CSS Committee Meeting - Minutes

Location:	Hybrid
Date:	Tuesday 29th September
Time:	17:00 BST
Attendees:	Joe Adams (JA) (Chair), Henry Thomas (HT) (Minuting), Idris Evans (IE), Albert Waldron (AW), Anna Charleton (AC), George Tong (GT), Tyler King (TK), Day Jones (DJ)

1	Apologies Harry Jacob	JA
2	Adoption of Previous Minutes	HT
3	Matters Arising T-shirts Ordered and on the way - 10 business days Set up t-shirt publicity and do a small t-shirt collecting event to encourage memberships Fresher’s Week Fresher’s stand schedule Action GT: Make announcement to go out with the calendar Action completed Annual RA Nearly 3 weeks with no reply Action HT: Chase Annual RA Use of generative AI To be brought up in manifesto channels for EGM Contacting pizza companies Action EW: Contact pizza companies Action in progress	All
4	Committee Handover	All
5	Past Events Fresher’s Week Board games night Went well Had perfect amount of pizza, all the drinks went (except a small amount of guinness) Societies night Went pretty well, had about 80 people Because we ordered pizza early, didn’t have enough, and had to order more Most people who didn’t get pizza stayed for the later batch Lots of other societies thanked us for running the event AW suggests giving pizza tokens out up to the time we order the pizza to ensure that doesn’t happen again and people aren’t coming just for the pizza. Then any left over pizza would be handed out to people without tokens. Fresher’s Quiz Very well received, about 13 teams instead of the predicted 5. Went really well, no issues. Scavenger Hunt Action HW: Print out QR code to the form and make a short announcement to go out on the Wednesday for it. Action completed Went really well, a lot of people did it, somewhere around 30 or 40. A lot more than the 3 last year. Better advertising this year. Starting the teams off at the same time with an in person event was a much better way to do it. CSS Lunch Went really well, went to Alfred Works instead of Ming Moon. Had about 20 attendees last year but about 40 this year. Was more expensive but it was nice. Had issues with people not having bought tickets, and with people walking in front of cars but it was alright. AW says Ming Moon started in 2014, so it was the first time we went somewhere different. TK says we should advertise the student discount more. HT asks about getting the deposit back. JA says it was never taken but would have been if we didn’t reach the £100 spend, but we did so it shouldn’t have been taken. Other events Stands went well - lots of engagement from PGRs, PGTs, and international students that we don’t normally get. Lots of people meeting others through our events and discord/other social media platforms. HT says there was lots of interest in educational workshops and other similar events. TK and AW suggest bringing back TeX talks and workshops. Also the sponsorship events should be good for that.	All
6	Future Events (standing item) Week 1 Pub Action EW: Put pub night announcement out today Action completed Action GT: Book pub night from 19:00-22:00 with 4 tables. Action completed JA, TK, AW, IE, GT going to the pub Running a walking train meeting 15 minutes before outside CS JS asks to double check the booking after someone called last minute to delete the booking last year. Action GT: Double check pub night booking is definitely confirmed. CSS 5K run Practice run Thursday at 17:00. Run around starting and ending at the CS building. Up to the Vale along roads and then back along the canal. Run happening on Tuesday 6th October. Announcement has gone out, will do another 1 week reminder. Action TK: One week reminder for 5K run Park/Winterbourne AW suggests having this in the next couple of weeks as it is more accessible than the run. JS suggests checking the undergrad timetable before booking the event. Wednesday is the best day for it Wednesday 14th October - The Vale 11:00 Action TK: Publicity out tomorrow for this Action JS: Guild activity and RA for the park AW asks if we are going to bring anything AC says she will ask the football captain to bring the football back JS suggests bringing soft drinks. JA says we need to make clear in the publicity that all food brought needs to be in date and cooked to meet guild requirements. AW not to bring any out-of-date, raw chicken Break Starting next week. Thursday 15:00-17:00. IE can go to most, but can’t do next Thursday. TK says he can go. We also need to buy food and drink for it. JA begs us not to put empty packets of biscuits back into the cupboard. DJ says they might be able to borrow their sister’s costco membership this weekend to get some drinks and snacks. DJ asks what sort of snacks we want. AC says we have a small amount of mini cheddars and digestives. HT says we have a small amount of blackcurrant squash left over from board games. Snacks and Drinks - bulk buy big boxes of multipack snacks: Biscuits - Digestives, mini cheddars? Crisps Squash HT and AW ask if Aldi own-brand would be cheaper than costco with membership. DJ suggests that aldi might be better to save the fuel for the small cost difference. JA suggests going with aldi this week to gauge interest before buying lots. Action IE: Buy snacks and drinks from aldi DJ says they could meet IE at Aldi to pick up the snacks/drinks and drive them to campus. JA says we need a big announcement about break being started. Action TK: Announcement for break before weekly roundup Action TK: Weekly roundup announcements HT asks if we need a guild activity for break JA says he isn’t sure but will check AW says for the pub last year it was one at the start and then it repeated from their HT says the RA is in the annual RA but that hasn’t been approved yet Action HT: Make the guild activity for the fortnightly breaks CSS Plush Making Action AW: Message Fearne to start planning it if possible Action completed JA asks if we should wait for next semester to try and get a grant for it PUB IE, TK, and AW will try to be regular Someone needs to turn up and book the tables Normally the full back section is booked TK says to see how this event goes before deciding on amount to book in future. Action JA: Do guild activity for the pub nights HT says the RA is also in the annual RA Action TK: Announcement for pub Outlines for major events Halloween quiz 18:00 - 22:00, 29th October in CS Action HT: Make quiz Action in progress Action HT: Guild activity, RA, catering form Action TK: Publicity Action JA: Contact the school for atrium and Todd to serve alcohol Prizes from Ikea were suggested previously DJ says they can drive to get the prizes from ikea if that is decided JA suggests doing ducks for runner up IE asks how many ducks we have HT says loads Two guest rounds being planned HT will start making the quiz, and do 4 rounds, including picture round(s) Committee needed to judge costume competition and do pizza Staff team potentially coming HT suggests getting cheaper alcohol from aldi and getting own brand stuff DJ also says they could collect the drinks from aldi car park JA asks how much compared to board games night HT says a similar amount to board games as we mostly ran out but it is likely to be slightly quieter. Will need to get decorations out and put them up. Ball Action GT: Look around for some options for hosting the ball Action pending HT posits booking Aston Webb as it might be cheaper for societies JA says he thinks it is probably more expensive than other places EGM 21st October, 13:00-15:00 G33 should be free Action JA: Contact Todd to ask him to book the room for a couple of hours and make chair slides Action IE: Treasurer slides Will need to TeX cutout and voting stickers and banner Action JS: Contact Matty to ask how to set up the voting website Action TK: Publicity for both 1 and 2 week deadlines Action JA: Channels for advertising AW asks if we are having snacks and drinks there JA says we can decide nearer the time HT says if it’s pre-packaged we don’t need a catering form so we can decide on the day if needed Christmas Meal Action HT: Email Green man to start process and let them know provisional time Action completed HT hasn’t heard back so will follow up Action HT: Follow up email to Green Man Teasoc collab Week 7 or 8 potential If week 8 could replace break 15:00-17:00 Usual collab with tea, scones, etc Other events Action ML: Reach out to VGS to ask about an early collab Action transferred to JA and completed NQ64 AW says he will go DJ says it sounds fun Week 9 suggested Might have started at round 19:00 AW says we either advised ubering or did a walking train JA says we did a walking train there Thursday 26th November, 19:00-22:00 Bot-a-thon DJ says they would like to run a mini hackathon for making discord bots Might increase interest for birminghack if done over a weekend in semester 1 DJ happy to do guild paperwork but doesn’t know enough about discord bots to run it Teaching on Saturday Hackathon bit on sunday Saturday 21st, Sunday 22nd November? JS might be able to help with this, he knows more about discord bots Might do pizza but can decide nearer the time TK says we did do pizza two years ago Other hackathons DJ asks if we wants other hackathons Says early semester two would be good as birminghack is probably in March Something to keep in mind for future planning HT says we had a lot of interest about hackathons so that would be a good thing to run Bar Crawl AW & GT happy to look into bar crawl HT says main t-shirt ordering issue was because it was over £1000 so shouldn’t have the same problem with bar crawl t-shirt order AW incredibly happy to test the route out (definitely will be there, he heard alcohol) JA says it will be ticketed, with extra for t-shirts Inverted colours for stewards Action AW & GT: Look into bar crawl Cheese soc collab GT spoke to cheese soc, no progress yet Eating cheese and crackers Could run that soon HT suggests inviting them to a break alongside the usual to make it a better event Could do week 4 or week 6, week 6 is consolidation though Week 4 would be a good week for it Action GT: Reach out to cheese soc and see if they would like to do 15:00 - 17:00 on the Thursday of week 4 AW’s puns: Camamb-reak, Break-otta, Brie-k, Gouda get to break Workshop Would need to find someone willing to run one for rust Could do a python workshop Week 8? On hold for a week Action JA: Contact Matt about OSM Mapathon	All
7	Sponsor/Industry Update (standing item) Pipeline and active discussions	HT
8	Finance Report (standing item) Most recent statement balance: £802.74 Actual working balance: about £2,000 Pending incomings Capital One sponsorship TPP sponsorship Memberships Pending outgoings T-shirts Server costs (on grant) Habiba has been emailed to put expenses from before the grant onto it retroactively, but no reply Pizza Board games Awaiting the receipt Societies night JA needs to submit expense request Alcohol Action JA: Speak to Zoe to confirm how the alcohol is being paid for Football booking Football football Stickers Valyfy lost funds No reply from Habiba Grants Got part of server costs grants requested, and nothing else EPS Culture Fund Was used for Bletchley park last year, IE will look into	IE
9	EDI Report (standing item) Black History Month Action EW: Prepare an announcement ready for October Action completed Pinging for EDI? Poll in committee chat to decide on whether to ping or not Also should do the announcements on instagram and whatsapp	All
10	Committee Suggestions (standing item)	All
11	Any Other Business (standing item) Minecraft Server TK says server is going well DJ says they have updated the modpack to include some new suggested mods (including some for moderation) Tex bot changes Action JS: Organise discussion outside meeting and plan the potential changes Action in progress Nav Bar Rework Fresher’s logo has been updated by AW JA asks for feedback to the changes AW asks when to take the fresher’s week page off the website This weekend is suggested as the calendar then becomes useless Newsletter Action JA: Write a newsletter HT says this is needed as we have sponsors to whom we promised newsletter space Future meetings Monday 14:00-15:00 currently WhatsApp channels JA has made multiple different channels to allow users to talk to other people in their own group of the uni. GT says he was worried as the whatsapp was until then just an announcement place. Moderation - GT has set some channels to request to join, and there will be issues and it will be a learning curve. We can make decisions as we go if there are multiple issues Membership adverts TK suggests advertising needing memberships for the new events rather than saying we don’t need them JA says it was a good thing to bring up, as it is important to get more memberships. TK suggests checking memberships for pizza JA says that would discourage people from coming to events as it might be too expensive JA says we try and keep the events as open as possible HT needs to check names and memberships at the EGM	All

Actual start time	17:09 BST
Actual end time	18:51 BST
Duration	1 Hours 42 Minutes