Cafe and Events Wed 3rd Dec 2008

Working group and other such Forest meeting minutes
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lucky
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Cafe and Events Wed 3rd Dec 2008

Post by lucky » Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:29 pm

Cafe and Events Wed 3rd Dec 2008

Present: Scout, Deborah, Abby, Emi, Alex, Bernard

Apologies: Pomme, James and ...someone else.


APs from Last Meeting

1. Emi and Alex to meet about Vollie Application: Everything is going fine, the kitchen has never before had so many lovely, hard-working volunters. We will work to update the application form a little.

2. Scout and Emi to do blackboard: It is hanging proud in the kitchen. Emi did damn all, she made Scout do all the work and laughed at her, "hahaha"- like that.

3. Torstein to do Vollie Par]ty[/i - It was a huge success, a good time was had by all. Except when Torstein had to spend two hours cleaning the next morning when his volunteers didn't turn up. Boo!

Agenda
People not turning up for shifts
Awful Events (Abby)
Sound Tech (Deborah)
Sofas (Emi)
Menu
Space left from Free Shop move
Jotter in kitchen for NMs (Torstein)


Meeting -
People not turning up for shifts
Emi- with Application forms keep them in order so we have details. She had forms in a folder and someone moved it. It's really, really annoying. She'd keeping it safe in a secret place. Abby - should we write numbers straight into the volunteer contact book. AP- EMI to get a new volunteer book. She will see what numbers are in the old one and how valid they still are/if the person is still in the country. EMI will also write new numbers straight in the book when going through applications.

Awful Events - People come and they are crap, no-one discourages them and it makes some people not enjoy using the space. Scout - once every so often, having a one off show that sucks is okay, but not repeatedly. Abby - there must be a way to stop people. Scout - Shall we have a giant gong. Abby - some people have no respect at all for people who are working in the kitchen. She's said to people before not to just go on stage without asking, as they often do. Feels she is being treated sexist. Alex - Do we want to be known as a space with good events, or an open space and risk having not so good events? Emi - incessant bongos drives me crazy. All - yes! Alex - Loud events during the day detracts from having a cafe space that people want to come to for quiet times. All - some people who run events are very disrespectful to the kitchen staff, who are working to keep the space open for people running events. People won't turn music down when NMs ask them to etc. People will climb on stage without asking and start impromptu gigs - some of which are not so good.

AP SCOUT to write in Events Book rules at the front blurb about making yourself known to cafe staff when doing events. Also, to listen to people running the cafe and turn the volume down when people ask, as loud music never compensates for lack of ability.
AP SCOUT to write a poster to hang in the kitchen to remind NMs they are in charge of the space, and to let us know if people are making your life difficuly by posting on the Night Managers Forum.
AP - ALEX to put sign on stage saying to ask the kitchen if you want to perform and other things.

NB - Scout completed these before the end of the meeting. Shazahmmm.

Soundtech - Lack of makes everything difficult, Deborah didn't know how to turn the music down when she needed to last. Abby - Mike, new sound technician, is making an idiots guide to the sound equipment.

Sofas Emi - Been looking in Charity Shops for ages to replace bad and uncomfortable sofas. We're on freecycle, keep an eye out. Alex - Shannon and others went to auctions to find second hand sofas. We decided to get new leather sofas as they are easier to maintain, but second hand as we don't want to cause demand. Scout - Yenta covers would be ideal! Abby - Will look into MFI stock as they are liquidising, or something Alex - Not too many sofas as they take up space. I wish there were no sofas at all, but I understand the joy they bring people.

Menu
Emi - New menu exists in part, we need a new menu to go with the new menu. "They look so shitty."
AP - Working On Menus meeting on Tues 16th @ 5pm in Action Room.

Space Left From Free Shop
Alex - Explained what's happening with the Free Shop, and this will free up that area of the cafe. Emi - It's happening Monday all day, people should come if they want to help. Alex - Going to put up posts for minutes in that space, and work on Friends of The Forest area for other organisations doing good work.

Jotter in kitchen for NMs
Torstein - Communications book for K/NMs just to pass on general information, asking people to do things, tell other's what's been happening during the day, people that have been barred etc. Alex - We can't have something open access in the kitchen if it contains sensitive information, explained hidden Night Manager forum.
AP - Torstein to get a Communications Book for people in the Kitchen. It will not contain sensitive information, but should say "Person barred today - look on BB for details" or so for sensitive information.

Any other Business
All- No, hooray!
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Re: Cafe and Events Wed 3rd Dec 2008

Post by lucky » Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:39 pm

Bah! I can't edit!

Other people turned up for the meeting - Sam and Torstein.

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Re: Cafe and Events Wed 3rd Dec 2008

Post by ChaoticReality » Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:44 pm

Sorry I couldn't make the meeting, will aim to be at the next one. Some thoughts on the minutes:

A way to discourage impromptu "crap" gigs is to make a lockable cover for the sound desk and keep the key in the kitchen. That way, performing artists are at the KMs discretion.

Another thought I had was how about restrictions on amped music before a certain time? I'm thinking of something like the music-cafe culture of the 60s (Greenwich Village etc) where there's gentle acoustic music during the day and then louder bands at night. This leaves us a nice relaxed cafe atmosphere during the day but space to rock out at night. What do people think?

I'll be bringing my camera in today to take some photos for the "Beginner's Guide to Sound", which is progressing well. I hope to have a first draft done by the middle of next week, for perusal/comments/rubbishing.

When writing new stuff for events book, can we add a bit somepoint about artists booking in letting us know in advance if they want us to supply a sound engineer? Myself and Nix have been bouncing some ideas back and forth about making sure sound engineers are available and it would be nice to know in advance from the bands/artists.
Mike

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Re: Cafe and Events Wed 3rd Dec 2008

Post by lucky » Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:20 pm

Lockable cupboard - awesome idea! Need to make sure keys are going to be available for it, so need to have spares, NMs need to know about it.

I was thinking of bringing up the point of no loud music before a certain time, so people know if they go into the cafe they can have space to chill out. A long time ago it was mentioned to have a day every week or two that are known, regular quiet cafe nights. I'd still be up for this.

Thoughts?

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Re: Cafe and Events Wed 3rd Dec 2008

Post by James » Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:13 am

the vollie folder lives on the desk in the admins office
i moved it a month ago for the safety of the confidental data
i did talk to emi 1st ....
i guess she was doing that not understanding me speaking and just nodding to make me go away thing people do .... I hate it when they do that :-(

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Re: Cafe and Events Wed 3rd Dec 2008

Post by lucky » Sat Dec 06, 2008 5:32 pm

Continentals do that.

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Re: Cafe and Events Wed 3rd Dec 2008

Post by James » Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:16 pm

locals do that to :-( :-p

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Re: Cafe and Events Wed 3rd Dec 2008

Post by emi » Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:01 pm

Ouch! james, sorry...I wasnt sure if you moved it or not and when I checked int eh office I couldnt find it so then I was confused...I understand you most of the times :D
officially speaking

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