar,
go to: www.humboldt.edu/~calendar/
Click on "login", your login is
CCAT, and your password is CCATl
(Make sure you use capital letters), Fill
in the events you want included, and that's it!
CCAT Email List
This is a running list that you keep on
whichever email address is most
convenient for you, just make sure you
check it often. Be sure to add the
email addresses given to you as well.
This list is for people who want updates and the monthly CCAT Calendar, but
make sure any new volunteers and people who leave their email addresses at
tabling events or workshops are put on this list as well.
2) GENERAL PUBLICITY:
Sometimes there are events that need more
than the usual publication in Community calendars, etc. For example, the first
potluck of the year, MayDay, CCAT Week. ..It does take a lot of extra effort,
but it always pays off.
Radio/TV/Newspaper
Use the media distribution list and send
out a separate Public Service Announcement (PSA). There are examples of these
in your folder and on disk. Also, many of the local media are very responsive
to writing articles or hosting speakers, just ask them. Make some good
contacts! Some people I've talked to in the past are: Jennifer Savage from the
Arcata Eye, Sid from Econews, and the Times-Standard is helpful as well. If
you're nervous or inexperienced with giving interviews, you can get a
co-director to do it.
Chalking
Using sidewalk
chalk to announce events is effective and fun! Get some help with this, make an
outing of it. Get a permit from the Clubs & Activities Office, take
it to the Plant Operations office, get it approved, and that should be
it.
Staking
There are some
signs made for staking, but feel free to make your own. Just make posters,
laminate them and attach them to stakes.
Get a permit from the Clubs & Activities Office. The
Clubs office has a laminating machine that you can use. CCAT has an allotment
of laminate material per semester, after that is used up, you can buy packages
of laminate from Arcata Stationary on the Plaza. Laminating is expensive. If
taking the time and money to laminate signs, please attempt to make them so
that they can be used over again for other events or demo purposes.
Banners
Banners are hung every week on the quad.
Go to the Information desk
to reserve time. Do this soon, the spots
are taken by the middle of the first week of school. Make banners in the clubs
and activities office, there is new and used paper there, as well as giant
pens. Be creative, just make sure it's legible from far away.
3) TABLING:
You will usually know when a good event
comes up because people will send you flyers or emails, but keep your eyes
open. The North Country Fair is in September, find a contact and get going on
that if there's time, it requires more work than the usual table, but a lot of
people are there. And also, just as a heads-up, the Spring Holistic Health Fair
in Manila isn't
really a health fair, it's more like a community health awareness fair, with
booths on how to brush your teeth properly and boating safety. Still feel free
to table there, if you want to, but just realize that it's not like it sounds.
Volunteers:
It's best to staff the tables with two people at a time,
this somehow makes it more attractive for the public. You should staff a lot of
these tables, but if you can't, just make sure other people will. Scout out
some volunteers who might be interested in tabling early, and keep good records
of their info, these are who you'll need to staff the outreach booths. Also,
employees and co-directors are often willing to help, but keep in mind how busy
they already are with CCAT stuff. It's easier to get employees to sign up by
passing around a sign-up sheet at employee meetings. *It's really good to match
inexperienced volunteers with co-directors or experienced employees in order to
effectively train volunteers. Also, make sure you call to remind tablers the
night before, they often forget.
General Tips:
Get the public hooked with attractive appropriate
technology! Use the tabling display set up along with other fun stuff like:
solar oven (full of cookies if its sunny?!), solar water pump, rocket stoves or
. . . be creative!
TABLING ON CAMPUS:-
Your first priority is the campus, we get most of our funding from A.S. and
most of our volunteers are students, so we must spread the word here.
Equipment
Tables are available next to the elevator
at ground level on the quad in a closet, which is usually unlocked. Tabling
supplies (whatever fits) can be stored in the Clubs Storage Closet in the South
Lounge. The Clubs & Activities office has a key to this, (just make sure no
goods or money is left here, all clubs have access). There is a backpack at
CCAT that contains materials for tabling, feel free to add more materials to
this backpack and keep it stocked with all pertinent materials ("How to
get involved w/CCAT", "AT minor", current calendar of events,
volunteer sign up sheets, and . . . Ask the office manager to make copies for
you if you need to- be sure to supply an original copy of each document you
want copied)
Permits
You will need a tabling permit (from the
clubs office) for the semester, and a food permit, if food is going to be sold.
Tips
Tabling is essential the first 2 weeks of
school, especially during the fall semester. Put out sign up sheets for
volunteers, this is where you hook them! And sign up a few decoy names first,
don't put out a blank sign up sheet, it's strange, but people are hesitant to
sign up on a blank sign up sheet. 11:OOam-l :OOpm is the best, busiest time to
table, and beyond 1O:OOand 2:00pm is usually not worth it.
TABLING OFF CAMPUS:
Tabling off campus is important too!
Tips:
Tables are often provided for us, but if
not, there is usually a usable one at CCAT.
Make sure other tabling supplies are at
CCAT before the event, as the Clubs Storage Closet is only open 9-5 mon-fri!
4) LIBRARY DISPLAY:
Reservations:
We can use the big display case in the
library for two weeks during the school year (best to try to get one a semester
or possibly two in a row for extensive displays). You sign up for a spot in the
library the week before school starts! The spots are usually booked by the
first week of school.
Setting Up:
You will be responsible for setting up
the display, and get help on this, you'll need it, it takes hours to do a good
job. Plan out, sketch out what you want to do first, and make sure that most
aspects of CCAT are represented, and it's good to ask for contributions of
equipments, visual displays, etc. from employees.
Schedule:
You can start setting up the display on
Tuesday morning of the scheduled week, but sometimes the Monday before if the
last club took down their display early. Your display needs to be gone by
Monday at 5:00pm after your scheduled week.
Tips: Standards
of the display are: plush earth balls hung from the ceiling, a
model of CCAT, solar panels, and whatever
tabling supplies are available.
5) VOLUNTEERS:
Recruiting and organizing Volunteers is
part of your job. The majority of this work takes place during the first three
weeks of the semester .
Getting the Word Out:
Let people know we need volunteers via
library displays, bulk email, flyers, staking, chalking, tabling.
1st Potluck of the
Year/Semester:
This is a great way to get potential
volunteers up to CCAT and take them into the fold. You should take measures to
make sure new people are welcome, get a good idea of what CCAT is about, and
get all their questions answered (get other employees to help with this, there
are too many for you to handle). Also make sure there are volunteer sign-up
sheets on the coffee table.
Organizing the
Volunteers:
Try to pin people down as to what they
might be interested in doing at CCAT. This is the best way to get them started.
Develop a volunteer list, divided by area of interest; email it to all
employees, place one on the board in the CCAT office, and give hard copies to
whichever employees want them. Also email volunteers employees' email addresses
and office hours. Keep this list up to date.
Tips: .
Don't forget to thank volunteers! Phone
volunteers that you know have helped out, send out a few thank you cards, or
even just email them. This is important.
*SERVICES AVAILABLE TO YOU :
The clubs office has a lot of resources
available to you. This is a good home base, As you are often on the opposite
side of campus from CCAT. There are pens, paper, a paper cutter, office
supplies, a lamination machine and a button maker. The clubs resource center
has a phone you can use, get the key from the office. Just be nice to Patty, the main office lady,
and do everything she tells you! Michael
Wilcoxen is also a good contact.
Communicate with Co-directors and other employees - In order
for our program to proceed efficiently, it is important that everyone involved
communicates with everyone else. Please keep the co-directors and others
informed of what you are doing, how publicity is going, any help you need, or
ideas you have to enhance CCAT's outreach. There is a notebook to record the
hours you work and what specific tasks you did, along with your timesheet. Since you may be working off site a lot, you
can keep a personal log of hours worked and what specific tasks you did, to be
turned in with your time sheet.