Surveys

Today I worked on creating a spreadheet of the pre-event and event surveys, and a short 600 word peice on analysing them to give to Craig Horner. This work gave interesting, yet arguably predictable results. Most interesting of the survey analysis was reading into the qualititive data. (linked here)

Finally here!

(A few photos are included in this post but all photos with more information are linked here)

After what seems like forever in planning, it finally went ahead on the 24th February! I can't believe how nervous I was, I felt pretty fine until the morning, But it wasn't worth worrying too much about as it all went fine! I arrived at the museum at around 3 pm and sat in the cafe for a while to warm up, then spoke to the volunteers about where I'd like tables etc, which they were really helpful in doing. I also helped to set out the food and drinks, and logging onto the YouTube playlist in the engine hall (linked here.) Also, we needed to put the North West Film Archive into the DVD player on ready for 5pm. Milly also helped her friend who was playing guitar set up his amps etc. I made sure to continue social media marketing right up until (and during) the night to keep it on the news feeds. The twitter page is linked here and the Facebook event page is linked here

Diane from the Random Quirks vintage and jewelry shop (linked here) arrived at half 4 so I helped her set up her stall and chatted for a while waiting for people to start arriving. She seemed quite happy to be involved in the night and had some lovely items up for sale. (I bought a purse and a top, Kaitlin bought a few necklaces!) I'm not too sure how much anyone else bought, but it was definitely browsed and enjoyed.

I'd estimate around 40 people attended the event, which was less than we would of liked, but can still definitely be classed as a success, as it is still 40 students that wouldn't have necessarily visited the museum otherwise, which is represented in the feedback surveys. We decided during the event to keep there to being only one tour at 6pm, as majority of the 40 students went on this tour, so it seemed pointless to have more than one as originally intended. As the tour was only 20 minutes long, it obviously didn't cover all of the museum, but going by networking after the tour, it was apparently well received,and perhaps could of been slightly (but not by much) longer.
I feel that the event can definitely be classed as a success, although the museum didn't look necessarily busy with only 40 students attending, due to the size of the space we were working in, it would of been near-impossible to fill the space to a 'busy' standard.  The room maintained a friendly atmosphere and the feedback from the surveys indicated it was enjoyed.

Update

This is just a quick update because I don't have time to post about the event just yet, but it went so well and I'll do a really long post about it very soon (and upload all the photos!)

Also, I've got an interview to volunteer there on the 18th of March, yay!

Flyering/marketing

We finally got the flyers printed on the 21st February, scarily close to the date of the event! But we managed to get quite a few around buildings such as Geoffrey Manton, the All Saints library and John Dalton. If we could of had more time we would have been able to flyer a lot more, which would of been a massive help to the marketing side of things. Having to rely on social media so heavily was a shame.

Final meeting!

Never has a blog title ever been so terrifying! We had our final meeting with Craig today about any final issues, like getting the leaflet printed, we are going to pick up the leaflets tomorrow, hopefully getting 200 printed of the design below. Also, we had a chat about worries such as what will happen if no one comes!

North West Film Archive

I have emailed the North West Film Archive regarding showing clips from the archive in the foyer. I spoke to  Will McTaggart who was really helpful in asking questions of what specifically we would need (with sound or silent etc) so we will hopefully be able to get some really interesting clips shown! The clips will be silent as the musician will be playing in the foyer but it will create a nice 'wallpaper' as Will McTaggart called it to create a nice atmosphere.

YouTube playlist

Today we also put together a YouTube playlist of clips from the film 24 Hour Party People, (about 1 hour long to be played twice during the night). We want the film clips to be shown in the Engine Room on a projector screen as it is a film that will create a fun atmosphere in the room, as well as being historically relevant to Manchester students.

We are also including an information sheet of what the film is about and why it is relevant to Manchester and students, as many students will be aware of the modern night club Factory, but perhaps not its history. The information is from IMDB (but is referenced)

A few clips below are featured in the playlist, the playlist can be found here

Surveys

100 of the pre-event surveys were handed out today in a first year History lecture.
As an approximate guess I'd say 50% were filled in, and 25% were filled in with the quantitative data question filled in (the question of why they don't visit museums more)
These results were to be expected as few people enjoy filling out surveys and even fewer when the answers are not in multiple choice.
We also realised a major flaw in the survey of the age categories. We only put in age categories of 19-25, so anyone over the age of 25 were led to write their age separately, which may of offended some!
To resolve these issues we are going to add an extra age category of 25+, and give out the surveys to more people, especially to students who aren't History students to get more varied, reliable results  

History in Practice Presentation

Today I, Milly and Kaitlin gave a presentation to the rest of the History in Practice students on what we’ve been doing for our project in the Peoples History Museum. It was a good chance to also hear everyone else’s presentation for inspiration and to generally have a nose at what they’re all up to!

We also got printed the pre-event surveys out to hand out in a first year lecture tomorrow, with hopefully some good feedback!   

Presentation preperation

Today we met in Starbucks to plan a presentation to give to the History in Practice students. We also sent emails around to Craig to discuss what is entailed in the increased cost model.

Twitter and Blogger

I met today with Kaitlin, Craig Horner and Karen Moore to discuss progress and to co-ordinate with what is allowed to be used in terms of copyright of logos. We met actually at the Peoples History Museum, which made a nice change as it was good to actually picture where things would be in terms of tables etc. This is especially the case as I noticed things like the blackboard that I'd like to use to put the itinerary on and the projector in the foyer that could be used for the North West Film Archive clips.
It was really useful to speak to Karen about what I am alright to tweet and blog about, rather than stepping on any ones toes.
It was also good to meet as Karen thought of the details that I hadn't thought of, like how many tables and chairs will be needed.

Twitter and Marketing

Today we met with Craig Horner, Milly and Kaitlin to discuss how to promote the event and to generally catch up on progress. 

Milly is arranging for the poster to be displayed on the Corridor Manchester and the Geoffrey Manton screen, which will be a valuable free resource of advertisement. Also, myself and Kaitlin spoke to Deborah Green at MMU and discussed getting notifications on moodle and emails sent around to tell students about the event, she also agreed to help out with funding of printing of posters and leaflets.
Deborah green suggested adding an MMU logo onto any posters or leaflets that are left around in Uni as to not be taken down by cleaners etc.

Vintage stalls

I've finally got some potential vintage stalls to be at the event, Random Quirks and Thriftette. Diane from Random Quirks said she is definitely wanting to attend, and I am awaiting a reply from Thriftette but they also seemed pretty keen. 

Meeting with Craig

We met with Craig today to relay what we had discussed on Monday. We talked about a few worries of fundraising and attendance of the event. And thought of as few ideas to fund raise like a bake sale!

Fundraising

Met with Milly and Kaitlin today to bring together itinerary plans and finalised costings. We've decided it will work best to not have a specific strict timetable, but rather to have a lot of things going on at one time to keep it relaxed so people can float around as they please, yet still have volunteers around to be able to tell them what is going on and where so they don't feel lost.
After the £100 cost to keep the museum open, we've estimated we will need £50 for drinks and food, and the extra cost of printing leaflets and posters to be paid for by university.
We're meeting Craig Horner on Wednesday to discuss this further.
We also talked about a few worries about the worst case scenario of no one turning up!
It was also today that Milly came up with the idea of having the acoustic musician playing.

Planning meeting

After the initial planning meeting with myself, Milly and Kaitlin, we took our ideas to Craig Horner.

We've finalised and agreed on what will be taking place at the event as well as having a few ideas around dates (potentially 24th February or 3rd March)

We also discussed with Craig potential cost models of the price of what will be taking place (i.e staffing for tours.) Similarly, we discussed finding the prices of wholesale drinks and food to be given out at the event, possibly as an incentive to fill out the survey!

I've emailed a friend on a graphics design course at Salford University who is willing to produce the flyers for the event to help publicity and Kaitlin is finalising the survey to be given to Craig to check over.

I'm currently emailing around to get hold of small vintage traders who would be willing to set up a stall in the engine room of the museum, and possibly another in the lobby, dependent on how many get back to me.

Initial plans

Today we met to discuss the report and the initial itinerary ideas of what will be taking place at the event. We found we needed to think of a few potential dates and times of the event to take place and the potential cost implications.

We spoke about the initial plans of the itinerary being film screenings of 24 Hour Party People and footage from the North West Film Archive, vintage stalls and museum tours, with music playing in the background.

We also spoke about publicity ideas, speaking to Faye about the Geoffrey Manton TV's and a few graphic designers about creating a flyer. We looked at a few nightclub event flyers during this meeting for inspiration!

The potential dates of the event were best on the 24th of February or 3rd of march. I felt a Sunday would work best as people are most likely to have more free time on a Sunday as there aren't many student nights out taking place and no one has lectures etc.

We needed to find out from Craig: if there are speakers available for the music, if the bar (in the cafe) could be open and if the museum could be open after hours.

Report

Today myself, Milly and Kaitlin met in the library to make further plans towards the meeting and to produce an initial report of these plans to give to Craig Horner. We grouped all of our ideas together and discussed any potential problems that may arise.
The report itself is linked here, but has been emailed to Faye and Craig to be discussed with Craig on the 9th of November at our next meeting.
We also spoke to Craig and Faye regarding our concerns over what counts as working hours and whether time in meetings and production of flyers etc count as the official hours or if only time spent in the museum itself counted.
Craig replied and informed us that any time spent towards the event in or out of the museum did count, as long as we kept frequent communication with him over what we were doing.

Meeting with Craig Horner

These are the ideas we discussed during the meetings:

Film night, discounted food/drinks  – STUDENT LOCK IN
Need to find out what the museum could actually offer students (Freebies?)
Linked to student survey, see what students want in an event and try to provide that:  Initial survey of what students want at the event AND survey afterwards of how it went, asking why they don’t visit museums etc. Ask Craig for advice of what the PHM needs to know)
Aiming at History/politics students – linking to the societies of politics, labour movement group
Speak to the history society about a group visit? – promote it on the twitter/Facebook sites
REPORT – make a report with Milly and Kaitlin about what we want to do, the financial implications, what the benefits may be (Only brief, to let Craig & Faye know the kinds of things we’d want to do

Student survey

Myself, Kaitlin and Milly met today to discuss the meeting with Craig Horner and to produce a first draft of the survey for students that he wanted us to take to the meeting.
We came up with a few questions surrounding what the Peoples History Museum want to know about the student demographic attendance.