Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:09:14 -0500 Paul Williams wrote: >Ed and Israel, >We at UNL are blessed with the perfect situation. Our music building is directly across the street from a new >Embassy Suites that loves to have conventions. We have plenty of classrooms including a smaller recital hall >within the building. The hotel has large rooms for gatherings,dinners,booths, etc. As far as timing goes, we were >thinking of having ours during Spring Break and have been asked to host for 2010. The hardest part is getting the >director of the school of music to respond to our request! Perfect illustration of what the problem is. You see, Paul, this is probably about at the bottom of the Director's priorities list. And if and when you get a response - and permission - from him, it will be near the bottom of the priorities list of every other University administrator or staff person with whom you will have to deal. Which means that making the specific arrangements, dealing with the specific people in charge of the facilities and the equipment, working out the schedule - and getting the University staff to actually pay attention to your schedule - will be a challenge. They have a school to run - and you are just an inconvenience as far as they are concerned. Nobody is going to get fired or even reprimanded if you don't get what you need when you need it. Unlike at a hotel where your needs are the top and only priority... >Once that is acheived, I don't forsee any problems, since >staff is all still here for the most part during that week anyway and we can hire a building monitor for the evenings >as the school does during regular semesters. Don't be surprised if maintenance is scheduled in a part of the building that you were supposed to be using, or some professor preempts a room for their own needs, or some organization had something else scheduled in the same place that you did - and nobody noticed, or nobody tells you that the particular staffer you need on Sunday morning at 8:30 AM doesn't come in until 10. This goes on at schools all the time... They are typically understaffed and things fall through the cracks all the time. I had that happen to me at the convention Sac State - and I see that happen all the time to outside users here at SF State. And even a small convention is complex enough that snafus like this are bound to happen. And if you need rooms with specific equipment - like tables, extension wires, power strips, other stuff that hotels provide routinely - I suggest you bring your own. And be ready to do a lot of last-minute improvising. Just because the staff is there, does not necessarily mean that they are available to open rooms and get furniture for you - you are not at the top of their priority list. They do maintenance and other work during breaks that they can't do when the students are there. They aren't necessarily going to drop what they are doing and come running when you need something. And you will never find them during their breaks - no matter how big an emergency you have... >Being a smaller region, we also won't be dealing with several >hundred people...more like 100 at the most. Well, then you might just be able to bring it off in spite of the difficulties - but expect the unexpected. >The selling point I am trying to get across to the director is that this would promote the university in a positive light, >the pianos will come out in better shape and the downtown section here will get economic aid during a time that >25,000 students leave town. The airport is 10 minutes away and you can walk to the train depot! Are there any >downsides to this? Yes. They are way too busy running a department - and this is just extra work for people who are already overworked, as state university employees invariably are. Remember, a break is merely the time they catch up on all the things they can't do while dealing with students and faculty... And even if you sell the Director on this - I guarantee you, his enthusiasm will not filter down to the people that you will actually have to work with. To them, you are just an unwelcome extra headache - not their reason for being there, as with hotel employees... Good luck anyway - hope it works. Just be ready for some of the above... Israel Stein
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