Ember Reports 2012
Archive of Ember Reports (Post-event reviews)
AMBASSADORS
Michael 'Luki' Blank michaelblank@gmail.com
Jun 20
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
I am the Territorial Ambassador to Fort Collins (which tends to include Loveland and Greeley, or other Northern Front Range towns.) This was the easiest year yet for me in this role, as the switch to online only tickets took away the *primary* thing I had been responsible for. Overall though, I feel my role is acting as an Ambassador for Apogaea to my community, and as an representative of my community to the board. This year I mostly had to speak with people about the event, answer questions about the ticketing process, and serve as a guide to new community members, etc, and host a ticket buying party.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
What worked well:
Ticket sales overall was a very smooth process, and particularly on regional reps/T&A's as we did not have to play a part in the process other than informing our communities. Info was super available for anybody with the 'net and a heartbeat. I had a ticket buying party for those without reliable connections or credit card access which went very well, only about 6-8 attendees but met some burners from the area I had not met before, and assisted in the purchase of around 8 tickets total. I also love that my role is primarily "outside" of the event in time, aka leading up to and after the event is my busiest. I will be announcing a meet and greet in mid-July for Fort Collins soon as well, if anybody wants to come. Look for it on the Fort Collins Burners facebook group.
What didn't:
No real issues other than BPT really failing at maintaining our "attendee list..." I assisted in the transfer of 3 tickets, and each of them was given one kind of misinformation or another from a BPT rep. I kept following up, and in the end, they were all changed over no problem, but it was a touch frustrating to have to tell people, "the person you spoke to was wrong, try again."
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these
improvements be implemented?
I would like to see T&A's role formalized a little more, and possibly include ideas that we all may have come up with this year as Regional Reps (as I understand it, I am the ONLY T&A who is not ALSO a BM Regional Rep, which is weird. Larry's never asked me, and APO is my burn of choice, so I probably would turn them down, I dunno.) One good idea I had which didn't happen this year but should in the future was to coordinate carpooling somehow for our "regions." This could be an Apogaea-supported undertaking, The ticket buying party is also important for internet-only style sales, which is the way it seems things will go permanently. We should also be responsible for a regional "decomp" of sorts or at least meeting up at times throughout the year. I need to get to those fire jams this year. =-)
Ticket sales: not my dept. per se, but I think there should be 2 or even 3 ticket sales, after a key infrastructure sale (ie, ignition and key volunteers, as requested by each dept. lead, especially BAMF, Rangers, DPW, and Bing Zombie Saloon). This will insure we can all be off work to get tickets, all be safe, all not die by sheep or fire, and all get sufficiently drunk when not on shift.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training
that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why
not?
Thus far, I really do. It was easy for me to get any info I needed from the Ticket FAQ that Guy put together, or even directly from Guy. He's a good... well, Guy. =-) I kind of miss the days where we had local sales, but I gotta say, directing people to answers and fielding a few questions is easier than trying to accommodate several dozen people and 40 phone calls trying to acquire tickets locally, especially in the "mad scramble" last year towards sell-out. (Like OMG, only 50 tickets left, send 5 to FoCo for Luki, etc etc) Caroline can attest to that. I think online-only was a good decision this year and will continue to be, despite losing that local flavor (I wish we could have worked with Swampgas & Gossamer Lost & Found Emporium, really is a fun store/gallery).
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
This year seemed the most together in terms of infrastructure I have seen. I think organizationally we are on the right track. Let's build out that structure even more, with further compartmentalization of roles, and we will be gravy for a little more sustainable growth next time around.
ART
Art Commitee
Rev. tommytommytommy Phileros erosphil@yahoo.com
Jun 15
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
I put together the art committee, put calls out to artists to submit grant proposals for the festival, organized the committee to evaluate the art proposals and follow through with the artists they were liaisons to, announced grantees, evaluated art at the festival, and now will wrangle receipts from artists.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
DID: Great committee members, great support from our webmeistser (Koda) and Jen, and great response to art solicitations.
NOT: Though it was a generous offer, the grant application system, CaFE (CallForEntry.com), was difficult for our committee to use and for every artist I spoke to hated it. Plus it only attracted outside artists who had no idea what Apo is and wasted our time evaluating their requests for hotels and whatnot (despite this clearly being verboten).
Some board members were not terribly responsive to inquiries, some meddled in our committee’s business, and one interfered with our committee due to his personal issues.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
Drop CaFE and put a simple application process on our own website (perhaps with Wordpress).
Have board members give fellow volunteers the benefit of the doubt (assume the best, not the worst) and to not to mix personal issues with Apo business.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yep, just need someone to help create our own online application.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Great work y’all, really, and did you see all that bitchin’ art?
Artistic Collaboration
James Whiddon jwhiddon@gmail.com
Jun 20
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Artistic Collaboration
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
This was the first year for this position. Pretty much the only thing that happened since it was created so late in the year was the Art Fair. I think that went over pretty well.
I'll have a better idea of what didn't work well next year.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
I'd like to have a discussion involving the 2012 granted artists to see how we can improve the art grant process and how we can increase interest in bringing bigger and better art to Apogaea.
I'd like to hold another Art Fair around the same time (February).
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yes.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Start the art process earlier in the year. This would mean we'd need to start by having a theme a lot earlier.
Art & Camp Registration
Michele Meydenbauer registration@apogaea.com
Jun 15
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Since many projects are applicable to more than one Apogaea Lead, the Registration Lead:
o Manages Apogaea registrations to ensure a simple process for participants that reduces the number of places they need to register their project.
o Reviews registrations to ensure adherence to published policy for the event.
o Consolidates registrations into a single data source so the Leads can focus on their core role, not collecting and organizing data. Primary areas of impact include: Placement, Sound, Fire, and DMV.
o Works with other leads to keep the process simple. This may include, but is not limited to: Center Camp Events, WWWW, DPW for Work Weekend.
o Creates an environment on the website that makes it easy for participants to understand policy and get properly registered.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Worked Well:
o A single source of information for the Placement, Sound, Fire, and DMV Leads
o Assisting other departments like DPW for Work Weekend and RV Registration
Not So Well:
o They number of registrations is growing so quickly that it’s not really feasible to keep everything in one place.
o Several key leads joined the game after the process had been identified which created some confusion initially but ultimately worked well. It would be nice to skip the confusion and just work well next year.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
The registration process essentially begins with art grants, 7-8 MONTHS before the event. The policies for art and theme camps that are published at that point in time drive how people develop their proposals. Too many Leads are first getting started the month before the event and trying to implement policy that is contradictory to what was previously published. It’s not fair to the participants to make changes that late in the game. (This is not a negative statement toward those Leads or their ideas. Many of them admirably stepped up at the last minute to ensure the job got done and had great ideas. It’s simply a timing thing.)
I’d like to see the relevant Leads in place and communicating in OCTOBER to mutually develop policy and a simple, comprehensive process that makes it easy for participants to register yet provides all departments with the information they need in a simple format. Relevant departments include: Art Grants, Placement, Sound, Center Camp, WWWW, DMV, Fire and Registration. The resulting process would be provided to the community in a comprehensive manner on the website.
I don’t think this will be difficult; it just requires all of the departments to work together and make cohesive decisions 8-9 MONTHS before the event. I will be responsible for updating the website with the resulting policy and timing. I think registration would include the following (which is pretty much how this year worked out – it would just be the intent from the start, not a change in the middle):
o Art Grant Proposals – to the Art Lead
o Pre-Registration – to the Registration Lead which will be distributed to Placement, Sound, Fire, DMV
§ Theme Camps
§ Sound that requires a generator
§ Art Installations over 8′x 8′x 8′
§ Fire-Related Art and BURN BARRELS
§ Art Cars/Mutant Vehicles
o Center Camp Event Registration – to the Center Camp Event Lead
o WWWW Listings – to the WWWW Lead
o RV Registration – to the Placement Lead
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
It’s imperative that the Leads for these areas be in place when we START planning and PARTICIPATE in the process.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
We’re building a fabulous event with an amazing team of people! I can’t wait to see where we go in 2013!!!
BAMF
BAMF Medical Lead
I want to start off by saying that this was the BEST Apo yet and I can not what to see how it evolves. I will not apply for the Medical Lead next year and that is why my Ember report is so freaky long. Sorry! I broke it down by departments so you don’t have to read the whole thing. Chapter 1: What can we do in the future? Joking, Cyn.
Board Members:
Retreat: I appreciated having the opportunity to meet Apo’s Departmental Leads. Many for the first time. I only wish there was more time allotted to discuss event planning, Departmental resources and needs, plus time to discuss onsite collaboration between departments.
Communication:
As Ignition, there were times I felt out of the loop. There appears to have been a faulty wire in communication between the Board and Ignition. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t.
Maybe next year a timeline could be shared with Leads so everyone is on the same page and has a better understanding of deadlines, expectations and an overall picture of how the Board imagines the event will play out.
Could our future Board please document their definitions, roles and expectations of each Departmental and Lead? We know DPW does infrastructure, BAMF does Fire & Medical, and Rangers are our hippie police :), but with each new Board there are new assumptions and expectations that are unintentionally not communicated to individuals. I think it would be fair that each individual Lead writes up their own definitions then the Board modifies and final draft is agreed upon before they are ratified.
The Board are elitists and hog all the meetings :) Could we alternate between Board Meetings in which the Board discusses policy and Lead Meetings in which Leads work together plan the event.
I believe too many expectations were placed on the Treasurer. I believe all Board Members should be proactive in understanding the Budget. Plus Board Liaisons and not just the Treasurer should be responsible for communicating Budget issues to their assigned Departments and Leads. April, I truly appreciate your last email regarding the Budget.
I also believe that all Board Liaisons should have a complete understanding of the Departments they represent at the Board Meetings. Board Liaisons should understand the day to day activities, resources, and policies of each Department they represent at Board Meetings, along with knowing the number of volunteers expected to participate.
Could our future Board please develop a single and easily obtainable list of ALL voted upon issues / new policies, with a brief explanation. No Lead should be told one thing but expected to do something different - then scrutinized in an open forum for the actions they took. I saw this occur several times because of miscommunication of new policies.
Recruitment / Recruitment database:
75 volunteers met BAMF’s needs to assist a 1300 participant event.
1 Lead flaked, 4 volunteers flaked. 80% worked overtime because the BAMF CAMP was so close. Charles & Archie should receive the new car swag for the amount of time they put in.
I love the idea of a volunteer database which stores volunteer history and level of participation. As this database grows, could the Leads be able to enter data and modify the data within the database? Could multiple BAMF leads have access to the database? We had 5 BAMF leads accessing our database to manage the 94 volunteer applicants. Could I generate my own reports from the database?
BUG - You and all the work you put into this web page and database are appreciated!! THANK YOU!
Tickets
This year, my team taught me that guaranteed entry and early entry were more motivational then a discounted ticket.
BAMF will require at lease 75 volunteer reserved entry. If Apo grows, then adjustments will need to be made appropriately. Expect that at least 1% of the population will require Medical assistance.
Volunteer shifts
The online shift sign-up made my life so much easier. Thank you BUG for all your hard work!
The duration of Lead shifts and Medical / Fire volunteer shifts may have to be addressed next year.
Equipment
In order to reduce unexpected expenses it would be nice if Departmental Leads were involved in the budget making process instead of using random amounts.
FYI: About 30% of our infrastructure was loaned (O2 tanks, O2, waste water container, sink/counter, 1 table and all the chairs, 2 (5 gallon) water containers, communication boards, ice chest and ice, personal gear, medical supplies & equipment, clothing, shade structure (lounge), camo, swamp cooler, propane heater and area dividers). Pat and I plan to use our gear for our camp next year.
Water/Ice
Heat Stroke was our biggest issue this year. We went through 15 gallons of water and 4 bags of ice in 1 day. I want to thank DPW for taking the time to purchase more water for the community. You guys/gals really rocked it!
Because of new policy, ice became an unexpected expense this year. Ice was donated by the Medical and Fire leads this year to assist in Apo’s fund raiser.
Placement Lead
Placement was a perfect surprise for BAMF. Not only were we in a great location geographically but having BAMF CAMP behind Ground Control reduced our response time and really brought the team together. A little BAMF community. Repeat for next year.
Thank you for providing appropriate vehicle access for BAMF, DPW & Rangers.
Ground Control / HQ layout worked very well. Repeat for next year, if possible.
BAMF can use your assistance with Emergency Call Box locations as you understand high risk areas/camps. Bing Zombies.
Training
I want to thank everyone for participating in Apo’s Emergency Evacuation / ICS training.
I believe more time should be set assign to practice mock scenarios which include DPW, Ranger, Parking, Ass. This way we understand one another’s resources, improve communication and gain team work.
Training BAMF members: The BAMF Information Guide in the Official Apo Website worked like a charm! THANKS to Koda, and Bug. However it does not replace training in person.
Port a Jon Lead
We used 1 Wheel Chair accessible x1by Ground Control. Repeat next year.
Parking Lead: Amazing Job!
Someone mentioned too many cars parked within camps. What if each camp received 2 car laminated to be placed on the rear view mirror. “Get out of Parking” free card.
Ranger Lead
The relationship between BAMF and Rangers appeared to have been solid prior to going into Apogaea. The ICS protocols were finalized during the Apo Retreat, and both departments had the opportunity to verbally share Departmental Resources. Unfortunately, when it came to implementing those protocols at Apogaea there proved to have been a large breakdown.
A debrief was completed after each major incident and included the Medical & Fire Leads, the on duty Khaki along with Ranger & BAMF volunteers involved in the incident. I believe we learned a great deal from these debriefs.
However, we missed a major component by forgetting to include the on-call Board Member. I feel if we had included the Board in these debriefs they would better understand the needs of the departments.
My hope is that Rangers and BAMF learn from our mistakes, start communicating sooner and more often, and have our volunteers practice scenarios on site prior to work weekend. By role playing we can work out kinks prior an emergency, gain muscle memory and quicker response time - which we will need if this event grows.
The Lounge was intended to be a shared hang out for Rangers and BAMF. I feel this space was under-utilized and should be more conducive for chilling and story telling. For 2011, we had a couch and some chairs (thanks DPW) in there that made it more convenient to hang out, but in 2012, we didn’t set up anything in there and figured that people would just bring in chairs. That didn’t really happen, so for 2013, we should plan to have the lounge set up from the start with seating.
Radios
Congratulations - All the radio gear was turned in this year! You KICK ass.
We experience Radio Dead Zones. We would have been late to response to a zombie apocalypse at the Gate or certain areas within Hushville. You should consider having a repeater for next year.
The satellite phone with the preprogrammed phone number to Bailey’s Fire and Ambulance crew (14 minute response time) was stored in the Honey Badger. This year we learned that Rangers and BAMF need easy access to the preprogrammed number and that 2 phones may be necessary. So when BAMF is responding to a fire and the 3 team members are occupied getting dressed in their bunker gear and driving the Honey Badger, a Ranger can call the Fire Department. Or Khaki can make the call without having to run to Ground Control.
Mapping Lead
Can we breakdown Apogaea into zones and place these zones onto emergency services maps. Zoning will prevent overlap in patrolling and improve communication. These zones should be decided upon prior to work weekend so Rangers and BAMF can learn the lay of the land.
We need to include road names on the maps.
We need to be consistent which our zones names (HushVille., QuietVille., Suburbs, KidsVille. The Honey Badger was sent to the opposite end of the actual incident, because we heard KidsVille. verses HushVille. This slowed down our response time. People didn’t know there was a KidsVille.
Emergency Call Box locations should be included on future maps.
WWWW Lead
Thank you for adding the “Public Announcement” notice. Several participants stated they brought their inhalers because of it.
Thanks again for a great year. AND one last thanks for everyone who contributed and / loaned equipment, supplies or just really cool things to BAMF.
Medical Supervisor
Travis Roberts tjroberts2243@comcast.net
Jun 16
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Set up of BAMF. Medical Supervisor for BAMF
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
How Cyn “spread the wealth” and made sure that no one person was inundated with work. Volunteers showing up for shifts on time and ready! Cooperation between all departments. Purchasing of infrastructure (capital – defib and other hard supplies) to reduce the need to rent and waste money on rentals.
BAMF volunteers were top notch.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
More volunteers with BAMF – we are going to miss Cyn next year she will be a big void we need to fill.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Kudos to the board for making the purchase of a defibrilator.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
I had burners in from Austin who were leads for departments at Flipside. They were impressed with our organization and described it as one of the best regionals they have attended. Same with my friend from LA. They might even move to Colorado cause they love our crew so much.
For me – I thought the event was – “meh.” Love you guys!
BAMF Infrastructure Lead
Rooster rooster@apogaea.com
Jun 18
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
BAMF Infrastructure Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Worked: Setup and tear down went fine.
Needs improvement: Several things were left in the BAMF tent without instructions stating whether they were donations or needed to be returned at the end of the event. This caused some confusion after the fact as some items thought to be donations were given out or loaded into the storage trailer at the end of the event, but the original owners came back later looking for them. We appreciate the help, but anything needing to be returned needs to be clearly marked and picked up before tear down begins.
We also had issues with fire tools (shovels, rakes, etc.) being borrowed and not quickly returned, forcing us to go looking for them. This could have been a big issue if we had a fire, besides the fact that many of the tools were loaned to BAMF by members.
The only other issue I can think of was the budget process. I think it needs to be more formal next year in that at the start of the season everyone with a budget should get an email listing how much their budget is, what is and what is not included in that number, as well as what it cannot be used for. We had a lot of conversations with different folks and most of them involved different ideas concerning what we had- was the truck part of our number or separate? What about t-shirts? Did t-shirts count as schwag? I heard different answers to each of these at different times. At one point, I thought I might be personally on the hook for $700 in t-shirts and the truck rental. That didn't turn out to be the case, but was a bit concerning. Having an official document from the start would decrease a lot of confusion, stress and phone calls.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
See above.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yes
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Thanks to everyone that helped setup and take down the BAMF/Ranger headquarters!
BAMF Daily Lead/Radio Protocol Writer
From: Charles Sickles <sickles@apogaea.com>
Date: Sat, Jun 16, 2012 at 9:55 PM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
BAMF Daily Lead/Radio Protocol Writer
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
The internal Operations of the Ignition team in it's entirety were very fluid and it was obvious that a dedicated team of professionals were at work behind the scenes, primarily by the lack of major snafu's. Apo Bear (nomnomnom...) was handled well.
Worked well: The ICS structure of the critical services (DPW, BAMF, Rangers) was impeccable - everyone knew their job and executed their assigned roles with admirable precision and grace. Staging of BAMF equipment was optimal for rapid deployment, as evidenced by the response time to Fri. night's generator fire. The Khaki Echelon team was top notch and had the full respect of the entire crew.
Room for improvement: The only noticeable glitch was Sat. night's incident (re:Park Co. rolling in with EMS/LEO's). Had more interdepartmental communication and scenario role-play occurred pre-event between BAMF and Rangers, the outcome may (or may not) have been more contained In-house and not required the intervention of outside assistance.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
Upper Management level Scenario/sandbox training might be handy, especially when posing questions about avail. resources and how to efficiently deploy them in crisis situations.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
I feel that the entire Apo team was well equipped to perform at the level that we all did. With that being said, I'd really feel safer with several QRV's (Quick Response Vehicles) equipped with an ACLS Kit, Stokes basket and basic fire suppression equipment sufficient to make an initial attack on a camp that had a mishap involving fire. Such equipment would include a basic complement of hand tools for each unit, i.e. forestry shovel, Pulaski, MacLeoud and 8# sledgehammer. Ideally, a chainsaw and trained Sawyer would be part of any future team's capabilities.
With the activity of Sat. night having transpired, it should be taken as a Lesson Learned and future Incident Management Teams should be trained to include/Consult Multiple Dept. Heads when dealing with combative individuals. All unresponsive/ambulatory/combative cases might be evaluated by multiple 007-types to determine the ability of the event to minimize non-Apogaea exposure.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
More. We're ready.
I trust this crew with my life, and I had more fun this Apo than any regional I've ever been to thus far.
BAMF Daily Lead
Bastion Ridley bastion@apogaea.com
Jun 17
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
BAMF Daily Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Worked: Volunteers arrived on time, and our process for check-in and equipment/procedure orientation was streamlined and effective. With the number of volunteers assigned to my shift (2 for the immediate Afterburn midnight-6:00 and 3 volunteers from 6:00-12:00), we very efficiently treated a range of injuries and patients. Other BAMF volunteers notified us of their location, in case we needed more hands on shift. And the number of highly experienced and medically certified volunteers we had this year was awesome!
Needs improvement: The Sunday early AM incident could have benefited from better operational communication between Rangers and BAMF, as well as improved understanding of the protocols our two groups use to handle green dot situations, and the resources we can bring to bear. I wasn’t aware at the time that the Rangers hadn’t been briefed on the equipment BAMF uses in these situations. Backboarding the patient would have allowed us to safely evaluate him, and might have obviated (or not) the need to call for outside EMS/LEOs. The primary concern from a medical standpoint is that a radical change in behavior could be the result of any number of serious conditions (seizure, insulin shock, head injury, allergic reaction, etc) and not necessarily the result of too many hits of LSD. In either case, a non-responsive, non-communicative patient needs to be evaluated as soon as possible to rule out more serious problems. There was an extensive debrief on Sunday and our groups will be discussing how to communicate better in the future.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
BAMF and Rangers collaborate on a list of potential scenarios and corresponding protocols that incorporate on-site resources and personnel
Clear criteria for deciding when to call EMS for patient transport versus stay and evaluate (ex. Green dots with stable vitals may be evaluated in Sanctuary for a period of time to see if they can come back down on their own).
More crosstraining within BAMF between the Fire and Medical personnel.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
We have an excellent setup and cadre of personnel and equipment. We just need to smooth out some communication and implementation issues.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Overall, things went really well.
From: Aaron Archer <archer@apogaea.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:52 PM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
I was Sam's Assistant and Fire Operations, As well as a Daily Lead for BAMF on Burn Night
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
I think as a whole everyone that volunteered with BAMF did an amazing job the whole duration of the event. We had amazing response times to any emergcies reported to bamf and provided amazing patient care to anyone who came to the BAMF tent seeking help. something that i noticed needed to be set up better was the radio situation, it seemed that mostly everybody was out of the loop for most of the radio stuff and having branch designated and marked radios for next year would be prime.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
I believe that BAMF and Rangers need to cross train more before the event and this should be done with scenario sessions where we can practice responding to emergencies when there is no emergency and we can critique each others performance. also i would like to see BAMF get run more as a department in the city and not see the majority of the work done year round by just a couple of people, i believe that we need our own board. this would help with alot of administrative problems
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
I believe that we had most of the tools that we needed, we did have some incidents where other toold would have been more practical but in the end i think we had what we needed to respond to a small fire.. next year i think we could use more water cans and a set of irons, better education to the public about fire safety so that we dont see any more generators go up.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
I had an amazing time and cant wait to do it again next year
BAMF Daily Lead
Wren Siegel wren@apogaea.com
Jun 29
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
BAMF Daily Lead
I was also assigned the job of "communications" for BAMF prior to Apogaea
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Positives:
T-shirts. They put the "T" in TEAM, thanks Cyn!
Strong team work, everyone pitching in to help out when BAMF got slammed Friday
radios worked well
volunteers were on time
a lot of support via humor, chocolate (Damien Budd, you will always be my hero for that!!!)
a lot of people who were first time BAMF volunteers reported having a completely positive, fun experience and want to come back.
A lot of people showed up for the ICS briefing meeting on Thursday.
sheep, they kept it interesting
Deltas:
I did not always feel the urge to communicate
Not much time at beginning of shift to check in with volunteers about equipment, etc. due to patient influx
One of my volunteers worked a 3 hour shift, not a 6, during a time that is not typically hard to fill. I'm not sure if this was one of those policy exception issues? I think a volunteer who is willing to work the full 6 hour shift (six in a row) should be placed before someone does only a 3 hour shift. It seems inconsistent when trying to form a team, even the mini-shift team.
some first aid stuff was a little tricky to find for volunteers,
12 hour shift is too long of a shift for this length of event.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
A medical lead could double as a daily lead if need be, there would still be 4 on shift.
Add an "on-call only" position that is 12 hours, with a radio, but that is all. The radio on-call doesn't report to tent or walkabout, is just there for back-up.
As an organization, APO needs to be really clear on when to call for 911, how to best do it, and how to communicate this to all volunteers
Sign out a very large megaphone to the "communications" person. This may aid in motivation during moments when the urge to communicate is lacking.
Use shelves to have all materials laid out in a more user friendly way to keep the search time minimal
Emer call box in the BZS for "zebra stripe" incidents. Hell, just replace the bar with a backboard.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
BAMF is exceptionally well supplied! There are actually so many fantastic medical tools and resources that it would have been good to have a mandatory training to go over what they all are. As it was, the meeting on Thursday afternoon took awhile, and that was just going over the most necessary information with everyone who did show up. I really think that in the future, those who want to volunteer with BAMF, need to be asked to commit to getting to Apo on Wed. for a more comprehensive training of equipment, tools and resources. Sort of like part of the deal of getting a half price ticket. For those that absolutely can't make it, (perhaps make exceptions for medical professionals only?) the lead would then be more prepared to train the volunteers coming in later.
We could have really used a cooler of ice along with extra cups/mugs.
Next year BAMF needs a dedicated potable water tank or barrel, it would be WELL worth the money spent.
clip-on fans to aid in cooling more than one person at a time
the incident log book is great, although there were quite a few incidents that did not document some things, such as treatments. I wonder if there is a middle ground between the completely open ended log book and a SOAP note? Sort of like SOAP notes for Dummies?
shelves/cubbies for first aid supplies
it might help to have a digital clock in the BAMF tent, it wasn't a big deal but having a digital clock for transference of volunteers with patients from one shift to another, esp. if volunteers aren't wearing a watch.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Well actually, they are thoughts about burning. (I like my face value words). I couldn't find Sam's or Archie's ember reports for some reason, so I am not sure what's already been said about fire. Sam did an outstanding job, as did all the fire volunteers. Next year could be even drier than this year. (I don't mean to be negative, I'm just thinking about what's happening right now). I wonder if we are gonna need to get more detailed about our fire emergency plans?... Also, if this hasn't already happened, could we offer to go up and help Bart do any kind of fire mitigation (rake up pine needles, etc) this summer?
CENTER CAMP
Holly G hollyg@apogaea.com
Jun 18
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Center Camp Entertainment Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
It worked really well to have a full schedule in each section of Center Camp! Posting it fully in the WWWW was awesome as well, even know lots of attendees got confused cause the Saturday after midnight events were listed on Sunday. The sign made by Leise Lemay for Center Camp rocked! I was able to update the dry erase board every day with the upcoming events, just to make it POP and SHOVE THOSE EVENTS IN YO FACE! :) It was really tough getting everyone to sign up and commit by the WWWW date, so I had to manually change some things on our printed and posted signs of the WWWW. :)
Some events went longer then expected because they were super popular, a couple events got pushed way back on the schedule.... Now I know which events to give WAY more time too. Configuring where all these events should go on the schedule was not easy! You all did so beautifully though!
It is awesome having someone dedicated to putting together all the events at Center Camp, it was more difficult having a separate person doing Infrastructure and not having good communications between the 2 positions. We for sure need to have a team next year working together on Center Camp! I would like to see a 'Center Camp Lead' with 2 Assistant Center Camp Leads: One to help enact the entertainment side of things and assure things are going smoothly with the schedule during the event AND One to enact the Infrastructure side of things such as building on work weekend and break down at the end of the event. This way we have ONE contact that interacts with our designated Board Member for communications. I feel this would make my job conducting and creating the Entertainment and Workshop Schedule way easier at Center Camp and work towards having a more AMAZING and AWESOME Center Camp every year to come!
I also feel that it would have worked better for volunteers to have a sheet that gives general direction of what to do while volunteering at Center Camp, and possibly a sign in sheet. In case we are not around to assist. It was tough having lots of volunteers there who didn't know what to do when workshops didn't show or an event ran over time. With this, they will know better when to have tables and chairs set up or to move them for certain workshops if necessary.
Just figuring out ways to more efficiently handle Center Camp functioning.
The stage worked out, but we didn't use it too much due to its small size and extreme height. It would be awesome to have a wide stage that is close to the ground. If we could create a 'CENTER CAMP STAGE' that is used every year that would rock!
We were very thankful to have had a sound system donated to use in our Center Camp Stage area. Unfortunately, no one really wants to loan a decent sounding sound system to leave at Center to be used. The one we had worked ok, but most the channels either didn't work or were muffled. Another big investment I feel should be done for center camp would be a SOUND SYSTEM. Something that is decent with multiple speakers, good for speeches and using microphones, not necessarily for loud sound. I did try to keep an IPOD and music constantly playing throughout the event but it was tough with the quality. If we could invest in a decent sound system, it would create more ability to have LIVE MUSIC at Center Camp, which is a large goal for me. I would also be able to make louder announcements to let attendees know when things are about to start so they can come towards Center Camp.
Having lighting was so awesome so we could host night events! I would like to build into more chill evening events, such as star gazing and a fun place for you to meet others while passing through.
The walls worked well to divide the space, would be great to have more coordination for art on the walls and murals! Next year I hope to see assigned specific artists to each wall space dedicated to decorate, like the Burning Man Murals at Center Camp. That way each wall is covered and it gives attendees lots of AMAZING and awesome art to scope while passing through. Also the murals didn't get decorated hardly at all over the weekend, I would like to see a large sign that tells about the murals and possibly paint for public use.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
I would really like to see more postings of the center camp schedule around the event, Picket sign style would even work. We would need to add some additional wood to the budget to implement this(maybe 4 around the land?) Schedule of events could be printed larger for easier reading as attendees walk by.
CENTER CAMP OWNED SOUND SYSTEM
CENTER CAMP OWNED STAGE, we could build this with a budget, better fit for the Center Camp area in size.
More Rugs for Center Camp that we can store with Center Camp items for each year(throw away ones that get messed up), I am happy to collect more medium sized ones for next year. We had lots of compliments about how much more comfortable center camp was this year! I would also like to be able to purchase more PLASTIC BINS that we can also have a variety of pillows in for use at Center Camp. These pillows can be used on our playa tech furniture for comfort as well.
More Playa Tech Furniture! Better resource for hot water in the cafe.
More Events!
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
As mentioned before, better and clearer coordination and training of Center Camp volunteers. I want to put together a clip board of Center Camp 'info' and how to handle certain things. Center Camp Cheerleaders! lol :P
SOUND SYSTEM is a major tool we are severely lacking on for Center Camp.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
I am so excited to see how things are going for our Center Camp at Apogaea! Team Work Makes the Dream Work :)
COMMUNICATIONS
Communications Lead
Scott Dudley koda@apogaea.com
Jun 19
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Communications Lead / Liaison
As a member of the board, communications is my inherited department. The full scope of which was never really defined. You could say the job is strictly "online communications".
Functionally, I have been responsible for:
- Keeping the website up as a usable resource.
- Making sure our communications are effectively broadcast across all channels we maintain and that no one channel is underutilized.
- Making sure information going out is coherent and consistent. (hard)
- Measuring, distilling, and understanding the feedback we get from the community and communicating it back to the org.
- Being a top level leader to communications staff.
- Forming communications policy and team structure.
Ideally, my responsibilities should be:
- Function as a liaison to a communications lead, representing that leads concerns o the board and vice versa.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Awesome stuff:
From November to January, we revamped the website. Kemo provided a fresh look through a new graphic design. Jen and I pour through content to reduce the amount of repeated information, to make language consistent, to re-org the more confusing parts, to improve linkage, to improve readability, to add imagery (there was absolutely none before the redesign), and all the other things. The timing for this was perfect as communications began ramping up heavily after new years.
We changed the way we broadcast information. Instead of putting absolutely everything into an email and blasting the community on every channel, we started posting everything to the website FIRST and then linking back to it in regular digests emailed out to the community. This reduced the noise in everyone's inboxes, gave the community a single source for up to date information (website), allows us to update a post (if need be) AFTER an email goes out, and allows us to measure the level response to our communications via analytics running on the website.
Since our twitter feed operates off of wordpress, and because we're keeping the site updated as our primary source, the 100+ users of our twitter feed are now getting consistent and complete information.
https://twitter.com/#!/Apogaea/followers
We moved everything to a new web host... BIG WIN.
We created Flaming Art - a character that represents the Board of the Directors and all of Apo... as apposed to an individual perspective.
http://apogaea.com/apo-org/ignition/flaming-art/
We created a mailing list we call the "OutPost" attached to the software running the website (Wordpress). This is much easier to manage and maintain than the Yahoo groups.
We put all of team Ignition on the website - on one page - with their photo, job descriptions, and contact information. Though this has been difficult to keep up to date, it's been hugely valuable. (thanks to Bug and Simon for helping keep the site up to date)
http://apogaea.com/apo-org/ignition/
We've become active on our Facebook group posting news as "Flaming Art". While the Facebook group is NOT a definitive source of information for the community to consume, it is our primary source to get feedback...
Sock Rates
Lame stuff:
I had no mentorship at all... nothing... I ran around asking as many questions as I could and put the pieces together. There was no documentation available to me and Caretaker wasn't exactly a mentor. I believe he summed the role up in less than 20 words.
It's always difficult to keep up with what needs to go out. Some groups are great about working with us, other's not so much. Sometimes folks just don't know we're here to help them get the word out. Sometimes folks just want to be the ones to do the broadcast. The worst situations are those were communications go out one one channel or another and we don't know about it. Often times, only part of the community gets the information.
At one point during the ramp up to Apogaea, one department sent out a particularly heavy amount of communications. Using our analytics, we say a significant drop in responses to our subsequent communications. Avoiding over saturation was one of our goals and the tools we had in place illustrated that it is indeed often a problem.
It's seriously difficult to keep up with the changes that happen in this organization. Ignition leads come and go with a furious pace. Information often changes at the last minute. There's plenty of wrong information coming from voices that sound authoritative but aren't. Simply keeping what we have accurate is challenging.
We don't have enough volunteers involved. Jen was, by far, the most overworked. Her role will need to be broken down into at least 2 possibly 3 distinct roles. These volunteers absolutely have to be dedicated to being proactive - and that's not all too common 'round these parts.
I shouldn't be involved in both process and policy. As a board member, I am charged with forming policy. Like other departments, there should be an Ignition lead who oversees the entire communications infrastructure and helps choreographs all the volunteers. I was often overwhelmed and could have worked on making the process better by crafting both better tools and policy - but I was to busy fire fighting. I often found myself unable to full support other departments the way I would have wanted
Our process in broadcasting out to the mailing lists has to many steps. More than once, a communication became bottlenecked and was published late. This caused a few issues, especially the one that said ticket exchange would end "this weekend" and wasn't broadcasted until the next week.
Online Communications Policy - I crafted up a policy some time ago but never evolved it to a point where we could adopt it. Generally speaking, we need to educate the whole team on process and policy. This has two parts. First, what people need to know within Apo to get a communication out effectively. Second, when people address the community directly on behalf of the Apo org, they need to know a bit about what is appropriate and what few things are not.
We had a rough time with our "transparency"... Even though we spent many hours improving the transparency of information on our site, we still ended up engaged in an uncomfortable conversation with the Burning Man org over our failure to post financial details on a certain date. No one ever informed the communications team of exactly what the expectations were. This was an easily avoidable situation that escalated due in part to personal conflicts and interests. There were no good escuses for this breakdown and people who worked hard were put on the line for no good reason. The communications team needed help and support. It was a frustrating time.
Sock Rates
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
I plan to bring on more folks, should the rest of the board agree. Right now, some of the ideas are (not very refined yet):
- Communications Lead: Choreographs everything. (currently me)
- Hacker Team: Volunteers to help build and maintain more tools. (currently Bug and I)
- Social Media Liason: (one or more people)
- Facebook Liaison: Someone dedicated to keeping our FB stuff up to date. (currently Jen)
- Twitter Liaison: Someone to engage the twitter conversation. (currently automated broadcast only)
- Reddit / Google+ Liason: We just carved out spaces on these networks, we need people to maintain them. (currently me, but not really)
- Reporter: Someone dedicated to crafting/composing "news" and board meeting summaries. (currently Jen)
- Webmaster: Someone who deals with static information on the site (currently Simon)
- Blogger / Scribe: Someone who composes original content that's not mission critical (not "news") such has interviews or editorial. (currently Jen)
- Librarian: Someone who keeps our documents and our wiki well organized and hounds people to keep their documents up to date. (currently nobody)
- Graphic Art Lead: Someone to lend art support all over the place. (Kemo did a ton of this, Gwin lead ticket and sticker art efforts)
- Moderator / Community Manager: If we ever have forums.
- External Publications Liaison: We're seeing external publications showing more and more interest in Apogaea. They sometimes request materials and even sometimes content. It may be to soon for this PR role, but I feel like it's coming in the next few years. (currently the whole board and Milk)
I would like to also evolve the website significantly more. I would like to turn the Ignition page into a full blown org chart showing who relates to who in the organization.
I'm considering splitting Apo Org from Apo Event. What if we used Apogaea.org to talk about the organization and focused Apogaea.com on event related information? The idea is to reduce the signal to noise ratio and make it easier for folks to find what they need.
Forums - We're not ready yet, we just don't have the staff to keep them working right for the long term... but I'd like to get there. Facebook is a poor platform to manage a community.
Better Calendar w/Community Events too - We have constant events through the year and I would like to see our calendar support community events without confusing them with our official events.
Other stuff I can't remember right now.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
More good peeps!
We also need to embrace a good PM tool.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Thank you all for helping create this opportunity to grow, learn, and contribute. You're making me a better human and I know it.
Community Liaison
Jennifer Whitesell jennifer@apogaea.com
Jun 18
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Community liaison. I don't like the title "online" community liaison. I attended board meetings and summarized them in blog posts, wrote all the newsletters, updated the website, and put together other blog posts to try to keep the community informed about what was going on with the board of directors and the organization of the event.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
What worked well:
Attending board meetings was CRITICAL for doing this job. I missed one board meeting and was behind on communications for the whole month after that. It's not just about summarizing the board meetings, I also paid attention to who was talking and what was going on so I could follow up with things later. The secretary and I both took notes at board meetings, but the secretary's notes are more focused on policy and documentation of process while I tried to pay attention to what might be of interest to the community.
Having announcements go through the communications team is very important as we try to teach the community where they can find the most accurate information (the website, not Facebook!). Some departments (ticketing, WWWW, rangers, DPW) did a great job of telling Koda and I when they need something communicated so it could be posted on the website and announced in newsletters. I think it's really important that we remain consistent with our communications methods and the best way to do that right now is to always point back to the website.
I think the community was better informed this year than they were in the past. I have tried to break down the invisible wall that separates the event planners from the event attendees and I do think the entire communications team did a great job and we made a lot of progress.
Koda and I worked really well together. In the future, we need a small team of communications volunteers who work well together and can fill in for each other when things get busy.
Flaming Art: I really liked posting under this alias because it gave people an easily recognizable character to look to for information. The alias was a lifesaver for me as I got pulled into Facebook drama. I was very happy that my personal opinions were not mixed up with the opinions of the Apogaea organization. (On the topic of Facebook - interacting with the community on Facebook is a HUGE job and too much for any one person. I really appreciated all the board members who took time to post in the Facebook group.) I would like Flaming Art to continue in the future for official Apogaea announcements and blog posts that are directed to the community at large from the board. Art was intended to also get feedback and bring it back to the board and I was able to do that some, but in the end I was only barely able to keep up with the informative posts. In the future, multiple people could access Art and post under his username for consistency.
What did not work so well:
Some departments didn't know they could and should come to us to announce events and important information. I spent a lot of time tracking people down trying to get their information for newsletters and events. If I had not been attending board meetings I wouldn't have known who to pester for information. Internal communication is still a big problem and probably needs a dedicated Ignition position.
Names of new Ignition leads and people leading important community projects were rattled off quickly during board meetings and neither the secretary nor I could always catch everyone's name. When we asked that information be repeated it sometimes seemed that it was an annoyance, but that was the ONLY TIME to get the info. I would appreciate at least having access to a list of new leads with correct name spelling or for the org chart to be updated more frequently. I feel really bad when I spell people's names wrong.
The communications team has too much work! I was overwhelmed as the event approached and I don't know how many hundreds of hours I put in working on communications this year. I was so grateful that Bug was able to help me, Koda picked up the slack when I got behind, Amelia wrote a guest post, and Guy wrote SO MANY communications. If Guy had not been helping us, communications would not have gone nearly so well.
Flaming Art: I didn't intentionally keep my identity as Art a big secret, but it was fun to maintain the mystery, especially since Art is supposed to give unbiased information and not reflect the views of one person. However, I think Ignition members all need to know who is the person behind Flaming Art (me this year) so they know who to contact if they need to get a communication out. Again, I originally meant to just represent the board of directors to the community but as the event approached I also wanted to get out info. regarding Rangers, BAMF, sound, parking, etc.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
Flaming Art as I have made him this year is too much for one person. We should have one person attending the board meetings and writing summaries and another person handling the other blog posts and event specific communications, website updates, etc. I actually think Koda should handle communications policy and there should be a communications lead under him. This lead would be responsible for continuity and delegating jobs to other communications volunteers. The communications lead should be the one who goes to all the board meetings so they know what's going on. They could also be responsible for posting Art's blog posts even if other people do the writing. The newsletter is also a lot of work and it would be nice if multiple people contributed to it. I do think the communications job will be easier if Ignition members are trained to send communications through us since it will cut down on the amount of time spent tracking down info.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yes. I learned a lot about community management, website building, and content management which I really appreciate.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
The communications team has grown up a lot this year and I hope it keeps growing. I will not be able to continue in my role since I will be out of the country for months at a time next year and I may be moving out of Colorado before the event or shortly after. I will be able to help until August, but after that I will not be reachable until late November. Next spring is still an unknown.
DEGREETERS
Degreeters Lead – Schmid-E gregschmid@yahoo.com
I really can say enough of how proud I am of our team, at least those that showed up for their shifts :-) We were able to get many extra food donations by heckling people and asking them if they had additional non-perishable food to donate. Many people were not away of the food drive and got out of their cars to dig for some extra food. This was great however it did slow down exodus traffic a bit (see my suggested solution below).
The only difficult part was when after 2-3pm when the top and bottom seemed to stop talking and then there were waves coming up from the bottom and down from the top at the same time (prior to that HUGE KUDOS to the parking and traffic directors, ya’ll ROCKED!), they would bottleneck around us. We did our best to alleviate this by stopping people and having upstream salmon go right near the tents and the downstream go right on the high part. However, trying to direct traffic took away from trying to collect food and it was a bit of a cluster for a while.
Also, we had no radio all day. Not sure who I need to talk to to make that happen next year but it would have helped at a few times.
Our team gave out KAPOW! superhero stickers to those who gave and it made it a really fun day.
Next year – IMPROVEMENTS/what can we do better/What I learned – I think some posted signs in on the road to let people know about the drive will help inform people to keep food packed on top and accessible to give upon leaving. A sign at the top on Sunday as well letting people know that if they have donations to pull to the left at greeters coming down the hill and that will keep the flow of Exodus traffic flowing really well. I was hoping to recruit someone with a megaphone to walk around the land up top and spread the word about the drive while people were packing up but alas, most were like me with very little voice left on Sunday. I will try ahead of time to add this as a designated volunteer role next year - Food Drive Fluffer.
I also think 3 people is the minimum for the 9-3 shifts and 4 would be better, especially when we had 2 no shows, I was able to recruit some backups, but with 2 people, it was a lot of moving around carrying stuff in the sun.
We also got DPW hooked up nicely with a ton of booze.
Please hit me up with any questions.
DMV
Matt Jury swayze@apogaea.com
Jul 2
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
(DMV) Dept of Mutant Vehicles Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Pre-registration worked very well, it gave me more of an idea of who would be there and what to expect. It would have been easier to have all registrations also come to a DMV or my(the leads) email address.
At the event, I felt like the movement of the vehicles worked very well. All of the MV drivers were responsible and complied with our requests. It went SMOOTH!
It worked great that I had a radio, that way the vehicles didn't have to go hunting for me to "CHECK IN"
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
I would like for next year there to be better communication PRE-EVENT with the Mutant Vehicles, that way they are better educated as to what Apogaea would like to see from them. I would also like to do more 'promotion' and get the info out there for MV application early as possible, in hopes to get early applicants. A more formal form with clear questions and details of what we require would be great!
MORE ART CARS!!! BIGGER AND MORE ROADS, SAFE FOR ART CARS!
I would like to see a small budget for 'Stickers' or 'DMV Badges' that we can give out to all moving vehicles at the event. Different colors have different abilities and meanings. I believe we can make nice , waterproof ones(like they do for Burning Man) affordably.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
No, the badges/stickers were needed. I personally made printouts at home and put them in a clear sheet but it would be nice to have something more official :) I need a DMV sign!
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
The event should be one night longer and end on Sunday night with a TEMPLE BURN, leaving Monday to pack up and go.
DPW
From: kemo <kemo@apogaea.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 2:42 PM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Pre-Apo: One month before Apo, I was on site coordinating major land and road repairs. The weekend before work weekend, I spread mulch on the roads to reduce dust and did some minor land repair. During work weekend, I oversaw the 200+ people/cartoons that it took to build Apogaea. DPW also covered most of the gate. Work weekend also included; leading bi-daily work meetings, truck unloading, small tree and brush removal, stump and boulder removal, spreading 20 truck beds of mulch on the roads and eating way too much pulled-pork.
During Apo: As DPW lead, I was on site for 10 nights/11 days straight. I was in charge of coordinating groups of workers as well as taking on a DPW "Dic" of the day position. I would like to give a BIG SHOUT OUT to Damien Budd, Nate Harris and Pyro Pixie fro really stepping up and doing an awesome job! They kicked some serious ass! Mattilda...well...I guess you truly are DPW :-)
Post Apo: Tear down and disassemble of Apo. Chased the hippies away.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
There is a HUGE amount of time and focus and energy put into work weekend. Work weekend was successful on many levels and all that attended ROCKED THAT SHIT! I felt like I had to do very little "parenting."
The Exodus needs MUCH MORE ATTENTION. With the event growing bigger and bigger and the number of theme camps and art installation growing in scale and size, one and a half days to thoroughly clean the mountain is simply not enough time. Period. We start with a BANG, we should finish with a BANG. And I don't mean party. For example, Burning Man has an entire department devoted to cleaning the playa...they are called the "Playa Restoration Crew." I think Apogaea dearly needs a "Mountain Restoration Crew," another department of DPW. This crew would focus on Exodus and Restoration.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
After spending 10 nights/11 days straight, which was very necessary for the safety of the event, I have come to determine that that is a very long time to commit too. I'm not sure how many of you could leave your jobs/house/partner/school/kids for that long for FREE...well it actually cost me hundreds of dollars to GLADLY sacrifice my time...I'm just sayin. My solution is to split the lead DPW role into two parts/shifts. The first lead DPW shift will focus on work weekend and will continue the same course of building that is currently working. The second DPW lead will focus on the event, as well as exodus and mountain restoration. Description follows:
DPW Exodus and Mountain Restoration Crew: This second DPW lead will be in charge of the DPW Dics as well as forming an exodus and restoration crew. The two leads would work together on Weds of event, a passing of the torches. Opening DPW lead will show closing DPW lead all that needs to be done as well as kicking ass on opening day. PERHAPS, early on Sunday during the event, members of "Mountain Restoration Crew" go home and shower and rest so they can report back on Monday morning to work. They would leave their "small" camps intact with intentions of maybe staying Mon night. Point of all of this is to provide fresh minds and energy after having strange fun for days on end. Exodus crew will also focus on chasing the hippies away and assisting large camps with break down...lighting some fires under peoples/pirates asses to get out! Tues would be the FINAL day to scrub the mountain with a 4PM walk-through with Bart.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
DPW has a very limited set of tools. Most of the tools that were used were provided by the community.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Apo could really use it's own land built with sustainable structures made from straw bales or used car tires...hippie.
EFFIGY
Somer Andom somerandom@apogaea.com
Jun 17
to me, ignition
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Effigy Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
I feel like the effigy proposal process needs to be improved. I know this year was different since there was a last minute fall thru on Ender's proposal that resulted in quite the scramble for other proposals, but generally having much more time to come up with ideas would be helpful to future effigy builders. I somehow managed with only ONE WEEK, but sending out at least a ping for proposals in mid-November or so, might be better.
Also, having a more detailed list of expectations would be helpful. For instance, I was a bit blindsided that I needed to find transportation up for the effigy (and pay for it) and I hadn't really considered that I would be in charge of some sub-performance thing on burn night. Luckily, we have some really supportive folks in this community so it all worked out just fine and it was all generally stress-free. It would just be nice to have a more detailed list of expectations and who to interface/coordinate with for what for the next person, tho, so I will try to work on this in the wiki. I feel like I learned quite a bit during this who process and want to make sure that the next person has some reference material.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
Much earlier call for effigy proposals with more details about what should be included in the proposal, more information in the wiki about who to interface with about various bits that all need to come together. I will work on these and pass it by art committee folks (and others) for feedback.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
I feel like I could have done a better job at recruiting help, in general. My startup was slow due to a broken CNC machine that took 80 hours to fix, so I missed the most opportune window (March) to get people more intimately involved. Still, I somehow succeeded in getting enough help when I needed it, generally, thanks to our wonderfully supportive community. If I do this from scratch again tho, I'd definitely try to get more folks involved and earlier.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
I have some ideas on how I can change up the Blossom a bit for next year... when do I need to get a proposal to the board? And when do I get to burn it??!?!? :)
GREETERS
Houston Hurlock houstonhurlock@apogaea.com
Jun 19
to me, Ignition
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Greeter Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
The additional shade structure that was new this year was perfect for the greeters. in years past we have had a a few different (and sometime make-shift) shelters. This one was perfect.
Over all the greeters as a whole has been honed and molded into a pretty solid dept. Some of that i think is due to the continuity of having been the lead for a number of years.
Having placement as a fully staffed dept and having them away from the gate relieved huge pressure from the greeters, who did not have to communicate any of that info to the income participants, which in years past was a big difficulty.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
the only improvement I can forsee would have to do with some additional communication from further down the road about the conditions heading into the gate. If we were more aware of the level of incoming cars, the greeters would be more able to react and move folks thru quicker when there were longer lines.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
As a dept, greeters has little need for resources beyond volunteers. The only resource is really the talking point print outs.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
INFO BOOTH
Jun 27, 2012 5:46 AM, "Greg Rasmussen" <goodgodgreg@apogaea.com> wrote:
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Info Booth Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Over all I felt like we answered most peoples questions. It's hard because some of the questions we received were for things that we couldn't know a head of time. An example would be what's going on over at fucking unicorns right now? Having interchanging people working the booth made it easier for questions like that but as lead, I can't be every where and know everything.
I didn't know everything I needed to do and each day a new set of procedures seemed to pop up. I will admit I sort of faked the fact I knew exactly what I was doing for most of the event. But I apparently knew something cause we did help a lot of people.
I do feel like the lack of maps available made us a more valuable asset this year but in general from what i've heard from everyone I've talked to, Info booth isn't really taken that seriously.
There were several times I'd call in for the radio and ask were to put floaters (especially saturday) where I didn't get any response. For serveral volunteers I didn't know what to do with them when I couldn't get anyone on the radio to respond.
I do think the volunteer sign in was sort of a mess at times. After 4 days the papers in the folder started to fall out place.
I never found out how to turn on or off the power to the lights.
There were times when the shade structure fell apart cause of high winds
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
A big fat clock. I feel like having a clock at Info (as unburner as it may seem) would help people keep track of events and when to show up and leave for their shift.
Since April told me of the new way she's thinking of doing volunteer sign in, I completely agree that it will help make info booth run much smoother.
I think an if- then section in the folder would be helpful to turn to when you don't know what to do in a situation.
for example. IF: I can't find my child THEN : get on radio dial 4 and ask for ...
just have a series of these so if a lead isn't available then it's clear what should you do. I'd also like to see something like what hours might someone be available on the radio and who to ask for. what would be a good question worth getting on the radio for, what would be a time wasting question, ect.
I'd like to see a mission statement for each day such as THURSDAY: help people with parking and placement and directions. Then that way we get sort of an idea what kind of questions and work we'll be doing for the day.
In order to make the more clearer info booth folder, there will need to be a questioning and collaboration of everyone in ignition.
I think putting each paper in plastic so the folder comes back looking not so used. Also a note pad to write down notes and what happened while you were on shift to help the next set of volunteers.
I also think at the end of the night to put everything in a bin so that it'll be there in the morning instead of having to go find someone or go someplace for it.
I like the go fuck yourself bells and the idea of having something fun to play with if there's nothing happening. At apo 2011 my roommate had a lunch box of questions to ask first before someone asked a questions and I'd like to see something like that come back.
I guess in someways I'd like to make it a point that we will help answer peoples questions correctly. Everyone I've talked to pretty much assumed info booth was mis-information when we never really purposely tried to fuck with people that way.
I'd also like to inform people more that we are the lost and found. Make info booth more obviously the place to go if you lose or find something.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
I think something like being info booth lead just takes time. If there is a training i'd love to take it but more than anything just knowing more about the event and everyone's roles will make it more smooth next year. I do feel like there were times when I didn't know where to go or what to do when I didn't get a response on the radio. I think just being in the loop pre the event will make things easier so that I'm not trying to figure everything out at once.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Even with some of the snags I ran into, I loved doing info booth. Having done it for a hotel and a museum it's a natural position for me to take and I loved showing up in a new outfit for every shift. I also like that it's a position that lets be be a part of this amazing event but still gives me time to go explore and grow as a person. I hope you do consider taking me on as the Lead next year.
LAMPLIGHTERS
Kim Fiore rrain@apogaea.com
Jun 24
Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
1. I was the Lamplighter Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
The on-line volunteer sign up worked great. My shifts were all full immediately and having the email contact information was great for me to easliy contact my volunteers.
Again, this year I had trouble with the volunteer shwag. Last year I had to beg everyone to have enough shwag. This year, my volunteers weren't counted when the shwag order was made and I was again faced with not having enough shwag for my volunteers. I also have volunteers that make lamps before the event and they put in a large amount of their time. When I asked if they could be counted as a regular at event shift and get Apo shwag, I was told they could have stickers from last year. They were all very happy to get stickers, but someone who works for Apo for 4 hours gets a sticker and someone who does a 2 hour shift at the event gets a carabiner?
I'm delighted that we had enough lamps to line two streets partially this year!
Thanks to Bastion for designing and showing us how to make new led lights that shine on the lampshade fabric instead of the old lights that just lit up a small patch of ground.
I'm excited to have Pai take over for lamplighters. He was a huge help at work weekend and during the event. He has some great ideas about making Lamplighters better and I'm excited to see what he does with the department in the future.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
I'd like to see the pre event volunteers get better shwag. I'd like to not be overlooked in the event shwag.
I think next year or the year after, an assistant lead or a work weekend assistant or maybe daily leads at the event might be helpful. Up to now, this has been a one person department, but it's growing and approaching the need for two people and eventually a team. I felt that the amount of work at work weekend went up a great amount and was glad to have the dedicated help of Pai. If I had to do it myself, it would have been too much. I think it should be up to Pai to decide what type of assistant he needs for next year.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
I believe so. I am in the process of writing a document - Lamplighter 101 - to post on the wiki as a resource to anyone involved with lamplighters that explains in more detail what is involved in the lead position. I have also done an inventory and will be posting that. I will also post the annual financials for record too. Hopefully, these will serve as a useful resource for Pai and future leads.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Nope
LAND
Ian Bates bates@apogaea.com
Jun 30
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
My role this year has been "Land Search Lead." This means that I am spearheading the long-term effort to search for a new home for Apogaea, and/ or evaluating how our current land tenure situation is working. Since the current land was not in question this year, and possibly next??... my job was not all that related to the Apo event we all threw down.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
What worked well: the dozens of people I talked to at the event about the current land and potential future land all had an opinion and were excited to talk about this. Just after the event I also asked some questions in a Facebook post that got 196 responses, which I have compiled into a large document (nearly done cleaning the data). This gives us a pretty good base of discussion/ opinions to work towards when deciding what type of land to find.
What did no work so well: I had intended to create a survey to hand out at the event to get a much larger number of opinions about the current and future land situation. Since my camp (Fucking Unicorns) veritably exploded this year, I did not make enough time to get this done pre-event.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
Perhaps some questions about land search in the census? Again, I didn't think about this until after the call for questions was closed. Oy.
This could be implemented by keeping a running document (Census 2013) going with all potential questions in there starting NOW.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
I don't really feel that I have a great handle on the process that has occurred in the past in terms of land search, and what is currently happening, and who is handling it. I have a master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning... but didn't sign up for "Finding the location for your next mammoth hippie rave 101."
I think some conversations with the board would be great. Unfortunately I work all day Sundays, so haven't been able to go to a single board meeting.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Many people are very excited about the current land. Many people want to move to a different location, definitely in the mountains. Many people think the eastern plains is the way to go. We have some decisions to make.
Also... I know I'm not the only one who works Sundays and Mondays, and therefore can't attend ANY board meetings, or casual Monday potlucks... Any thoughts about a rotating board meeting schedule? If not, I need to know how to have a few conversations with board and ignition people some other way live. Barring any changes, working with Eric Moutz on this has been, and will continue to be my main avenue.
PARKING
Parking Lead
Brian brian@apogaea.com
Jun 15
Thank you to all of ignition.
Thank you to my daily leads.
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
I coordinated parking in all aspects with the help of an amazing crew of daily leads and repeat volunteers. Yes, REPEAT VOLUNTEERS. people actually came back to do parking!
I planned out parking spaces. Tried to coordinate better access to spaces. Recruited some of the best daily leads out there. Communicated constantly with leads and tried to foster some relationships between them all. Failed at onsite training the leads (major props to Martin!) and site preparation. Met with each daily lead each day and reviewed duties. Downloaded info from the previous day to anyone who would listen (my camp is tired of hearing about parking). Relieved each lead during one of their shifts each day for a break. Was "around" for basic questions and guidance.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Well:
Daily leads. Apo is to the point were every dept. needs a dept. lead and daily leads. I understand it's a volunteer based event, but incentives should stay. These people work and work hard and a half priced early entry ticket is a small thank you for the amount of work they do. Thank you again ignition.
Number of volunteers. This year we dramatically increased the number of volunteers each shift. 6 volunteers and a lead ever shift and we needed every one of them. Parking is going to become more and more intense in the future and having a strong, large volunteer base is going to become more and more important.
I also think a person at the gate is extremely important, as we had some mess up when no one was there, but I question if it should be someone from parking? Maybe placement? Or a greeter?
Shuttle. Obviously, the whole plan would not have worked had we not had the suburban. It ended up being a perfect vehicle for the event and I strongly recommend future years sticking with a 4 wheel drive, large passenger oriented (with xm radio) vehicle. Strong running board a must, I think we had 17 or 20 people in one car load on Thursday.
In addition to, the option to have the DPW vehicle available during heavy loads was essential. Thank you DPW.
Placement interaction. The fact that placement was a full dept. with volunteers and leads was a life saver. Parking cannot place RVs. We just don't have the capabilities to coordinate "in event" RV parking. Literally going the opposite direction. Without placement taking on that role, RVs would have been a cluster fuck. Thank you placement.
Radios. Needed everyone during the peak volume times.
Direct board interaction. We were parking, and during the busy times, we couldn't think of anything else. Parking had the ability to pick up our radio and call our board member (Kingpin) and shit got done. Without it, the leads wouldn't have been able to focus on their job. Thank you Kingpin.
Not so well:
Um DONT OPEN THE GATE BEFORE YOU HAVE PEOPLE ON DUTY! I believe the early opening Thursday cost us some parking.
Road. Would have worked better if we had a two lane road. I know its not going to happen, but we were so very worried about passage on the road, Parking wasn't focused on parking. Cost us some parking.
Land. If apo is going to continue to grow, land will have to be "manicured" more to better serve the future. Our very last, super backup, ace up our sleeve area was difficult to get to. The main area below can be better used with some gentle trimming (and now we know). Cost us some parking.
Side note: I do not believe we have the capability to park anymore than an additional 400 cars at this location in its current state. That's two years?
Daily leads. I believe the parking leads do need to spend more time going over the parking procedure in the lot to better utilize the area we have. If that means spending an hour with the bottom lot to begin each shift and checking in on them periodically, or spending an entire shift parking cars to maximize the area. I will have to really push that on future generations.
Structure/provisions. I think structure and provisions need to be setup for volunteers working parking, placement and gate. A water barrel with ice and shade is a must. Shame on me for not acquiring this for my volunteers.
Communication. I felt all depts. could have communicated better. Maybe placement, gate, and parking should have more interaction from the beginning. Don't think it was a problem really, but I just felt we could have jelled a little more seamlessly. PGP BBQ before apo?
Carpooling. Let's give some incentive to carpool? Have a dept. to organize carpooling. Encourage carpooling through every channel available by everyone. Sponsor an environmental theme as a backbone of Apo and chastise those who don't carpool. Just CARPOOL PEOPLE.
Honestly the biggest problem is one we cannot fix, under utilizing our parking area. There will always be an area that could have been parked better and it will cost us some parking.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
Signs at work weekend. Just would have been nice, but we still parked everyone.
Apo spending money on land work to better Apo. If Bart doesn't want changes, then we need to really focus on different land.
Louder dept heads to shore up our volunteer base. Just yell on whatever forum people will listen. Dangle bacon at the end of a stick. Let volunteers get first crack at tickets next year. We need the volunteers and only ignition can bring them in and keep them coming back.
Find more parking. I don't know how.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
I felt as prepared as I could have been. I will freely admit that what I had this year was miles ahead of last year. I think it's a good starting point and will grow if supported properly. Lessons learned now can and should be applied to future Apos. People gotta park.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Yeah, I quit.
Parking Daily Lead
From: Jackie Jones <jackie@apogaea.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 2:30 PM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Friday, Daily Parking Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
I suggest leads take a good hour beforehand to touch base with the last days lead (if possible, maybe have the daily lead just write a quick report to hand off to the next days lead).
Holding/Pulsing cars worked wonderfully.
Having a 4x4 parking lot up top was great for traffic control, and having a volunteer to then take them and park them while sending non 4x4 down the hill for the shuttle worked out pretty smooth for us on Friday.
I had a couple people show up that had already worked before, which worked out well too, other than my own love can we see about a little extra love for them next year?
3. What improvements would you like to see?
Parking needs their own shade structure(s). How should these improvements be implemented? Both upper and lower parking volunteers need a shade structure to keep safe from the sun. Having been hit by heat issues myself this year, and having to take off a few hours of my shift because of it, I think it would be in the best interest of Apo to provide such items. We stand in different places than Placement, which makes it hard to share shade space.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
I felt rather thrown in the deep in, with a sink or swim thought process(my own fault). Brian truly did come to my rescue though and in the end it worked out well. Next year I know exactly what to expect.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
I loved my job, I loved those that worked with me and I loved being able to relax people when they got edgy about having to go park away from their camps. Seeing their happy faces return made it all worth while.
Parking Daily Lead
From: Martin Beran <martinberan@apogaea.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 10:57 AM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
I was the daily parking lead for Thursday.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
-Pulsing the cars downhill behind the shuttle to the lower lot worked well.
-Having a volunteer at the intersection of the lower lot and main road to guide downhill traffic, let uphill traffic know whats going on and hold uphill traffic when the shuttle was coming up worked really well.
-Having an extra shuttle vehicle during peak hours on Thursday was awesome!
-DPW truck driving around with bullhorn yelling at people to park their cars worked very well
-2 lanes of parking for downhill traffic worked great and we were able to avoid any major congestion at the top (to my knowledge)
-Lower lot originally had 1 person which is not enough, I upped it to 2 people which worked but ideally there will be 3 people; 1 to separate the 4 wheel from 2 wheel, 1 to direct 2 wheels to the appropriate late and 1 to make sure they really pack it in.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
I'd like to see a little improvement to the lower lot. Tear out some stumps, move branches and rocks. That would help increase the capacity. These will be implemented with sweat, tears, chains and sledge hammers (I think)
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Ummm sure. I was able to see the land and plot the parking on work weekend. We had plenty of volunteers for thursday and we had enough radios that everyone was able to communicate effectively.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
The lower lot parking volunteer positions are absolutely vital in increasing the number of cars that can be parked down there. I think that the lead should spend the first hour or so of each shift at the lower lot communicating to those volunteers so they know exactly how to snuggle all the cars in.
PLACEMENT
Placement Planning
From: Michael Yancey <michaelyancey@apogaea.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 11:16 AM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Placement Planning Lead, Sound Policy/Placement, RV Policy/Placement. I was responsible for getting sound camps to work more harmoniously with both Apo/non-Apo neighbors, accommodating all the RV's, and a few weeks before the event, I became involved with planning the city/placing the camps.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Well:
-Ishe (Sound) and Kellie (Placement Operations) were great to work with, so we found solutions to the many process breakdowns and lack of process/training.
-The Apogaea culture of loving the festival enough to make it happen no matter what.
Not so well:
-Lack of process and training. There are a few things that every new ignition member needs to know, e.g. how to get stuff put on the website, how to get reimbursed for expenses, etc. None of it rocket science, but all of it important. It needs to be in one place that is immediately available and highly visible.
-Unclear division of labor. The division of labor was completely unclear between Ishe and me, and between Kellie and me. Fortunately we solved it without stepping on each other's toes too badly. This was because Ishe and Kellie are grown-ups, intelligent, and secure, not because the situation predisposed us to success.
-Lack of documentation/organizational memory. Because no documentation was available for how things were done last year in my areas of responsibility, I was re-inventing the wheel on a regular basis. I consulted more experienced members of the group and found much knowledge transmission to be lore handed down in circuitous ways. Each historian had his own version of the tale, each was materially different, and when I finally got facts from the source, they were not consistent with the common folklore around them.
-I was running fast and loose because I got into placement less than 3 weeks before the event, and couldn't resolve sound and RV placement issues before that because I couldn't get decisions from the previous placement lead. It would have been easier just to take them all on from the beginning than to be crippled until right before the event and then trying to make up for lost time.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
-A one or two page orientation or Ignition FAQ that covers all the common things, e.g. "X is our communications lead. She sends announcements out to the community via the website and social networks, contact her for X, Y, and Z."
-A job description that describes what each person does and does not have the authority and responsibility to do. Needs to be on the wiki, where everyone can see it for years to come, revised each year as the organization adapts to its own growth.
-Coaching for members who interfere with others' areas of responsibility.
-Each policy, process, and the reasoning behind them must be published on the wiki, and the Wiki must be evangelized until it becomes the default tool when looking for answers. It must be driven as cultural initiative in the organization. "Look in the wiki." must ring out to new members on a daily basis, and "Put it in the wiki." must be ring out to the experienced members on a daily basis.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
No. It was only through persistence and applying experience from other organizations that I was able to get anything done. We need short, sweet, training program for all ignition members, not just on how to use the wiki, but also on who does what, how the timeline looks, and how each contributor fits in to the big picture. Having survived this year, I'll be in a great position to contribute next year; Ideally people would be brought up to speed fast enough that they can be fully productive their first time out.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
It is through the spectacular efforts of a number of individuals that things happen in the organization, because the process itself doesn't support the size of the event. It frequently appeared to outsiders that I couldn't find my ass with both hands because I was dependent on a contribution from someone else or it was just completely unclear whose job it was to do the tasks upon which I depended. If I took initiative to resolve the issue, then I risked interfering with someone else's job. If I didn't I risked dropping the ball for our constituents. This can be avoided with clear processes and division of labor. If we can get organized enough so as not to demand constant heroics from individuals just to get the event to happen, we can then start concentrating on excellence: a process where every applicant knows where they stand for sound or placement, every camper knows which streets are one way, how they are expected to park, what deadlines are for various applications, etc. We can offer our constituents a much higher level of service at much less personal cost to ignition members if we define and communicate our processes.
The number of exceptional contributors helped renew my faith in humanity and the goodness of people. Without them this event couldn't happen at all, much less be as spectacular as it is. Props to Ignition.
Placement Lead
From: Kellie Nedrow <kellienedrow@apogaea.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 12:43 PM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Placement Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Worked well was for parking to have people escorted down and the 2 lanes I made for people to park in instead of congesting the event
Not work so well- need to have a couple people dedicated to Rv parking since rvs felt they could park however and we need them tight to fit all that come
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
over all I think this was the best year yet.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yepp
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
We all did an awesome job rocking it this year
Mapping
Bastion Ridley bastion@apogaea.com
Jun 17
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Placement Map Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Our primary placement volunteer left Ignition one month before the event, and her job was very capably taken over by Michael Yancy and Kellie Nedrow. Once the Placement Team (Michael, Kellie, Kingpin) was on site for Work Weekend, a fairly complete placement map was prepared within two days. But as final placement occurred only a few days before the event, and I finalized a map on Tuesday at midnight, we did not have time to print off maps for participants. This is the third year in a row that placement has been finalized so close to the event and we should avoid doing that again next year.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
The single best thing we could do for Placement and Maps is complete theme camp and art registration by the 1st of April (instead of May 1) and have a team on-site to make the majority of placement decisions at least 1 month prior to the event. Any last minute changes at work weekend can be easily incorporated into a map, instead of all the information getting processed right after work weekend as occurred this year. As I mentioned above, this is the third year we have tried to complete/implement all the placements on work weekend and that is pretty ridiculous. Placement went through this year without any real snags, but only due to the heroic efforts of Michael and Kellie, both of whom have considerable additional responsibilities outside Placement.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
I was originally placed in this position by default, three years ago, when the placement team needed someone with spare time and some graphic design skills. While I have the tools, I do not have really the training to continue as Map Lead as Apogaea grows in complexity. I also play a considerable role with BAMF, and now that our volunteer structure has grown in size, it is no longer necessary for me to commit to both roles.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
I’m resigning as Map Lead, to better focus on my BAMF volunteer role.
QUARTERMASTER
drobson2@netzero.com
Date: June 27, 2012 11:14:12 AM MDT
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
My role is QuarterMaster for not just the event, but the entire year. In this role, basically, I manage everything that Apogaea owns. This includes a loose inventory of what we have to include burn barrels, structures, generators, sound baffles, light housings, extension cords, decorations & soft lighting, signage, toilet paper, and a whole lot of miscellaneous crap to go along with it (thank god for the toilet paper)!
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
The purchase of our own semi trailer was a god send in terms of no longer having to go through a pre-event load and a post-event unload.
The load up at the event went real smoothly this year. I had a few helpers throughout the day on Sunday and that was all I needed. Stuff came to the truck at just the right speed. I always feel overloaded when 20 people show up with stuff and want to give it all to me at the same time and everyone wants’ to help. If anyone looked in the trailer, you know I set it up so that it is not just a big pile of stuff where Murphy’s Law dictates that everything you what is always on the bottom. It is better than organized chaos in the trailer, but it is still fairly full after this years event.
Since we didn’t get to have a burn we placed the effigy in the trailer. In the future, this may NOT be practical and should never be considered as storage plan A without consultation first. We were able to fit in it because it breaks down perfectly flat.
What doesn’t work so well is not being aware of new things are to be going into the trailer at the end of the event. I organize the trailer according to what I know is going in it. When a bunch of unexpected stuff shows up, it throws my whole plan in the toilet – again thank god for the toilet paper! Knowing about additions early enough gives me time to come up with a new plan, so that we don’t have to unload and repack to fit some large object that I wasn’t expecting. (like the stage that got left behind at center camp).
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
I’m planning on continued improvements to the trailer itself. At work weekend this year I built several shelves to house all the structure poles and Rubbermaid type storage boxes. So far that has worked out well. It added a lot of organization, utilized space by going higher off the floor, and thus provided accessibility to all of those items during the off season for repairs, etc.
Securing the burn barrels to prevent them their stacks from falling over is the next thing on my list.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yes.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Comments on other topics:
DO EVERYTHING EARLIER! I saw at least one other posting where setting schedules earlier was suggested. With an event our size, the amount of stuff that gets done last minute is crazy and often throws everyone in a bit of a tizzy and causes frustration because of the waterfall effects and contributes to mistakes and burnout.
RANGERS
From: uncle dave uncle <tont123@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 4:11 PM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
event lead ranger
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
we have some of the best rangers in the country working at apogaea...I couldn't have be more proud of the job they all did.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
I'm thinking that the kahki should be doing two 6 hrs shifts. Not one 12 hr shift..Ill be asking the them at the brc training this weekend too see what the think.and we need a minim of 6 ++ rangers on duty on friday and saturday night to be safe and ready for what ever might happen.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
yes
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
i will be asking the board for the ranger swag before the event start so that the kakhi,s can give it out at the end of there shifts,to say thanks for there hard work......I shouldn't have to beg for swag...more than half of the rangers didnt get swag again this year,,,,why???
RV POLICY/PLACEMENT
From: Michael Yancey <michaelyancey@apogaea.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 11:16 AM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Placement Planning Lead, Sound Policy/Placement, RV Policy/Placement. I was responsible for getting sound camps to work more harmoniously with both Apo/non-Apo neighbors, accommodating all the RV's, and a few weeks before the event, I became involved with planning the city/placing the camps.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Well:
-Ishe (Sound) and Kellie (Placement Operations) were great to work with, so we found solutions to the many process breakdowns and lack of process/training.
-The Apogaea culture of loving the festival enough to make it happen no matter what.
Not so well:
-Lack of process and training. There are a few things that every new ignition member needs to know, e.g. how to get stuff put on the website, how to get reimbursed for expenses, etc. None of it rocket science, but all of it important. It needs to be in one place that is immediately available and highly visible.
-Unclear division of labor. The division of labor was completely unclear between Ishe and me, and between Kellie and me. Fortunately we solved it without stepping on each other's toes too badly. This was because Ishe and Kellie are grown-ups, intelligent, and secure, not because the situation predisposed us to success.
-Lack of documentation/organizational memory. Because no documentation was available for how things were done last year in my areas of responsibility, I was re-inventing the wheel on a regular basis. I consulted more experienced members of the group and found much knowledge transmission to be lore handed down in circuitous ways. Each historian had his own version of the tale, each was materially different, and when I finally got facts from the source, they were not consistent with the common folklore around them.
-I was running fast and loose because I got into placement less than 3 weeks before the event, and couldn't resolve sound and RV placement issues before that because I couldn't get decisions from the previous placement lead. It would have been easier just to take them all on from the beginning than to be crippled until right before the event and then trying to make up for lost time.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
-A one or two page orientation or Ignition FAQ that covers all the common things, e.g. "X is our communications lead. She sends announcements out to the community via the website and social networks, contact her for X, Y, and Z."
-A job description that describes what each person does and does not have the authority and responsibility to do. Needs to be on the wiki, where everyone can see it for years to come, revised each year as the organization adapts to its own growth.
-Coaching for members who interfere with others' areas of responsibility.
-Each policy, process, and the reasoning behind them must be published on the wiki, and the Wiki must be evangelized until it becomes the default tool when looking for answers. It must be driven as cultural initiative in the organization. "Look in the wiki." must ring out to new members on a daily basis, and "Put it in the wiki." must be ring out to the experienced members on a daily basis.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
No. It was only through persistence and applying experience from other organizations that I was able to get anything done. We need short, sweet, training program for all ignition members, not just on how to use the wiki, but also on who does what, how the timeline looks, and how each contributor fits in to the big picture. Having survived this year, I'll be in a great position to contribute next year; Ideally people would be brought up to speed fast enough that they can be fully productive their first time out.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
It is through the spectacular efforts of a number of individuals that things happen in the organization, because the process itself doesn't support the size of the event. It frequently appeared to outsiders that I couldn't find my ass with both hands because I was dependent on a contribution from someone else or it was just completely unclear whose job it was to do the tasks upon which I depended. If I took initiative to resolve the issue, then I risked interfering with someone else's job. If I didn't I risked dropping the ball for our constituents. This can be avoided with clear processes and division of labor. If we can get organized enough so as not to demand constant heroics from individuals just to get the event to happen, we can then start concentrating on excellence: a process where every applicant knows where they stand for sound or placement, every camper knows which streets are one way, how they are expected to park, what deadlines are for various applications, etc. We can offer our constituents a much higher level of service at much less personal cost to ignition members if we define and communicate our processes.
The number of exceptional contributors helped renew my faith in humanity and the goodness of people. Without them this event couldn't happen at all, much less be as spectacular as it is. Props to Ignition.
SHITTERS
Sun, Jun 17, 2012 at 12:15 PM, Sam Liman <samliman@apogaea.com> wrote:
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Shit...
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Everything seemed great again this year, except at some point it seems that the shitter trailer that was left at the even for the week was moved, and it was lightly damaged on one spot. Having a shitter at the "too late" camping/overflow lot was also a new development, perhaps we can have that one dropped off sooner, too.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
I need to create a final plan for the extra shitter, but I imagine we should have that one dropped off either at the same time as the others, or, more likely, during the first cleaning on Thursday morning.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yups.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Well played, folks. Well played.
SIGNS
erinmobrien@gmail.com
Date: June 15, 2012 9:28:22 AM MDT
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Pre/During-Apo: Collecting signs via the spreadsheet worked pretty well, but I think some groups ended up missing the boat on it. I made enough sings that should be reusable for years to come, though. My team placed singage at non-mobile/workshop granted art projects as well. I was traveling for the week before Apo, so that made things a little hectic and I wasn't able to do many last-minute signs. Getting turned around at the gate on Wednesday night also threw off my schedule; but that's my own fault for thinking that knowing gate code would allow my entrance.
Post Apo: Collected signage throughout Apo and organized it in the truck. Because of the exodus traffic and my work schedule on Monday, I couldn't grab the majority of signage on the road in. I didn't "assign" that job to anyone, so many thanks to whoever collected them during cleanup.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
I made a ton of signs for Parking ("no parking", "upper lot", "lower lot" etc), but they barely got used. After I had dropped them off at Apo on Tuesday, I sent an email out to the board/ignition to let people know where they were (in the truck) but I don't think they got touched until I was able to start setting them up Thurs morning. Because the map / placement wasn't made public until late Tuesday(?) I think that it really hindered my organization and coordination with people that actually knew where things were supposed to be.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
There wasn't anyone scheduled for parking duty on Thursday morning until noon, but the gates opened at 9. It seemed like folks were radically self-reliant with parking in the morning, but that's something that could've gone much worse.
Next year, having someone assigned to sign cleanup on the road in would be good to cover the bases. Or maybe the majority could be taken down on Saturday evening/night.
Also, we really should've printed out 100+ maps to give out to the community and non-parking/placement leads. The fact they were rare made it hard to get things placed efficiently with a team, and I'm sure the community would've used them.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
I didn't remember/realize that last year, signs were made for all the registered theme camps. That's something that should be added to the list for 2013. Do you think signage should be made for all stationary art projects too - granted or not?
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
I slept too much at Apo and missed a lot. Next year, more caffeine, and a more well-rounded Apo. Thanks for everyone's amazing efforts across the board! 2012 will go down as a really good one.
SOUND POLICY/PLACEMENT
From: Michael Yancey <michaelyancey@apogaea.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 11:16 AM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Placement Planning Lead, Sound Policy/Placement, RV Policy/Placement. I was responsible for getting sound camps to work more harmoniously with both Apo/non-Apo neighbors, accommodating all the RV's, and a few weeks before the event, I became involved with planning the city/placing the camps.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Well:
-Ishe (Sound) and Kellie (Placement Operations) were great to work with, so we found solutions to the many process breakdowns and lack of process/training.
-The Apogaea culture of loving the festival enough to make it happen no matter what.
Not so well:
-Lack of process and training. There are a few things that every new ignition member needs to know, e.g. how to get stuff put on the website, how to get reimbursed for expenses, etc. None of it rocket science, but all of it important. It needs to be in one place that is immediately available and highly visible.
-Unclear division of labor. The division of labor was completely unclear between Ishe and me, and between Kellie and me. Fortunately we solved it without stepping on each other's toes too badly. This was because Ishe and Kellie are grown-ups, intelligent, and secure, not because the situation predisposed us to success.
-Lack of documentation/organizational memory. Because no documentation was available for how things were done last year in my areas of responsibility, I was re-inventing the wheel on a regular basis. I consulted more experienced members of the group and found much knowledge transmission to be lore handed down in circuitous ways. Each historian had his own version of the tale, each was materially different, and when I finally got facts from the source, they were not consistent with the common folklore around them.
-I was running fast and loose because I got into placement less than 3 weeks before the event, and couldn't resolve sound and RV placement issues before that because I couldn't get decisions from the previous placement lead. It would have been easier just to take them all on from the beginning than to be crippled until right before the event and then trying to make up for lost time.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
-A one or two page orientation or Ignition FAQ that covers all the common things, e.g. "X is our communications lead. She sends announcements out to the community via the website and social networks, contact her for X, Y, and Z."
-A job description that describes what each person does and does not have the authority and responsibility to do. Needs to be on the wiki, where everyone can see it for years to come, revised each year as the organization adapts to its own growth.
-Coaching for members who interfere with others' areas of responsibility.
-Each policy, process, and the reasoning behind them must be published on the wiki, and the Wiki must be evangelized until it becomes the default tool when looking for answers. It must be driven as cultural initiative in the organization. "Look in the wiki." must ring out to new members on a daily basis, and "Put it in the wiki." must be ring out to the experienced members on a daily basis.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
No. It was only through persistence and applying experience from other organizations that I was able to get anything done. We need short, sweet, training program for all ignition members, not just on how to use the wiki, but also on who does what, how the timeline looks, and how each contributor fits in to the big picture. Having survived this year, I'll be in a great position to contribute next year; Ideally people would be brought up to speed fast enough that they can be fully productive their first time out.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
It is through the spectacular efforts of a number of individuals that things happen in the organization, because the process itself doesn't support the size of the event. It frequently appeared to outsiders that I couldn't find my ass with both hands because I was dependent on a contribution from someone else or it was just completely unclear whose job it was to do the tasks upon which I depended. If I took initiative to resolve the issue, then I risked interfering with someone else's job. If I didn't I risked dropping the ball for our constituents. This can be avoided with clear processes and division of labor. If we can get organized enough so as not to demand constant heroics from individuals just to get the event to happen, we can then start concentrating on excellence: a process where every applicant knows where they stand for sound or placement, every camper knows which streets are one way, how they are expected to park, what deadlines are for various applications, etc. We can offer our constituents a much higher level of service at much less personal cost to ignition members if we define and communicate our processes.
The number of exceptional contributors helped renew my faith in humanity and the goodness of people. Without them this event couldn't happen at all, much less be as spectacular as it is. Props to Ignition.
SURVIVAL GUIDE
From: James Whiddon <jwhiddon@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 2:02 PM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Goals and responsibilities of the Survival Guide Lead:
- Provide critical event information in a concise and readable format.
- Encourage community participation by providing a participant
designed downloadable commemorative edition document suitable for
printing.
- Create a launch pad for more detailed information about what happens
at Apogaea and how to prepare for the event.
- Make the guide available for public comment and review as early as
possible before the event.
- Gather information from all relevant Ignition members for inclusion
in the guide.
- Keep the guide free of irrelevant information.
- Document the role of Survival Guide lead.
- Provide a post-event report discussing what went well, didn’t go
well, and any suggestions for future Survival Guide leads.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Good things that happened:
- Major edit of the Survival Guide content.
- Moved document to Google Docs platform for version history and
collaborative editing.
- Created a Survival Guide publication manual.
- Reduced waste by only printing a few hard copies that were
distributed to departments at the event. This year we only printed 30
hard copies for distribution to the various departments at the event
to be used as an event reference.
- The guide was made available almost 30 days before the event.
- Every participant is supposed to read the guide. In reality this
probably doesn't happen. I tried to increase the likelihood that
people will read it by creating the "Limited Edition Collector's
Version" that is an "artsy" printable version designed by a community
member. Hopefully people will want to look at it since it is new each
year and also might actually read the guide.
Bad things that happened:
- Even when given over four months to do so and after multiple
requests for information, some departments didn't review their
information or provide accurate information for inclusion in the guide
until after the publication deadline.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these
improvements be implemented?
- The "prepare" section of the website has a lot of duplicate
information. It is unclear if this is to become a repository for
policies or will continue to be a modified version of the old survival
guide.
- Less policy more general information. The guide should point to the
most current versions of policy documents not be a policy document
itself.
- There is no reason the guide should be re-invented every year. The
concepts we're trying to communicate should be relatively static.
- There is no reason to print and distribute the guide at the gate.
You're supposed to have read it before you bought your tickets anyway.
- I like the idea of a printed version that can be used b event staff
as a reference. Maybe it is a different, more simplified version of
the Collector's Edition that is laminated...
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that
you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yes, I had the tools and resources - this position doesn't really
require many resources beyond good communication with other Ignition
members. I felt the training resources were there - I knew who last
year's lead was and could have asked them questions, but instead chose
to start from a blank slate.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Document your position and your department. Even if it is a one word
document at first, that's a start. Add to it when you can. The
important thing is to start documenting.
TRANSPORTATION
From: Ron DePugh <rondp@rockymountainmoggers.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 12:01 PM
1.Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
I was Transportation Lead.
2.What worked well and what did not work so well.
The new Apo trailer was a huge help, since we didn't need a crew to unload after the event. Parking/Placement's suggestion for where to park the trailers was not a good one, the place was too hard to get to, and too steep.
3.What improvements would you like to see? How should these
improvements be implemented?
Cleanup after the event was late. I was on the property on Monday afternoon after the event to pick up the Apo trailer, and there were at least 2 camps still set up (not packed up, still set up). Maybe we need to be clearer about when campers need to be gone.
4.Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yes.
5.Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Apo was amazing this year. So many people put so much energy into the event to make it happen. It was fantastic.
VOLUNTEERS
Volunteer Database
bug barbeque bug@apogaea.com
Jun 26
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
development and maintenance of the volunteer database
(i also worked gate, 2 ranger, and 2 bamf/fire shifts, but won't be submitting reports for those)
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
worked: i think the system is growing very nicely. i have heard from several people that ours is the best volunteer system of any regional. people can pick their ideal shifts plenty in advance, it is publicly viewable, and we keep it up after the event as a point of pride and gratitude to the volunteers.
didn't work: launching the system before tickets went on sale - it wasn't fun tracking down people and asking them to remove their shifts if they didn't get a ticket. request for shift changes/modifications after the system is live and populated.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
i would like input from the board on what they want to see out of the system - how it needs to function and how it can better serve apo volunteers and leads.
i have been making additions and enhancements based on talking to other department leads (bamf and rangers in particular). other enhancements are simply due to reading the way the wind is blowing in the community and trying to make sure foundations are laid for future needs (flake tracking, etc.).
i have yet to hear any policy about this, but i REALLY hope we end up rewarding solid volunteers with a first crack at ticket purchase. again, this is something i am working into the system already, but if there is any inkling towards that in the board's thinking, it would be nice if they would share.
finally, better communication between the board and leads as to what the system needs to do and getting shift requirements and descriptions to me on time would be the best improvement i could hope for.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
i have the tools and training needed to build and maintain the volunteer database. as far as resources, working more closely with a volunteer management team, and clearly communicating with leads about the needs and requirements on both ends would be idea.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
moving forward, the two most crucial issues i think apo faces are volunteer management and internal communications. we need to recruit, mange, maintain, and reward our volunteers, being they are the foundation of the event. we need better communication methods, tools and protocols between the board, leads, volunteers and the public.
as we grow, we get better and better and dealing with the same checklist of items that need to be tackled to throw the event. but communication will be the glue that holds it all together. i hope the board can step away from the google stuff and invest in a true collaborative project management system moving forward.
final words: it is amazing to look back over the years and see how far we have come! i am very proud of this community and what we have accomplished together, from the leads on the board and in ignition that make the event possible, all the way out to the hundreds of people that stepped up and made the event happen. let's keep this fire burning, and make sure there is continuity by passing along (communicating) what we have learned to the continuous stream of new people that will pick up where we leave off.
Schwag Lead
Terri Beach kiki@apogaea.com
Jul 1
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Swag Lead
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
I believe that people really liked the swag the board selected.
Budget - was too low for the volume of volunteers.
Conflicting Information - information that was given to me conflicted in the sense of who gets what swag and what departments were included in that vs other departments having their own swag budget.
Access & Control - it was hard for me to make an assessment of how much swag was needed for the different tiers because I did not have access to the volunteer data base so I could calculate how many shifts each volunteer had.
Distribution - of swag did not work so well because we just made it too complicated.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
Budget - a realistic dollar value needs to be budgeted per volunteer, ignition/lead member and board.
Conflicting Information - my hope is that it will be alleviated because I will be in contact directly in the board meetings. Once a new system is implemented of how the swag is calculated, in regards to quantity and how it gets distributed, will cut the confusion and complications that arose this year.
Access & Control - I believe by starting off early in the year I will have the knowledge and access to the information needed to make decisions on a more expedited bases.
Distribution - SIMPLIFY IT, this is gifting someone who we appreciate and want to show it in a material memento.
Leads should have the honor and fun in passing out the gifts to the volunteers at each shift. This gives instantly a better connection, appreciation, thank you and feeling of gratitude (warm fuzzies) that goes along ways. One of the ideas I came up with is, Carnivalize it...! Leads will pass out a gift to each volunteer at each shift such as a carabiner. The volunteer will collect another carabiner each shift they work. After 3 shifts the volunteer has the option to trade in the 3 carabiners to an upgraded gift such as the coffee mug (as long as the trade in items are not damaged). I will set up in the Info Booth from 10:00 to 12:00 either Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday for this process. The trade in items can then be reused. Perhaps this will be fun enough for volunteers to want to collect the swag and sign up for more shifts. Leads would receive all swag at work weekend. There are details to work out but I believe that would be better suited in a actual board meeting for all to discuss.
As Lead of Gifts I feel it would be easier if all items including uniforms went through me to centralize the vendor and therefore receive the best pricing.
Volunteer Sign up should be set up to be at the same time the tickets go on sale. Once you purchase your ticket you can then sign up to volunteer. This will alleviate the pre-ticket sale sign up issues we had this year.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yes, I have been in the imprint business for many years and I have excellent vendor sources.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
This is only my 2nd burn and I feel blessed that Apogaea is the place that opened my eyes and heart to this community, I loved being part of the bigger picture this year with being involved with 2 camps, volunteering and being on ignition, I tried to help out where ever needed. I value my new friendships with all my heart. I can't wait til next year, we are a team... and it will show throughout all the land of Apogaea!
Cat Hearder
debpika@apogaea.com
Date: June 25, 2012 9:23:27 PM MDT
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Cat Herder On-Site Management (me-ow)
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Getting volunteers was fairly easy, it typically took asking anywhere from 5-30 people to get 1 volunteer but this took a matter of minutes. Most people liked the idea of volunteering, especially when being told it is a great way to meet people. There were lots of newbies who got excited and couldn't wait to meet the people who help Apogaea flow! Getting names of no-shows was a little bit more of a hassle. There was a few times that a name that was sent to me was not on the volunteer list I had or the person would just be late but called in as a no-show. I believe there were also several names missed because of people not hearing the radio.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented? It was helpful to walk from location to location to make sure everything was going smooth and to make sure people were feeling ok. There were times that volunteers were dehydrated and/or needing some calories that it would be nice if we had some small snacks or water to offer our volunteers because they do so much. I think the cat herder position could easily help cover that as well. It also could help if the volunteers were checked in at beginning of shift and checked out at end just to ensure the naughty list is accurate and not screwing over any people who were just a little late. It would also help because a few times we had some people show and then take off mid shift. I think if I could have made it to the retreat(sorry my fault, work has been kinda consuming my life) and held a how to use the Cat Herder properly it would have been more effective for all the leads. A notebook for the cat herder with all leads names, the shifts and the volunteer would have been good. Plus some paper for extra notes. I brought 4 pens but they all went missing (both in my tent and in thehands of others)so access to more pens would have been swell. The radio was super helpful and i believe a must for this position. With the volunteers we should get playa name and default name because several times I would be given a name that I did not find on the sheet. I have been told that it would have been helpful if there were more radios distributed. This could have eliminated several communication mishaps.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not? I got to admit I have never even volunteered at Apo before this and was a little intimidated by the job. I went to 3 board meetings but didn't feel like that was enough to feel comfy with the whole process. But the second the event started I felt at ease. I felt things ran smoothly and was really a fun time. I think next year this position could use an assistant because i worked from 12-7 Thurs, Fri and Sat but this meant Weds and Sunday there was no documentation, minus a few leads who wrote down names. Plus any night shifts when I wasn't on shift. Perhaps the assistant could be replaced by telling the leads about cat herder presence at that time. I feel that now that I have this year under my belt, if I got the position again next year, I could easily do the job. Once again more radios would have been useful.
5. Burner thought~ So glad for this community and so proud of everyone. Apo is such an amazing experience and I was excited to be a part of it. I am blown away by interworkings of the festival and hope to be part of it again.
~Deb the cat herder
WAIVERS
guywire@apogaea.com
Date: June 19, 2012 10:25:07 PM MDT
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Waivers - I'm somehow in charge of waivers. I didn't get the waiver from the lawyer, Eric did. I didn't print them, Matt did. I did sort of reformat them a bit.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
We went to a more inclusive waiver that protects Apogaea from various disasters etc. That's good. It went from 1 page to 2, there's some typos (apogaea is misspelled a bunch of times) and we keep printing way more than we need. That's bad.
I guess we'll have to see if it legally protects us better, but we haven't been sued yet so it's doing a pretty good job.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
As far as I can tell the waiver protects the Apogaea org but doesn't protect artists, theme camps, or participants. I'm not a lawyer, but that might be something to address. Also if it were easier for people to print the one page that would be good and if we had a better estimate about how many to print that would be good. The survey should help with that and we can count how many we used. I think we used far less than half.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Sure
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
This probably doesn't need to be a lead role but could be subset of some other role.
WRISTBANDS
guywire@apogaea.com
Date: June 19, 2012 10:25:07 PM MDT
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
I selected wristbands, reused and repurposed old wristband inventory, presented a plan to get cloth wristbands without affecting the budgeting process, called out for donations for the cloth wristbands, sought out a designer to design the cloth wristbands, and ordered the wristbands and counted the inventory. There was also a plan to have some kind of inventory tracking during the event.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Most people really love the cloth wristbands that were used for 21 and over. They're a keepsake, schwag item, and offer comfort and security benefits. Getting people involved in donating to make the cloth wristbands happen was great, and thanks to Patrick Richmond it happened quickly. Reusing the old wristbands for under 21, in and out access at the gate, and day passes for the wedding on Saturday all worked out well and helped the wristbands to stay under budget.
There were some issues applying the cloth wristbands with their plastic/metal slider thing, which was supposed to make it easier but some of them fell apart. We found that you could tug on the cloth ends to secure the wristband in problem cases, but this tears up the wristband a bit. There were reports of someone sewing the tail ends of wristbands together to make new ones, but this seems unlikely since the graphic design by Kemo would make it very different than a genuine article upon any inspection. I also found that you could loosen the plastic sliders with tools and remove the wristband without damage, which could be a security issue, but it still seemed better than the plastic bands.
The cloth wristbands also were a great help to ASS due to the use of UV thread and design. With a blacklight flashlight wristbands could be seen from 50+ feet away with great detail.
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these improvements be implemented?
Next year I recommend all cloth wristbands for both under 21 and regular, but I recommend trying the older style crimps instead of the plastic sliders to secure them. This should be more secure, offers a fun scary moment according to Milk, and should cause less damage.
The board will have to budget for $.70-$1.25 per wristband per person with some mix for the 2 different types, plus more if you want to do the day passes or in and out as well.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yes, and it wasn't too time consuming really.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
My contact for cloth wristbands was Aaron at Arnett Designs
WWWW
From: James Whiddon <jwhiddon@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 2:02 PM
1. Briefly describe your role working for Apogaea this year.
Goals and responsibilities of the WWWW Lead:
- Provide critical event information in a concise and readable format.
- Provide a listing of theme camps, art installations, center camp
events, and general events.
- Gather information from all relevant departmental leads on Ignition
for inclusion in the guide - specifically the registration and Center
Camp leads.
- Produce a version suitable for printing and distribution at the gate
at the event.
- Keep the guide free of irrelevant information.
- Allow art installations/theme camps/event hosts time to preview the
document and confirm their listing appears as the want it.
- Coordinate with registration lead and Center Camp to ensure the
registration deadlines are soon enough to allow for production of the
guide.
- Communicate changes to other departments (placement, maps, signs,
etc) to ensure their information is up to date.
- Document the role of WWWW lead.
- Provide a post-event report discussing what went well, didn’t go
well, and any suggestions for future WWWW leads.
2. What worked well and what did not work so well.
Good things that happened:
- The document was published one day after the final registration
closed and was available to the community two weeks before the event.
- Moved document to Google Docs platform for version history and
collaborative editing.
- Created a WWWW publication manual.
- Theme camps and art installations had over 1 month to review their listings.
- General events had about 3 weeks to register and review their
information and were made available for review within 24 hours after
registration.
Bad things that happened:
- Center Camp Events only had about 48 hours to review their listings
because of the WWWW production deadline and not getting the Center
Camp information until May 21st. I'd recommend either pushing the
Center Camp registration deadline earlier, getting access to Center
Camp registrations as they are happening in real time so they can be
added to the WWWW as they register and are added to the Center Camp
schedule, or any other solution that involves not getting all the
entries at once.
- No time to review information with placement, maps, and signs. A
combination of me not knowing placement and maps didn't have current
information and the placement leads stepping into a horrible situation
right before the event resulted in some outdated information being
included on the placement map. (See improvements section for
suggestions to fix this next year)
3. What improvements would you like to see? How should these
improvements be implemented?
Event registration is confusing and should be separate from Art/Theme
camp registration. There needs to be a meeting with the registration
lead and everyone that needs some sort of online registration to
coordinate who needs what information and when. Once it is collected,
there needs to be an easy way to update the information so that all
people using the registration data have access to the most current
information. I do not think it is unreasonable to allow people to
change things like WWWW listings or even project descriptions later on
in the process, especially if we're asking them to register kinda far
in advance to help us make our jobs easier. I would like to see
either a shared AND EDITABLE Google spreadsheet at a minimum that
would allow for easy updating of information. You'd need to come up
with a date after which info can't be changed for things like camp
names. I think the WWWW lead interacts with registrants the most
after registration is closed - signs and placement really only need to
know the name of the theme camp/art installation). So, it would make
sense to me, that after registration data is collected, the WWWW lead
would then send all registrants notification asking them to confirm
their WWWW entry. Any changes to the name or other listing data can
be made at this time. Once the WWWW entry has been confirmed, then
the registration spreadsheet is updated if necessary, and now signs
and placement have the most current information. Another option would
be to not allow changes at all, but I think that would be a step in
the wrong direction.
I received a gigantic PDF from the registration lead along with a
spreadsheet. This should be simplified to a spreadsheet that has the
art installation/theme camp name, their contact email, and the WWWW
description. I would imagine other departments using the registration
data would also prefer a version that only has what they need to see.
That said, I appreciated access to every bit of the registration data.
We ran a separate registration for events not at a theme camp or
center camp. This might not be necessary in the future if event
registration is separated from the art/theme camp registration.
I'd like to see a unified registration page on the website that has
links to all the different registration forms.
I don't think we need to collect a WWWW entry/description when people
submit an art grant or theme camp registration. Most everyone ended
up changing what they entered months before the event. I'd prefer to
just send out an email to them and ask them to submit their WWWW entry
closer to the event as I think they'll have a better idea of what they
want it to say at that point.
Any information that was updated after the initial registration form
needs to be disseminated to other departments like placement, maps,
signs, etc. to ensure continuity.
Instead of distributing printed versions at the gate, I'd prefer to
have a large version posted in center camp. Might consider posting a
large format placement map right next to it.
4. Do you feel that you have the tools, resources, and training that
you need to do the job you need to do? If so, how? If not, why not?
Yes, I had the tools and resources - this position doesn't really
require many resources beyond good communication with other Ignition
members. I felt the training resources were there - I knew who last
year's lead was and could have asked them questions, but instead chose
to start from a blank slate.
5. Any other burning thoughts you'd like to share?
Document your position and your department. Even if it is a one word
document at first, that's a start. Add to it when you can. The
important thing is to start documenting.