That’s all folks!
That's the end of elections for another year, and the last year I'll be involved in the Union. It's been a helluva fortnight, with a larger UPSU Media presence than ever before.
For the first year ever, we've had photographers and videographers (is that the right term?) running around at pretty much every elections-related event, a massive amount of visual media, a great deal of coverage in Pugwash News, not to mention Pure FM's involvement in interviewing the candidates live on air and broadcasting the hustings candidates' question time events in the evenings last week.
I'm amazingly proud and grateful to all of our student volunteers for all their work in the last few weeks - we have, for the first time, a lot of video footage (and there's more to come, which will be used as teaser-material for next year I hope), and there's been an almost constant stream of photos and updates going online from elections-related events.
(You can check out the elections photos, videos, and Pure FM podcasts, and our elections minisite - the largest ever at 75 pages - here).
This year, we've seen roughly a 15% rise in voter turnout despite the poor weather and the end of term (who doesn't know at least one friend who went home half way through this week suffering from parental withdrawal symptoms? ;o) and, although candidate numbers were the same as last year (fourteen candidates), the distribution among positions has been almost diametrically opposed, with last year's least-contested positions seeing the largest numbers of candidates this year.
A couple of people have observed that this year's line-up has been a very marked “pitched battle” between sports clubs and societies and, while I can't comment on how accurate that statement is - it is, after all, a pretty narrow-focused assessment of a candidate to say that they're a “sporto” or “society person” (or “soco”?) - the figures do seem to show that the candidates who received the most votes in each position are all well-known faces around the Union.
Last month, I made a conscious decision not to choose who I wanted to support during the elections process. To have done so would have been to make my life as a trustee of the UPSU charity and editor-in-chief of a lot of the Union's media much harder, and I have no doubt that at some point or other I would have found myself second-guessing any editorial decisions I made to reassure myself that I hadn't unintentionally biased myself for or against a particular candidate. It's a decision I definitely don't regret, although explaining to candidates that I wasn't planning to vote was a difficult process (although, in my defence, I also didn't realise I could vote until yesterday!).
The hardest part of the elections process, for anyone involved with the Union, is the thought that a candidate who you count as a friend might not be elected. Unfortunately, that's a position I found myself in this year, and it's never nice to see a friend's election bid failing to be successful but, that said, there's a small amount of comfort to be gained in knowing that everyone who was elected this year have, so far, shown a great deal of promise and ability, and a willingness to go out of their way for the positions they all campaigned for which will hopefully translate into rampant enthusiasm for their new jobs when they come into office.
So, here's to the new Sabb team. The old Sabb team have a short four-and-a-half months left in office, and the last few weeks are going to be spent working closely with the new team members, so in no time at all, last night's successful candidates will be sitting at their desks in the Sabb office learning the ropes of the new jobs.
Good luck! :o)
/al
Posted by Alex on Sat 15th March 2008
Videotastic question time fun
This evening was the first of the four candidates' question times, with video being recorded (I think?) for the first time. Tallie Kane (reviews editor), Jacob (news editor), Luke (web editor) and Hannah (Pure FM sec) came along and helped out, broadcasting the evening's events to literally billions* of listeners, and videoing the night's proceedings - hopefully the videos should be up on our YouTube stream soon (i.e. once I or another kind soul processes them).
The evening is always scary for the candidates, so a big pat on the back to the girls and guys for doing so well tonight. A few are going to need to be trained to talk louder into the microphone, but that's nothing a little adjustment of the mixing desk can't fix. Alternatively, the “sound engineer's limiting stick” can be used to similar effect…
Posted by Alex on Wed 5th March 2008
Have I scared everyone off?
Just a quick question - have I scared everyone off from running for my position or something?
There's only one candidate for Media & Publications Officer (”MAPO”) this year - last year there were 4, and the year before that there were two…
What gives?!
Posted by Alex on Fri 22nd February 2008
Happy New Year, JobShops, elections, sabbs, media, and other ramblings…
A happy new year to you all out there in readerland. We're in the middle of putting together issue 7 of Pugwash News, the first (hopefully of many!) for 2008.
I hope you all spent at least some of your free time over the holidays taking a break from coursework and/or the obligatory part-time job almost every University student I've ever known has had to take on to pay the bills.
Students are generally regarded as one of the most hard-core groups of job-hunters, accepting offers of employment as diverse as turkey inseminators (eww) and deckchair assistants (a position better suited to the summer months, admittedly), and anything in-between.
I've spent my Christmas taking a good look at what makes student employment tick, looking at students' union “job shop” websites across the country, as well as some of the larger ones including Monster and The Grauniad… sorry, The Guardian.
This hasn't been because I'm getting cold feet in my current position as Media Officer, but because I've been working hard on the new UPSU JobShop website. The old website's done us proud, with thousands of students finding part-time work each year through the Union - and not a single turkey-farm job in sight - but for technical reasons, the old JobShop website hasn't seen any development over the last few years, and has to run on a separate web server away from the rest of the UPSU.net website, making it difficult to really highlight the wide range of part-time jobs our JobShop is so popular for across the rest of the website.
Hopefully it’ll all be done and dusted and ready to turn on (at upsu.net/jobshop) around the third week of January, fingers crossed!
We’ve also got a massive archive of back-issues of Pugwash magazine and Pugwash News online on the Pugwash website - there’s loads of great articles in there from previous years which are still as relevant today as they were when they were published, and are well worth a look (during breaks in revision, of course!).
I've also spent some of my hard-earned on a new pair of DJing headphones, as my last pair fell apart after 12 years' use, so at last I should be able to start putting together some new mixes to listen to, play on Pure FM, and annoy everyone in the Sabb office with ;o)
There’s a point to this rambling stream-of-consciousness, of course: with the Sabb Elections beginning in the next couple of weeks, and voting in the first week of March, I’ve been thinking about what makes a good Media Officer.
I’ve got a bit of a web design background, have a passing acquaintance with DJing and radio production, can use Quark and Photoshop to knock out something approaching a half-decent publication, and even know which way round to hold a camera.
Similarly, previous Media Officers have boasted skills as wide-ranging as video production, radio presenting, news journalism, management experience (and something they call “people skills”, although I’m not convinced they’re any more real than the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus… ;o), artistic flair… the list goes on.
There doesn’t seem to be any particular “theme” here though - UPSU Media Officers don’t seem to have a common interest, hobby, past-time or skill, apart - possibly - from a masochistic streak when it comes to working hard.
Generally speaking, what sets Sabbatical Officers apart from your average student? It’s as simple - and as vague - as this: they’re all prepared to put in a bit more effort and spend a bit more time learning how the Union works, to pick up the skills they needed to get done whatever job needed doing, and to pitch in and take on as much of the work necessary to get “the job” done, whether the job in question was producing an issue of Pugwash or Purple Wednesdays, wading through endless paperwork to organise a charity fund-raiser, or running a campaign, to name a few.
That’s no insult to individual abilities, though: after a year working hard in office, every UPSU Media Officer walks away with a vastly-improved understanding of radio, print and web media production. Their people and management skills have developed, and they’ve gained a better understanding of the yawn-inducing intricacies of budgeting, learnt a chunk of DTP and design skills, and probably come close to the occasional nervous breakdown from sitting through seemingly endless meetings ;o)
This isn’t a recruitment speech, and it isn’t a 1,000-word propaganda broadcast… Ok, it is a bit: if you’re interested in media, and you’re thinking of the “next big step” after University, running for the position of UPSU Media Officer in the coming Sabb Elections might not be the worst career decision you’ll ever make.
Likewise, if you’re already thinking about running for the position, please go back and re-read the last few paragraphs. Being a Media Officer isn’t just about designing websites, writing in the student newspaper or learning to play touch-cup (grin); like every other Sabb officer, you have to take responsibility for the day-to-day running and long-term planning of the Students’ Union first, and only then are you “free” to make sure student media is doing what it should be - communicating with as many students as will listen to you!
I hope this year’s elections see some of the largest numbers of candidates in recent history, especially for the traditionally most-contested position of Media Officer. I also hope that every student takes ten minutes to read the candidate manifestos and to place their vote.
If you’re thinking of running for election, take a look at upsu.net/elections to see what happened last year, or you can drop into the Sabb office at the Union and ask us all sorts of awkward question if you’d prefer!
Until next time, c ya! :o) /al
Posted by Alex on Sun 6th January 2008
Well, that was interesting… (or “ohmygodthere’sonlysixmonthsleft!”)
The office is empty and so quiet it feels like everything's fallen asleep - apart from me and my cup of tea - and once I've cleared my desk and finished playing this Paul Van Dyk mix at ASBO volume, I too am going to be packing up and clearing off home until the start of January.
I've been in office now for a smidge under five months, and it's been nothing short of a whirlwind ride - there have been late nights, lots of hard work, dangling from trees, “ideas theft” from other students' unions around the country, awards, tears, new ground broken, relationships made and un-made, shouting, hugging and even the occasional drink.
Scattered around my desk are piles of to-dos scrawled hurriedly on the back of yellow post-it notes. These probably total less than 10% of my overall pile of “things I must do two weeks ago or the world comes to an end”, and even if I could clone myself over Christmas and not sleep, I wouldn't be able to complete everything I need to.
Still, this year has been, this far at least, an incredible learning experience. I've been more stressed and grumpy than I've ever been, and spent more money on bills and less on my social life - now a distance memory - than ever before, but I wouldn't change the majority of it for the world.
Last night over a beer, the conversation wandered onto the forthcoming Sabbatical elections, which pretty much kick off as soon as we come back in the New Year. We agreed that one of the hardest things any election candidate has to get their heads around is the fact that, as a Sabb, you're a trustee of the Union charity first - taking on all the responsibilities and duties that go with that role - and a president/sports officer/support officer/meeja whore/etc second.
What this boils down to is having to modify your thinking a little… Ok, a lot: when it comes to making important decisions about the future of the Union, as the Sabb team each year is tasked with doing to make sure the Union continues to provide a democratic and student-focused service, you have to have your “trustee hat” on.
For me, this year, this has already brought me a couple of sleepless nights where I've had to make decisions which call into question whether it's more important to put my trustee's responsibilities first, or my media responsibilities. Without going into detail (for I fear I may be taken outside and shot… Ok, maybe not shot…) I hope I made the right calls, but sometimes the only person who can be sure your decision was the right one is you, especially if the rest of the world happens to think you're the devil incarnate for making the choice you made, because they don't understand your reasoning.
I know the other sabbs this year have also faced some tough decisions they never expected to have to make, and possibly the second hardest part of being a Sabb is going from higher education - where you have lecturers and course mates to guide you to making The Right Decision - into a role where the future isn't planned, the decisions aren't clear, and the “right” answer is only right if you believe in it, commit to it, and do the hard work which your particular decision entails to make it happen.
This rambling monologue seems to be circling a potential problem - as a former maths teacher of mine put it, “always show your workings”; it's all too easy to fall into the trap of making decisions which affect students as a Sabb team without explaining to the student body why the decision was made on their behalf, and what factors were taken into account. In fact, it's all too easy to completely miss telling students that a decision has been made by the Sabb Exec which affects them!
This year, we've made some major inroads into further developing regular lines of communication between the Sabbs and students, making it easier and more beneficial for students to take note of and get involved in what the Union has been doing. We have the newspaper, a greater presence on two of the major online communities - Facebook and Flickr, and we've also been working on bolstering our content online, in print and on the radio.
It's important to stress that none of this means that communications in previous years have been seriously lacking, or that previous Sabbatical execs have failed to communicate with students - the Union has a rich and varied history of finding ways of developing a conversation with its students each year, and this year is no different.
Media isn't the only way that the Union listens to and talks to its membership, but if we can continue with current trends, the Union's (largely student-led) media has the ability to get students involved who - much like myself while I was a student - would never pick up a copy of Pugwash, tune in to Pure FM, or visit UPSU.net unless they (a) could get something free, or (b) had a gun held against their heads.
As always, getting into the consciousness of students isn't a science, so we have to continually find ways of catching the attention of Portsmouth's students over the din of coursework, friends, Facebook (damn you, Facebook!! :o), a social life, and the myriad other things all competing for a slice of each student's thinking time.
In all of this, it's important not to put the cart before the horse: each year, the Sabbatical Exec must embrace their Union media, providing a constant stream of information from “what have I done today?” to detailed reports and explanations on decisions being taken by the sabb team members, why they're spending their time debating them, and why.
As a Students' Union, we know how important it is to not only broadcast information to students, but to have an open and frank conversation with the student body, too. The Sabb team are publicly accountable for the actions they take, and should always feel that their work is under scrutiny - although I should add that this doesn't mean we should feel we're under suspicion.
Everything we do should be justifiable, and we should always go to great lengths to explain what it is that we're doing and why, even if Joe Student's initial reaction to hearing that the Sabb team have decided to do x, y and z is to call us a bunch of idiots because the decision seems unbelievably daft.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings. All I came here to say was this: the last few months have been very busy, very hard, very enlightening and I wouldn't change them for the world. The Union is doing many great things, but we as a Sabb exec must make sure we don't lose sight of the need to maintain a dialogue with the student body through whatever means we can. We're not doing too badly at the moment, but that doesn't mean we can rest on our laurels, either, and if you have any ideas on how we can give students more involvement in their Union, just get in touch!
If you're reading this and considering running for office in the Sabb elections this year, I sincerely hope you go for it. Have a look at the Sabbs' pages to find out about each of our roles, read the Union Council meeting minutes to find out what's been going on over the last five years, browse our back-issues of Pugwash and Pugwash News to get up to speed on the Union and everything it stands for (and read more about the Union here, too), and don't be afraid to come into the Sabb office any time for a chat (or, failing that, e-mail us).
Even if you run in the elections and don't get in, you'll still have made it through one of the most testing and intense experiences you can have while you're a student. That said, it's also one of the most enjoyable and worthwhile experiences you can go through. If you need any further reassurance, the campaigning period is only two weeks out of your life, and you'll have the Easter holidays to catch up on any coursework you might have let slip a bit (but don't let your lecturers know that!).
Posted by Alex on Fri 21st December 2007
Suited ‘n booted: Trustees, Lux’s future, accounts, Pure:FM’s AGM and cancelling Purple Wednesdays
(I wrote this last Friday, but I've only just managed to get this approved by the powers that be, so this entry's a bit late. Sorry!)
Posted by Alex on Fri 4th May 2007
Campaigning through hoops
One of the less well-known aspects of the campaign trail during elections is that campaigns can only take place during the official campaign period*, which is only five days long, and that there is a limit on how much one can actually spend on campaigning - this year, it's
Posted by Alex on Tue 20th March 2007
Stress, bright lights, drinks vouchers… Oh, and an election result or three…
Elections are a messy business when it comes to results and, unlike politicians who make a career out of the associated stress, no student running for the first time in the elections can be expected to be able to hold on to every shred of their sanity throughout elections night.
Last night - results night - was no different, and after meeting in the Waterhole yesterday evening and mingling (something I'm less self-conscious about after a week of shamelessly embarrassing myself in front of lecture theatres and in the street), the fourteen tired and stressed candidates were then handed some drinks vouchers, herded upstairs, briefed, herded around some more, held in a little pen, and then propelled onto stage.
I'm sure there was more to this process, but it all faded into the periphery as time slowed down and we all faced the fact that our collective week of hard campaigning work was about to be judged in the only way it could be. If there's one thing that puts people off running for office, I think it's got to be the public ordeal of elections night.
Last night's results produced some surprises, and some heart-wrenching moments. Seeing someone you have endless respect for absolutely devastated at being voted out is certainly enough to keep one's feet grounded. More positively, the raw enthusiasm I've seen on the faces of every successful candidate since the results makes me confident that next year, the Union has a great chance of taking all the good work done this year and pushing it even further forward.
And for me? Oh, well… You know… I WON! Thankyou to everybody who showed their support through Facebook and by
e-mail, everyone who helped me campaign, and of course everyone who
voted… (Find out who else won, here).
Typical of me, of course, the MAPO vote was the most awkward one to be counted last night. I won't even begin to try and explain the maths of what happened, because I don't really know, but basically the vote was so close that as the unsuccessful candidates' votes were redistributed, the last person standing against me (Sam) went from 404 to 706 votes, against my rise from 557 to 751.
I spent the rest of the night in a haze of saying endless and heartfelt thankyous to everyone, being surprised by some peoples' visceral reactions, and trying to figure out what I'd just achieved. I've also learnt that there's little I can do or say to an unsuccessful candidate to express my sadness that they didn't get in without sounding insincere. Yes, I know I'm normally a git to everyone, but sometimes my heart goes out to people. Just don't tell anyone I admitted that one…
I do hope every candidate who ran against me will stay in touch and
keep their good ideas coming in - this year more than any other, every
candidate for this position had a lot to offer the job, so I hope I can
have the chance to tap into those ideas.
Please stay tuned to the Union, UPSU.net, Pure:FM, Pugwash, Purple Wednesdays, and the Sabb officers present and future, and please keep your ideas coming in on how the Union can improve for **YOU**.
As for me, I'll be taking up the role of Meeja & Publications Officer in August. In the meantime, Fraggy will become my new b*tch… I think that's how it works, right…? Right now though, I need to get some sleep, finish my degree, and try and work on my tan ;o)
Peace out /al - votemunki.co.uk
(Oh, p.s. - don't forget, if you're a student, you have the right to sack your Sabbs. If I turn out to be anything less than great, you have my permission to chuck me out and find someone better ;o)
Posted by Alex on Sun 18th March 2007
Special thankyous
As some of you may know, we are only allowed to spend up to
Posted by Alex on Fri 16th March 2007
Day 4 done: end in sight…
Only about 5 hours of canvassing left in the run-up to the close of voting. While all the other candidates sleep, I'm uploading today's photos and trying to find all my receipts…
Today's been another whirlwind of fun and scaryness. I crashed my first lecture alone at midday, and while I received huge rounds of applause in both, it was an experience which left me shaking!
I've really enjoyed speaking to students, and even a couple of lecturers, about their take on anything and everything student-orientated, but especially about the things that UPSU Media can help to improve. I still feel “the fear” when approaching students, of course, but I'm also gaining a lot of self-confidence from this, which I reckon is no bad thing.
I'm seeing and hearing of a lot of candidates - who started the week as laid back as you could imagine - becoming a tiny bit stressed by this whole experience. I'm sure I'd be feeling it too if I wasn't so exhausted. If I had the luxury of being able to offer any support to them, I'd point out the obvious; no matter what happens, at the end of the day you've all done a great job (which they all have, from everything I can gather!) and that the worst-case-scenario is that they have to get a proper McJob next year, or resume their studies in some cases.
Either way, no matter what happens, everyone who has taken part in this year's elections have proven that it *is* possible to have an election where the vast majority of candidates are well on the ball, clued-up about the positions they're going for, and who are prepared to work tirelessly to prove their worth.
Tomorrow is going to be a very, very hard day for all 14 candidates. Only 6 - at the most - will come out of it with a job next year, but every one of us will have learnt a lot about our own abilities to push through our limitations, about who are our best friends, and what it is that the student population really knows and thinks of the Union and its elections.
From a more personal point of view, I think every single candidate running for MAPO (with the possible exception of RON, who I haven't yet seen out and about… ;o) has worked as hard as they can to canvass votes this year. I also happen to think that each MAPO candidate has brought to the table some amazing ideas, and I really hope that, whoever takes the position tomorrow, they spend some time talking to the other candidates and looking at their manifestos to harvest these valuable ideas for UPSU Media in 2007/2008.
At the end of the day, the real winners of tomorrow's count will be next year's students. I wish every candidate the very best of luck, and I look forward to seeing the Union going on to even bigger and better things next year, regardless of whether it's down to myself or one of the other MAPO chaps to broadcast the Union's great range of opportunities.
Unless I can get to a 'pooter tomorrow afternoon, I doubt I'll be writing much else in here for a short while, so to everyone who's bothered reading down this far, to everyone who's worked tirelessly for little more than thanks and promises of my becoming their slaves in return, to every single person who took the time to talk to me while I campaigned, and to everyone who went to the trouble of asking their friends to vote for me too, thank you. No matter what else happens, this is what makes elections worthwhile for me, and this is what student democracy is all about.
Peace out /al
(Oh, p.s: vote responsibly: votealexh.co.uk ;o)
Posted by Alex on Fri 16th March 2007