University of Bristol Photographic Society

The Photosoc AGM '08

Photosoc's Annual General Meeting is the most important decision-making body of the year. On Monday 28th April 2008 at 7pm in the White Bear, we'll be voting in the new committee for the coming year (2008/09).

That's all you need to know really! Like all democratic bodies we need to achieve quorum... that is, we need a certain number of people to turn up before we can make decisions. So if you've enjoyed your time with Photosoc this year, please take the time to come along and get involved.

If you're interested in running for a position, please read on for the list of vacancies and nomination process.

Positions Available

• President
  The President of a society is there to represent the members and make sure the society runs smoothly, and believe us: it's a lot of work. Photosoc is a large society, so candidates should be prepared to get heavily involved in Union affairs, take phone calls from total strangers night and day and generally let it take over your life. That said, it can be a lot of fun if you can take the stress, and of course looks great on your CV. Its important to remember that this is a management role and not to take too much on yourself. (You also get to wear a t-shirt with President on the back - SLICK!)

• Vice President
  Vice President's job is to ensure that the President is carrying out their role as head of the society and assisting where necessary. Running a society can be extremely hard work and a reliable right-hand man is an invaluable asset. President and Vice should essentially work as a team (I'm desperately trying to keep away from the Superhero/Sidekick cliché, but I think I just failed!). The Vice President also helps ensure that the President and Committee stay on track with Society goals making sure members get the most out of the Society.

• Secretary
  This previous year we merged the positions of Vice President and Secretary, but there is a lot the Secretary is responsible for as a standalone job. The Secretary is in charge of the member list, they sign up new members throughout the year and make sure current members accounts are accessible and up to date. The Secretary is also in charge of organising the Committee Meetings and providing comprehensive minutes to be made public to the members. This position may be held in conjunction with any other committee position except for those of President or Treasurer.

• Treasurer
  Are you any good at numbers? Photosoc has two external bank accounts, two internal accounts, a PayPal account, numerous online photo sales accounts, cash-box and a stringent budget system. If that makes you cringe, then you're probably not going to enjoy this job. If that sounds interesting to you, then get involved! The Treasurer position is one of the most important in any society, as you'll have a big say in any and all expenditure throughout the year, which definitely puts you in the heart of the decision making. You have to be super-organised to make sure we don't overspend and what we do spend is spent well, you also need a will of steel to keep Committee members in check when they try to buy every latest gadget!

• Facilities Managers
  You're more than welcome to take on one or more of these positions; combine them in any way you wish! All of them require time regularly spent in the Union, so if you live miles away, these might not be for you! The Facilities Managers comprise of:

  Equipment Manager
  We have a huge collection of photographic equipment from manual film cameras to the very latest Digital SLRs, and a multitude of accessories for all. As Equipment Manager you organise Photosoc's gear, keep it in top condition and, most importantly, loan it out to our members. You're also responsible for making sure our multitudes of equipment is all accounted for and correctly insured, by no means a small job!

  Darkroom Manager
  Chemical developing and printing is slowly becoming a bit of an arcane science, but with arguably the best equipped darkrooms in the South-West, and definitely the only ones to provide ALL chemicals and paper for free, the darkrooms are a major asset to our society. We need someone who knows what they are doing in the darkroom to run workshops teaching the digital generation how proper photographs are made, check that members are tidying up after themselves and keep consumables stocked up in both darkrooms.

  Penthouse Manager
  Fully kitted out with an Apple G5 image powerhouse (especially now its been upgraded to a sickening 5GB of RAM!), along with a 20" widescreen monitor, flatbed and film scanners and a dyesub printer, the Penthouse Digital Editing Suite is the 21st century's answer to the Darkroom. As Penthouse Manager, you need to keep an eye on both the upkeep of the gear and the suite itself (most importantly you need to make sure that Mr Fluffy, the Penthouse plant, is kept watered!). Its important to have a wide knowledge of image editing software, it'll help if you've used Apples before, but its by no means necessary.

• Assistant Facilities Managers
  These roles are essentially the same as above but, as those positions require a fair amount of knowledge and experience with the facilities and kit they use, it can be useful to have a year in training before taking on the full position. They are also a great way to learn far more than you could in workshops.

• Website Manager
  Photosoc's website has become a complete administration tool helping us organise an increasingly complex range of events, facilities and equipment provided by the Society. So our web monkey really needs to know his/her stuff. If you're interested in this, please make sure you're excellent at PHP, SQL, XHTML, CSS and can at least recognise JavaScript when you see it. The website is constantly evolving, heavily interactive and, after this year, finally completed! The new back end has been designed in modules so should be incredibly easy to modify and build on. Which as the rest of the committee are always asking for tweaks here and there is a must! Along with the main website we also have Flickr integration and the account management that entails. We're also working on expanding the Events Team and Competitions pages into mini-sites offering even more features.

• Event Photography Manager
  This year has been the first year of the Events Team. It's been an enormous success, largely due to the stellar organisation and commitment Bo has devoted to it. We do a couple of events every single week, including plays, balls, speeches and sport. We now even have Events Team t-shirts giving us a brand image. Many events can be incredibly complex and involve considerable sums of money, so you need to be good at organising and budgeting for all eventualities. Also, as you will be dealing with people outside of the society you need to be willing to commit to doing events well. You have to publicise the team widely, making yourself known to all societies at Fresh, reeling in business. Then you'll need to put together teams for the events, making sure new members of the team receive good training on the job. This position is incredibly hard work, but you'll be taking on one of the most successful and active bits of the society.

• Event Photography Assistant/Studio Manager
  The Events Team has grown so rapidly over the past year that an extra committee member for the Events Team is vital. And now we have a complete studio set-up, a position dedicated to running Studio Workshops and the upkeep of this equipment, along with assisting with the Events Team would be invaluable. Prior knowledge of studio lighting is not necessary but would be very useful, and you would need to be comfortable both in front and behind the camera.

• Trips Officer
  Arguably Photosoc's most popular activity: our fantastic trips! Both international and domestic, this role revolves around the planning and running of anywhere between five and ten trips throughout the year. Candidates should be familiar with the eccentricities of budget airlines, have good stress management and the initiative to go out there and find us the deals. You'll work closely with the President and Treasurer for the most part, but will be expected to take responsibility for getting things done.

• Competitions & Exhibitions Officer
  This year has seen the introduction of really regular competitions and a points system. We've had a lot of involvement with this, which has been really great. You set fortnightly themes of your choice. You get to oversee judging of heats and thus have a lot of influence over who wins! Heats can be coordinated with the Epigram so our photos are printed there, displayed regularly in the union foyer and of course in the big exhibitions. We normally get AR2 for big exhibitions once a term (in collaboration with ArtOfficial) which are well attended. The committee help you out on these big nights, but it's your job to run them. You also get to give out a load of prizes. Once the Grand Annual prizes are given out this year the total prizes over the year will come to about £300 in value. Nat's made this work really well this year, as it can be stressful at times when there's a big exhibition on and the ongoing commitment to themes can take quite a bit of time.

• Social Secretary
  The scavenger hunt brought a hilarious start to the year and meant a lot of members got to know each other. Socials tend to work best when people are given a photo related task, as people can be a bit scared of just walking up to people they've never met and making friends. We've also pioneered non-alcoholic coffee socials. I don't think there are that many societies that have non-alcoholic socials where people talk about slightly more serious things, but they provide a photo and knowledge sharing opportunity which has proven to be extremely popular. As Socials Officer you are also in charge of organising talks, both internal and external speakers, though usually the entire committee pitches in finding interesting people to give talks. You also need to make sure all these great events are fully publicised so people know to show up!

• Sponsorship Officer
  A buzzing society like Photosoc has a lot of potential opportunities for sponsor involvement. For example advertising at exhibitions or on our website brings benefits to sponsors who bring benefits to us. You can negotiate deals with shops, manufacturers or any other business with which we can find a mutual gain. Examples of sponsorship could be, 10% off in a shop, t-shirts printed for us or a load of cash for advertising. You need to be enthusiastic and have great networking skills, as 'getting free stuff' isn't always easy and is actually quite a lot of work. On the up side if you do get free things, people rather like it.

• UWE Liaison Officer
  While it has always been generally accepted that UWE students may also join Photosoc just as easily as any Bristol student, they have never been actively encouraged. We'd love to have greater participation with UWE and as such are enquiring as to whether anyone from UWE is interested in getting involved and standing for a permanent UWE liaison position. Watch this space!

Alright, how do I get nominated?

You can nominate yourself!

Simply send an email at least 3 days before the AGM to vp@ubuphotosoc.co.uk letting us know your name, what position you'd like to apply for and why you feel you'd do a good job, and we'll get back to you and handle the rest.

You'll ideally be able to make it to our AGM of course (though we can probably cope with a couple of absent candidates) and be prepared to give a short speech to the members, particularly if your position is contested.