AGM Nominations Open Now!

In a few days nominations close for our BSS 2024 AGM. Interested in a role but not sure what it entails? Here are some brief role descriptions from the current committee!

President-

President is a really fun role and can be absolutely what you make of it.

You're the face of the society so ultimately responsible for all the goings on, people will come to you with questions and expect you to know the answer to everything! This role requires someone who can delegate well and keep a good oversight of all of our shows and crews, dipping in and out where necessary. Good knowledge of how the society runs is essential and previous committee experience will help!

Secretary-

As secretary I am in charge of the daily running of the society. I organise and minute our weekly committee meetings, manage the society’s calendar, work out the crew call schedule for the year, create PM calls, schedule posts to the mailing list, keep the members spreadsheet up to date, monitor the committee@ email, set up elections, liaise with LUU events, activities and tech about any issues we’re having and generally remind people to do things. You might be thinking that sounds like a lot of work - and it is! Organisation and communication are key for this role as it involves a lot of admin. However, I absolutely love doing this job and it has taught me so many useful skills and hugely improved my confidence. So if you like excel spreadsheets and emails, this is the role for you!

Treasurer-

Being treasurer has been so much fun the past year! It took me a while to get into the swing of things but once I did I enjoyed doing it. As treasurer you’ll be in charge of all things money of course but specifically you’ll be the person to approve expenses, pay invoices, keep track of budgets alongside the PM, and email cash office countless times. It’s a lot of spreadsheets and emails but it’s very satisfying to finish a show and empty out its account.

Equipment and Training-

Equipment & Training is a busy role but a very rewarding one! The most important part of the role is to order new consumables (tape, flambar, paint, etc.) when we are running out. Throughout the year, you might also find yourself purchasing all sorts of items, from a kimble gun to padlocks. This means you often work with the treasurer, as all these expenses help keep them busy too! You also have to manage the hiring of some of our equipment to other societies for their  shows (usually in Pyramid). This includes invoicing the society and arranging  delivery/collection times. If equipment gets broken, you have to arrange for it to get fixed. You might also need to let LUU know if any of their equipment isn’t working. Finally, keeping an inventory of all of our equipment is a useful task. Of course the other main part of the role is organising training sessions, these help members learn and become more confident in different department roles. Training sessions also form 

the backbone of Expo week, so it’s quite a big task. Don’t forget about intro, power, ladder and workshop training too! Once the training is arranged, you’ll work with the events and publicity officers to promote it. There’s lots of other little tasks to the role but this is the main bulk of it. It’s such a rewarding role when you see everything running smoothly!

Safety and Welfare-

Safety and Welfare Officer is a very relaxed position within the committee (I’d argue one of the most chill on committee), but very important! I support our members wherever I can, chat to LUU and their welfare representatives and help people enjoy their time at backstage. Whilst I’m not responsible for anyone’s safety, I ensure risk assessments and other documentation is on time (which is actually quite fun to snoop in the drive).

Events-

Being on committee has been one of the most fulfilling parts of being in Backstage for me! The role of Events Officer, also known as the Fun Officer, is a very social one, and it means you get to decide what we all do together outside of shows — shock and horror, yes we do hang out NOT in the Riley!! You get to develop your organisational skills and experience what it was like for your teachers on a school trip to corral everyone, but it is a lot of fun to create really special experiences for everyone. Socials are an important way for new members to meet each other, existing members, and help create relationships that make working on shows even better. Plus, if you’ve ever thought ‘I really wish I knew how to use Facebook better’, there’s no way to learn that suddenly being thrown in, and you’ll become very familiar with the events system!

Publicity and Communications-

Publicity & Communications Officer is one of the more creative roles on Backstage Committee. The core of your job is maintaining the Backstage social media presence across our Facebook and Instagram. You must liaise with the Events and Equipment & Training Officers to get info about upcoming events and training sessions, and then must publicise them on our social media channels. It is also your job to send out the Backstage Newsletter, with show recaps, event and crew call updates, and whatever else you’d like the society to hear about! It is really fun to have the opportunity to decide on an aesthetic for how everything will look, and great experience to get to grips with the software used by professionals in graphic design/social media management. There is also a lot of room to take on other projects outside of your usual duties that interest you, like the documentary I filmed during Forbidden Planet (which will release eventually).

Open Seat-

Being Open Seat is super fun because there are no specific tasks associated with the role. Your job is to support the rest of the committee with their tasks, taking on parts of others workload, or jobs that don’t really fit in anyone else’s remit as required. Another side to the role has often been giving advice to the rest of the committee on decision making and what previously has/hasn’t worked for the society. I think having a good general understanding of how the society works and how the committee functions will help you to be good at this job, but the role is equally open to anybody that hasn’t been on the committee before too.

The 2023/24 Committee.