Hey everyone!
SELEM is about 6 weeks away at this point, so I'd like to put out a call for volunteers to help out with the organizing of the event. Each year SELEM gets bigger, and we keep adding things to do, so at this point I can use all the help I can get to keep everything moving. Here are the major tasks I need help with.
General Load-in and Setup:
This will be on Wednesday, August 13th from noon until 5 PM. We need all kinds of help with this! We've got scaffold to set up, two large sound systems to set up, several hundred feet of cable and water hose to run, and lots of smaller things like setting up tables, organizing the ion laser work room and buy-sell-trade room, and getting waivers signed, lanyards handed out, and so fourth. Some of these tasks are broken down into separate categories below, but we also need help with simple things like moving flight cases and cable containers to and from the loading dock.
If anyone will be in town on Wednesday and is willing to assist with the setup, please reply below and I will add your name to the list. So far we have the following people available for load-in:
Bradfo69
Platinum
DZ
RGB-gas
Ekeefe
hitekvoop
Scaffold setup in "Club-SELEM":
Jeff (rgb-gas) will be proving us with racks to set the projectors on in the cafeteria, but we need some help installing them and removing them. Anyone who would be willing to help with this, please reply so I can add you to the list.
Blacking out the windows in "Club-SELEM":
Traditionally, Bill Whitcher (Whitcher88) has done this for us, and I'm hoping that he will be able to do it again this year. EDIT: Bill has confirmed he will be doing this again this year. But even so, he could use a couple helpers. It takes a couple hours to hang all the plastic, and at least a good hour to take it all down at the end. So if you don't mind working from a ladder, I'm sure Bill would appreciate the help!
Sound systems:
Right now, the plan is to use the same sound system(s) we have in the past that were provided by Mario (Ragdoll). However, we all know how heavy those folded-horn sub-woofers are! So with that in mind, I'd like to ask for a couple volunteers to help Mario out with the installation (and especially the removal) of all the sound equipment.
Lanyard / Waiver / Entrance control:
This is always a huge hassle. When I'm available, I normally try to handle this, but with everything going on, I'm often not available when people show up. Everyone that attends the event must sign a liability waiver before they enter the auditorium, the cafeteria, or the ion laser work room. Also, they should be issued a lanyard with a name tag. I would like to see a couple people help out with this, so that no one person is stuck sitting at the sign-in table for hours on end. Any volunteers? (This would mostly be for Wednesday during the setup time, and for the first few hours on Thursday when most people will be arriving.)
Edit: Chris has volunteered to do this, but it would be great if we could get another helper for him.
Auditorium control:
This person will be responsible for keeping shows running in the auditorium and ensuring that we stay on-schedule. Right now, DZ is the only one who has volunteered to do this. I'm sure he wouldn't mind some assistance though, if anyone is willing to help.
Note - one thing that will be MANDATORY this year is to always check with the auditorium control person before plugging ANYTHING in to the equipment in the auditorium. Last year we wasted countless hours trying to track down a ground-loop that was messing up the sound system. DZ has a plan for this year, but we need to be sure everyone is on clean power before they hook up.
Printing name tags:
I think Chris (Lazerjock) volunteered to do this.?. Or maybe I'm mistaken. Anyway, I need someone to take this on... EDIT: Chris has confirmed that he will be doing the name tags. THANKS!
Special presentations:
Right now all we have for sure is Bill Benner's traditional "What's new with Pangolin" presentation. I'm willing to do scanner tuning and color palette / color timing adjustment again, if people want to see it. Also, I'll have my new control station set up in Club-SELEM if anyone wants to play around with a touch screen and an APC40 in the Beyond environment (very cool).
But apart from that, I don't have anything else firmed up. I could probably get Dan Goldsmith to re-visit his projector certification lecture, but that would be 3 years in a row... Not sure if that's really worth it or not, but if there is interest I'll pursue it. Edit: This may not be possible, as Dan is unsure if he will be available.
What else would people like to see? And is anyone here willing to put on a presentation of their own?
Edit: JohnYaYas suggested a presentation on the current state of the art with regard to diode lasers. I think this would be a fantastic presentation. Anyone want to volunteer? (Planters?)
Adam