school disco

[Rozo]

I put it to the union to have a school disco night in venue 1, it would simply be a night to remember! Fancy dress, drinking and good old club classics. Classic tunes from the 70's right through to the 90's....night fever anthems and smoochy songs that you remember having your first slow dance to....this can all be relived! (Except this time you would probably have a better chance of pulling at this school disco!)

So who is with me on this one???

[Director of Services]

Sorry, Rozo.
I'm going to assume you're a first year because school discos were so overdone in the past few years (as were doctors and nurses) that I've put a freeze on them for a bit.
They were getting stale and boring.
This way, people are getting creative with their themes and the public don't feel like "Oh, not again, bloody, I didn't enjoy the last one so I guess I won't enjoy this one so I'm not going." Now they can say "Oh, pirates and princesses, that's different! Didn't really like school disco last time, but this one isn't the same so maybe I'll enjoy this one and I'll definately buy a ticket."

When they do come back, it'll be with a huge bang!

[stripy socks]

school discos better come back, some ppl thought they were fab last year, and personally have been planning uniform all semester!!! :p we do need more themed evenings tho, even if they aren't 70's or 80's!!! :p

[Al]

"Oh, not again, bloody, I didn't enjoy the last one so I guess I won't enjoy this one so I'm not going." Now they can say "Oh, pirates and princesses, that's different! Didn't really like school disco last time, but this one isn't the same so maybe I'll enjoy this one and I'll definately buy a ticket."

I think you are giving some bop goers them waaaay much credit in the ol' thinking line.

[hr]Life is too important to be taken seriously.

[fainpathe]

[s]Director of Services wrote on 02:22, 18th Oct 2004:
Sorry, Rozo.
I'm going to assume you're a first year because school discos were so overdone in the past few years (as were doctors and nurses) that I've put a freeze on them for a bit.
They were getting stale and boring.
This way, people are getting creative with their themes and the public don't feel like "Oh, not again, bloody, I didn't enjoy the last one so I guess I won't enjoy this one so I'm not going." Now they can say "Oh, pirates and princesses, that's different! Didn't really like school disco last time, but this one isn't the same so maybe I'll enjoy this one and I'll definately buy a ticket."

When they do come back, it'll be with a huge bang!


awwww, i'm a second year and i'd love the school discos to come back - where else am i gonna wear my Slytherin house tie???

[Al]

"where else am i gonna wear my Slytherin house tie???"

How about in Slytherin House?

[hr]Life is too important to be taken seriously.

[sabra_girl]

Where on earth do you get Hogwarts' ties (go on...someone say 'Hogwarts'...I dare you!)?

[hr]"I saw a bird fly its cage, Well its wings could take it anywhere, But I watched as it flew back from where it came..." - Sean Watkins

[Mohawk]

http://www.hottopic.com/store/searchSKU ... potter+tie


there we go

[Rectalprobe]

Hogwarts

[hr]
"Well i heard my sis say that whenever she had a prick in her hand she puts it in cider"

[Rennie]

Bonnie,

My opinion of it is that the School Disco nights were the most popular Thursday/Saturday night event for a long time in Venue 1 - why did you decide to stop them and replace them with ...a band night (which sells around 150 tickets)

Seems a bit of a bad business move to myself - stopping a popular event just because you personally think it's getting a bit stale - did you do any market research into that??

[The Kinky Monkey]

[s]Rennie wrote on 16:37, 27th Nov 2004:
why did you decide to stop them and replace them with ...a band night (which sells around 150 tickets)


Because there was no oppurtunity for bands and live music within the union perhaps?

The bad business stuff is a load of nonsense. The union's about providing for students, not about being a money-making organisation.

And before anyone spouts off at how poor band night turnouts are- it still makes money as it costs nothing to put local talent on- and even if it did cost, that's why the music fund was created.

[Pender Native]

Besides, last year everyone was moaning none stop about the lack of live music in St Andrews and the Union just kept saying it was too difficult and not their problem. I'm amazed that it's up and running so quickly and I'm sure more people will come when they get to know and like the local bands, not many people will buy a ticket for a band thety know nothing about.

[Director of Services]

Rennie,
A few points.
You're wrong, school discos did not perform well.
Live music nights have proven popular and worthwhile and way overdue.
Three discos a week is stale, boring, and not what the market wants.
And, if you are so keen to do market research, you can do so. But you've already proven that you can't handle it.

[Rennie]

A reply:

Kinky Monkey - There were opportunities for bands in the union last year. I've trawled the union site but I can't find details - suffice to say that I remember working events where bands played.

Admittedly, these events weren't as frequent as the ones this year, and if bands and live music are your thing then the Union has done well this year. Personally, they aren't, and I would say it is catering for a minority of students here - which is also great, minorities need to be represented. However, while representing them, the Union shouldn't forget about what the majority of students want.

The Union use the arguement that they are a business when it suits them (bar price raises), and they argue they aren't when it doesn't (increase in society funding, making an overall loss on the yearly accounts). They are there to represent the students, but they have to cater for all student needs. To do this, they need money, and to get money they need people to use the union. Union attendance has decreased dramatically in the last 5 years. The sabs need to work on increasing revenue by getting more people into the union.

The turnout for bands is poor. From a business point of view, this is bad business, but the bands need to be represented. Therefore, why not hold it on a different night other than Saturday in Venue 1, and instead, cater for the majority of what students want and put on a different event. The cost is not how much it costs to run the event, it's the lost opportunity in running a night that's not busy on a popular night to go out on.

In short - band nights great - let's have some more stuff going on as well though.

Pender Native - As said above, I'm all for live music. But maybe not on a night that something else can be more successful. The people that go to see the bands are normally fans of the music/band, and therefore are more likely to go on most nights to see them, whereas the people that want to have a drink/dance/school disco/etc.. only generally go to these nights on a Thu/Fri/Sat.

Bonnie - Firstly, thanks for being mostly incorrect in your post, and quite insulting. It makes it easier for me to be insulting back to you.

One, school discos performed better than any other themed night in Venue 1, barring the Bop, and promotion nights. They regularly got in 300 - 400 students, all dressed up, and they were also liked by the students. They even outperformed the foam party nights, and nothing had to be hired(which were also pathetic, and almost a trading standards issue to call a foam party - 1 inch of foam on 50% of the floor is not generally thought of as a foam party)

As said above, and admitted by people that enjoy the live music events - they are not 'popular'. Popular means that they are well attended, not that they are well liked. They are poorly attended, not because they are bad, but because only a limited amount of students are interested in them.

They are however worthwhile and overdue, I just think you're running them on the wrong night.

You're correct when you say that 3 discos a week is stale. So instead you have 2 discos and a poorly attended live music event? Surely that's nearly as bad? Can't you come up with something better than that in 35/40 hours a week - you are PAID to do your job after all.

And, as for your snidey remark at the bottom, why don't you get off your fat arse and do some market research yourself. I assume you're referring to when I was Trading Officer, a position that was such a joke and pointless, that it was abolished. And, remember, I'm not an officer this year, you are. Why the fuck would I go out and do market research for you?? What a stupid fucking comment of yours. I'm not particularly arsed if you do market research or not - if you read my post you would see that I asked if you had done any in your position - as that would be the first thing I would do in your shoes, clearly you're more concerned with fucking about and running your precious live music,loss making events. Good luck to you.

And the next time you feel as though you want to personally attack me, please do it either through e-mail, or face to face, my contact details are on the Union website, as I don't messageboard abusing very nice (I will however have no qualms about doing it back to someone who initially starts it...). I would expect better from a person who is paid to do a job that I think she is failing at, and when I make that point, I am given snidey remarks back. I am just a student here, and however I want to express my opinions, I will do so. You however are in a position of responsibility and therefore should have a bit of decorum and respect for your clientele.

[Al]

The position of Trading Officer was - once upon a time - one of the most important positions on the Union side of the Association. I find it hard to believe that it could have become so unimportant as to be abolished. The only explanation I can come up with is that recent holders of the office must have done so little that it was felt that the post was no longer needed. Therefore, there are two important questions to be asked. Did you consider the post to be "a joke and pointless" before you stood for it? Or did you stand, do nothing and so make it "a joke and pointless"?

[hr]Life is too important to be taken seriously.

[Rennie]

Al,

The remit of trading officer was so wide ranging that effectively it was covered by all other posts. Early on in the position, I was told that I would have no input into the bar or beatons, and basically the only comments I could make were towards the travel service, which was failing.

When I suggested that maybe it would be an idea to reduce staff numbers in the travel service and possibly replace them with ticket booking terminals so that costs on wages were cut - admittedly this would lower revenue but I felt that the savings on wages would offset this.

This idea was presented to the DoComm, who didn't follow it up at all. I then went to about 4 meetings, each of which was worse than the last, with issues such as 'Should we let disabled people use the Union for tutorials' taking up 30 minutes of a meeting and then being put to a vote. I mean, surely no one would ever have an objection to this, and yet it was felt that loads of time should be spent on the matter.

After much of this bureatratic shite, I gave up. I was given a specific task once, to design and then hand out a market research study for the Union. I helped write it, and then was told I would have to spend all day in the library for 3 days handing it out. When I said I couldn't do it for this long, I did it for a day instead. I never heard anything about the results, and I doubt they were ever even collated. I wanted to give people doing the survey a free bop band for Friday, and I was only allowed to give them a shitty Thursday band, which someone could get free last year anyway, so hardly any people filled out the questionaire.

Does that answer your question?

[Al]

Aye. Fair enough.

[hr]Life is too important to be taken seriously.

[The Kinky Monkey]

Rennie: A reply-

When you talk about minorites, do you include the minority of people that attend the discos etc? You mention in your reply to Bonnie that 300-400 people turned up at these events. Fair point, this is more than turn up at live music nights, but is still a minority when you consider that there is about 6000 students in total, of which I would estimate about 1000-1500 attend the union on say a friday night.

I agree that all students should be catered for- minorities, majorities whatever. But moving the band night to a week night would actually be worse for business as I believe that less people would come on a week night.

I also agree with what you say about how the attendance in the union has dropped- especially on saturday nights- yes i know that this is the live music night but when you consider the population of the main bar- which is busier than a bop on friday nights- it is virtually empty.

Also the Sons and Daughters gig was fairly full on Saturday night i would say about 300 people through the door although i don't know the exact number- which is comparable to the school disco nights last year.

I think overall that we agree on the representation of all students within the union however i would be interested to know if you have attended a live music night this year so far. I know you said that live music isn't necessarily your thing, but by saying that the 'I'm with the Band nights' are a poor turnout I would expect you to have been to a few and observed the turnout for yourself.

[Rennie]

Kinky

Thanks for your civilised post. It makes such a refreshing change.

I work at the Union occasionally, and am still friends with a number of staff there, and so I have been able to witness, or find out, attendance figures for nights, so yes, the figures are reliable.

I haven't been insude any of the live music events as it's not really what I'm into (unless a great band like Radiohead decide to to a gig...), but I have friends that go and they tell me what it was like, how many people etc...

A friend who was at the Sons and Daughters gig said he thought there were at most, 200 in there. Now, I *think* this might have meant they made a loss (not taking the bar figures into account), but it would be pretty borderline. It is comparable with the school discos, but there was about 400 at them on average, and they cost much less to run. Plus I'm of the impression that Sons and Daughters are quite a big band on the Scottish Indie scene?

The main bar on Saturday was quiet - I was in tehre with some friends and we all commented on what we felt was the problem with it, the consensus seemed to be that although the lights were quite bright inside, the music was blaring (and although I liked the music, amny of my friends didn't). Either you have the lights set low and the music loud, or the other way round. You can't have both - it just doesn't work well.

I also think you're right when you say less people would come to a live music night if it were held in the week - that's perfectly logical. However, I feel that if people actually like a band and want to go and see it, the night they go and see it on is nowhere near as important as it is to the casual Union customer who maybe wants a drink and a dance, but only on the weekends. As they are a fickle bunch, the night that an event is on is much more important to them - most people would probably still go to the bop whatever teh theme was simply because it is on a Friday.

You say that there are about 1000-1500 people in the union on a Friday night. This is probably true, but when I say Union, I mean to say Venue 1 (my bad). In venue 1 on a fri night, there's about 500 - 700 in there at most I would estimate, and I *know* it used to be a lot busier than that. Where have the people gone? This is what I feel is the fundamental problem for the Union, lack of customers.

Sorry if the post is disjointed, I was trying to answer your points in an order but just fucked it up instead.

[Rennie]

And another point I forgot to make.

I'm not trying to push school discos here, I think they're ok in moderation and they are what the people want sometimes - I just want a bit of variety and som new ideas (and not other costumes, that's about as fresh as used toilet roll) What about a REAL foam party? A film night (which I suggested last year, it happened for a bit, and then vanished - not sure if it was successful), an inflatable toy night (clearly running out of ideas off the top of my head but give me an hour and I'll come up with some good ones )