Planning Your Special Events A Quick How-to Primer by Christine Oster ne of the most important things a local SIGGRAPH chapter can do for its constituents besides the monthly meetings, is to produce a special event. These events can be fund-raisers, art shows, or multimedia events. Or even a combination of these things. The first step occurs way before the event takes place. This is the process of getting the chapter board members to discuss and agree to hold an event. Bring up suggestions and see what is viable, brainstorm ideas and write them down. It is quite possible that you may not be able to carry some of them off untill a later date. Good ideas are worth the paper they are written on. ¢ Who: Y O U - - t h e local SIGGRAPH Chapter ¢ What: art show, multimedia event, conference ¢ When: the date and time ¢ Where: location (city) and event venue Why: fund-raiser, chapter anniversary, annual chapter event ¢ Fleshing it Out Once agreement occurs to hold this event, the pre-production process starts. Committee(s) and duties are assigned. Specifics are discussed, like who, what, when, where, and why: As the events start to flesh out in the planning process, certain details must be covered. Publicity materials, insurance, rental hall deposits, letter(s) of confirlnation, or space/material donations/ rental requests are some of the "little things" that are important. One important factor not to be forgotten is all the expenses involved. Do you have money for rentals, juror stipends for juried art shows, AV equipment, and fnnds for promotional materials? Remember that an event is no good if you do not plan for the audience. If no one attends it, all your efforts are for nothing. This means lots of publicity in the right places, making attractive posters or flyers--after all this is a corn- Brave New Pixels 5: Digital Dreams puter graphics community. Be sure to advertise and promote your event far enough in advance so that people can plan to be there. Last minute announcements don't make people excited about your event. Instead they are annoyed that you failed to allow them to plan for it. Gone are the days of copious fl'ee time and spontaneous outings. Also be sure to not schedule events during holidays or when there is the possibility of weather problems. It might be a good idea to have an alternate plan or a rain date. Make lists of what you intend to do or need to do. Organize things according to the lists and delegate responsibilities accordingly. Use the talents of the membership as well as the Board of Directors. An active membership is more enthusiastic about an event if they are involved. Your special event should be something that will make your chapter proud to sponsor it. Remember to keep notes on your experience, also make a summary and save your lists and contacts. Regardless of what happens, each event and all the w o r k that g o e s into it is a learning "Remember that experience. a n e v e n t is . o From the notso-successg o o d if y o u do ful to the wild n o t p l a , f o r the success, a lot audience. If no can be learned. o n e a t t e n d s it, Keep good all your efforts notes and pass them along to a r e f o r n o t h i n g . " the organizer(s) of the next event(s). With this shared wealth of experience, doing special events can be a pleasure and not a pain. The ultimate payoffs range fi'om increased public knowledge of your local Professional SIGGRAPH chapter to more money and even some fun. Christine Oster is an artist, educator, and creative professional working in electronic media. She is Chapter CoFounder and tile Chair Emeritus of S1GGRAPH Chicago (1991-1993) alld has curated two art and design shows of computer generated images3,.

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