Guild Council Report – December 2012

Ollie Cosentino - VP Activities and Development | December 10, 2012 | No comments
What duties have you been carrying out which tie into your manifesto pledges?
SocietiesFest

We’ve been firming up the plans for the January societies fair, which has actually been more difficult than you might expect. This has mainly come from difficulties with the university and their desire to move the fair later into term, to a date that suits them and not us. It has meant that there may be a few more changes to the fair than we were expecting, including a new location. At the time of writing this, I am unable to say for certain the details of dates and location but I will by Guild Council, so if you are curious, then please come and ask. However, I can reveal the new name of the fair, which will act as the launch of a new Guild wide campaign. And that is the ‘Give it a Go Fair’ Keep an eye out for more info over the Christmas holiday.

Refresh Volunteering

More work has been done this month on student volunteering week 2013, including several cross department meetings to discuss the best way to launch it in February. I’ve also been to NUS HQ in London along with Studev staff to talk to them about it and what their plans are for Volunteering in unions. As its part of the NUS’ strategic plan for this year, it makes sense to see what their vision of student volunteering is before attempting to launch something on our very own campus.

Whilst in London, I also had the chance to view the volunteering module of the website that will be launching next year. This is part of phase 2 of the project and will see the guild shift a lot of the lengthy paperwork around volunteering onto the website. Making simpler and more straight forward to not only start volunteering through the Guild, but also for those wanting to gain recognition by recording volunteering hours etc. Exactly what we need to get more people involved!

Fun funding

Again, this manifesto point has had to take a bit of a back seat this month due to other commitments. I’ll be picking a lot of this work up over Christmas. Including hopefully working with other University departments such as the Alumni office. As well as working on the new student group training for Term 2 which will help make it clear how to obtain group funding.

24/7 accessible Sabb

I’m still always around.

I still have a blackberry which you can contact me on.

Try it sometime!?

 
What other duties have you been carrying out within your role?
Website

Oh, NUS Digital, how I love you so. The work continues on making it a website that works for you! As I’ve already mentioned, I went to NUS HQ to look at the new new volunteering module due to come on live next year. Including the opportunity to feedback on what we need it to do. I’ll also be heading out in January to look at other parts of phase two including the jobshop module. As well as this, I’ll also be looking to do a term 1 review of the new website over the next few weeks. More info on that below!

NUS Demo

So. we came, we saw and we got very wet! The NUS National Demo happened this month and it’s fair to say it was an interesting experience. Despite the Guild’s coaches getting into London rather late, we still managed to tag onto the back of the march with our massive banner (expertly carried by Mr Franklin, see Redbrick for photos). I think I also have to agree that the route of the march was a bit of a joke. Sending a large march down a road with no significance into an area of London where no-one cared, only seemed to frustrate all the cold and damp demonstrators, including myself. By the time we got to the rally, most people either went to get some shelter or felt inclined to pelt the stage with a good old egg. So, great success then? Well, it’s a lot better than sitting in silence and things going on as per. If you are angry, shout about it. Because otherwise, no-one will know, and nothing will ever change. Wednesday 21st November may not come to much in the end, but those that need to know, are aware that the student movement is still here, and we do hold a lot of power!

Room bookings

Space and Room Bookings at the guild actually make my head hurt a lot. It’s easy to think about the numerous groups requesting a finite set of rooms but, only when you see the different stakeholders involved in black and white, you realise that the task of making everyone happy is no mean feat. Term 2 bookings have been opened, and along with the Room Bookings co-ordinator, I have sat down and attempted this very job. With Deb Hall bookings being the most difficult ones to manage and fit in. Hopefully we have been as fair as we can be and as always, we do want feedback to make the process even better next time around.

Guild Council Filming

Following on from the success at the last Guild Council with Guild TV being allowed to film and stream future meetings of Guild Council, I have been working with them and Student Voice to make sure things go smoothly. It’s really exciting that this is now going to be a regular thing as there is now so much opportunity for your regular students to get involved and see what happens at meetings. Not only that, it gives one of our media groups a great opportunity to perfect and develop their live broadcasting offering.

Challenge Ollie

Without doubt, the best part of the job! Even if it’s also the scariest part of the job. Being challenged by student groups to give what they do a try. The biggest thing I’ve been challenged to do this term is to participate in the annual ‘Strictly Brum Dancing’ competition hosted by the Ballroom and Latin American Dance Society. Tasked with learning 2 dances from scratch and to perform them live last Thursday has been a challenge but also great fun! So if there are any other groups out there reading this, make sure you drop me an email and challenge me to do something.

 
What do you aim to get done before the next Guild Council?
Again, I’ll be working on developing phase 1 of the Guild website. Making sure that we’re still working on those issues before we start with phase 2. I’m hoping to produce a report over Christmas outlining the successes and issues with the new website and how to proceed with taking the project forward into the 2013/14 academic year.

 

A lot of the new Student Group committee training should be near completion ready for sessions put on in term 2. With loads of new and varied things being offered in training following extensive research and planning by Student Development, myself and of course Fliss Cross.

 

The Give it a go fair should be all done and dusted, and all the promo that goes with it! We’re going to promote it hard so that is most definitely going to take up a lot of my time in the first few weeks of next term.

 

…As well as all the other day to day Student Group queries and issues that need my constant attention. Always loads of stuff happening!!

 

 

Category: Uncategorized

Guild Council Report – November 2012

Ollie Cosentino - VP Activities and Development | November 18, 2012 | No comments
What duties have you been carrying out which tie into your manifesto pledges?
Launch a SocietiesFest

Work began on this over the summer. With the aim being to launch a ‘SocitiesFest’ that would run alongside the current ‘FreshersFest’ package during welcome week. Ultimately, I had the aim of doing this ready for September 2012. However it soon became apparent that there simply was not enough time to get it ready by then, when I took office in July. However, with a whole year to get something ready, by September 2013 there should be a guild supported/organised alternative week of events supported by student development and run by student groups. The plan has been drawn up, it’s simply a case of bringing it all together now and making sure that everything is in place for it to happen. I’m going to be using the January societies fair (Previously the Get Involved fair, new name TBC) as a soft launch for part of the plans. So keep an eye out for some announcements on this before the end of Term 1.

 

Refresh Guild Volunteering

I think I used the term ‘Making Volunteering Sexy’ whilst I was campaigning. I’ll brush over that fact in this report though. Having been a volunteer at the Guild for 2 years previously, I recognised that there was not exactly the same attention given to it compared to other areas of the Guild. Which is a shame, because after all, Volunteering is great! It’s fundamentally the best feel good thing you can do. Giving up your own time, not for profit, but to help others. Therefore, I’ve set out on giving it some more prominence both here in the Guild but also on campus! It’s not about re-inventing the wheel though. There is already so much on offer with our numerous student led volunteering projects, our external charities we work with and refer students to, and also all those other things students do in the Guild that count towards volunteering. It’s more about changing the culture of volunteering and the perception that brings. Following on from this year’s Olympic Games and the infamous ‘Games Makers’, volunteering has seen more interest.

 

Myself and members of Student Development staff have already made headway into developing out volunteering offering at the Guild, especially with regards to how we offer it. It needs to be easier for students to do volunteering, fitting it around their studies and that’s something we can change. We’ll also be doing a big campaign in February that will line up with the National Student Volunteering Week, which is when a lot of my master plans will hopefully come to fruition. The NUS are also leading on a new volunteering strategy this year and we are hoping to link up with the work they are doing to ensure we can make a big noise about how great volunteering is, again in the new year!

 

Better Funding

This one has been a bit of a tricky one so far. Over the summer, I was looking into new ways that groups could fundraise and acquire new sources of revenue. One particular method that caught my eye was the idea of ‘Crowdfunding’. Instead of one being investment from an organisation, as is traditionally the way with sponsorship, Crowdfunding relies more on individuals contributing smaller amounts to accumulate one big investment. Forgive me if it sounds like some dodgy money making scheme, it’s actually not. It’s something that has worked well at other Students Unions when it comes to societies and sports clubs to bring in extra money for projects and events, very much like the ones our groups run here. I am still in discussions with an organisation that has brought this concept over from the USA and is delivering it here. Hopefully this is something I can launch in the new year and help a lot of groups get that much needed extra cash.

 

As well as this, as part of our committee training review, I have been looking at how we can best pass on the tips of the trade when it comes to external sponsorship and other fundraising methods. The traditional cake sale outside spar is great (bad because I eat too much cake) but it’ll be useful for groups to know the other ways they can obtain more financial resources.

 

24/7 Accessible Sabbatical Officer

Well, this was always going to be fun. For those of you that know me well, you will probably be aware that this particular policy has now become a running joke. However, I still stand by this policy and will henceforth further add justification to it.

As a sabb, we have an obligation to do our best for our constituents. We are elected to help students at this University and because of that; there may be times where this does stretch outside our regular hours of work. I’m aware that my role in particular has a very immediate group of students who may need assistance from time to time. So, having this commitment as a manifesto point just acted to reaffirm that I’m always willing to help, even if its 3am in the morning and something needs solving. Up until the time that I’m writing this report, no-one has needed to do this, which I guess is good for me and my sleep, but I’m still standing by this pledge if anyone does wish to make use of it.

As an additional part of this policy, I also said I would be as accessible as I can be. Over the summer, I spent a considerable amount of time working in Student Development which was useful. Since the beginning of term, this has been more difficult to do due to staff needing the computer in the officer. However, I am trying my best to be as visible as possible to people around the Guild. Keep an eye out on social media for updates on when I’ll be downstairs in the future.

 
What other duties have you been carrying out within your role?
NUS Digital Website

As the Vice President (Democracy and Recourses) is scared of all things technology, it has fallen to me to over the last few months to ensure that the transition from the old BAM website to the new NUS Digital website was made as smooth as possible. Unfortunately, we did have a few difficulties with several of the processes which I will explain briefly below. For those of you that don’t know, we are part of an exclusive group of Unions working in partnership with NUS Services to launch a new website platform. As it is a development agreement we have with the NUS and this is something totally new for them, this has resulted in a few hiccups and challenges in delivering a website that works for everyone who uses it.

 

The main focus for launch was on the student group modules, hence why I have been so involved. It’s immediately fair to say that we have made a massive step in being able to deliver online membership sign-ups for students, something that the previous website would never have been able to provide. This has resulted in over 2000 student group sign ups so far, that are in addition to members that have signed up at the fairs and over successive weeks at welcome events. Making it as easy as possible for students to join student groups will always be a priority for Student Development and it has been great to see this addition work well.

 

However, there have been set backs, which have been disappointing. Including several delays over the summer by the NUS which resulted in launching later than we would have liked, and subsequently meaning that information about the website wasn’t delivered to Student Groups and members in general until very late before the start of term. We have also had problems with regards to uploading membership data onto the website, with this only being able to begin a few weeks ago, much later than is desirable for Student Groups

There has also been other smaller problems that have resulted in complaints by students, but we have worked as quickly as possible with the NUS to rectify these.

 

We now move forward, working with the Guild’s Marketing and Communications department and other relevant departments along with the NUS to develop the website further, ensuring that we get the first phase as good as it can be, and then progressing with phase 2 and beyond of the development which includes exciting things like a new voting platform, Jobzone and volunteering modules.

 

Guild Awards

It’s still very early days with planning for Guild Awards 2013, but I thought I’d mention it as it’s taking up a fair chunk of my time at the moment. We have a date confirmed, we have a menu confirmed, we have award categories confirmed and we will be looking for entertainment and performers very soon, so keep any eye out for details before the end of Term 1. It’s going to be hard to beat last year’s awards, but I think we can just about do it.

 

Get Involved/January Societies Fair

It’s a standard event on the Guild calendar but this year, I’m hoping to make a few changes as to how it will be run. Namely, a new brand, which is very exciting. I think there’s a lot of potential to get people to join a group at that particular part of the year, it’s just about putting something on that will get as many people doing that as possible. The fair is a great tool for this, but I’m hoping this year can be a lot more than just the fair! Remember, it’s never too late to give something a go!

 

Committee Training

Following on from the AGM synchronisation this year, myself and Student Development have been looking at both the training we are currently offering this term, but also the new and improved training we will be looking to offer towards the end of term 2 when every group is at the same point, ready to be trained. We’re trying to be as creative as possible, being very aware that time is very precious to many people, and student group training may not always be at the top of everyone’s list of priorities when time is tight. So as well as physical training sessions, we have also been looking at how we can make certain aspects of training more interactive and available in different formats, including online walkthroughs and videos. When it’s all done, I really do think we’re going to be able to offer so much more in depth and relevant training, specific to the needs of each different group and committee position.

 

Student Media

Over the course of Fliss’ term in office last year, she began work on assessing the current state of the Guild’s student media groups and where they’re all currently at in terms of their development. Just before she left, she brought all this together and produced a 30 page report on her findings which included suggestions and potential development opportunities that these groups could pursue to take themselves to the next level (please contact me if you wish to view a copy!). So, since July I have been working on getting the wheels in motion and putting some of the plans of action into place. There is a lot of potential in Guild student media at the moment, so much so that I believe within a few years, we will be easily competing with some of the bigger and better funded student unions in this area.

 

Student Groups Committee

This is probably the most exciting part of my role as VPAD. Last year, I was lucky enough to be elected onto the committee as a student and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Coming back to be part of it as chair has been great, and has so far not failed to be very interested. The committee meets to discuss all things student groups, with this largely focusing on group recognitions at the moment. They’re great because it’s always enjoyable to see people pitch something they have a true passion for. Being able to help our current groups put on awesome events is also one of the other perks of the job. Sometimes this can be difficult, as there’s only so much money to go around, but we stay as fair as possible and always want to help out.

 

RAG Conference

In September, Carnival RAG won the bid to host the national Raising and Giving Conference in 2013. I have to say it’s a great achievement for them, having worked hard for several months before hand to come up with a bid that would secure it for them. Following on, I have been working closely with them to formalise the organising committee for the conference, which will not just be a Carnival run thing. It will be opened far and wide to get as many students involved with it, so not just Carnival, not just Guild but a cross university run event. Which is very exciting! We’ll be recruiting members imminently, so if you’re interested in being a part of it, then please do get in contact. And of course, put the first week in September 2013 in your diaries, as you will want to come along.

 
What do you aim to get done before the next Guild Council?
There are many things coming up over the course of the next month. However, one thing that I’ve noticed so far in my time in this role is sometimes, it takes quite a bit of time for things to become finished. So many of the things I’m currently working on maybe won’t be completed

 

Amongst other things, I’ll be working on developing phase 1 of the Guild website. Making sure that we’re getting those issues ironed out before we start looking at taking the site forward with new add-ons.

 

The Student Groups Audit should be completed by December. This is done twice a year and ensures that every group is fulfilling its aims and objectives and is meeting the minimum criteria to continue being a Guild affiliated Student Group. It sounds harsh, but we don’t mean it to. We have a lot of groups to support and we want to make sure we’re able to support them as best as we can and the audit means that we can focus on helping those groups which are meeting the criteria much better.

 

As well as all the other day to day Student Group queries and issues that need my constant attention.

 

 
Category: Uncategorized

The Teaser Blog

Ollie Cosentino - VP Activities and Development | October 25, 2012 | No comments

So it’s just under 30 days since my last blog, about 30 minutes to be precise. I remember being sat in Guild Council a few years ago, when a debate was being had about officers needing to blog and I was thinking… How hard can it actually be to blog once a month. It is only now that I realise, it’s actually quite tricky. So, even if you consider this to be cheeky, I’m going to use this blog as a quick teaser to my guild council report that I’m going to publish within the next few days. I’m going to write it this weekend, and it’s probably going to be quite long as I do actually have a ridiculous amount to update you all on. But for now, I shall just give you a quick summary of things that have happened in my VPAD life over the last month.

The Website – It’s official, I’m now the lead officer in terms of the development of the Guild of Students website!

Guild Awards – It’s very early days but the work has already begun to make this year’s awards the best yet! A date has been confirmed and so has the food, but of course it’s all under wraps at the moment. All I’ll say is, you won’t be disappointed

Challenge Ollie – I actually think this is the best part of my role. Getting stuck into the activities of student groups. I’m relishing the opportunity to give things a go, so please get in contact if you want me to come along to one of your future events. I’ve had a few offers in already, so get on it!

Volunteering -  Work is well under way in organising the Guild’s offering for volunteering week 2013, which is when I will attempt to make volunteering sexy. Get yourselves ready for February!

Get Involved – No sooner has freshers week passed, and we are then getting ourselves ready for the Get Involved fair in January. But actually, is that what it’s actually going to be called?!

Miniforums – I’m in the middle of miniforum season, which is pretty hectic. Got loads of things coming out of them, especially loads of feedback from groups. It’s been really good to chat to groups so far.

Student Groups Committee – Love this! Having been involved with the committee last year, it’s been great to continue on in recognising new groups and other general stuff as well. I feel like we’ve got a great group on the committee this year, so I’m very much a happy VPAD!

Elections – Because I clearly don’t have enough to do, I’ve decided it’d be great to sign myself up to elections committee.  Secretly, I think I just want to be the VPDR, especially just for the elections. I think it’s fair to say, I’m a bit of an elections nerd.

 

So, hopefully that has given you enough for the mean time. As I say, I’ll be writing a full report up very soon so keep an eye out for that! Until then, thanks blog fans!

 

Cheers,

Ollie

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Category: Uncategorized

And that was Welcome Week!

Ollie Cosentino - VP Activities and Development | September 26, 2012 | No comments

It’s blog time again! As we’re all still sorting ourselves out from what was Welcome Week I’m going to keep this mega brief and just give you a quick overview of how things went! I’ll do a more in depth blog very very soon!

How did things go? I’d say very well and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed having campus return to its usual busy self. There’s something about campus in the summer that just feels a bit empty and not quite right. Having a bit of hustle and bustle is great.

Over the weekend, I was around several halls of residence helping new students move into their accommodation. Also did a few talks up on the Vale telling newbies how awesome the Guild is. Standard.

Onto the week itself… Monday I was ‘Day Champion’ at the Guild meaning I was entrusted with a walkie talkie which meant I was kind of in charge of making sure everything ran smoothly with the Commercial/Freebie fair on the Underground lawn. After all that, in the evening, a spot of Society Door Knocking took place on the vale with some awesome volunteers from several groups help promote the Societies Fairs later in the week. Thanks to everyone that helped out with that!

Later in the evening, and also on Tuesday evening I was part of the stewarding team for FreshersFest helping out Tennis Court RA in transporting their students to a night of merry fun. Which can I say, is by no means an easy task!!

Wednesday involved the final prep for the Societies and Volunteering fairs on Thurs and Fri!

Onto the fairs themselves… I was very excited and pleased with how they went. We had very few complaints and everyone I’ve spoken to since has also been happy with how things went. We got over 500 more people than last year through on each day (despite poor weather on Friday) which is awesome. Membership sign ups are still being counted but it’s looking good on that front!

While I’m here, I just wanted to say a big thanks to all the full time Guild staff and all the student staff who help made everything run so smoothly. Student Development as ever were superb and if you’ve got time, make sure you drop them a quick email to tell them how awesome they all are (especially Steve!). Also, the Marketing department who run WW were great as ever so another big thanks to them.

Moving onto the last part of Welcome Week… I attended the Freshers Ball with a few of my lovely colleagues. We did miss Professor Green but a good night was still had. The freshers looked like they were enjoying themselves too so I think we can say that was a great success!

So, that’s a brief summary of my Welcome Week! Just want to point out that I had a very long sleep on Saturday morning which was the best ever! Even sabbs need their beauty sleep…

Until next time.

Ollie

Category: Uncategorized

The long and winding road… to Welcome Week

Ollie Cosentino - VP Activities and Development | August 27, 2012 | No comments

Hello Blog Fans!

It’s time for edition 2 of my super duper blog, which I’m sure will have you all engrossed over the next 2000 or so words of pure bliss. So buckle down and get ready to be amazed as we take a ride into the world of sabbdom and all things Guildy. *ends cheesy intro to blog*

So, it’s been just over a month now since we took over from the previous team. And it’s been pretty crazy. No one can really prepare you for what it’s going to be like once it all begins, not even the month of training beforehand. It’s been a challenge, that I won’t deny. It’s not been difficult, but there are certain times when you are pushed and it’s not always easy to make a decision or to handle a situation. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving it all and getting up every morning is an absolute pleasure. Because after all, what would be the point of life if it wasn’t a bit challenging at times. That’s what makes this job all the more exciting.

One thing I’ve been asked a lot recently is to do with the ‘Team’ and how we’re all getting along. I guess after last year and the clear divide within the team, there is more of a focus on us in that respect. So, I will update you all on how we’ve been doing together… Basically, It’s going pretty darn well. There have been times where we have questioned each other and challenged each other’s judgments and decisions. But anyone who says that doesn’t happen within a team, especially a sabbatical team, is just telling porkies. We have a good laugh, and I have a lot of time for them all, both during work hours and after. So yeah, good stuff so far!

Another thing I’d like to mention is the staff at the Guild and how awesome they are. Despite being a member of student staff for the last year, it’s still surprised me how nice and helpful everyone is and how great the partnerships are between officers and staff. The amazing stuff we do at the Guild just wouldn’t be possible without them, so I want to give them a massive big up.

And so, I’ll move on now to a quick summary of what stuff I’ve been up to so far…

NUS Digital & Online Membership

This one is quite a biggie and is taking up a lot of my time at the moment. As you may be aware, we have a shiny new website coming VERY VERY soon. And because of the close link that the new website has to student groups and their events, I’m one of the officers who is currently taking a big lead in its final implementation.

I won’t lie, we are still firming a few things up at the moment, so I still can’t reveal too many details just yet. I’m heading to Manchester on Wednesday for training on the new platform, which will mean following that me and Student Development will be able to send a few more details your way pretty soon.

What I can tell you for definite right now is the following:

  • There will be a big move to online memberships for student groups! This is going to do away with the need for paper membership forms which will save both you, your members and us in processing these details. The platform will allow members to join in seconds, using info transferred directly from the university rather than them inputting it themselves.
    • How this will be done during the fairs, we will update you on very soon!!
  • You will all have your own group page which you will be able to customise with your own details. Each committee member can be made an admin of that page and will be able to control content and membership details much easier. Events can be added and then centralised on the Guild wide calendar for all to see giving you much more exposure.

The live date of the website is looking to be at some point during the week commencing the 3rd September. As soon as it does go live, we will give you more guidance on how to work it and all that. Don’t worry about it too much at the moment, as we have already set your groups pages up, all they will need is a quick tweak by yourselves before Welcome Week.

We’ll also be hosting a quick training session the afternoon of Friday 14th September at the Guild to get committees like yourselves up to speed with the site and update you with the big plans for the Socieites Fairs. All info from that will also be emailed out so don’t worry too much if you cant make it.

Welcome Week Preparations (& Freshers Fest)

Onto Welcome Week itself! It’s not long to go and I hope you’re all excited as much as me. I’ve been involved with Freshers Fest a little bit, helping the VPHC and VPW on a few things. The big thing for me is getting more society involvement in the events. ‘Chillout’ is looking pretty sweet with several groups going to be involved in providing alternative entertainment to the loud, sweaty and drunken club rooms in the Freshers Fest Venues so thanks to all those that applied! As well as this, Guild Student Media will be more involved than ever, with Photosoc providing photography and Guild TV filming the nights out for students to make the most of after the events.

On the other side, I have been working closely with Student Development and Marketing to make sure the Societies and Volunteering fairs on the Thursday and Friday run perfectly and without any hiccups. With the [previously mentioned] new membership sign up process coming in, this has been an added challenge but we’re confident we’ll be ready and prepared come Welcome Week.

A particular challenge has been in organising a ‘Societies Sunday’ showcase event on the last day of Welcome Week. There are several events that it would clash with, including a Feshers Fest night at the Guild in the evening and RA events during the day which means it’s probably unlikely to happen. However, because of the interest from groups, it’s not impossible for it to be held another time and I will be looking to make sure that happens.

On a final positive note for Welcome Week, I’m also just finishing up along with Marketing the Societies pages of the Welcome Week guide. We got about 50 event responses from you guys which is awesome compared to the small handful from last year. And because of that we managed to secure an extra 2 pull-out pages in the guide which will be distributed to every room in every flat in halls and also in every welcome pack if you go along to the fairs during the week. I believe there will be 15,000 copies produced in total so that’s a lot of exposure for you all which is awesome!

Volunteering

Manifesto point time! Very early work has begun on my quest to make volunteering a little bit sexier. Having been informed of the NUS and their similar attempts to emphasise the importance of volunteering, we are going to be working in line with their plans as they evolve over the coming months. Student Volunteering Week in February is where we’re aiming for to make the change a reality. That said, I have been working very closely with Student Development over the last few weeks to look at how we treat it at the moment and what small changes we can make right now. This includes the volunteering section of the new website, which looks to be shaping up pretty nicely and also our recognition scheme, with a few tweeks already in the pipeline.

Fun Funding!

Another Manifesto point! This one is quite exciting as I didn’t expect to make such headway on this one so quickly. I’m in talks with a not-for profit organisation with the aim to bring the Guild’s fundraising efforts into the 21st century. For those of you that have heard of the concept of ‘Crowdfunding’, this is what I’m looking at bringing to the Guild in the very near future to help you raise even more funds for your projects and events.

Room Bookings

Ahhh, room bookings… The Guild just wouldn’t be the same without the usual issues and troubles that they bring. Generally, Term 1 room bookings have gone pretty well! You should have all received confirmation of your bookings back by now, please let me know your thoughts on them as we can use this to further improve for next term and for next year. We did encounter a few issues with some bookings, particularly the larger performance bookings. Based on this, I’ve decided to initiate a review of the booking process to iron out these issues for future times. I think we’re nearly there to having a pretty sturdy system now, but these things are very difficult to attain due to the limited number of rooms and the vast number of groups that we currently have within the Guild. It’s always going to be a challenge but it’s something we can constantly review to make sure it stays fair for all.

Guild Media

Exciting stuff happening here. Before she left office, my predecessor Fliss began a review of the Media groups at the Guild. I believe it was always something she had at the top of her list when taking office but due to other things popping up throughout the year, it got pushed back. We currently have 6 Media societies at the Guild and Fliss has produced a report of where they all are and the scope we have as an organisation to take them forward. Me, Mr President, StuDev and Marketing have already started work on this and have made some pretty good progress already. It’s been said that there is a lot of potential in the Guild’s student media offering and I want to help those groups make sure that they are able to fulfil it over the next year.

RAG

Not going to spoil too much here, because Carnival might kill me for it. But I’ve been helping them out with a secret project which if they pull it off, is going to be pretty massive for both them and for many societies and students here at Birmingham. I’ll also be joining them for this year’s RAG conference in September over in Lufbra which is looking good.

Guild Awards 2013

And finally, a mention for Guild Awards 2013. We’ve had our very first meeting about the prestigious evening and I can confirm… that we’ve booked a date. I’m not telling you what it is yet, as it’s a secret. However, what I can tell you is there will be a few changes this year. I don’t want to tinker with it too much as 2012 was absolutely brilliant (I’m sure you’ll agree with me). But it will be bigger and better than ever before so get ready for March (that’s all I’m telling you!) and I promise you, you’ll be amazed.

 

So, 2000 words later, and we’re at the end of the journey. It’s funny, how us officers are told that we must write a measly 200 words a month on our blogs to avoid censure. But no matter how hard we try, we’re just never going to be able to write one without this big explosion of text. So apologies if it’s a bit long. But THANK YOU if you have read through right to the end.

As always, If there’s every anything you need help with or if you just need a spot of advice, please don’t hesitate to get in contact. It’s what I’m here for so let me know. With 3 weeks left until welcome week, it’s getting exciting (but also nervously close) so all that’s left to say is that I hope you’re excited too and that you’re ready for another great year at the Guild.

We’ll be in touch soon with some more info so keep an eye out for that!

Thanks,

Ollie

Category: Uncategorized

Welcome Email to Groups

Ollie Cosentino - VP Activities and Development | July 28, 2012 | No comments

Dear Student Groups!

As it’s my first day in the job, I thought I’d take the opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ollie Cosentino and I’m the new Vice-President Activities and Development having taken over from the wonderful Fliss Cross.

For those of you that don’t know, the VPAD is a full time elected officer (along with 6 other full time officers) who is tasked with the specific job of overseeing the running of all the Guild’s student activities including Student Groups, Volunteering and other one off events that happen through the year including the Guild Awards in March every year. The job also covers another side; in developing student’s employability prospects through working with the Guild’s Jobzone and the University’s Careers centre.

I’ll be completely honest with you from the start, I am ridiculously excited to get going with the year and to get working with as many of you as possible. I have spent the past 2 years being involved with numerous societies and other guild activities and I can honestly say that it’s been the best part of my university experience. It can sometimes be very clichéd, but what you do outside of your degree is what makes the difference and as you’ve all been elected onto your respective committees, you probably know that already. So for me, to have been elected into this position and to be given the opportunity to help you guys do what you do, is an honour.

I want you all to know that as your VPAD, I want to be there for you and your student group as much as possible. If you ever feel there is an issue that is affecting you or your group that could do with my assistance then please don’t hesitate to get in contact. Student Development are of course there for any day to day issues you may have including finances, paperwork and all that jazz. But for anything else that is causing issue, I’m your man.

First things first, I’ll be working hard over the coming 2 months to ensure that the welcome weeks go off with a bang for your groups. We’ve got some really exciting things happening before September that you may be aware of that will help with just that. Including a shiny new Guild website, which is on track to help sign up loads of excited new members and help you manage your group much better. As well as this, I plan to launch a big student group promotional push (SocietiesFest), giving you maximum exposure to as many different students at the uni at the time when you are most able to attract them to your group. So, plan your events as you would do usually and I will hopefully be in contact very soon regarding how you can get on board with this!

Throughout the year, I’m also going to be looking at Guild Volunteering and the impact it’s having on both you as students and the wider community. The big aim is to make it more appealing and rewarding for you, and as you’re already a volunteer it’s something that will most definitely affect you! Another manifesto point that I ran on was to get your groups more funding to run bigger and better events. I’ve already been looking at new methods of fundraising, taking it away from the traditional cake sale, to new bigger levels of income. As you know, we’re in difficult financial times and this calls for different innovative methods to attract investment. I also want to tap into the numerous alumni that your society is likely to have and look at ways to attract them to invest back into you. And for the newer groups among you, there’ll always be Guild alumni that will want to give back as well.

As well as this, I’ll be taking a few other things on including continuing the work on reforming committee training (which Fliss has pushed forward with by synchronising the AGMs, ready for it being launched in February/March). I’ll also be looking at making the day to day running of your group a lot easier, something which constantly gets flagged as something you’d like to see. This includes working with the university to try and get deadlines for paperwork down to the bare minimum so you’re free to put on as many amazing events as possible with as little fuss. I’m also going to be looking at strengthening the links the Guild has with the Uni careers centre so that you are best able to transfer the skills you have attained whilst involved with your group into the real world (amongst many other awesome things!)

So, that’s it from me for now. As I said, feel free to ask me any questions or just introduce you and your committee (I’ve included loads of contact details below so see there for more info!) I’ll be around the guild throughout the rest of summer, so if you’re around then please say hi to me and the new Sabb team. We don’t bite…

And as I’ve mentioned, myself and Student Development will be in contact soon about welcome week(s), so keep a regular eye on your society email accounts over the coming summer months.

All the best,

Ollie

My Contact Details:

Email: VPAD@guild.bham.ac.uk

Twitter: VPAD: @Guild_VPAD / Personal: @OllieCosentino

Office Tel: 0121 2512340

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bhamguild.anddevelopment

 

Other Officer Contact Details

President – David Franklin – President@guild.bham.ac.uk – @Guild_President

VP Welfare – Katherine East – VPE@guild.bham.ac.uk – @Guild_VPW

VP Housing and Community – James Robertson – VPHC@guild.bham.ac.uk – @Guild_VPHC

VP Sport – Jimmy Hughes – VPS@guild.bham.ac.uk – @Guild_VPS

VP Democracy and Resources – Leander Jones – VPDR@guild.bham.ac.uk – @Guild_VPDR

VP Education – Simon Furse – VPE@guild.bham.ac.uk – @Guild_VPE

 

Anti-Racism Anti-Fascism Officer – Hannah Skolnick – ARAFO@guild.bham.ac.uk
Community Action Officer – Sean Farmelo – CAO@guild.bham.ac.uk
Disabled Students’ Officer – Amy Connelly – DSO@guild.bham.ac.uk
Ethical & Environmental Officer – Alice Swift – EEO@guild.bham.ac.uk
Ethnic Minority Students’ Officer – Sacha Hassan – EMO@guild.bham.ac.uk
Home Students’ Officer – Joe Sewell – HSO@guild.bham.ac.uk
International Students’ Officer – Saara Pokki – ISO@guild.bham.ac.uk
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Students’ Officer – Rachel Foreman – LGBTQO@guild.bham.ac.uk
Satellite Sites Officer – Adam Smith – SSO@guild.bham.ac.uk
Women’s Officer – Kristina Ilieva – WO@guild.bham.ac.uk

Category: Uncategorized

Guild Council Leaving Speech Video

Ollie Cosentino - VP Activities and Development | July 14, 2012 | No comments

Category: Uncategorized

Goodbye

Ollie Cosentino - VP Activities and Development | July 14, 2012 | No comments

My leaving message to all student groups – thank you everyone!

Dear all,

This is the last email I’m ever going to send as your Vice President (Activities and Development) – a very emotional moment for me!

I can’t even begin to describe what a brilliant support you have all been to me in what has turned out to be a very challenging and difficult year. Even though you may not know it, seeing the passion, dedication and hardwork every single society committee member puts into their role is truly inspiring, especially as you’re all acting so selflessly to improve the happiness of other students, often at the detriment of your own degrees! I really hope you’ve had the same fantastic experience that I have being a society committee member, or that you will do as your year goes on. I know I learnt so much and the society members of the groups I was involved in became a real family to me.

I know the Guild isn’t the easiest place to navigate: it’s hard, it’s frustrating, it makes you do risk assessments and there are never enough rooms. However, remember what it does offer – meeting like-minded people and giving students the opportunity to run what they want for other students and that’s amazing. The trials and tribulations of the Guild will only make you stronger and it is such good experience for dealing with the “real world” when you leave. Thank you for being patient with it and persevering for the good of students.

I’ve truly enjoyed getting involved with many different society activities and events this year. From Strictly Brum Dancing, to Sky Diving, to a miscellaneous gala for indoor activities to seeing the drama groups perform in Edinburgh, it has been fantastic working with you all. I’ve really enjoyed all of our student group forums and miniforums too! Thank you for putting up with me really and make me feel so welcome. There have been so many times when I’ve been made to feel part of your groups. Thank you also to the people involved in making my leaving book full of photos and to GTV for the cuddly toy angry bird :)

This year has been the toughest of my life and there have been many times where I don’t think I could have got through it without you guys being there to remind me why it was all worth it. Having said that, despite it taking over my life, I highly recommend running for an Officer position, especially VPAD. Please stay in touch – my email address is fliss_cross@hotmail.com

I leave you in the very capable hands of Ollie Cosentino for next year. He’s going to do a brilliant job and, Ollie, it’s been a pleasure handing over to you!

All the best for the future and whatever you all decide to go on to do.
I can’t thank you enough,

yours,
Fliss
x

Category: Uncategorized

Term 3 Update

Ollie Cosentino - VP Activities and Development | May 16, 2012 | No comments

Hi all,

So with only eight weeks left in my term of office I thought I would share with you the projects I am working on between now and then. If anyone has any questions about it then please don’t hesitate to contact me via the usual channels.

NUS Digital

Following my last discussions with student groups about this (and previous blog) we have conducted some more testing and I’m hoping we will have a test site up and running very soon so everyone is able to see some of the features it has to offer. If not, then it won’t be long until Manchester, one of the fellow development partners, will have their site up and running and I will make sure everyone is aware of this. Currently the different admin levels are being developed by NUS Digital which will allow student group committee members more flexibility and control over their groups online content and it will be fully integrated with facebook widgets to allow cohesion with other sites. More info to follow

Media Groups

I am continuing some of the work I’ve been doing with our media groups. This includes working with Redbrick to enhance their levels of media law training so everyone is better equipped to spot potential legal issues and hopefully avoid as many as possible in the future. I am also working with them to look at deadlines for ‘right of replies’ and agreeing firm boundaries as to the role the Guild within Redbrick to improve communication between both groups. I will also be working very closely with the other media groups to create personal development plans to begin improved support for them and to enhance their development at a much quicker rate. I firmly believe that the potential of our student media is not being realised and that the Guild and University have a key role to play in getting more messages out to the student body via these groups and developing their members to help with future media career aspirations and making their time in our media groups as rewarding as possible.

Other Student Group Support
I’ve also got a number of student group committee meetings coming up where we’ll be discussing this term’s rolling grant forms in advance of the annual grant forms which need to be handed in soon. Any groups who are not sure about this then please check your student group email – I’ve seen some groups filling theirs out already so make sure you get yours in too! There are also a large number of student group proposal forms which the committee will be discussing as well. There are also various projects and queries I’m working on with Carnival, Tea Soc,the PGMSA and Students for Justice for Palestine to name a few.

Job Agency/Job Zone
I’ve been working closely with staff in the Guild on the new Job Agency that will be implemented this summer. There are a number of logistics that need to be resolved but it’s all looking really positive and should mean that we have a bespoke space within the Guild that students can go to in the hunt for part time work. I will also be working with the Job Zone on promoting the summer jobs fair and recruiting for a new member of staff to be the Job Zone co-ordinator.

Employability – Careers Centre
Following on from this, I have been working with the Careers Centre to see how we can further develop students that are involved in the Guild. A big thank you to all those student group members who filled in the employability questionnaire that I sent you at the penultimate student group forum and miniforums. They were very useful and appreciated by all. There will be some exciting things happening next year as well in relation to the PSA and for the first time ever there will be a pilot of a PG PSA award for PGT students – so watch this space!

Fresher’s Fest
I will be contacting many groups in the next few weeks about society involvement in Welcome Week and on Fresher’s Fest. We are also looking for some acts to perform in chill out if all goes to plan so it’s important for student group members to keep an eye on their email over the next few days. There is nothing concrete at the moment but we will be formulating it over the coming weeks.

Community Day
Community Day is on Sunday 10th June and it’s shaping up to be a brilliant day – we’ve got loads of student groups doing performances, workshops, a showcase of our archiving project, olympic themed crafting, games on the lawn as well as face painting and hopefully a bouncy castle! This is coupled with all the exciting events that will be going on at the University as thousands of members of the local community will come along to see what Birmingham Uni has to offer. We’re looking for volunteers to help out on the day so if you’re interested then please let me know.

Training
There will also be a final round of miniforums scheduled for after exams. These will take the form of peer led training sessions to allow student groups the best handover possible – sharing best practice, meeting other new committees and doing some role specific work. I will also be looking at the add on sessions that can be provided for next year.

Handover
I will also be formulating my handover folder for Ollie Cosentino, who will be your Vice President (Activities and Development) for next year. He’s going to do a fantastic job and I really look forward to working with him over the coming months.

That’s it for now – best of luck for the remainder of exams if you have them.

All the best,
Fliss

Category: Uncategorized

Recent events surrounding the VONC of the VPE

Ollie Cosentino - VP Activities and Development | April 16, 2012 | 7 comments

Obviously there has been a lot of speculation, mixed messages and false information released around a meeting of a potential vote of no confidence into the VPE by the student and sabbatical trustees. Due to this, I feel it necessary to break any silence or confidentiality on this matter as I believe that the information in the current domain is an inaccurate reflection of my involvement and I do not want my integrity questioned when I value it extremely highly with students.

Furthermore, after the appalling way that this has been handled by the Guild, I believe it is owed to students for me to document my recollection of events, especially if it goes any way to helping clear up some of this monumental mess.

A meeting did take place with the student and sabbatical trustees, of which I was present at, and information was tabled about the conduct of the VPE. Both myself and a number of other trustees at the meeting made it very clear that we were looking at all these allegations in the VPE’s capacity as ‘a trustee only’ and that any discussion as an Officer should be had in Guild Council and not by us. We then went through each point and decided if we would like to question the VPE on his behaviour AS A TRUSTEE and there were some points where we thought it was ludicrous that he should be punished for. One allegation was his removal from University Committees. At this point it was made known that the Sabbatical team condemned this decision by the uni due to the precedent it sets and we were waiting on further evidence from them as to why they had made this decision.

This is a truthful account of my recollection of that meeting and the approach that was taken on my part was that we should allow Edd the opportunity of speaking to us about his behaviour on a number of incidences. I wanted to do this to have some dialogue with Edd on these issues and hear his viewpoint as opposed to choosing to have the meeting as a mere formality before removing him.

In the meeting it was brought to our attention that the legal interpretation of the bye-laws suggests that there are two votes – one as a trustee and one as an officer, which you would take in parts. I have questioned this interpretation previously as my understanding of the Memorandum and Articles of Association is that Article 22 only discusses trusteeship.

Following this, we then categorically stated that the meeting we agreed to schedule with the VPE would not involve a second vote, particularly because we had just gone through every single allegation with only trusteeship in mind. If the rest of the trustee board insisted that we had to have a later discussion about a second meeting as an officer (due to legal advice on procedures) then it was my understanding that that would be had at a separate time after we had discussed ‘the part’ as a trustee. If this were the case, i would have 100% voted against a second meeting for the role as an officer. In my opinion it should only be discussed by students in Guild Council/Referendum.

I then went to the Board meeting that evening where we discussed the previous conversation outlined above. It was again made clear to the rest of the board that this meeting was just to discuss trusteeship. Having since spoken to other board members, that too has been their recollection.

After this, it was my understanding that a letter would be sent to the VPE documenting the allegations and that he would be asked to attend a meeting. Due to my understanding of both the student/sabb meeting and the board meeting itself I trusted the letter that would be sent to the VPE would be an accurate reflection of what was discussed. After both these meetings I was then not included on ANY correspondence internally in the Guild regarding this letter or the meeting. Some people may question why I didn’t ask to see this letter before it was released. In response to that, I would respond that I was not told when the letter would be sent and also as I was so certain in my understanding of the meeting I had no reason to doubt why the letter the VPE received was so different to my understanding of this. I can categorically and wholeheartedly state that I did NOT sign off that letter and the first that I saw of it was when the VPE put the letter online.

Some of you may have seen some comments on a facebook link to Edd’s blog where he stated he was being removed as an Officer. My comment of ‘Don’t believe everything you read’ was written because at that time I genuinely did not know Edd had been sent that letter with so many inaccuracies in comparison to my understanding of the meeting. It was only when I saw the leaked letter in full that I realised how different it was. Because of this I feel it necessary to publish this blog. This is because I do not want students to think that I condoned this letter or indeed had any part in it. I felt completely stupid in my online comments when faced with the leaked letter and it was only when I returned to the office that I was able to work with other Officers to get my understanding of the original meeting made clear in the public domain.

I know the whole thing appears ridiculous but I promise to you all, for what it’s worth, that everything I have written above is my understanding of the truth. I would also like to express my deep regret for the undue stress that has been caused to Edd at this time and welcome an investigation into all of this as I am certain it will then reveal the truth. For now this is a faithful narrative of my dealings in this affair.

Fliss

Category: Uncategorized
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