The Ball is Back - but it needs you!

For years students at Brookes have been without a quality end of year event. Last year those complaints were recorded and the Students' Union has worked extremely hard all year to make an End of Year Ball possible this year - The Ball 2008!

However, the SU doesn't have an established reputation for massive events like the Ball which itself is going to cost around the £100,000 mark so there is a substantial risk to the SU if the tickets don't sell.

To this end a review date was imposed on The Ball 2008. If we hadn't sold 1000 tickets by 14th March then the event would be cancelled! Despite being way under the sales target, the SU had managed to negotiate a staggered payment plan with our suppliers so we were able to pay half on the 14th with the rest due on the 16th April.

To go ahead with the event we need to have shifted 1,500 tickets by the 16th April. If we have to cancel at that point then the SU will have losts £22,000 on an event that apparently students really want.

I know quite a few people who intend to go to the ball, which is going to be the biggest event that has been held at brookes for at least the last 5 years, but they have said they will get tickets nearer the time. I completely understand this thinking as even on the 16th April the event will still be a month away. But the companies helping us put together the event need paying before the event can take place and the SU can't afford the risk of going ahead without confirmed ticket sales.

So, bottom line, if you are thinking about going to The Ball 2008 (and if you're not then you'll definately be missing out!) then please buy your tickets now. We've got Vernon Kay, Danny McNamara, Doug Walker and Hed Kandi DJ as well as Headphone Disco.

Check out http://www.thesu.com/theball for more information and full event listings.

Sound Impact Bronze Award

For the second year in succession Oxford Brookes Students' Union are the proud winners of a Sound Impact Bronze Award. The Award recognises environmental and ethical best practice within students' unions. The SU also achieved a Bronze Award last year, although the criteria were tightened this year and it is now considerably harder to achieve Bronze and therefore our award does in fact represent an overall improvement in our environmental and ethical practices.
A big thank you to everyone at the SU who has contributed to the award this year, whether you have submitted evidence of best practice or have just been a little more conscious regarding sustainability whilst going about your normal work. A special thank you to Suzette Starmer who has been the lead manager on the award from when the SU first signed up to the scheme and has really been a key player in driving the progress of our E&E work, particularly surrounding this years refurbishment works.

Also, James Robertson and Helen West both made considerable contributions to get this years evidence workbook ready for the NUSSL audit. Finally i would like to thank the University, specifically Lucy Millard for her support with a number of E&E issues throughout the year which included providing a wealth of evidence for our Sound Impact Award submission.

NUSSL Convention 2008

Firstly a little bit of background info:
NUSSL, (which stands for National Union of Students Services Limited,) is the purchasing consortium for students' unions up and down the UK. Students' Union that pay their affiliation fee to NUS are entitled to also be members of NUSSL and subsequently benefit from the nationwide deals with suppliers that NUSSL negotiates on behalf of all SUs.

Unlike the NUS, NUSSL is not a policy making organisation and is in fact a company. However, it still has democracy at its heart and student officers can be elected to its various committees and boards. NUSSL will also reflect NUS policy, for example if NUS voted to ban a product nationwide, or boycott a company then NUSSL would not buy that particular product or work with that company.

Every year NUSSL has a convention. The convention hosts NUSSL annual general meeting, its annual elections, various educational sessions, as well as workshops and focus groups.

On Sunday 16th March the SU President Antoinette and myself along with the newly elected VP:CDC for 08/09 Di Caplinska headed off to Liverpools Adelphi Hotel for the Convention. The convention is a great opportunity to re-acquainted with officers from other SUs that we have met throughout the year. Also, as there are many companies hoping to work with NUSSL, the convention often hosts external companies as well giving out free samples or goody bags etc!

NUS is going through a governance overhaul at the moment and NUSSL is doing the same. Information about new structures and committees formed a large part of the session on the first day. I would say that out of all the sessions the most interesting were the environmental ones focussing on the Carbon Academy Project and best practice/innovation from the Sound Impact Awards.

I declared OBSU interest in being part of a pilot energy efficiency scheme being run through NUSSL in partnership with Coca-Cola. I hope this will mean tangible benefits for the SU as well as improving the image of coke on our campus.

Exec Report 26th Mar 2008

Increase student participation in the Union, its elections, meetings and volunteering through high visibility Communication and Engagement Campaigns.

• The Elections 2008 have finished and I would like to congratulate all the successful candidates. Voter turnout was lower than last year which partially reflects the reduced number of candidates running for positions. Lower voting numbers can also be attributed to the gentle campaigning that has defined the election this year.
• Despite the fact that there were fewer candidates, we have filled the Executive and I’m happy to say that the Executive Committee for the year 08/09 will be running at full capacity at the start of the new academic year.
• Union Council has a large number of vacant spaces. This is in part due to the new constitution and the increased number of positions available but also because the main emphasis of the election was to elect the Executive.
• The Seriously Big Student Survey has been delayed and will now be taking place after the University’s Student Satisfaction Survey.

Attract a greater number of students to run in Union Elections and provide access to comprehensive training and information regarding the available positions and the Union in general.

• We hope to be setting up an elections debriefing meeting very soon with all the candidates invited.

To ensure that the Union improves or at least maintains its Sound Impact Award Status.

• I am pleased to be able to announce that the SU has managed to again achieve the Bronze Award standard of the Sound Impact Award.
• At NUSSL Convention we expressed an interest on behalf of OBSU in a follow up project to the Carbon Academy. It involves becoming a pilot SU for new energy efficient equipment from suppliers such as Coca-Cola. It will be great if we could get included as it would support the constructive engagement argument and deliver some quantifiable differences through Coke.

Communicate the achievements and successes of the Union internally and externally using all available media.

• No update available on this objective

Develop the Commercial Services of the Union so they are recognised as value for money by students through establishing provision level agreements and providing a high standard of customer service.

• The Summer Ball, planned for the 17^th May will be key in influencing future student opinion on the ability of the Students’ Union to provide quality services and events that reflect what students want.
• The Line up for the Summer Ball is confirmed and a new wave of Marketing Material is being produced.
• The Ball will only go ahead if we have received sufficient ticket sales! So please buy your tickets asap.
• Peachy and Pleasuredome continue to benefit from heavy advertising as well as a largest ever number of guest appearances. The amount of money being spent on making these events special is considerable and is squeezing the profit margins. However, the extra income from the Virgin Media ‘Ave it’ offsets this increased expenditure.
• There is a questionnaire that focuses on assessing the quality of the services provided by the commercial department the results of which will inform the work over the summer to address the issues mentioned above and to improve our service for the benefit of students.

Exec Report 27th Feb 2008

Increase student participation in the Union, its elections, meetings and volunteering through high visibility Communication and Engagement Campaigns.

• The Sports Sponsorship is ongoing and there are Sports Council Meetings planned.
• I do not have any further info on the situation with OUSU regarding the Safety Busses. We are still struggling to get the busses out on a regular basis and the scheme is currently dependant on a very small group of students who are understandably not always available. I have received many comments from students wishing to drive the busses but aged under 21 they are currently prohibited from doing so. I have asked for information on the impacts of making driver positions available to people under 21.
• The UGM was a success. The ‘Date with the Union’ idea played out very well and even encouraged at least two students to stand for positions in the election who had never previously been involved in the SU. The stakeholder input gathered at this event has already been used in further developing the Vision 2011 work, which includes defining the Ten Principles of the Students’ Union.
• The next step in the Vision 2011 program is to get student input into how best to deliver on the agreed objectives. There are a series of student input sessions as well as a number of focus groups planned over the next 4 weeks. This work will define the future role of the Students’ Union in the lives of students at Brookes so it is vital that we talk to as many students as possible and record all the information we get back so we can justify everything we will do in the future to the University.
• I am happy to say that my Tell 10 group yielded a number of candidates for the elections.
• Brookes TV have been much more involved in this years election than last year. They have been an invaluable resource in providing the candidates with the opportunities to film video manifestoes. They also hosted studio debates, using the Independent Chair in a Paxman-esque role to question the candidates on aspects of their policies. These debates were for the Sabbatical Officer positions and the VP debates are already online at btv.brookes.ac.uk. These debates replace the more traditional ‘Hustings’ that many people may be used to. The debates have the benefit of being made available for interested students to look at whenever they wish without the need to sit through anything they are not interested in. It marks a shift in the way the SU communicates with its students. We are trying to use more technology to reflect the recent changes in the way that students (and people in general) communicate, through sites such as Facebook, youtube, myspace etc.
• Students working at Brookes TV have also produced a number of TV adverts for various SU services as part of their coursework. These adverts will be used by the Union to better communicate to students at Brookes the range and quality of the services provided by the SU.

Attract a greater number of students to run in Union Elections and provide access to comprehensive training and information regarding the available positions and the Union in general.

• The Elections themselves have started very strongly. Despite having received two withdrawals since nominations closed all but one of the Sabbatical Officer positions are contested and all the Non-Sabb positions also have candidates standing. This is the first time that the entire Exec will have been filled in the main elections.
• Filling all the available positions on the expanded Union Council is causing more of a problem. Union Council doesn’t have a high profile among most students and as a consequence is not seen as a high priority in terms of running for positions in the elections. Increased publicity of the meeting itself as well as increased communication of the outcomes and decisions of the Council would begin to address this.
• All Officers have encouraged the candidates running for their position to come in for a chat and have made themselves available, offering advice on any issues pertaining to the role or campaigning.

• There were three separate ‘Candidates Briefing’ sessions held at the beginning of week4.

To ensure that the Union improves or at least maintains its Sound Impact Award Status.

• We have sent the Sound Impact assessment book off but there are several criteria that are currently lacking evidence. The Sound Impact Award assessment has been tightened up this year and we will be fortunate to retain our Bronze Status. It is my intention over the next few weeks and after the election to develop much closer links with the Union outgoing and incoming Environment Officer. Hopefully between us we will be able to cover this area of the Unions work more effectively.

Communicate the achievements and successes of the Union internally and externally using all available media.

• I have sent information on the Elections to ONStream for inclusion to give University Staff a better understanding of the processes as well as link to the information featured on the Brookes TV website.
• There is now a weekly Sauce Coordination meeting which requires news and information to be brought by a cross-section of the staff at the SU. The aim is to better represent the diversity of the Students’ Union through its own communication mediums rather than being too focussed on commercial aspects.

Develop the Commercial Services of the Union so they are recognised as value for money by students through establishing provision level agreements and providing a high standard of customer service.

• The success of our various commercial operations is still difficult to ascertain. Through extremely close monitoring of trade it is clear that more students are using our facilities (clubs and bars) but that the amount of depreciation being carried by Harts Bar in particular is negating the small increase in takings.
• The Commercial Services Manager is committed to developing a more robust program of staff training across the commercial services of the Union aimed at promoting a more professional work ethic, focussing specifically on the customer experience. This will role out over the summer and the new year.
• The Summer Ball, planned for the 17^th May will be key in influencing future student opinion on the ability of the Students’ Union to provide quality services and events that reflect what students want.
• Peachy and Pleasuredome continue to benefit from heavy advertising as well as a largest ever number of guest appearances. The amount of money being spent on making these events special is considerable and is squeezing the profit margins. However, the extra income from the Virgin Media ‘Ave it’ offsets this increased expenditure.
• There is a questionnaire that focuses on assessing the quality of the services provided by the commercial department the results of which will inform the work over the summer to address the issues mentioned above and to improve our service for the benefit of students.

Exec Report 11th Feb 2008

Increase student participation in the Union, its elections, meetings and volunteering through high visibility Communication and Engagement Campaigns.

The Sports Sponsorship is running reasonably well although there have been some problems. Whilst a number of the teams have been attending our nights, 1 team has been buying the tickets for the evening and then going elsewhere.

The Safety Bus now has vinyls for the 2^nd semester. However, as of 21^st Jan OUSU have failed to return a signed copy of the contact and consequently we have yet to receive any money from them (£10k). We have been pursuing them for the money for some time but the deadline for getting their vinyls on the bus has passed. We are still able to service their students as they still maintain a willingness to pay. Re-vinyling with their artwork will cost more so there could be an additional charge. They have now finished looking through the contract but have requested yet another copy, which is being sent today.

The UGM is taking a slightly different slant this time around. Being scheduled on Valentines Day we are running ‘A Date with the Union’ instead. This will be very different and far more participative than conventional meetings and will include summaries of Executive Work as well as a number of stakeholder input exercises.

The Promotions Team continues to develop and build on the success of last semester. With the clubnights running to budget we are now forming much closer links with Oxford Colleges and developing a College Rep system for generating extra custom at Peachy and Pleasuredome.

My Tell10 met for a meal and a chat about the elections and at least two out of the 5 that attended have said that they will be running for positions in this years election.

Most of GOAL time in the first half of the semester is going to be centred around elections as well as a number of perception and information campaigns.

Attract a greater number of students to run in Union Elections and provide access to comprehensive training and information regarding the available positions and the Union in general.

Unfortunately we are unable to provide an e-voting option this year. The University have agreed to share the required information with our service provider but have not yet processed the contractual details.

I have been using events such as the Bill Rammel lecture to identify and talk to interested students. Students that are already making the effort to attend events such as this in their own time may well be interested in further involvement and so it is worth trying to catch them.

If anyone is thinking about standing for elections or knows anybody who is then please ask them to get in touch with the relevant officer or rep to talk about what it is like to be in that position. It is part of a team objective to attract more students to run in elections and so all Officers will be more than happy to talk to potential candidates and discuss exactly what it’s like to be a student rep.

To ensure that the Union improves or at least maintains its Sound Impact Award Status.

We have sent the Sound Impact assessment book off but there are several criteria that are currently lacking evidence. The Sound Impact Award assessment has been tightened up this year and we will be fortunate to retain our Bronze Status. It is my intention over the next few weeks and after the election to develop much closer links with the Union outgoing and incoming Environment Officer. Hopefully between us we will be able to cover this area of the Unions work more effectively.

Communicate the achievements and successes of the Union internally and externally using all available media.

We have had several positive high profile stories featured in the local press recently involving a number of the executive officers, with more underway at the moment. I will be posting links to these stories for inclusion in Onstream. The Information sharing meetings with the University have been a very good way of getting across some of the Unions achievements to the University’s senior management. The Students’ Union hosted NUS Regional Conference during which we were able to present key successes, challenges and campaigns to other SU’s from region.

Develop the Commercial Services of the Union so they are recognised as value for money by students through establishing provision level agreements and providing a high standard of customer service.

Following on from the disappointing performance last semester, anecdotal evidence suggests that our bars are receiving more trade this semester. We are holding events for various student groups including Oxford and OBSU Jewish Society, who held a very successful event in The Venue over the weekend.

There has been a sustained campaign to publicise the fact that Harts now offers food and again anecdotally this appears to be having an effect.

We have borrowed a student perception questionnaire model from Keele University Students’ Union and have adapted it for our own students. The questionnaire will go out to a minimum of 100 students and aims to assess why (or not) students use our facilities and what they think of them. This piece of work could be vital in informing the future direction of the Union Commercial Services.

Exec Report 14th Jan 2008

Increase student participation in the Union, its elections, meetings and volunteering through high visibility Communication and Engagement Campaigns.

Safety Bus recruitment drive is planned for the beginning of the semester aimed at attracting more volunteers to the scheme. We have developed the elections marketing for this year and a plan to attract more people to stand and vote, which includes the Exec making full use of all their contacts they have made through the year as well as hands on promotion.

Attract a greater number of students to run in Union Elections and provide access to comprehensive training and information regarding the available positions and the Union in general.

I have been in contact with several students regarding the elections – encouraging them to run. I have been targeting critical groups and students that have expressed an interest in aspects of the Union through emails, conversation and Facebook – this work is ongoing.

To ensure that the Union improves or at least maintains its Sound Impact Award Status.

Work on the Sound Impact Workbook is ongoing and we have been getting support from Lucy Millard at the University who has supplied information regarding the University’s own environmental achievements.

Communicate the achievements and successes of the Union internally and externally using all available media.

Over the Xmas break it has not been as easy to achieve this. However we have several big events this semester, UGM, Elections as well as a number of campaigns so we will have plenty to shout about once the year gets going.

Develop the Commercial Services of the Union so they are recognised as value for money by students through establishing provision level agreements and providing a high standard of customer service.

There is a new temporary Ents Manager whilst recruitment continues for the permanent post. The temporary Ents Manager has more of a focus on the Union clubnights and also marketing and promotions. Meetings are currently underway planning this semesters entertainment. I will continue to monitor the customer service level in our bars and shops through casual observation. I will feedback significant findings to the Commercial Services Manager for action. Freshers Coordinating for next year will begin shortly as will the budgeting process which I will try to make reflect the emphasis on the need for better customer care.