VP External's Report

This document shall serve as the report of the Vice President External (VP Ex.) of the Dalhousie Computer Science Society (CS Society, or “the society”) for the 2009 summer semester.

I was appointed to the post in late May after no candidate received enough nominations to run for the position in the April elections. I engaged in three major roles as VP Ex. First, I represented CS students to the Dalhousie Student Union (DSU) at the DSU council meetings. Second, I ran the society barbecue events each Friday and did preliminary planning for the Snowball event in the fall. Third, I was heavily involved in orientation planning and working with the new Dalhousie Peer Partnership Program (PPP).

There were 4 DSU council meetings during the summer term. The first meeting was reliantly uneventful. The second meeting discussed the role of the referendum review committee, which saw it's mandate clarified to provide recommendations for holding not just levied societies of the DSU accountable, but also other DSU services mandated by a referendum including for example, the DSU healthplan. The third meeting examined the recent change in university policy that prevents students from paying for tuition with credit cards. The DSU issued a list of demands to the university on the issue, including that the university make every effort to notify students of the change in policy, and that the university establish an appeals procedure for those who could not attend university without use of a credit card to pay tuition. As of this report's deadline, the 4th meeting has not taken place, however the agenda contains no items of concern. During this period, I also served on the referendum review committee, and highly advise my successor to do the same.

As no other members of the council had work schedules with any flexibility, I ran the society barbecues throughout the summer. This consisted of establishing a volunteer base, obtaining supplies, and actually holding the event. Although we planned to hold a barbecue each Friday throughout the term, in practice, the events were bi-weekly due to fluctuating volunteer capacity, my occasional unavailability, and other problems. In future I would advise against the VP Ex. Managing events like this, as it served to increase my time commitment to the society to unsustainable levels. I would also advise against having a summer council comprised of co-op workers in future, as their ability to commit to the day to day running of society events and meetings is greatly compromised. Instead at least some summer students should be tapped for the council.

I also opted to shoulder the burden of initial Snowball planning this summer. This consisted of selecting a date (November 13th), booking a venue (the Lord Nelson Hotel), and signing the initial contract. Important details pertaining to Snowball are included in appendix A below. The fall council should be fully aware of the contents of that appendix.

My final major commitments were to the orientation planning and the PPP. The PPP is a new Dalhousie mentorship program, which will pair volunteer CS students with 4-5 incoming first year CS students. The faculty orientation events have been integrated with the PPP orientation events this year. The society also opted to run its own orientation event this year, a new coinsurance. The event will be an all-day affair, consisting of breakfast and lunch provided by the society, a walking tour of Halifax, sports and a video games competition, held the first day of classes. Fall council members are encouraged to participate.

Appendix A: Snowball
Contact person at the Lord Nelson: Daniel Peck: dpeck@lordnelsonhotel.com 902-491-6104
DJ CONTACT: NICOLE LEWIS (LEWIS@CS.DAL.CA) HAS A RECOMMENDATION
CATERING CONTACT: MEGAN MCANNING@LORDNELSONHOTEL.COM 902-491-6134
A/V contact: Frischkorn AudioVisual Inc.,(902) 455-8773.
Me: jdoucett@cs.dal.ca
Nova Trophy: http://www.novatrophy.com/

TODO (order matters!!!)
1. Print Tickets. Template is available from me if you don't want to make new ones. Prices should be $20 for students, $40+ for everyone else. Increase prices by $10 1 month before event, and advertise that you are going to do this. That'll get everyone buying. Make sure to take note of the dinner types people want, e.g. vegetarian, particular plate types.
2. Print advertising posters. Again, I have a template, although Nicole's friend is working on a new design.
3. Start voting for the Srini Award for Teaching excellence, the Ann Elizabeth Berringer student appreciation award, and the staff appreciation award. Most votes wins. In case of a tie, council decides by secret ballot.
4. Make sure the faculty has started deciding on the Leadership, Citizenship and Ada Byron awards.
5. Disseminate the posters around campus, especially in the CS building. Make sure freshmen students are aware of them.
6. Get in touch with Rosemary Bully (The Faculty Alumni Rep.) who will manage industry sponsorship for you.
7. Make sure the society allocates another $3000 to the event, for a total of $6000, including the $3000 allocated by the summer council.
8. Book DJ.
9. Contact the Lord Nelson and find out if they are providing table furnishings. If not, consider outsourcing to get napkins, centerpieces, etc. Also consider decorations.
10. Contact Lord Nelson re: A/V equipment. You must use the company shown above, or $600 extra will be billed to us. Try to find out if we can use our own sound equipment where possible though.
11. Contact catering at the Lord Nelson to confirm everything. Make sure we are getting a plated dinner.
12. Contact Nova Trophy to get the society awards done up. They may not respond to emails, so go in person to their location on Almon St. off of Robie. You will need to bring the Srini Award for Teaching Excellence, which is located with the pictures of all the staff and profs near the building entrance. They should have a copy of our order from last year.
13. Write a script. I can send you a sample from last year. Should be longer than last year's though.
14. Go to the hotel beforehand and make sure everything is underway
15. Arrive at the hotel 2 hours before the event to make sure everything is okay.
Done!
Aim to have 1-7 done by Oct. 1st, and 8-13 by November 1st, and you should be fine.