IVFDF - User contributions [en]

Constitution

2006-02-27T20:54:38Z

IVFDF:

This document presents the constitution as adopted at IVFDF 2004 in Exeter it and was produced following discussions and amendments in the Sheffield constitution meeting of October 2003. It has its roots in the recommendations made by IVFDF 2003 in Sheffield and in the Braceborough meeting of 2001. Andrew Swaine, of Cambridge, must be thanked for his efforts in pulling together this project and bringing IVFDF into a new era. Explanatory notes in the form of a [[Consitution Addendum]] are available to provide clarity and further information on the points below.

==Current Constitution==

===1. NAME===
* 1.1. The name of the association shall be "The Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival", also known as IVFDF.

===2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES===
* 2.1. IVFDF exists to promote knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the traditions of the folk dance and music of the British Isles and beyond, especially to students and young people.
* 2.2. This shall be achieved by supporting Festivals running events such as dances, workshops and displays, targeted at but not limited to university students.
* 2.3. The association shall not discriminate on the grounds of race, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or political views.

===3. MEMBER SOCIETIES===
* 3.1. A group shall become Member Society of the association if:
** 3.1.1. It is a folk group which is recognised and supported by a British University.
** 3.1.2. At least two members of the society which are students at a British University are in attendance at a Festival. Each student can only count for one Member Society for this purpose.
** 3.1.3. It registers its intention to join at the Festival, giving electronic mail contact details for the list specified in section 10.2.6, university affiliation and the names of the two students specified in section 3.1.2.
* 3.2. Each Member Society shall have the option to renew its membership at each Annual Representatives Meeting (ARM) with the secretary of the ARM, providing that the conditions in section 3.1 still hold.
* 3.3. Member Societies must notify the Archivist as soon as practically possible of any change in contact details.
* 3.4. Membership shall be withdrawn from a Member Society if:
** 3.4.1. It fails to renew its membership for two consecutive ARMs.
** 3.4.2. It notifies the Archivist that it wishes to revoke its membership.
** 3.4.3. It ceases to meet the criteria in section 3.1.1.
** 3.4.4. It cannot be contacted due to failing to adhere to section 3.3.

===4. AUTHORITY===
* 4.1. Decisions for the association shall be made by a vote in a Representatives Meeting (RM) as specified in section 5, or an Electronic Vote (EV) as specified in section 8. Such decisions are hereafter referred to as decisions of the Representatives.
* 4.2. Where specified, a quorum shall require:
** 4.2.1. If the association has 9 or more Member Societies, representatives from one third of all Member Societies, rounding up; otherwise if the association has 3 or more Member Societies, representatives from 3 Member Societies; otherwise representatives from all Member Societies.
** 4.2.2. Representatives from Member Societies from three different universities where such Member Societies exist; otherwise representatives from a Member Society from each university with a Member Society.
* 4.3. The Representatives may make or modify the Standing Orders of the association by an ordinary vote, where they are not in conflict with the constitution.

===5. REPRESENTATIVES MEETINGS===
* 5.1. An RM is defined as either an Annual Representatives Meeting (ARM) or an Extraordinary Representatives Meeting (ERM), run in accordance with the Standing Orders.
* 5.2. Each Member Society may choose up to two of its members present at the RM to have voting rights at the RM, hereafter referred to as Voting Members. The RM Chair may not be a Voting Member.
* 5.3. Decisions may only be taken if the Voting Members form a quorum as defined in section 4.2.
* 5.4. Voting Members, the RM Chair, the RM Secretary, Officers, up to two members of each active Festival Committee and any others specified in the Standing Orders shall have right of attendance. Others may be permitted to attend the RM at the discretion of the RM Chair.
* 5.5. Votes shall be cast by simple majority of an open show of hands of the Voting Members. In the event of a tie, In the event of a tie, the RM Chair shall have a casting vote.
* 5.6. The RM Secretary shall record minutes of the meeting and compile a list of Member Societies present, and make them available to all members of the electronic mail list specified in section 10.2.6 within one calendar month of the meeting. The Archivist shall store these records on behalf of IVFDF.

===6. ANNUAL REPRESENTATIVES MEETING===
* 6.1. An Annual Representatives Meeting (ARM) shall be held at each Festival.
* 6.2. The current Festival Committee shall take all reasonable steps to make all Member Societies present at the Festival, and all societies eligible to be Member Societies, aware of the ARM and their right of attendance.
* 6.3. The current Festival Committee shall appoint the RM Chair and RM Secretary, who need not otherwise have right of attendance as defined in section 5.4.
* 6.4. The ARM shall as a minimum:
** 6.4.1. Provisionally appoint, from one or more bids from potential Festival Committees, a Festival Committee to run a Festival in two years time. If no bids are received then the ARM shall take all necessary steps to ensure a Festival Committee is appointed as soon as possible, and in any case before the next ARM.
** 6.4.2. Confirm, subject to section 9.4, the previously appointed Festival Committee to run the next Festival. If otherwise support for the previously appointed Festival Committee is withdrawn and a new Festival Committee chosen, confirmation shall be given immediately or as soon as is possible, the current Festival Committee calling an ERM or EV if required to achieve this.
** 6.4.3. Elect the Officers as required in section 10.
* 6.5. If an ARM has not been held for 14 months the Treasurer shall call an ARM as soon as practically possible, giving at least one calendar month's notice to the electronic mailing list specified in section 10.2.6 of the time, venue and provisional agenda of the ARM.
** 6.5.1. The Treasurer shall appoint the RM Chair and RM Secretary, who need not otherwise have right of attendance as defined in section 5.4.
** 6.5.2. The Treasurer may use IVFDF funds to cover reasonable costs for holding the meeting, subject to section 11.1.

===7. EXTRAORDINARY REPRESENTATIVES MEETING===
* 7.1. An Extraordinary Representatives Meeting (ERM) may be called by either:
** 7.1.1. Five Member Societies from at least three different universities.
** 7.1.2. Sufficient Member Societies to form a quorum as defined in section 4.2.
* 7.2. The ERM shall be hosted by one of the Member Societies which called the ERM.
* 7.3. At least one calendar month's notice must be given by the host of the ERM to the electronic mailing list specified in section 10.2.6 of the time, venue, and provisional agenda of the ERM, as decided by the host of the ERM.
* 7.4. The host of the ERM shall appoint a chair and secretary for the meeting, who need not otherwise have right of attendance as defined in section 5.4.

===8. ELECTRONIC VOTING===
* 8.1. Any Member Society may call an EV with the support required for calling an ERM as specified in section 7.1 by notifying the electronic mailing list specified in section 10.2.6.
* 8.2. Each Member Society may choose up to two of its members to have voting rights in an EV, hereafter referred to as Voting Members.
* 8.3. The EV shall be conducted in accordance with the Standing Orders by a Returning Officer.
** 8.3.1. The returning Officer shall be one of the following, in order of preference, depending on availability: the Archivist, the Treasurer, other officers defined by the Standing Orders in order of definition. Anyone serving on an active Festival Committee or with a conflict of interest shall be deemed unavailable for this purpose if another Officer is available.
* 8.4. The Returning Officer shall give notice of the proposal(s) to the electronic mailing list specified in section 10.2.6, appending the entirety of section 8 of the constitution and any Standing Orders governing the conduct of EVs.
* 8.5. At least three weeks shall be allowed following notification of the proposal(s) to allow discussion of the proposal(s) to take place.
** 8.5.1. Member Societies must inform the Returning Officer of its Voting Members during the discussion period.
** 8.5.2. Proposals may be altered during the discussion period in whole or in part by the Member Society which called the EV at the discretion of the Returning Officer.
** 8.5.3. Proposals may be withdrawn by the Member Society which called the EV by notifying the Returning Officer during the discussion period.
* 8.6. Once the discussion period is over the Return Officer shall then send an e-mail to the list indicating the opening of voting and confirming the proposal(s), listing the Voting Members and the duration of the vote, which shall be not less than one week.
** 8.6.1. Each Voting Member may vote by sending an e-mail with their vote to the Returning Officer.
** 8.6.2. The Returning Officer may not vote.
** 8.6.3. Votes, once cast, cannot be changed.
* 8.7. Once voting is closed, the Returning Officer shall send an e-mail to the list indicating the result of the vote, and listing the people who voted, the way they voted and their affiliation. The e-mail shall also indicate the duration of a period to allow the validity of the votes cast to be disputed, which shall be not less than one week.
** 8.7.1. The vote shall be void unless those from whom valid votes are received form a quorum as defined in section 4.2.
** 8.7.2. In the event of a tie, the vote shall be declared not carried.
** 8.7.3. If the Returning Officer believes that the outcome of the vote has been jeopardised by procedures not being properly followed, he/she shall declare the vote void. The Returning Officer's decision in this is final.
* 8.8. Once the dispute period is over, the Returning Officer shall send a final e-mail to the list announcing the validity of the vote and/or the result.
* 8.9. The Returning Officer shall keep all relevant correspondence, including votes cast, until the end of the dispute period.
* 8.10. The Archivist shall record the proposal(s), summary of votes and result.

===9. FESTIVAL===
* 9.1. Each Festival Committee is subject to the obligations stated in the Standing Orders.
* 9.2. Each Festival Committee must provide the Archivist with up to date contact details for at least two of its members, including electronic mail contact details for the list specified in section 10.2.6.
* 9.3. A Festival Committee may change its officers or membership without the approval of the Representatives subject to section 9.2.
* 9.4. Appointment of a Festival Committee to run a Festival is provisional until confirmed by the Representatives, on or after the ARM of the preceding Festival. In the event that the Representatives do not have confidence in the ability of an unconfirmed Festival Committee to run a successful Festival, or a Festival Committee indicates it is unable to host its Festival, the Representatives may, with a two-thirds majority, withdraw support for that Festival Committee and provisionally appoint a new Festival Committee to run the Festival instead.
* 9.5. A Festival Committee shall be deemed to be active from being first appointed to run a Festival, and cease to be active following the closure of all accounts and fulfillment of all obligations to the association, or immediately if support is withdrawn under section 9.4.

===10. OFFICERS===
* 10.1. The Treasurer:
** 10.1.1. Shall be elected for a three-year term at the ARM, renewable every three years.
** 10.1.2. Shall not be a member of any active Festival Committee while he/she holds the post.
** 10.1.3. May not be a Voting Member in an RM or EV.
** 10.1.4. Shall hold central IVFDF funds in one or more bank accounts distinct from any Festival Committee.
** 10.1.5. Shall make and receive payments to/from Festival Committees and other organisations as directed by the Representatives.
** 10.1.6. Shall prepare and present a financial report at each ARM.
** 10.1.7. Shall represent IVFDF when required.
** 10.1.8. Shall not hold the post for a total of more than 9 consecutive years.
* 10.2. The Archivist:
** 10.2.1. Shall be elected for a three-year term at the ARM, renewable every three years.
** 10.2.2. Shall maintain the constitution.
** 10.2.3. Shall maintain the list of Member Societies as collected by the secretary of each ARM.
** 10.2.4. Shall store relevant records on behalf of IVFDF as required.
** 10.2.5. Shall make records held on behalf of IVFDF available to Member Societies and active Festival Committees on request.
** 10.2.6. Shall maintain an electronic mailing list for distributing information, to include contacts for each Member Society, active Festival Committee, and Officers. Other interested parties may be included at the discretion of the Archivist.
** 10.2.7. Shall not hold the post for a total of more than 9 consecutive years.
* 10.3. The Standing Orders of the association may specify aliitional Officers and aliitional responsibilities for the Officers named in this section.
* 10.4. Officers may delegate duties at their discretion unless otherwise directed by the Representatives, but maintain responsibility for ensuring that they are adequately performed.
* 10.5. In the event that an Officer's post becomes vacant, the remaining Officers shall nominate a replacement to serve until the next ARM. The replacement must be promptly announced on the electronic mailing list specified in section 10.2.6.
* 10.6. The Representatives may, with a two-thirds majority, remove any Officer from office by a vote of no confidence and elect a replacement.
* 10.7. Officers must provide the Archivist with up to date contact details, including electronic mail contact details for the list specified in section 10.2.6.

===11. FINANCES===
* 11.1. The Representatives shall not make such obligations that could cause it to come into debt, for example by offering a greater sum in underwriting than its total assets.
* 11.2. Withdrawals from central funds shall require two signatures. Signatories shall include: the Treasurer and two persons nominated by the Representatives for this purpose. Except in exceptional circumstances, the Treasurer will be expected to provide one of the signatures.

===12. DISSOLUTION===
* 12.1. If a Festival does not take place in any period of twenty-eight consecutive calendar months, then IVFDF shall be said to be dissolved, when the following shall be enacted:
** 12.1.1. All property and assets of IVFDF, including debts owed by Festival Committees, shall be converted into money and collected together.
** 12.1.2. All debts and liabilities of IVFDF shall be settled immediately with this money.
** 12.1.3. The remaining sum, being credit or debit, shall be shared equally between all groups that were Member Societies at the end of the last Festival.

===13. CONSTITUTION===
* 13.1. This constitution may be altered in whole or in part by the assenting vote of at least two-thirds of the Voting Members present at a properly constituted RM.
* 13.2. Proposals for alterations to the constitution must be raised for discussion to the electronic mailing list specified in 10.2.6, giving at least three calendar months notice. Final changes must be made available in the same way at least one calendar month before the RM.
* 13.3. Proposals may be made by any group qualified to call an ERM as defined in section 7.1.
* 13.4. Proposals which have been properly notified shall form part of the agenda of the next properly constituted RM that takes place. If the constitution is successfully modified, a copy of the updated constitution shall be presented to the Archivist by the secretary of the RM within one calendar month of the RM.
* 13.5. Proposals may be altered in whole or part as a result of discussion at an RM, but only matters raised with due notice may be discussed. The RM shall also have the power to make any other changes to the constitution which may be required as a knock-on effect of proposals for alterations.

==Standing Orders==

===1. ANNUAL REPRESENTATIVES MEETING===
* 1.1. The agenda for the ARM shall include:
** 1.1.1. Reports from any Festival Committees still active at the last ARM not covered elsewhere.
** 1.1.2. Outgoing report by the Festival Committee which ran the last Festival.
** 1.1.3. Report by the current Festival Committee.
** 1.1.4. Treasurer's Report.
** 1.1.5. Archivist's Report.
** 1.1.6. Development Officer's Report.
** 1.1.7. Next Festival:
** 1.1.7.1. Report by the Festival Committee appointed to run the next Festival, including budget, status of venues, publicity and schedule.
** 1.1.7.2. Report by the Lead External Adviser for the next Festival.
** 1.1.7.3. Confirmation or otherwise of the next Festival as specified in section 6.4.2 of the constitution.
** 1.1.7.4. Decisions on provisional offers of grants and loans to the next Festival.
** 1.1.7.5. Offers of underwriting to the next Festival.
** 1.1.8. The Festival in two years time:
** 1.1.8.1. Provisional appointment of a Festival Committee to run a Festival in two years time as specified in section 5.3.1 of the constitution.
** 1.1.8.2. Appointment of a Lead External Adviser and at least one Assistant External Adviser to oversee the appointed Festival Committee.
** 1.1.8.3. Immediate offers of loans to be paid as soon as a balanced budget and request for payment is submitted to both the Treasurer and Lead External Adviser. Any such payment is automatic and not subject to budgetary approval.
** 1.1.8.4. Provisional offers of grants and loans subject to confirmation at the following ARM.
** 1.1.9. Setting of budgets required for Officers and External Advisers to carry out their duties.
** 1.1.10. Election of Officers as specified in section 5 of these Standing Orders and in section 6.4.3 of the constitution.
* 1.2. All documents for the ARM must be available on request from the start of the festival, and where possible at least one calendar month before the festival.
* 1.3. When registering membership with the secretary, Member Societies shall, where possible, indicate:
** 1.3.1. Changes to contact details.
** 1.3.2. Approximate number of members, student and non-student, attending the Festival and in total.
** 1.3.3. Principal activities undertaken by the society.
* 1.4. The ARM shall be held so as to give time for it to be reconvened later in the Festival should no bids be received for the Festival in two years time.
* 1.5. It is requested but not required that Member Societies nominate students to represent them as Voting Members where possible.

===2. EXTRAORDINARY REPRESENTATIVES MEETING===
* 2.1. The costs of an ERM shall be borne equally by the Member Societies attending.

===3. FESTIVAL COMMITTEE OBLIGATIONS===
* 3.1. The Festival shall be run in a weekend during February and the first two weeks of March.
* 3.2. The constitution of the Festival Committee shall state that IVFDF is not liabile for any debt or other obligations arising from the Festival except where agreed by the Representatives.
* 3.3. All property and assets of each Festival shall be vested in the Festival Committee, in whose names all transactions of the Festival shall be carried out. They shall hold themselves liable, on behalf of the Festival, for all proceedings undertaken for or against the Festival in any Court of Law, and shall indemnify themselves against the assets of the Festival for any liabilities incurred therein.
* 3.4. The Festival Committee shall take out public liability insurance of at least 1 million pounds liability appropriate to cover the Festival.
* 3.5. The constitution of the Festival Committee shall include statements on aims and discrimination compatible with section 2 of the constitution.
* 3.6. The Festival Committee shall compile a report following the Festival, and present this report to the Archivist within three calendar months of the end of the Festival. The report shall include:
** 3.6.1. A list of Member Societies with at least two student members who attended the Festival.
** 3.6.2. Current accounts, audited by the Lead External Adviser.
** 3.6.3. Attendance figures.
** 3.6.4. Details of applications for funding or sponsorship, and the outcomes of those applications.
** 3.6.5. Constitution of the Festival Committee.
** 3.6.6. Contact details for individuals and organisations that may be useful for future Festival Committees.
** 3.6.7. Advice and lessons learned that may be useful for future Festival Committees.
* 3.7. The Festival Committee shall return at least half of any profits they make to central funds.

===4. EXTERNAL ADVISERS===
* 4.1. A Lead External Adviser and at least one Assistant External Adviser shall be appointed to oversee each Festival Committee, as described in section 1.1.8.2.  The External Advisers are appointed for their experience in running a Festival and the Lead External Adviser must have sat on an IVFDF Festival Committee within the last 10 years on appointment.
* 4.2. External Advisers shall have right of attendance at RMs.
* 4.3. Each Festival Committee shall report to their Lead External Adviser at least once every four calendar months, indicating progress on budget, venues, publicity, action plans and anything else that may be requested. This requirement continues until the Festival Committee ceases to be active according to section 9.5 of the constitution.
* 4.4. The External Advisers shall give such advice and assistance as is necessary, welcome and practical to ensure the successful running of the Festival, and alert the Member Societies if he/she believes that the Festival is at risk of failure via the electronic mailing list specified in section 10.2.6 of the constitution.
* 4.5. The Lead External Adviser shall report to the ARM, and ERMs as requested, on the progress of the Festival Committee and highlight any concerns that he/she may have. The RM shall consider this information when deciding whether to confirm the Festival Committee and to confirm underwriting support.
* 4.6. The External Advisers for a Festival Committee can be changed in the same way as any Officer as specified in section 10.6 of the constitution.
* 4.7. External Advisers shall not be liable for any financial debt or other obligation of the Festival.
* 4.8. External Advisers must provide the Archivist with up to date contact details, including electronic mail contact details for the list specified in section 10.2.6 of the constitution.
* 4.9. External Advisers must respect the confidentiality wishes of the Festival Committee where this does not conflict with alerting Member Societies of the risk of failure of the Festival as specified in section 4.4.

===5. OFFICERS===
* 5.1. The Archivist in aliition to his duties specified in section 10.2 of the constitution:
** 5.1.1. Shall maintain a web site at www.ivfdf.org, which shall as a minimum:
** 5.1.1.1. Link to the web pages of forthcoming Festivals where available.
** 5.1.1.2. Advertise IVFDF in general.
** 5.1.1.3. Make records held on behalf of IVFDF available as far as is practical. Section 10.2.4 of the constitution shall be deemed to be satisfied for such records.
** 5.1.2. Shall make adequate provision for the recovery of copies of key records in the event of theft, computer failure, fire, flood or other similar event, such records to include the contents of www.ivfdf.org, the membership of ivfdf-news@ivfdf.org, the current constitution, the list of Member Societies, all contact details held and any other electronic records.
** 5.1.3. Shall maintain an e-mail list called ivfdf-news@ivfdf.org, for the purposes specified in section 10.2.6 of the constitution. All External Advisers must be included in this list.
** 5.1.4. Shall administer and maintain registration of the internet domains ivfdf.org and ivfdf.org.uk on behalf of IVFDF. Approval is granted to use IVFDF funds to pay registration fees required for this purpose.
** 5.1.5. Shall prepare and present a report at each ARM.
** 5.1.6. Shall nominate at at least one person as a deputy, deposit the contact details of the deputy/deputies with the Treasurer, and ensure that the deputy/deputies have the full the rights and knowledge to maintain the web site, e-mail list, domain registration and any other electronic services provided on behalf of IVFDF, in case such maintenance is required and the Archivist is unavailable.
* 5.2. The Development Officer:
** 5.2.1. Shall be elected annually at the ARM.
** 5.2.2. Shall coordinate the long-term advertising policy between festivals.
** 5.2.3. Shall promote student folk activities, maintaining a list of known groups and individuals.
** 5.2.4. Shall encourage said groups and individuals who do not normally attended IVFDF to attend, or attend in greater numbers.
** 5.2.5. Shall prepare and present a report at each ARM.

[[Category:About IVFDF]]

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IVFDF:

Old news

2005-04-10T23:58:46Z

IVFDF:

<table class="news" border="1">

<tr><th width="100">
5 March 2005
</th><td>
IVFDF Central is expecting to more to a new host "sometime soon" which should mean that there are some updates and improvements to this site, and the archives. Watch this space .....
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
2 March 2005
</th><td>
Another year another festival. [[2005, East Anglia|UEA]] did an amazing job this year despite last minute workshop cancellations and snow still managed to produce an amazing festival.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
1 March 2004
</th><td>
Recovering after another excellent Festival in [[2004, Exeter|Exeter]], where the new [[constitution]] was approved.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
10 Feb 2004
</th><td>
We have discoverd the lady who created the first IVFDF in 1951, a Ms Graham of Hull, she is still alive and well it is inteded that someone will meet with her to find out more about the origins of the festival.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
19 Jan 2004
</th><td>
Version 4.1 Proposed Revision of IVFDF Consititution, is available along with a version to print it is important that you look at this and make sure that it provides what you/your dance society will need from IVFDF in the future.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
20 Nov 2003
</th><td>
Version 4 Proposed Revision of IVFDF Consititution, is on the IVFDF-constitution mailing list archive. Web version will be posted soon.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
17 Oct 2003
</th><td>
Version 3 of Proposed Revision of IVFDF Consititution, posted in time for meeting this weekend.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
1 Sep 2003
</th><td>
Proposed Revision of IVFDF Consititution, Andrew Swaine (Cambridge) has produced a proposal for an entire rewrite of the IVFDF constitution for discussion at the meeting in October it is available in the Discussion Documents section of Information Point. Please feel free to comment on this via the IVFDF-constitution mailing list before then.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
10 Jun 2003
</th><td>
ICBINI (I Can't Believe It's Not IVFDF) - Bristol (Rag Morris and the University of Bristol Folk Club) have requested to run this event and have plans in place for the 22nd November 2003 watch out for postings on the IVFDF-news mailing list with more information.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
17 May 2003
</th><td>
Sheffield Ceilidh Soc have suggested a provisional date for the autumn Reps Meeting to discuss improvements to the IVFDF constitution. 17th to 18th October, in Sheffield there will also be a Ceilidh Soc ceilidh on the Saturday night
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
28 Feb 2003
</th><td>
Relocation of IVFDF-news list to new server. Now available as ivfdf-news at ivfdf dot org.

Ongoing updates to gallery and archives of old festival programmes, thanks to (amongst others) Rag Morris, Ann Parker, Ian Thompson, Brian Quinion/Sheffield, Richard Mason/Exeter for providing source materials/photos.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
4 Dec 2002
</th><td>
We've launched an extra mailing list to discuss potential constitutional changes that are being proposed for the Representatives Meeting at Sheffield in 2003. Also we now have on-line archives of both this IVFDF-constitution and the IVFDF-news mailing list.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
11 Nov 2002
</th><td>
You are looking at our newly revised website, we hope you find this a useful resource. Please contact us with any comments or suggestions!

You can find various new resources here; there is now a gallery and the IVFDF Tour is available. We also have links to various related and member organisations.
</td></tr>

</table>

Discussion mailing list

2005-04-09T17:57:32Z

IVFDF:

<h1></h1>
<externalsite>height:1220px|noborders|http://lists.ivfdf.org/pipermail/ivfdf-constitution</externalsite>
[[Category:Mailing Lists]]

News mailing list

2005-04-09T17:55:46Z

IVFDF:

<h1></h1>
<externalsite>height:1220px|noborders|http://lists.ivfdf.org/pipermail/ivfdf-news</externalsite>
[[Category:Mailing Lists]]

News mailing list

2005-04-09T17:54:32Z

IVFDF:

<h1></h1>
<externalsite>height:2000px|noborders|http://lists.ivfdf.org/pipermail/ivfdf-news</externalsite>
[[Category:Mailing Lists]]

News mailing list

2005-04-09T17:52:37Z

IVFDF:

<h1></h1>
<externalsite>height:2000px|http://lists.ivfdf.org/pipermail/ivfdf-news</externalsite>
[[Category:Mailing Lists]]

Main Page

2005-04-08T17:02:14Z

IVFDF:

<h1>What is IVFDF?</h1>

IVFDF stands for 'Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival' it is an exciting and dynamic festival held at a different university each year. IVFDF has been running since 1951 and is the country's longest continually running folk festival. The tour so far spans over 20 locations as far apart as Exeter in the south and Glasgow in the north. You don't have to be a student to go, just vaguely young or energetic. The Festival is particularly aimed at students, but it is open to everyone and caters for a wide range of ages and interests with numerous ceilidhs and workshops covering a wide range of dance styles - Scottish Country, Highland, Morris, Rapper Sword, Irish, and Playford are typical examples, with plenty of more exotic workshops varying from year to year.

The keyword is <b>FESTIVAL</b>: basically, hundreds of people attending for three days and two nights of intense dancing, playing music and singing, until they are unbelievably exhausted; A non-stop weekend of music and dance from the British Isles and beyond - there is the option of sleep for those who can bear to miss something.

<h2>Who goes to IVFDF?</h2>
In general the answer is anyone with an interest in lively, young, energetic folk music and dance. Because the festival is aimed in particular at universities it is attended by large numbers of students, ex-students and staff from all around the country - although in some cases ex-student means 30 years or so. But just because it is aimed at students does not mean that we limit who can attend. Anyone who is willing to enjoy and participate is welcome.

If you would like to find out more details on participating organisations can be found on their individual [[Links|web sites]] or a full list of [[Links|members]] who attended the last [[Representatives meeting|reps meeting]] can be found at the start of the [[minutes]] for each IVFDF [[Representatives meeting]].

<h2>Finding out more about IVFDF</h2>
This site contains prolific quantities of information about the festival including a complete [[history]], [[:Category:Photo|photos]] and details of the [[constitution]] however if that is not enough for you there is also a [[mailing lists|mailing list]] available
that you can join and an [[Announce mailing list|archive]] of postings to the mailing list is available on the site.

<h2>Next Festival</h2>
The next IVFDF to be held will be 24th - 26th February [[2006, Cambridge|2006 in Cambridge]] ([http://www.ivfdf.ucam.org/ Festival WebSite]).

<h2>Latest News</h2>
There is also an archive of [[old news|older news]].

<table border="1" class="news">

<tr><th width="100">5 March 2005</th><td>IVFDF Central is expecting to more to a new host "sometime soon" which should mean that there are some updates and improvements to this site, and the archives. Watch this space ..... </td></tr>

<tr><th>2 March 2005</th><td>Another year another festival. [[2005, East Anglia|UEA]] did an amazing job this year despite last minute workshop cancellations and snow still managed to produce an amazing festival.</td></tr>

<tr><th>1 March 2004</th><td>Recovering after another excellent Festival in [[2004, Exeter|Exeter]], where the new [[constitution]] was approved.</td></tr>

</table>

[[Category:About IVFDF]]

Main Page

2005-04-08T17:01:46Z

IVFDF:

<h1>What is IVFDF?</h1>

IVFDF stands for 'Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival' it is an exciting and dynamic festival held at a different university each year. IVFDF has been running since 1951 and is the country's longest continually running folk festival. The tour so far spans over 20 locations as far apart as Exeter in the south and Glasgow in the north. You don't have to be a student to go, just vaguely young or energetic. The Festival is particularly aimed at students, but it is open to everyone and caters for a wide range of ages and interests with numerous ceilidhs and workshops covering a wide range of dance styles - Scottish Country, Highland, Morris, Rapper Sword, Irish, and Playford are typical examples, with plenty of more exotic workshops varying from year to year.

The keyword is <b>FESTIVAL</b>: basically, hundreds of people attending for three days and two nights of intense dancing, playing music and singing, until they are unbelievably exhausted; A non-stop weekend of music and dance from the British Isles and beyond - there is the option of sleep for those who can bear to miss something.

<h2>Who goes to IVFDF?</h2>
In general the answer is anyone with an interest in lively, young, energetic folk music and dance. Because the festival is aimed in particular at universities it is attended by large numbers of students, ex-students and staff from all around the country - although in some cases ex-student means 30 years or so. But just because it is aimed at students does not mean that we limit who can attend. Anyone who is willing to enjoy and participate is welcome.

If you would like to find out more details on participating organisations can be found on their individual [[Links|web sites]] or a full list of [[Links|members]] who attended the last [[Representatives meeting|reps meeting]] can be found at the start of the [[minutes]] for each IVFDF [[Representatives meeting]].

<h2>Finding out more about IVFDF</h2>
This site contains prolific quantities of information about the festival including a complete [[history]], [[:Category:Photo|photos]] and details of the [[constitution]] however if that is not enough for you there is also a [[mailing lists|mailing list]] available
that you can join and an [[Announce mailing list|archive]] of postings to the mailing list is available on the site.

<h2>Next Festival</h2>
The next IVFDF to be held will be 24th - 26th February [[2006, Cambridge|2006 in Cambridge]] ([http://www.ivfdf.ucam.org/ Festival WebSite]).

<h2>Latest News</h2>
There is also an archive of [[old news|older news]].

<table border="1">

<tr><th width="100">5 March 2005</th><td>IVFDF Central is expecting to more to a new host "sometime soon" which should mean that there are some updates and improvements to this site, and the archives. Watch this space ..... </td></tr>

<tr><th>2 March 2005</th><td>Another year another festival. [[2005, East Anglia|UEA]] did an amazing job this year despite last minute workshop cancellations and snow still managed to produce an amazing festival.</td></tr>

<tr><th>1 March 2004</th><td>Recovering after another excellent Festival in [[2004, Exeter|Exeter]], where the new [[constitution]] was approved.</td></tr>

</table>

[[Category:About IVFDF]]

Main Page

2005-04-08T17:01:15Z

IVFDF:

<h1>What is IVFDF?</h1>

IVFDF stands for 'Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival' it is an exciting and dynamic festival held at a different university each year. IVFDF has been running since 1951 and is the country's longest continually running folk festival. The tour so far spans over 20 locations as far apart as Exeter in the south and Glasgow in the north. You don't have to be a student to go, just vaguely young or energetic. The Festival is particularly aimed at students, but it is open to everyone and caters for a wide range of ages and interests with numerous ceilidhs and workshops covering a wide range of dance styles - Scottish Country, Highland, Morris, Rapper Sword, Irish, and Playford are typical examples, with plenty of more exotic workshops varying from year to year.

The keyword is <b>FESTIVAL</b>: basically, hundreds of people attending for three days and two nights of intense dancing, playing music and singing, until they are unbelievably exhausted; A non-stop weekend of music and dance from the British Isles and beyond - there is the option of sleep for those who can bear to miss something.

<h2>Who goes to IVFDF?</h2>
In general the answer is anyone with an interest in lively, young, energetic folk music and dance. Because the festival is aimed in particular at universities it is attended by large numbers of students, ex-students and staff from all around the country - although in some cases ex-student means 30 years or so. But just because it is aimed at students does not mean that we limit who can attend. Anyone who is willing to enjoy and participate is welcome.

If you would like to find out more details on participating organisations can be found on their individual [[Links|web sites]] or a full list of [[Links|members]] who attended the last [[Representatives meeting|reps meeting]] can be found at the start of the [[minutes]] for each IVFDF [[Representatives meeting]].

<h2>Finding out more about IVFDF</h2>
This site contains prolific quantities of information about the festival including a complete [[history]], [[:Category:Photo|photos]] and details of the [[constitution]] however if that is not enough for you there is also a [[mailing lists|mailing list]] available
that you can join and an [[Announce mailing list|archive]] of postings to the mailing list is available on the site.

<h2>Next Festival</h2>
The next IVFDF to be held will be 24th - 26th February [[2006, Cambridge|2006 in Cambridge]] ([http://www.ivfdf.ucam.org/ Festival WebSite]).

<h2>Latest News</h2>
There is also an archive of [[old news|older news]].

<table border="1">

<tr><th width="100">5 March 2005</th><td>IVFDF Central is expecting to more to a new host "sometime soon" which should mean that there are some updates and improvements to this site, and the archives. Watch this space ..... </td></tr>

<tr><th>2 March 2005</td><th>Another year another festival. [[2005, East Anglia|UEA]] did an amazing job this year despite last minute workshop cancellations and snow still managed to produce an amazing festival.</td></tr>

<tr><th>1 March 2004</th><td>Recovering after another excellent Festival in [[2004, Exeter|Exeter]], where the new [[constitution]] was approved.</td></tr>

</table>

[[Category:About IVFDF]]

Old news

2005-04-08T16:59:21Z

IVFDF:

<table border="1">

<tr><th width="100">
5 March 2005
</th><td>
IVFDF Central is expecting to more to a new host "sometime soon" which should mean that there are some updates and improvements to this site, and the archives. Watch this space .....
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
2 March 2005
</th><td>
Another year another festival. [[2005, East Anglia|UEA]] did an amazing job this year despite last minute workshop cancellations and snow still managed to produce an amazing festival.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
1 March 2004
</th><td>
Recovering after another excellent Festival in [[2004, Exeter|Exeter]], where the new [[constitution]] was approved.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
10 Feb 2004
</th><td>
We have discoverd the lady who created the first IVFDF in 1951, a Ms Graham of Hull, she is still alive and well it is inteded that someone will meet with her to find out more about the origins of the festival.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
19 Jan 2004
</th><td>
Version 4.1 Proposed Revision of IVFDF Consititution, is available along with a version to print it is important that you look at this and make sure that it provides what you/your dance society will need from IVFDF in the future.
</td></tr>

<tr><th>
20 Nov 2003
</th><td>
Version 4 Proposed Revision of IVFDF Consititution, is on the IVFDF-constitution mailing list archive. Web version will be posted soon.
</td></tr>

</table>

Main Page

2005-04-08T16:56:00Z

IVFDF:

<h1>What is IVFDF?</h1>

IVFDF stands for 'Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival' it is an exciting and dynamic festival held at a different university each year. IVFDF has been running since 1951 and is the country's longest continually running folk festival. The tour so far spans over 20 locations as far apart as Exeter in the south and Glasgow in the north. You don't have to be a student to go, just vaguely young or energetic. The Festival is particularly aimed at students, but it is open to everyone and caters for a wide range of ages and interests with numerous ceilidhs and workshops covering a wide range of dance styles - Scottish Country, Highland, Morris, Rapper Sword, Irish, and Playford are typical examples, with plenty of more exotic workshops varying from year to year.

The keyword is <b>FESTIVAL</b>: basically, hundreds of people attending for three days and two nights of intense dancing, playing music and singing, until they are unbelievably exhausted; A non-stop weekend of music and dance from the British Isles and beyond - there is the option of sleep for those who can bear to miss something.

<h2>Who goes to IVFDF?</h2>
In general the answer is anyone with an interest in lively, young, energetic folk music and dance. Because the festival is aimed in particular at universities it is attended by large numbers of students, ex-students and staff from all around the country - although in some cases ex-student means 30 years or so. But just because it is aimed at students does not mean that we limit who can attend. Anyone who is willing to enjoy and participate is welcome.

If you would like to find out more details on participating organisations can be found on their individual [[Links|web sites]] or a full list of [[Links|members]] who attended the last [[Representatives meeting|reps meeting]] can be found at the start of the [[minutes]] for each IVFDF [[Representatives meeting]].

<h2>Finding out more about IVFDF</h2>
This site contains prolific quantities of information about the festival including a complete [[history]], [[:Category:Photo|photos]] and details of the [[constitution]] however if that is not enough for you there is also a [[mailing lists|mailing list]] available
that you can join and an [[Announce mailing list|archive]] of postings to the mailing list is available on the site.

<h2>Next Festival</h2>
The next IVFDF to be held will be 24th - 26th February [[2006, Cambridge|2006 in Cambridge]] ([http://www.ivfdf.ucam.org/ Festival WebSite]).

<h2>Latest News</h2>
There is also an archive of [[old news|older news]].

<table border="1">

<tr><td width="100">5 March 2005</td><td>IVFDF Central is expecting to more to a new host "sometime soon" which should mean that there are some updates and improvements to this site, and the archives. Watch this space ..... </td></tr>

<tr><td>2 March 2005</td><td>Another year another festival. [[2005, East Anglia|UEA]] did an amazing job this year despite last minute workshop cancellations and snow still managed to produce an amazing festival.</td></tr>

<tr><td>1 March 2004</td><td>Recovering after another excellent Festival in [[2004, Exeter|Exeter]], where the new [[constitution]] was approved.</td></tr>

</table>

[[Category:About IVFDF]]

Future events

2005-04-08T16:46:44Z

IVFDF:

One of the greatest aspects of IVFDF is its variety. Each year the festival is organised by a different group (usually associated with a university) with its own flavour and style. It also means that there is always the opportunity for any group that fancies a go to host the festival.

The festival is organised on a 3 year rolling schedule to allow each group plenty of time to make arrangement.
This means that at any point there will usually be 2 or 3 festival committees in existence, one finishing (or in final preparations), one preparing for the next year and potentially one just starting their planning.

If you would like to host and organise the festival all that is required is to come along to the [[Representatives meeting|AGM]] (held each year at the festival) with a basic plan for what you would like to do. The AGM will choose between the various proposals.

If you would like to host the festival but are unsure if your group is up to the task you are welcome to as much or as little help as you feel you require.

Future festivals:

* [[2006, Cambridge]]
* [[2007, Scotland]]

[[Category:Future Events]]

Sheffield, Advice On Host IVFDF

2005-04-08T02:18:41Z

IVFDF:

All the advice below is based on our experience of hosting an IVFDF, what worked and what
didn’t! There is advice on each of our Committee roles plus some additional bits. It’s not a
very grammatically correct document as there are lots of different people writing in the first
person!

==Committee organisation==
Our Committee comprised Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Officer(s), Morris Tour
Co-ordinator, Craft Fair Co-ordinator, Band Booking Co-ordinator, 2 Steward Co-ordinators,
Union Liaison, Workshops Co-ordinator, Website/Publicity. The biggest task (which wasn’t
clearly dealt with under a committee post) was venue booking – it might help to have a
dedicated post for this. Also be clear about who has responsibility for ticket sales which is a
big job just before the festival.

Think carefully about who to appoint, and to which posts – make the most of people’s skills
and recognise their weaknesses. E.g. one of our committee asked to resign from fundraising
as she was not good at working to long deadlines, but did a great job managing the craft fair.
Also think about who has daytime availability to phone/call in to make bookings.
Make sure people aren’t taking on too much with their existing commitments. Conflicts will
inevitably arise when people are on both the IVFDF and student folk society committees at
the same time, but it is useful to have people who know what is going on in both! Don’t let
one person do too much – even if they are useful or have lots of time it can cause problems
if they get too busy, go down ill. If someone wants to do lots get them to work jointly with
other people instead and don’t let them take over.

The fact that you are on the committee usually means that you are very active in the folk
society that you represent. Getting involved with things other than the running the festival is
very tempting (ie display, dancing on Morris tour). However you do need to consider that
during the festival you will need to do a fair bit of stewarding, as the main locations all really
need a member of committee present and available to answer questions, liase with band,
tickets etc. Therefore I advise not getting involved with too much else to do with the festival,
because while there is theoretically time enough, it leaves you fairly brain dead. It also puts
pressure on the other members of the committee that aren’t involved in the extra things, as
they have to deal with the problems that arise without you. These things are best left to
other active members of the society, who are not on the committee.

==Meetings==
We met about every 4-6 weeks for the first eighteen months, with gaps over the summer and
other holidays. Then every 2-4 weeks for about 5 months, and every week in the month
before the festival. This felt about the right balance to get things done but not be absolutely
sick of meeting up!

With hindsight I feel we left too many decisions to be discussed and made at the meetings.
We could have speeded things up by having discussions between the necessary people prior
to the meetings and coming along with proposals to be approved by the committee.

==Reps Meeting==
Although this is a one off job, just an hour and a half during the IVFDF weekend, it seemed
to generate a disproportionate amount of stress! In previous years it’s been poorly
advertised with no clear explanation/invitation in the programme, on reflection the whole
meeting might need to become a bit more exciting before regular IVFDF punters are rushing
to be there!

The Chairperson also chairs the Reps Meeting. I feel I did this pretty badly, as I wasn’t very
well prepared or sufficiently knowledgeable about the bureaucracy of the voting systems etc.

Again, hopefully things might improve for you as there are changes under discussion. On the
other hand you may have a challenging meeting next year if the Reps Meeting in the autumn
does come up with lots of proposals for change!

The Treasurer needs to give a financial report, and the Secretary takes the minutes. The
meeting is very bewildering to a first timer, so having to take the minutes if you’ve never
been to the meeting before, and especially if you don’t know who people are, is a bad plan.
We therefore advise that the secretary attends the meeting the year before, even if they do
not have to attend to give the report or vote. It’s difficult having to write as well as listen, to
consulting with the other members of the committee who were at the meeting is also very
helpful in checking the minutes. The style of the minutes is also very different from regular
Committee Meetings, much more detailed, and with more emphasis on the discussion that
takes place, as well as the outcomes.

You need to take names and details of everyone who attends. Only two people from each
society have voting rights. This year we introduced a form to collect info about the societies
represented, it’s included as an attachment.

===Chairperson===
The key role is to have a clear overview of everything that needs to be done, when it needs
to be done by and see that it gets done – but not necessarily by you! You’re the person who
should know how all the different bits of the planning fit together, so make sure you share
this information and keep everyone informed.

You need to Chair the meetings, discuss and agree on how things should be done, and
decide who will do what and by when. Then you need to follow things up - don’t be afraid to
ring/email to prompt people, and you can always offer to help out so it doesn’t feel too much
like pestering! It's much better to pick up on problems early and make plans to sort things
out than to let someone struggle on and then get mad at them when the situation has
become urgent.

I sometimes needed someone to bounce ideas off/discuss problems with. The Committee
were generally great for this, although on other Committees I’ve been on the Vice-President
has fulfilled this function well too.

The job is very varied as you can take on tasks from any area of the festival planning, I did
quite a lot of publicity work, the application for the Lottery Funding, poster distribution etc.
In my experience the problem with getting involved in too much is that you’ll need to do an
awful lot of talking at meetings and therefore probably won’t chair them too well!!
It’s a long hard slog doing two years of advance planning before really seeing the results, but
it’s definitely worth it. Don’t make the same mistake I did though, starting a new job the day
after the festival! - have a day off break instead.

===Treasurer===
The treasurer is one of the most important roles immediately prior to IVFDF, particularly if
they are dealing with ticket sales and bookings. We also found that the treasurer was
involved with most processes of the festival such as booking bands, rooms and workshops
even if someone else has responsibility for these tasks. The treasurer has to make sure that
committee members give them details of expected and actual expenditure, and also needs to
provide the Committee with regular financial updates. Chose someone who can use Excel
well – you need separate figures on expected and actual expenditure, and break downs of
how any special funding was used. Everything needs to add up right!!
We had a ‘clubs and societies’ bank account with NatWest, which was one of the only banks
who weren’t going to charge us…their service left a lot to be desired though. Access to the
bank was generally in the daytime, so chose a branch close to where you work/study. You
may need to give some warning plus written permission and things in order to take out large
amounts of cash for the actual festival weekend. Have lots of signatories in case one of them
walks out the week before the festival as happened for us – nightmare!

==Sponsorship==
In general we found that small scale sponsorship is a lot of work and you don’t get much for
it. We successfully got funding from Hobgoblin music shops – I think businesses already into
folk are more likely to agree. Also, ask people to sponsor specific bits of the festival eg. wrist
bands, a ceilidh, posters etc and quote a price for it, in return for publicity. Donations in kind
e.g. asking local restaurants to provide meals for artists can work too.

The University Music Department joint funded the concert with money they already had set
aside for their concert series and wanted to spend on a folk artist. Again, I think working in
partnership with other organisations is more successful because you both gain, rather than
going ‘begging’ when it may not be clear how the donor is really going to benefit.

On the other hand lottery funding or charity funding was well worth the time although the
form is quite an epic! . We had to demonstrate the social benefits of IVFDF to the local
community. The central IVFDF constitution was amended at the 2003 Reps Meeting to
include Aims and Objectives – these are generally required by funders. When making
funding applications it is generally best to be honest about what the festival can already selffund,
and apply for funding for something extra to what you usually do. Look out for the
‘Grant Making Trusts’ guide and the Funder Finder CD-Rom.

We also got Special Initiative funding from the Union – hopefully yours will be able to provide
some extra dosh too!

Also a bit of funding (£150/350 depending who you talk to) is almost guaranteed from the
Scottish Country Dance Society, you just have to write to them to request it.
We also successfully applied for a bursary (which will probably be available again next year)
to attend the Association of Festival Organisers conference on behalf of IVFDF. It was quite
useful, although the fact that it was taking place just down the road was a great incentive!!

==Budget==
We worked to a very conservative budget, a sort of worst case scenario, which was very
reassuring when making commitments to what felt like very large expenditures!

==Expenses==
Keep reminding Committee members to claim expenses! We were quite happy to accept
some estimates of expenditure on travel, mobile phones, other phone calls etc as well as the
usual expenses with receipts. Everyone is giving an enormous amount of time for nothing so
they don’t need to be out of pocket as well!!

==Underwriting and loan==
You can apply in writing one year in advance (I think) for a loan (thus far £1000) from central
IVFDF funds, which helps a lot with cash flow. You can also expect some underwriting from
Friends of IVFDF, although the amount they could offer us (£300) was minimal in relation to
our actual budget! These systems are under review by the Reps meeting so things may
improve.

==Insurance==
Not exactly a ‘finance’ thing but never mind! The event needs public liability insurance which
can be obtained by becoming a member of EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society)
who can be contacted via their website. Usually you need to make a special application to
join as ‘IVFDF’ but for some reason this year they said that we were covered already because
the Ceilidh Society was a member.

==Tickets==
We printed event/day tickets on card, and sold them through the Union box office as well as
selling them directly. See below for details of wrist band supplier for weekend tickets. Here’s
a quick resume of our ticket prices (including a couple that weren’t on the flier):

<table>
<tr><th>Type</th><th>Waged</th><th>Unwaged</th></tr>
<tr><td>Full weekend</td><td>£20</td><td>£13</td></tr>
<tr><td>Afternoon ceilidhs</td><td>£3</td><td>£3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Friday evening</td><td>£5</td><td>£4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Saturday</td><td>£10</td><td>£7</td></tr>
<tr><td>HoraceX</td><td>£3.50</td><td>£3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Workshops</td><td>£3</td><td>£2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Saturday concert</td><td>£6</td><td>£4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Saturday ceilidhs</td><td>£5</td><td>£4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stewards</td><td>£7</td><td>£7</td></tr>
</table>

It’s impossible to keep track of tickets using tick sheets. It doesn’t work – various people told
us this and we were sure we would be different but… Anyway as far as I can tell the only
way to keep track is to have different tickets for different purposes and know how many you
had when you started. Because we did this as well as the tick sheets we have a good idea of
final numbers but as the counting takes time and tickets are in different locations, we weren’t
able to work this out until after the festival.

Advanced ticket sales: Even though the number of these is fairly low you need to be very
careful to record all the details in the event of any problems. That means recording the
details of every cheque received, the person you received the money from, and what it was
for. I’d suggest a grid in a spreadsheet or database with the total automatically calculated so
that you can check the final figures without any effort. Always take reservations ‘just in case’
or inform people that they are not available – <i>telling people that it will be no problem if they
just turn up is an invitation for disaster as we found out!</i>

Despite the fact that most of our advanced tickets were bought in the last month we had
bookings on flyers we had sent out going back over quite a period of time.
There should be more encouragement to book in advance. Just about every past IVFDF
including ours, had a problem with late booking. This needs to change (for cash flow
reasons) and we would encourage you to offer cash advantages for advanced bookings (or
increase the price for those who pay on the door or late). Credit card/online bookings might
help.

==Secretary==
The day to day general duty of the secretary was to field the emails coming to the festival.
Almost all correspondence I dealt with was via email. The letterhead we designed did get
some use though in correspondence to stall holders/bands etc. An email link from the
website proved to be used plenty. Our official email address was set up specifically for the
festival, and therefore was easy to recognise and use. Also this meant that emails going out
from the festival seemed more professional. Emails coming in often needed to be forwarded
to other members of the committee. When this happened I would forward the mail, and reply
to the sender, informing him/her of who the mail had been forwarded to, and the email of
that person. This means that the sender knows that the mail has been received and dealt
with, and can contact that person directly.

Often, especially as the festival approaches, enquiry’s come through about minor things that
haven’t been considered. When a meeting is week away, it is easier to get in contact with the
committee by email and resolve the issue so a reply can be given. To keep enquiries to a
minimum, it is really useful to have as much information as possible available on the website.
The more major, but less frequent job is to send out reminders for meetings: I generally tried
to send two, one ten days before, the other four days before. And to write the minutes of the
meetings . These minutes contain the decisions of the committee, and who is going to act on
them. I typed all the minutes and then distributed them as an attachment to an email. (The
committee were all attached to one email list set up at the beginning of the process,
Committee members were then added and removed as appropriate as the committee grew
and changed). The advantage of the email was that the committee could save the minutes
to disk, so whereas pieces of paper are easily lost, computers aren’t.

I found that the best way to organise the minutes was to group together related stuff, ie
publicity, money etc, rather than to record everything in the exact order it was mentioned in
the meeting. This meant that finding things when referring back to the minutes was easier.
When people volunteered to do a certain task, their name was boldified so it stood out in the
minutes. The Secretary also takes the minutes of the Reps Meeting during the festival (see
below).

==Craft fair==

===Balance of stalls===
This is a list of all the stalls at Sheffield IVFDF, 2003. The first
three are regular IVFDFers, and expect to be invited. Pete Cunningham (PJ music)and Mick
Peat (ADA Music) are willing to distribute publicity at other festivals, so well worth
approaching early. Otherwise, I went round all the festivals I went to, and local markets, and
then wrote to everyone who sounded remotely interested. Some of them might be worth
approaching again, but bear in mind that the majority are local. You might get requests for a
monopoly on certain goods, so it could be useful to decide in advance what you’re going to
say about this (for example, we agreed not to invite any more CD stalls).

===Craft Contacts===
<table>
<tr><th>Name</th><th>Address</th><th>Phone / email</th><th>Contact</th><th>Product</th></tr>
<tr><td>P J Music</td>
<td>Wayside Cottage, Chapel Lane, Botesdale, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 1DT</td>
<td>01379 890088, 07968 687011, pjmusic@btinternet.com</td>
<td>Pete Cunningham</td>
<td>Musical instruments, etc

<tr><td>Pete Grassby</td>
<td>22 Derwent Road, Coventry CV6 2HB</td>
<td>Pete Grassby</td>
<td>Musical instruments, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>ADA Music</td>
<td></td>
<td>01773 85000, 01773 853428</td>
<td>Mick Peat</td>
<td>CDs</td></tr>

<tr><td>Thrift music</td>
<td>21 Connaught Avenue, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, CO13 9PN</td>
<td>01255 679232, info@thrift-music.com</td>
<td>Jon/Pam Fitzgerald</td>
<td>Instruments, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>Earth Spirit</td>
<td>16 School Grove, Aston, Sheffield, S26 2DF</td>
<td>0114 2879592</td>
<td>Andy Ducker</td>
<td>Ladies ethnic/alternative clothing</td></tr>

<tr><td>Mullumbimby</td>
<td>1 St Laurence's, Terrace, Adwick-le-Street, Doncaster, DN6 7AH</td>
<td>01302 725418, 07909 603175, mullumbimby@bushinternet.com</td>
<td>Julie Mudie</td>
<td>Gemstones, crystals, ethnic products, jewellery, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>Guat Shoes</td>
<td>221 School Road, Sheffield, S10 1GN</td>
<td>0114 268 6364, sales@guatshoes.co.uk</td>
<td>Bridget Tingle</td>
<td>Hand-made shoes</td></tr>

<tr><td>Crafty Things</td>
<td>7 Rising Street, Sheffield, S3 9HW</td>
<td>0114 2966788, ben@craftythings.net</td>
<td>Ben Masters</td>
<td>Suncatchers, cards, beads, coaster, hats, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>SRFN</td>
<td></td>
<td>morris.this@virgin.net</td>
<td>Sue Cain</td>
<td>Music stuff</td></tr>

<tr><td>Yabba</td>
<td>Unit 16, Chaucer Yard, Countess Road, Sheffield, S1 4TE</td>
<td>0114 2756066, 07932 886582, sales@yabba.uk.net</td>
<td></td>
<td>Jamaican condiments, cooking sauces, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>Dave Eyre</td>
<td>43 Storrs Hall Road, Sheffield, S6 5AW</td>
<td>0114 2344044, dave@deyre.plus.com</td>
<td>Dave Eyre</td>
<td>Collectors books, vinyl, etc</td></tr>

</table>

===Cost===
We charged £15 per stall. This seemed to be viewed as reasonable.

===Space===
Decide in advance how much space you’re going to allow for each stall. I kind of
had in mind one trestle table each, but wasn’t there at setting up time (long
story!) and people helped themselves to three each by default. It just about
worked, but if you’re short on space it might be as well to make this clear in
advance, as actually three tables seemed to be the minimum people needed.

===Setting up===
Many of the stalls wanted quite a bit of time to set up (up to a couple of
hours). If this isn’t possible, make it clear if, for example, the fair’s likely to get
off to a slow start and it doesn’t matter if not everyone’s ready at the beginning!

===Licensing===
Try to find out whether or not you need a license to hold a craft fair. We had
to obtain a license from the markets department of the local council.

===Where / When===
Our craft fair was in the same room as the main events (afternoon /
evening ceilidhs), which meant it could benefit from people hanging around and
there didn’t seem to be a security problem. We opened it all day and evening
Saturday and all day Sunday, and traders reported that Sunday afternoon was
the busiest time for sales, although people browsed all weekend. Sales might
have been higher if the stalls were near the welcome desk, as people were quite
slow to seek them out. It was also possible to leave the stalls set up overnight,
which was greatly appreciated.

===Public opening===
We officially opened to the public during the day, which helped attract
stalls and, we thought, meant there was a possibility of non-IVFDFers being
tempted to join in a ceilidh. In fact very few people wandered in, possibly
because of a lack of publicity and inaccessibility.

==Steward Co-ordinator==
===General points===
* Firstly if your event is spread across multiple venues it can become difficult to have one steward co-ordinator (can’t exist in two places at once) thus it is a good idea to have two. We had one steward co-ordinator helping to run things in the students union and one at Burton Street (the sleeping venue).
* We produced a stewards pack for each of the stewards, each pack contained a time table for the steward (when they where on duty), as well as a document containing all the useful information a steward should know for dealing with festival goers.
* Sound engineers are extremely useful people, basically they can run the set-up of an event as steward co-ordinator, you just need to make sure they have enough people to help them set-up in time (you can get numbers from the sound engineer).
* Throughout the whole weekend every man and his dog will need to get hold of you. If you have got a mobile give the number to everybody (put it in the stewards pack). If you don't have a mobile see if you can get one, it makes life a lot easier.
* You will need some way to move equipment around between venues. Since normally the number of people (with cars) who can do this is fairly limited try to arrange this first, and try to avoid allocating this job to committee, as they really will be busy enough!

===The Desk===
We found it helpful during IVFDF to have one central help desk, constantly staffed, where
people could come for help and to buy tickets and t-shirts.

* It’s extremely helpful to have a list of all the pre-booked tickets in a nice easy to use tick sheet for the staff on the desk.
* Label the steward packs on the desk with the persons name to speed things up.
* If large coach parties have pre-phoned to tell you numbers it worth getting tickets ready for them.
* Most of the acts/artists will have comp tickets, it worth bundling them into labelled envelopes so they can be quickly handed to bands as they arrive so they can get on with setting up.
* It's worth having sign up sheets for a few things at the desk, the most important of which is display rehearsal slots, and the Morris tour. This makes running these events a lot easier.

We attempted to get a small number of stewards to take on responsibility for a venue for the
whole weekend, but it was too much work and no-one volunteered! This might be a good
use of Committee expertise, and the continuity would help a lot, as the stewarding shifts
change so often. In each venue the person could have all the information about that venue,
and about all events/artists there.

==Booking the Bands & Performers==
This is what we did. The most important thing is to make the bookings early and to get them
in writing.

===18 months before===
Choose who you want to appear; contact them to check availability and
cost. Early contact means it's more likely they will be available and
probably cheaper too. There is a huge fee difference between acts so
don't be put off if the first few you contact seem extortionate, e.g. Kate
Rusby wanted £2000 which is several times more than Martin Carthy.
Make sure you remember to agree on who supplies the PA, the sound
man, the caller for ceilidh bands, and workshop duties.

===12 months before===
We sent out booking letters to performers confirming the booking: what
we expected from them, and what their fee was. Included a copy of this
agreement for them to sign and return. Fees and riders are negotiable,
so get these sorted and state what has been agreed on the confirmation
letter.

===2 months before===
Sent out a reminder/confirmation of agreed performance(s), fee, rider,
PA, with a copy to be signed & returned.
Also sent details of location, accommodation, and mobile phone number
for the event, and requested photos/info for the programme and
preferred method of payment.

===IVFDF===
Have a person at the venue to check that the band turns up and help with
setting up of equipment. Have performers tickets ready, and have
payment ready to hand over at the end of the performance.

Problems encountered:
* One band complained of too many requests for confirmation, but this was because they didn't respond until we contacted them several times by email and letter.
* One band had a very precise PA and stage set up. They sent this to us early, but we were unable to respond until very late due to our lateness in booking the PA.
* One band turned up and requested several guest tickets, which had not been agreed or requested before.
* Booking through an agent, rather than the band/performer directly - the agent tends to be harsh and demanding whereas when booking with the band they tended to be more flexible.
* In general, the lesser-known and less well-established acts were the more demanding and difficult to deal with. Martin Carthy was extremely friendly and nice to deal with.

Just a note to say that IVFDF has thus far avoided the attentions of the Performing Rights
Society (PRS) but could be liable in the future. If you need to know more, give me (Anne) a
ring as I attended a training session at the AFO conference. You also need to check that the
venues have a Public Entertainment Licence. Addendum: We have since been contacted by
the union for details of who played – apparently the union paid the fee our behalf.

==Publicity==
We think there is a fair bit you can do in the way of publicising the event to people but it’s
impossible to do everything. In our case we targeted our publicity at the other folk festivals
and events with a fairly young audience and made sure that flyers and leaflets made it to
these events. We spent a lot of time at festivals with Russel (the ceilidh monster) on our
backs, which was a good talking point and made us lots of friends too!, we also made a fairly
huge banner and took it along to as many festivals as we possibly could. In general our idea
was to try and ensure that IVFDF got into peoples minds and stayed there.
We used our logo loads, so it’s worth having one you really like! We produced flyers, (one lot
didn’t include the location of the festival which was a bit of a blunder!), A4 posters and A5
posters. Pete Cunningham (PJ music) and Mick Peat (ADA Music) are willing to distribute
flyers at other festivals

We sent flyers to all the active student organisations we had listed in early 2002 and we also
emailed all the student unions and folk, dance or music related student related organisations
we could find an address for. In general we didn’t send out flyers blind (because it costs too
much) but we did offer them in the email we sent out and quite a few took us up on it. By
the time this reaches anyone we should have our mailing list compiled in a form that is
suitable to give out.

We spent a fairly large amount on having inserts added to our local student ‘What’s On’
weekly publication to create a bit more of an impression on local students than a simple
advert.

We put in a fair amount of effort in advertising to the local area including adverts in local folk
magazines. In general our decision on this was based on whether we thought the advert
would bring in enough extra ticket sales to cover the cost– we found this a very useful rule of
thumb. We also sent flyers to the established UK Ceilidh Series, e.g. Haddenham
Attached is a document giving details of lots of useful contacts including UK folk listings. Also
useful are the Yorkshire Folk Arts website which has lists of all UK Folk Magazines. Also
Direct Roots (comprehensive annual folk event listings) [www.direct-roots.com] .

==Website==
We put in quite a bit of effort into the design of the website but apart from
impressing a few people this was probably fairly pointless. The important thing is to make
sure that the information about the festival is available and even this can take a fair amount
of work. In our case this post was taken on as part of the running of publicity but you may
well find that this is enough work in itself.

==Morris Tour==
* Get permission from the council to dance at the sites you want, and remember to take the letter granting this permission with you on the tour to avoid getting booted off by jobsworths.
* Check out the pubs in advance for folk friendlyness and capacity for lunch.
* Trying to get teams to commit in advance seemed futile. Have a sign up list in reception.
* Get teams to state who they NEED to be with (we had about four teams who all seemed to be sharing musicians and dancers and no-one seemed to know exactly what the connections were).
* Groups of about three teams seemed sensible in the morning, about four or five later on. Any more and each team doesn't get enough dancing, any fewer and it’s too knackering.
* If any group doesn't contain a suitably knowledgeable person, get a local steward to guide them round the spots.

==Workshops==
Sorry – we didn’t get any feedback or list of contacts from our workshop organiser who has
now left the country!

Issues to consider include:
* Priority given to weekend ticket holders/people paying for individual workshops
* Advance bookings (or not!)
* Knowing your capacity for each workshop in advance
* Checking equipment requirements e.g. microphones, CD player, type of fllor, size of room, other e.g. brooms/wellies!
* Contingnecy plans if workshops leaders don’t turn up – we had particular problems with local ones…
* How to inform people of last minute changes e.g. imtes/venues
* Be clear about expectations on performers e.g. bands who are also providing workshops.

Other than that, feel free to rack the brains of the rest of the committee – we might know
something/someone useful.

==Venue Booking==
As you are probably aware, accommodation was our biggest problem! I think it is going to
become increasingly difficult to find venues willing to let large numbers of people stay
overnight as everyone is becoming obsessed with health and safety and fire regulations etc.
I’d therefore recommend making venue booking your first priority as there are a lot more
good bands around than there are suitable venues!! Also, if you run into difficulties with the
Union/University it would probably be worth taking an early decision to look for another site
e.g. a school, like Cambridge used very successfully. It seemed like an expensive option
when we first considered it but we ended up paying at least as much in individual charges.
Also, a venue like a school may give you more autonomy to run the event how you want e.g.
less regulations/no paid security staff, which could resolve a few of the problems we
encountered.

Although everyone was accommodated in the Union at the 1998 Sheffield IVFDF it took the
Union 23 months this time to decide that they could only allow about 60 people to stay there.
We were also let down by the University sports centre. We tried over thirty other venues, all
of which refused us, before finding the Burton Street Project. I’d still recommend trying
community centres, church halls, scout huts etc if you can’t get everyone in on University
premises.

Other issues to consider:
* Luggage storage
* Showers
* Late night dance/session space
* Quiet sleeping area
* Children (you’re responsible for any unaccompanied under 18s if anything goes wrong).

==Attendance estimates==
It's really helpful to be able to give venues estimates of attendance at each event. Don't
forget that fire limits etc. are far higher than the number of people that you can comfortably
fit in for a ceilidh. These were our estimated attendance figures but I imagine they were
exceeded:

<table>
<tr><th>Event</th><th>Numbers</th></tr>
<tr><td>Fri eve Hekety ceilidh</td><td>350</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fri eve Alterations ceilidh</td><td>150</td></tr>
<tr><td>Workshops</td><td>10-100</td></tr>
<tr><td>Display ceilidh</td><td>300</td></tr>
<tr><td>Survivor's ceilidhs</td><td>300</td></tr>
<tr><td>Concert</td><td>200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sat eve Bedlam ceilidh</td><td>450</td></tr>
<tr><td>HoraceX</td><td>Unknown<br><i>(we were all busy dancing)</i></td></tr>
<tr><td>Reps Meeting</td><td>30</td></tr>
</table>

We had approximate capacities for the various venues based in part on our own experiences
in those venues and in part from information provided by the university so we knew when to
stop people entering and ask them to go to an alternative venue if one had space. By the
end of the first night we knew we had a problem because we were in danger of having far
more people than we had room for. Have a plan for what to do if you sell out, although
preferably a plan so that you don’t!

===Security===
It is worth explaining fully to Security staff what to expect at the event, and that it will not be
like dealing with a normal student club night. Our Security staff seemed to be expecting lots
of trouble but in the end were very impressed by what they experienced (exactly the same
happened in 98, although they seemed to have forgotten...), and they have offered to write a
reference for future IVFDFs.

===Children===
Make sure both sides know where they stand with this issue in advance. We had discussed
this issue with the Union and informed them when asked that there would be some
accompanied children. However on the Friday night of the festival Security told us that no
children were allowed in the venue at all. By which time there was very little we could do
about it, and several people got very upset.

===Confirmation===
We had problems with St. Phillips, which we booked over the phone: when we phoned back
they thought we had only made a provisional booking and as a result we could only use it
from 10.30 rather than 9 as planned. It’s worth checking, even if you feel like you’re
nagging!

==Programme==
You’ll know the format of a standard IVFDF: ceilidhs, workshops, Morris tour, display ceilidh
etc. We were very pleased with the popularity of the concert and roots event which were
changes from the usual programme. We tried to expand the display ceilidh from just dance
spots to include music/song/storytelling but I’m not aware that anyone took up the invitation.
We included the Scottish dance despite the fact that not many Sheffield people went to it, but
there are a lot of people from Scotland who attend IVFDF regularly and want a dedicated
dance…they expect a list of the programmed dances in advance. The caller type person is
usually happy to supply this.

We tried an A6 format for our programme which seemed to go down fairly well with people.
It gave us more flexibility in presentation as well as being easier for people to carry round in
a pocket. We also had a request for a large print version of the programme (it is probably a
legal requirement to provide this!)

Include LOTS of maps / directions (public transport, driving and on foot) / info on shops the
local area etc as people will somehow manage to miss some of it!

Our programme was not available very far in advance, which created some problems.
Advice on Hosting IVFDF

==Equipment==
You need to have a complete list of equipment required for each event and to check on any
special requirements for that equipment in that venue (i.e. PAT testing). Make sure that you
compile the list well in advance (at least a couple of weeks) and keep updating the list as you
get closer. A PAT tester on site (John Stewart) is very handy for last minute jobs.

==Parking==
You need parking near venues, and to find out whether there is a charge or not. Sort out a
drop-off point for coaches, and weekend parking for them, there are usually three or four
coaches. If sleeping is not at same place as events it is worth getting at least the large
parties to drop off their baggage at the sleeping venue when they arrive. We had to contact
the local police to arrange space for coaches to stop on the road (since we didn’t have
anywhere else they could park). We paid for two campus parking permits for the Friday
daytime so that committee could deliver stuff by car and park up – very useful.

==Signs==
It’s worth putting up lots of IVFDF signs to places, even if they’re already signed in other
ways. We had lots of complaints about finding the university from the tram stop, and finding
union venues, despite the fact that there were lots of directions but People didn’t notice them
as they weren’t IVFDF signs! Make signs on bright coloured paper, protect them from the
weather, and check throughout the weekend whether they’re still there!!

==Wristbands==
A lot smarter than badges / scrappy bits of paper! They took 2-3 weeks and cost about £80.
Orakel UK Ltd. 01824 702214 orakel-uk@admin.be

==T-Shirts==
We deliberately had fewer t-shirts made than previous IVFDFs because we felt on balance
that the loss in revenue was worth it to avoid the hassle of storing and transporting the ones
that didn’t sell at the event. We had and sold about 150 standard T-Shirts and an additional
50 steward T-shirt which included a fair number of ‘Lady fit’ ones – very popular as were the
few children/baby ones. We charged £7 per t-shirt. In retrospect we could have sold
considerably more than we had but this may well be due to the particularly high number of
attendees!

==Walk==
We organised a walk in conjunction with the Uni Walking Society. They planned their regular
Saturday walk specially to include a half and whole day route that could be accessed via
buses from Sheffield. It wasn’t very well attended - we could probably have advertised it
better – but it didn’t cost us anything apart from a couple of free tickets and it was good to
build on links with other Societies.

==Questionnaire/Survey==
Obviously decide for yourselves whether this is an additional task that you want to undertake,
but we did get some back some very useful information. Funders like statistics and quotes
about what people got out of the event. We got over 200 responses and with practice it only
took about 2-3 minutes to input data from one questionnaire. We used an Excel spreadsheet
to collate the data. Analysis took a fair few hours and the write up another few, so it’s quite
a big job. You’re welcome to use our questionnaire (or probably redesign it if you’ve got
someone with better computer design skills on the team!) or simplify it.

==Phone Numbers and Contact Address==
We got hold of a landline and a mobile phone number which actually earnt us money every
time someone called. They also (more importantly) could be redirected to any landline/any
phone respectively which was very handy indeed. Exeter have expressed an interest in
acquiring them so can hopefully pass them on after their event. Obviously you’ll need a
postal address too, and it can be a bit tricky deciding who’s not going to move until after
IVFDF!

==Finally==
Very sorry this has turned into an epic read! There are also lots of suggestions in the [[Sheffield, Survey
Report|Survey Report]].

The guidance document that someone from [[Cambridge, How to run an ivfdf|Cambridge]] produced (well worth a read) is also avaialble.

There’s also an excellent, comprehensive guide to running festivals called ‘How to Paddle
Your Own Canoe’ by Richard Crowe of Folk South West. If you don’t mind footing the
photocopying bill you’re welcome to your own copy – it’s probably about 50 pages long!

Do get in touch if there’s anything else you want to know.
Anne, Chair IVFDF 2003, 0114 266 8347, annewyatt@musician.org.

[[Category:Running An IVFDF]]
[[Category:Sheffield]]

Sheffield, Advice On Host IVFDF

2005-04-08T02:18:03Z

IVFDF:

Sheffield, Advice On Host IVFDF

2005-04-08T02:13:42Z

IVFDF:

All the advice below is based on our experience of hosting an IVFDF, what worked and what
didn’t! There is advice on each of our Committee roles plus some additional bits. It’s not a
very grammatically correct document as there are lots of different people writing in the first
person!

==Committee organisation==
Our Committee comprised Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Officer(s), Morris Tour
Co-ordinator, Craft Fair Co-ordinator, Band Booking Co-ordinator, 2 Steward Co-ordinators,
Union Liaison, Workshops Co-ordinator, Website/Publicity. The biggest task (which wasn’t
clearly dealt with under a committee post) was venue booking – it might help to have a
dedicated post for this. Also be clear about who has responsibility for ticket sales which is a
big job just before the festival.

Think carefully about who to appoint, and to which posts – make the most of people’s skills
and recognise their weaknesses. E.g. one of our committee asked to resign from fundraising
as she was not good at working to long deadlines, but did a great job managing the craft fair.
Also think about who has daytime availability to phone/call in to make bookings.
Make sure people aren’t taking on too much with their existing commitments. Conflicts will
inevitably arise when people are on both the IVFDF and student folk society committees at
the same time, but it is useful to have people who know what is going on in both! Don’t let
one person do too much – even if they are useful or have lots of time it can cause problems
if they get too busy, go down ill. If someone wants to do lots get them to work jointly with
other people instead and don’t let them take over.

The fact that you are on the committee usually means that you are very active in the folk
society that you represent. Getting involved with things other than the running the festival is
very tempting (ie display, dancing on Morris tour). However you do need to consider that
during the festival you will need to do a fair bit of stewarding, as the main locations all really
need a member of committee present and available to answer questions, liase with band,
tickets etc. Therefore I advise not getting involved with too much else to do with the festival,
because while there is theoretically time enough, it leaves you fairly brain dead. It also puts
pressure on the other members of the committee that aren’t involved in the extra things, as
they have to deal with the problems that arise without you. These things are best left to
other active members of the society, who are not on the committee.

==Meetings==
We met about every 4-6 weeks for the first eighteen months, with gaps over the summer and
other holidays. Then every 2-4 weeks for about 5 months, and every week in the month
before the festival. This felt about the right balance to get things done but not be absolutely
sick of meeting up!

With hindsight I feel we left too many decisions to be discussed and made at the meetings.
We could have speeded things up by having discussions between the necessary people prior
to the meetings and coming along with proposals to be approved by the committee.

==Reps Meeting==
Although this is a one off job, just an hour and a half during the IVFDF weekend, it seemed
to generate a disproportionate amount of stress! In previous years it’s been poorly
advertised with no clear explanation/invitation in the programme, on reflection the whole
meeting might need to become a bit more exciting before regular IVFDF punters are rushing
to be there!

The Chairperson also chairs the Reps Meeting. I feel I did this pretty badly, as I wasn’t very
well prepared or sufficiently knowledgeable about the bureaucracy of the voting systems etc.
Advice on Hosting IVFDF

Again, hopefully things might improve for you as there are changes under discussion. On the
other hand you may have a challenging meeting next year if the Reps Meeting in the autumn
does come up with lots of proposals for change!

The Treasurer needs to give a financial report, and the Secretary takes the minutes. The
meeting is very bewildering to a first timer, so having to take the minutes if you’ve never
been to the meeting before, and especially if you don’t know who people are, is a bad plan.
We therefore advise that the secretary attends the meeting the year before, even if they do
not have to attend to give the report or vote. It’s difficult having to write as well as listen, to
consulting with the other members of the committee who were at the meeting is also very
helpful in checking the minutes. The style of the minutes is also very different from regular
Committee Meetings, much more detailed, and with more emphasis on the discussion that
takes place, as well as the outcomes.

You need to take names and details of everyone who attends. Only two people from each
society have voting rights. This year we introduced a form to collect info about the societies
represented, it’s included as an attachment.

===Chairperson===
The key role is to have a clear overview of everything that needs to be done, when it needs
to be done by and see that it gets done – but not necessarily by you! You’re the person who
should know how all the different bits of the planning fit together, so make sure you share
this information and keep everyone informed.

You need to Chair the meetings, discuss and agree on how things should be done, and
decide who will do what and by when. Then you need to follow things up - don’t be afraid to
ring/email to prompt people, and you can always offer to help out so it doesn’t feel too much
like pestering! It's much better to pick up on problems early and make plans to sort things
out than to let someone struggle on and then get mad at them when the situation has
become urgent.

I sometimes needed someone to bounce ideas off/discuss problems with. The Committee
were generally great for this, although on other Committees I’ve been on the Vice-President
has fulfilled this function well too.

The job is very varied as you can take on tasks from any area of the festival planning, I did
quite a lot of publicity work, the application for the Lottery Funding, poster distribution etc.
In my experience the problem with getting involved in too much is that you’ll need to do an
awful lot of talking at meetings and therefore probably won’t chair them too well!!
It’s a long hard slog doing two years of advance planning before really seeing the results, but
it’s definitely worth it. Don’t make the same mistake I did though, starting a new job the day
after the festival! - have a day off break instead.

===Treasurer===
The treasurer is one of the most important roles immediately prior to IVFDF, particularly if
they are dealing with ticket sales and bookings. We also found that the treasurer was
involved with most processes of the festival such as booking bands, rooms and workshops
even if someone else has responsibility for these tasks. The treasurer has to make sure that
committee members give them details of expected and actual expenditure, and also needs to
provide the Committee with regular financial updates. Chose someone who can use Excel
well – you need separate figures on expected and actual expenditure, and break downs of
how any special funding was used. Everything needs to add up right!!
We had a ‘clubs and societies’ bank account with NatWest, which was one of the only banks
who weren’t going to charge us…their service left a lot to be desired though. Access to the
bank was generally in the daytime, so chose a branch close to where you work/study. You
may need to give some warning plus written permission and things in order to take out large
amounts of cash for the actual festival weekend. Have lots of signatories in case one of them
walks out the week before the festival as happened for us – nightmare!

==Sponsorship==
In general we found that small scale sponsorship is a lot of work and you don’t get much for
it. We successfully got funding from Hobgoblin music shops – I think businesses already into
folk are more likely to agree. Also, ask people to sponsor specific bits of the festival eg. wrist
bands, a ceilidh, posters etc and quote a price for it, in return for publicity. Donations in kind
e.g. asking local restaurants to provide meals for artists can work too.

The University Music Department joint funded the concert with money they already had set
aside for their concert series and wanted to spend on a folk artist. Again, I think working in
partnership with other organisations is more successful because you both gain, rather than
going ‘begging’ when it may not be clear how the donor is really going to benefit.

On the other hand lottery funding or charity funding was well worth the time although the
form is quite an epic! . We had to demonstrate the social benefits of IVFDF to the local
community. The central IVFDF constitution was amended at the 2003 Reps Meeting to
include Aims and Objectives – these are generally required by funders. When making
funding applications it is generally best to be honest about what the festival can already selffund,
and apply for funding for something extra to what you usually do. Look out for the
‘Grant Making Trusts’ guide and the Funder Finder CD-Rom.

We also got Special Initiative funding from the Union – hopefully yours will be able to provide
some extra dosh too!

Also a bit of funding (£150/350 depending who you talk to) is almost guaranteed from the
Scottish Country Dance Society, you just have to write to them to request it.
We also successfully applied for a bursary (which will probably be available again next year)
to attend the Association of Festival Organisers conference on behalf of IVFDF. It was quite
useful, although the fact that it was taking place just down the road was a great incentive!!

==Budget==
We worked to a very conservative budget, a sort of worst case scenario, which was very
reassuring when making commitments to what felt like very large expenditures!

==Expenses==
Keep reminding Committee members to claim expenses! We were quite happy to accept
some estimates of expenditure on travel, mobile phones, other phone calls etc as well as the
usual expenses with receipts. Everyone is giving an enormous amount of time for nothing so
they don’t need to be out of pocket as well!!

==Underwriting and loan==
You can apply in writing one year in advance (I think) for a loan (thus far £1000) from central
IVFDF funds, which helps a lot with cash flow. You can also expect some underwriting from
Friends of IVFDF, although the amount they could offer us (£300) was minimal in relation to
our actual budget! These systems are under review by the Reps meeting so things may
improve.

==Insurance==
Not exactly a ‘finance’ thing but never mind! The event needs public liability insurance which
can be obtained by becoming a member of EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society)
who can be contacted via their website. Usually you need to make a special application to
join as ‘IVFDF’ but for some reason this year they said that we were covered already because
the Ceilidh Society was a member.

==Tickets==
We printed event/day tickets on card, and sold them through the Union box office as well as
selling them directly. See below for details of wrist band supplier for weekend tickets. Here’s
a quick resume of our ticket prices (including a couple that weren’t on the flier):

<table>
<tr><th>Type</th><th>Waged</th><th>Unwaged</th></tr>
<tr><td>Full weekend</td><td>£20</td><td>£13</td></tr>
<tr><td>Afternoon ceilidhs</td><td>£3</td><td>£3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Friday evening</td><td>£5</td><td>£4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Saturday</td><td>£10</td><td>£7</td></tr>
<tr><td>HoraceX</td><td>£3.50</td><td>£3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Workshops</td><td>£3</td><td>£2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Saturday concert</td><td>£6</td><td>£4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Saturday ceilidhs</td><td>£5</td><td>£4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stewards</td><td>£7</td><td>£7</td></tr>
</table>

It’s impossible to keep track of tickets using tick sheets. It doesn’t work – various people told
us this and we were sure we would be different but… Anyway as far as I can tell the only
way to keep track is to have different tickets for different purposes and know how many you
had when you started. Because we did this as well as the tick sheets we have a good idea of
final numbers but as the counting takes time and tickets are in different locations, we weren’t
able to work this out until after the festival.

Advanced ticket sales: Even though the number of these is fairly low you need to be very
careful to record all the details in the event of any problems. That means recording the
details of every cheque received, the person you received the money from, and what it was
for. I’d suggest a grid in a spreadsheet or database with the total automatically calculated so
that you can check the final figures without any effort. Always take reservations ‘just in case’
or inform people that they are not available – <i>telling people that it will be no problem if they
just turn up is an invitation for disaster as we found out!</i>

Despite the fact that most of our advanced tickets were bought in the last month we had
bookings on flyers we had sent out going back over quite a period of time.
There should be more encouragement to book in advance. Just about every past IVFDF
including ours, had a problem with late booking. This needs to change (for cash flow
reasons) and we would encourage you to offer cash advantages for advanced bookings (or
increase the price for those who pay on the door or late). Credit card/online bookings might
help.

==Secretary==
The day to day general duty of the secretary was to field the emails coming to the festival.
Almost all correspondence I dealt with was via email. The letterhead we designed did get
some use though in correspondence to stall holders/bands etc. An email link from the
website proved to be used plenty. Our official email address was set up specifically for the
festival, and therefore was easy to recognise and use. Also this meant that emails going out
from the festival seemed more professional. Emails coming in often needed to be forwarded
to other members of the committee. When this happened I would forward the mail, and reply
to the sender, informing him/her of who the mail had been forwarded to, and the email of
that person. This means that the sender knows that the mail has been received and dealt
with, and can contact that person directly.

Often, especially as the festival approaches, enquiry’s come through about minor things that
haven’t been considered. When a meeting is week away, it is easier to get in contact with the
committee by email and resolve the issue so a reply can be given. To keep enquiries to a
minimum, it is really useful to have as much information as possible available on the website.
The more major, but less frequent job is to send out reminders for meetings: I generally tried
to send two, one ten days before, the other four days before. And to write the minutes of the
meetings . These minutes contain the decisions of the committee, and who is going to act on
them. I typed all the minutes and then distributed them as an attachment to an email. (The
committee were all attached to one email list set up at the beginning of the process,
Committee members were then added and removed as appropriate as the committee grew
and changed). The advantage of the email was that the committee could save the minutes
to disk, so whereas pieces of paper are easily lost, computers aren’t.

I found that the best way to organise the minutes was to group together related stuff, ie
publicity, money etc, rather than to record everything in the exact order it was mentioned in
the meeting. This meant that finding things when referring back to the minutes was easier.
When people volunteered to do a certain task, their name was boldified so it stood out in the
minutes. The Secretary also takes the minutes of the Reps Meeting during the festival (see
below).

==Craft fair==

===Balance of stalls===
This is a list of all the stalls at Sheffield IVFDF, 2003. The first
three are regular IVFDFers, and expect to be invited. Pete Cunningham (PJ music)and Mick
Peat (ADA Music) are willing to distribute publicity at other festivals, so well worth
approaching early. Otherwise, I went round all the festivals I went to, and local markets, and
then wrote to everyone who sounded remotely interested. Some of them might be worth
approaching again, but bear in mind that the majority are local. You might get requests for a
monopoly on certain goods, so it could be useful to decide in advance what you’re going to
say about this (for example, we agreed not to invite any more CD stalls).

===Craft Contacts===
<table>
<tr><th>Name</th><th>Address</th><th>Phone / email</th><th>Contact</th><th>Product</th></tr>
<tr><td>P J Music</td>
<td>Wayside Cottage, Chapel Lane, Botesdale, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 1DT</td>
<td>01379 890088, 07968 687011, pjmusic@btinternet.com</td>
<td>Pete Cunningham</td>
<td>Musical instruments, etc

<tr><td>Pete Grassby</td>
<td>22 Derwent Road, Coventry CV6 2HB</td>
<td>Pete Grassby</td>
<td>Musical instruments, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>ADA Music</td>
<td></td>
<td>01773 85000, 01773 853428</td>
<td>Mick Peat</td>
<td>CDs</td></tr>

<tr><td>Thrift music</td>
<td>21 Connaught Avenue, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, CO13 9PN</td>
<td>01255 679232, info@thrift-music.com</td>
<td>Jon/Pam Fitzgerald</td>
<td>Instruments, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>Earth Spirit</td>
<td>16 School Grove, Aston, Sheffield, S26 2DF</td>
<td>0114 2879592</td>
<td>Andy Ducker</td>
<td>Ladies ethnic/alternative clothing</td></tr>

<tr><td>Mullumbimby</td>
<td>1 St Laurence's, Terrace, Adwick-le-Street, Doncaster, DN6 7AH</td>
<td>01302 725418, 07909 603175, mullumbimby@bushinternet.com</td>
<td>Julie Mudie</td>
<td>Gemstones, crystals, ethnic products, jewellery, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>Guat Shoes</td>
<td>221 School Road, Sheffield, S10 1GN</td>
<td>0114 268 6364, sales@guatshoes.co.uk</td>
<td>Bridget Tingle</td>
<td>Hand-made shoes</td></tr>

<tr><td>Crafty Things</td>
<td>7 Rising Street, Sheffield, S3 9HW</td>
<td>0114 2966788, ben@craftythings.net</td>
<td>Ben Masters</td>
<td>Suncatchers, cards, beads, coaster, hats, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>SRFN</td>
<td></td>
<td>morris.this@virgin.net</td>
<td>Sue Cain</td>
<td>Music stuff</td></tr>

<tr><td>Yabba</td>
<td>Unit 16, Chaucer Yard, Countess Road, Sheffield, S1 4TE</td>
<td>0114 2756066, 07932 886582, sales@yabba.uk.net</td>
<td></td>
<td>Jamaican condiments, cooking sauces, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>Dave Eyre</td>
<td>43 Storrs Hall Road, Sheffield, S6 5AW</td>
<td>0114 2344044, dave@deyre.plus.com</td>
<td>Dave Eyre</td>
<td>Collectors books, vinyl, etc</td></tr>

</table>

===Cost===
We charged £15 per stall. This seemed to be viewed as reasonable.

===Space===
Decide in advance how much space you’re going to allow for each stall. I kind of
had in mind one trestle table each, but wasn’t there at setting up time (long
story!) and people helped themselves to three each by default. It just about
worked, but if you’re short on space it might be as well to make this clear in
advance, as actually three tables seemed to be the minimum people needed.

===Setting up===
Many of the stalls wanted quite a bit of time to set up (up to a couple of
hours). If this isn’t possible, make it clear if, for example, the fair’s likely to get
off to a slow start and it doesn’t matter if not everyone’s ready at the beginning!

===Licensing===
Try to find out whether or not you need a license to hold a craft fair. We had
to obtain a license from the markets department of the local council.

===Where / When===
Our craft fair was in the same room as the main events (afternoon /
evening ceilidhs), which meant it could benefit from people hanging around and
there didn’t seem to be a security problem. We opened it all day and evening
Saturday and all day Sunday, and traders reported that Sunday afternoon was
the busiest time for sales, although people browsed all weekend. Sales might
have been higher if the stalls were near the welcome desk, as people were quite
slow to seek them out. It was also possible to leave the stalls set up overnight,
which was greatly appreciated.

===Public opening===
We officially opened to the public during the day, which helped attract
stalls and, we thought, meant there was a possibility of non-IVFDFers being
tempted to join in a ceilidh. In fact very few people wandered in, possibly
because of a lack of publicity and inaccessibility.

==Steward Co-ordinator==
===General points===
* Firstly if your event is spread across multiple venues it can become difficult to have one steward co-ordinator (can’t exist in two places at once) thus it is a good idea to have two. We had one steward co-ordinator helping to run things in the students union and one at Burton Street (the sleeping venue).
* We produced a stewards pack for each of the stewards, each pack contained a time table for the steward (when they where on duty), as well as a document containing all the useful information a steward should know for dealing with festival goers.
* Sound engineers are extremely useful people, basically they can run the set-up of an event as steward co-ordinator, you just need to make sure they have enough people to help them set-up in time (you can get numbers from the sound engineer).
* Throughout the whole weekend every man and his dog will need to get hold of you. If you have got a mobile give the number to everybody (put it in the stewards pack). If you don't have a mobile see if you can get one, it makes life a lot easier.
* You will need some way to move equipment around between venues. Since normally the number of people (with cars) who can do this is fairly limited try to arrange this first, and try to avoid allocating this job to committee, as they really will be busy enough!

===The Desk===
We found it helpful during IVFDF to have one central help desk, constantly staffed, where
people could come for help and to buy tickets and t-shirts.

* It’s extremely helpful to have a list of all the pre-booked tickets in a nice easy to use tick sheet for the staff on the desk.
* Label the steward packs on the desk with the persons name to speed things up.
* If large coach parties have pre-phoned to tell you numbers it worth getting tickets ready for them.
* Most of the acts/artists will have comp tickets, it worth bundling them into labelled envelopes so they can be quickly handed to bands as they arrive so they can get on with setting up.
* It's worth having sign up sheets for a few things at the desk, the most important of which is display rehearsal slots, and the Morris tour. This makes running these events a lot easier.

We attempted to get a small number of stewards to take on responsibility for a venue for the
whole weekend, but it was too much work and no-one volunteered! This might be a good
use of Committee expertise, and the continuity would help a lot, as the stewarding shifts
change so often. In each venue the person could have all the information about that venue,
and about all events/artists there.

==Booking the Bands & Performers==
This is what we did. The most important thing is to make the bookings early and to get them
in writing.

===18 months before===
Choose who you want to appear; contact them to check availability and
cost. Early contact means it's more likely they will be available and
probably cheaper too. There is a huge fee difference between acts so
don't be put off if the first few you contact seem extortionate, e.g. Kate
Rusby wanted £2000 which is several times more than Martin Carthy.
Make sure you remember to agree on who supplies the PA, the sound
man, the caller for ceilidh bands, and workshop duties.

===12 months before===
We sent out booking letters to performers confirming the booking: what
we expected from them, and what their fee was. Included a copy of this
agreement for them to sign and return. Fees and riders are negotiable,
so get these sorted and state what has been agreed on the confirmation
letter.

===2 months before===
Sent out a reminder/confirmation of agreed performance(s), fee, rider,
PA, with a copy to be signed & returned.
Also sent details of location, accommodation, and mobile phone number
for the event, and requested photos/info for the programme and
preferred method of payment.

===IVFDF===
Have a person at the venue to check that the band turns up and help with
setting up of equipment. Have performers tickets ready, and have
payment ready to hand over at the end of the performance.

Problems encountered:
* One band complained of too many requests for confirmation, but this was because they didn't respond until we contacted them several times by email and letter.
* One band had a very precise PA and stage set up. They sent this to us early, but we were unable to respond until very late due to our lateness in booking the PA.
* One band turned up and requested several guest tickets, which had not been agreed or requested before.
* Booking through an agent, rather than the band/performer directly - the agent tends to be harsh and demanding whereas when booking with the band they tended to be more flexible.
* In general, the lesser-known and less well-established acts were the more demanding and difficult to deal with. Martin Carthy was extremely friendly and nice to deal with.

Just a note to say that IVFDF has thus far avoided the attentions of the Performing Rights
Society (PRS) but could be liable in the future. If you need to know more, give me (Anne) a
ring as I attended a training session at the AFO conference. You also need to check that the
venues have a Public Entertainment Licence. Addendum: We have since been contacted by
the union for details of who played – apparently the union paid the fee our behalf.

==Publicity==
We think there is a fair bit you can do in the way of publicising the event to people but it’s
impossible to do everything. In our case we targeted our publicity at the other folk festivals
and events with a fairly young audience and made sure that flyers and leaflets made it to
these events. We spent a lot of time at festivals with Russel (the ceilidh monster) on our
backs, which was a good talking point and made us lots of friends too!, we also made a fairly
huge banner and took it along to as many festivals as we possibly could. In general our idea
was to try and ensure that IVFDF got into peoples minds and stayed there.
We used our logo loads, so it’s worth having one you really like! We produced flyers, (one lot
didn’t include the location of the festival which was a bit of a blunder!), A4 posters and A5
posters. Pete Cunningham (PJ music) and Mick Peat (ADA Music) are willing to distribute
flyers at other festivals

We sent flyers to all the active student organisations we had listed in early 2002 and we also
emailed all the student unions and folk, dance or music related student related organisations
we could find an address for. In general we didn’t send out flyers blind (because it costs too
much) but we did offer them in the email we sent out and quite a few took us up on it. By
the time this reaches anyone we should have our mailing list compiled in a form that is
suitable to give out.

We spent a fairly large amount on having inserts added to our local student ‘What’s On’
weekly publication to create a bit more of an impression on local students than a simple
advert.

We put in a fair amount of effort in advertising to the local area including adverts in local folk
magazines. In general our decision on this was based on whether we thought the advert
would bring in enough extra ticket sales to cover the cost– we found this a very useful rule of
thumb. We also sent flyers to the established UK Ceilidh Series, e.g. Haddenham
Attached is a document giving details of lots of useful contacts including UK folk listings. Also
useful are the Yorkshire Folk Arts website which has lists of all UK Folk Magazines. Also
Direct Roots (comprehensive annual folk event listings) [www.direct-roots.com] .

==Website==
We put in quite a bit of effort into the design of the website but apart from
impressing a few people this was probably fairly pointless. The important thing is to make
sure that the information about the festival is available and even this can take a fair amount
of work. In our case this post was taken on as part of the running of publicity but you may
well find that this is enough work in itself.

==Morris Tour==
* Get permission from the council to dance at the sites you want, and remember to take the letter granting this permission with you on the tour to avoid getting booted off by jobsworths.
* Check out the pubs in advance for folk friendlyness and capacity for lunch.
* Trying to get teams to commit in advance seemed futile. Have a sign up list in reception.
* Get teams to state who they NEED to be with (we had about four teams who all seemed to be sharing musicians and dancers and no-one seemed to know exactly what the connections were).
* Groups of about three teams seemed sensible in the morning, about four or five later on. Any more and each team doesn't get enough dancing, any fewer and it’s too knackering.
* If any group doesn't contain a suitably knowledgeable person, get a local steward to guide them round the spots.

==Workshops==
Sorry – we didn’t get any feedback or list of contacts from our workshop organiser who has
now left the country!

Issues to consider include:
* Priority given to weekend ticket holders/people paying for individual workshops
* Advance bookings (or not!)
* Knowing your capacity for each workshop in advance
* Checking equipment requirements e.g. microphones, CD player, type of fllor, size of room, other e.g. brooms/wellies!
* Contingnecy plans if workshops leaders don’t turn up – we had particular problems with local ones…
* How to inform people of last minute changes e.g. imtes/venues
* Be clear about expectations on performers e.g. bands who are also providing workshops.

Other than that, feel free to rack the brains of the rest of the committee – we might know
something/someone useful.

==Venue Booking==
As you are probably aware, accommodation was our biggest problem! I think it is going to
become increasingly difficult to find venues willing to let large numbers of people stay
overnight as everyone is becoming obsessed with health and safety and fire regulations etc.
I’d therefore recommend making venue booking your first priority as there are a lot more
good bands around than there are suitable venues!! Also, if you run into difficulties with the
Union/University it would probably be worth taking an early decision to look for another site
e.g. a school, like Cambridge used very successfully. It seemed like an expensive option
when we first considered it but we ended up paying at least as much in individual charges.
Also, a venue like a school may give you more autonomy to run the event how you want e.g.
less regulations/no paid security staff, which could resolve a few of the problems we
encountered.

Although everyone was accommodated in the Union at the 1998 Sheffield IVFDF it took the
Union 23 months this time to decide that they could only allow about 60 people to stay there.
We were also let down by the University sports centre. We tried over thirty other venues, all
of which refused us, before finding the Burton Street Project. I’d still recommend trying
community centres, church halls, scout huts etc if you can’t get everyone in on University
premises.

Other issues to consider:
* Luggage storage
* Showers
* Late night dance/session space
* Quiet sleeping area
* Children (you’re responsible for any unaccompanied under 18s if anything goes wrong).

==Attendance estimates==
It's really helpful to be able to give venues estimates of attendance at each event. Don't
forget that fire limits etc. are far higher than the number of people that you can comfortably
fit in for a ceilidh. These were our estimated attendance figures but I imagine they were
exceeded:

<table>
<tr><th>Event</th><th>Numbers</th></tr>
<tr><td>Fri eve Hekety ceilidh</td><td>350</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fri eve Alterations ceilidh</td><td>150</td></tr>
<tr><td>Workshops</td><td>10-100</td></tr>
<tr><td>Display ceilidh</td><td>300</td></tr>
<tr><td>Survivor's ceilidhs</td><td>300</td></tr>
<tr><td>Concert</td><td>200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sat eve Bedlam ceilidh</td><td>450</td></tr>
<tr><td>HoraceX</td><td>Unknown<br><i>(we were all busy dancing)</i></td></tr>
<tr><td>Reps Meeting</td><td>30</td></tr>
</table>

We had approximate capacities for the various venues based in part on our own experiences
in those venues and in part from information provided by the university so we knew when to
stop people entering and ask them to go to an alternative venue if one had space. By the
end of the first night we knew we had a problem because we were in danger of having far
more people than we had room for. Have a plan for what to do if you sell out, although
preferably a plan so that you don’t!

===Security===
It is worth explaining fully to Security staff what to expect at the event, and that it will not be
like dealing with a normal student club night. Our Security staff seemed to be expecting lots
of trouble but in the end were very impressed by what they experienced (exactly the same
happened in 98, although they seemed to have forgotten...), and they have offered to write a
reference for future IVFDFs.

===Children===
Make sure both sides know where they stand with this issue in advance. We had discussed
this issue with the Union and informed them when asked that there would be some
accompanied children. However on the Friday night of the festival Security told us that no
children were allowed in the venue at all. By which time there was very little we could do
about it, and several people got very upset.

===Confirmation===
We had problems with St. Phillips, which we booked over the phone: when we phoned back
they thought we had only made a provisional booking and as a result we could only use it
from 10.30 rather than 9 as planned. It’s worth checking, even if you feel like you’re
nagging!

==Programme==
You’ll know the format of a standard IVFDF: ceilidhs, workshops, Morris tour, display ceilidh
etc. We were very pleased with the popularity of the concert and roots event which were
changes from the usual programme. We tried to expand the display ceilidh from just dance
spots to include music/song/storytelling but I’m not aware that anyone took up the invitation.
We included the Scottish dance despite the fact that not many Sheffield people went to it, but
there are a lot of people from Scotland who attend IVFDF regularly and want a dedicated
dance…they expect a list of the programmed dances in advance. The caller type person is
usually happy to supply this.

We tried an A6 format for our programme which seemed to go down fairly well with people.
It gave us more flexibility in presentation as well as being easier for people to carry round in
a pocket. We also had a request for a large print version of the programme (it is probably a
legal requirement to provide this!)

Include LOTS of maps / directions (public transport, driving and on foot) / info on shops the
local area etc as people will somehow manage to miss some of it!

Our programme was not available very far in advance, which created some problems.
Advice on Hosting IVFDF

==Equipment==
You need to have a complete list of equipment required for each event and to check on any
special requirements for that equipment in that venue (i.e. PAT testing). Make sure that you
compile the list well in advance (at least a couple of weeks) and keep updating the list as you
get closer. A PAT tester on site (John Stewart) is very handy for last minute jobs.

==Parking==
You need parking near venues, and to find out whether there is a charge or not. Sort out a
drop-off point for coaches, and weekend parking for them, there are usually three or four
coaches. If sleeping is not at same place as events it is worth getting at least the large
parties to drop off their baggage at the sleeping venue when they arrive. We had to contact
the local police to arrange space for coaches to stop on the road (since we didn’t have
anywhere else they could park). We paid for two campus parking permits for the Friday
daytime so that committee could deliver stuff by car and park up – very useful.

==Signs==
It’s worth putting up lots of IVFDF signs to places, even if they’re already signed in other
ways. We had lots of complaints about finding the university from the tram stop, and finding
union venues, despite the fact that there were lots of directions but People didn’t notice them
as they weren’t IVFDF signs! Make signs on bright coloured paper, protect them from the
weather, and check throughout the weekend whether they’re still there!!

==Wristbands==
A lot smarter than badges / scrappy bits of paper! They took 2-3 weeks and cost about £80.
Orakel UK Ltd. 01824 702214 orakel-uk@admin.be

==T-Shirts==
We deliberately had fewer t-shirts made than previous IVFDFs because we felt on balance
that the loss in revenue was worth it to avoid the hassle of storing and transporting the ones
that didn’t sell at the event. We had and sold about 150 standard T-Shirts and an additional
50 steward T-shirt which included a fair number of ‘Lady fit’ ones – very popular as were the
few children/baby ones. We charged £7 per t-shirt. In retrospect we could have sold
considerably more than we had but this may well be due to the particularly high number of
attendees!

==Walk==
We organised a walk in conjunction with the Uni Walking Society. They planned their regular
Saturday walk specially to include a half and whole day route that could be accessed via
buses from Sheffield. It wasn’t very well attended - we could probably have advertised it
better – but it didn’t cost us anything apart from a couple of free tickets and it was good to
build on links with other Societies.

==Questionnaire/Survey==
Obviously decide for yourselves whether this is an additional task that you want to undertake,
but we did get some back some very useful information. Funders like statistics and quotes
about what people got out of the event. We got over 200 responses and with practice it only
took about 2-3 minutes to input data from one questionnaire. We used an Excel spreadsheet
to collate the data. Analysis took a fair few hours and the write up another few, so it’s quite
a big job. You’re welcome to use our questionnaire (or probably redesign it if you’ve got
someone with better computer design skills on the team!) or simplify it.

==Phone Numbers and Contact Address==
We got hold of a landline and a mobile phone number which actually earnt us money every
time someone called. They also (more importantly) could be redirected to any landline/any
phone respectively which was very handy indeed. Exeter have expressed an interest in
acquiring them so can hopefully pass them on after their event. Obviously you’ll need a
postal address too, and it can be a bit tricky deciding who’s not going to move until after
IVFDF!

==Finally==
Very sorry this has turned into an epic read! There are also lots of suggestions in the [[Sheffield, Survey
Report|Survey Report]].

The guidance document that someone from [[Cambridge, How to run an IVFDF|Cambridge]] produced (well worth a read) is also avaialble.

There’s also an excellent, comprehensive guide to running festivals called ‘How to Paddle
Your Own Canoe’ by Richard Crowe of Folk South West. If you don’t mind footing the
photocopying bill you’re welcome to your own copy – it’s probably about 50 pages long!

Do get in touch if there’s anything else you want to know.
Anne, Chair IVFDF 2003, 0114 266 8347, annewyatt@musician.org.

[[Category:Running An IVFDF]]

Sheffield, Advice On Host IVFDF

2005-04-08T02:03:51Z

IVFDF:

All the advice below is based on our experience of hosting an IVFDF, what worked and what
didn’t! There is advice on each of our Committee roles plus some additional bits. It’s not a
very grammatically correct document as there are lots of different people writing in the first
person!

==Committee organisation==
Our Committee comprised Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Officer(s), Morris Tour
Co-ordinator, Craft Fair Co-ordinator, Band Booking Co-ordinator, 2 Steward Co-ordinators,
Union Liaison, Workshops Co-ordinator, Website/Publicity. The biggest task (which wasn’t
clearly dealt with under a committee post) was venue booking – it might help to have a
dedicated post for this. Also be clear about who has responsibility for ticket sales which is a
big job just before the festival.

Think carefully about who to appoint, and to which posts – make the most of people’s skills
and recognise their weaknesses. E.g. one of our committee asked to resign from fundraising
as she was not good at working to long deadlines, but did a great job managing the craft fair.
Also think about who has daytime availability to phone/call in to make bookings.
Make sure people aren’t taking on too much with their existing commitments. Conflicts will
inevitably arise when people are on both the IVFDF and student folk society committees at
the same time, but it is useful to have people who know what is going on in both! Don’t let
one person do too much – even if they are useful or have lots of time it can cause problems
if they get too busy, go down ill. If someone wants to do lots get them to work jointly with
other people instead and don’t let them take over.

The fact that you are on the committee usually means that you are very active in the folk
society that you represent. Getting involved with things other than the running the festival is
very tempting (ie display, dancing on Morris tour). However you do need to consider that
during the festival you will need to do a fair bit of stewarding, as the main locations all really
need a member of committee present and available to answer questions, liase with band,
tickets etc. Therefore I advise not getting involved with too much else to do with the festival,
because while there is theoretically time enough, it leaves you fairly brain dead. It also puts
pressure on the other members of the committee that aren’t involved in the extra things, as
they have to deal with the problems that arise without you. These things are best left to
other active members of the society, who are not on the committee.

==Meetings==
We met about every 4-6 weeks for the first eighteen months, with gaps over the summer and
other holidays. Then every 2-4 weeks for about 5 months, and every week in the month
before the festival. This felt about the right balance to get things done but not be absolutely
sick of meeting up!

With hindsight I feel we left too many decisions to be discussed and made at the meetings.
We could have speeded things up by having discussions between the necessary people prior
to the meetings and coming along with proposals to be approved by the committee.

==Reps Meeting==
Although this is a one off job, just an hour and a half during the IVFDF weekend, it seemed
to generate a disproportionate amount of stress! In previous years it’s been poorly
advertised with no clear explanation/invitation in the programme, on reflection the whole
meeting might need to become a bit more exciting before regular IVFDF punters are rushing
to be there!

The Chairperson also chairs the Reps Meeting. I feel I did this pretty badly, as I wasn’t very
well prepared or sufficiently knowledgeable about the bureaucracy of the voting systems etc.
Advice on Hosting IVFDF

Again, hopefully things might improve for you as there are changes under discussion. On the
other hand you may have a challenging meeting next year if the Reps Meeting in the autumn
does come up with lots of proposals for change!

The Treasurer needs to give a financial report, and the Secretary takes the minutes. The
meeting is very bewildering to a first timer, so having to take the minutes if you’ve never
been to the meeting before, and especially if you don’t know who people are, is a bad plan.
We therefore advise that the secretary attends the meeting the year before, even if they do
not have to attend to give the report or vote. It’s difficult having to write as well as listen, to
consulting with the other members of the committee who were at the meeting is also very
helpful in checking the minutes. The style of the minutes is also very different from regular
Committee Meetings, much more detailed, and with more emphasis on the discussion that
takes place, as well as the outcomes.

You need to take names and details of everyone who attends. Only two people from each
society have voting rights. This year we introduced a form to collect info about the societies
represented, it’s included as an attachment.

===Chairperson===
The key role is to have a clear overview of everything that needs to be done, when it needs
to be done by and see that it gets done – but not necessarily by you! You’re the person who
should know how all the different bits of the planning fit together, so make sure you share
this information and keep everyone informed.

You need to Chair the meetings, discuss and agree on how things should be done, and
decide who will do what and by when. Then you need to follow things up - don’t be afraid to
ring/email to prompt people, and you can always offer to help out so it doesn’t feel too much
like pestering! It's much better to pick up on problems early and make plans to sort things
out than to let someone struggle on and then get mad at them when the situation has
become urgent.

I sometimes needed someone to bounce ideas off/discuss problems with. The Committee
were generally great for this, although on other Committees I’ve been on the Vice-President
has fulfilled this function well too.

The job is very varied as you can take on tasks from any area of the festival planning, I did
quite a lot of publicity work, the application for the Lottery Funding, poster distribution etc.
In my experience the problem with getting involved in too much is that you’ll need to do an
awful lot of talking at meetings and therefore probably won’t chair them too well!!
It’s a long hard slog doing two years of advance planning before really seeing the results, but
it’s definitely worth it. Don’t make the same mistake I did though, starting a new job the day
after the festival! - have a day off break instead.

===Treasurer===
The treasurer is one of the most important roles immediately prior to IVFDF, particularly if
they are dealing with ticket sales and bookings. We also found that the treasurer was
involved with most processes of the festival such as booking bands, rooms and workshops
even if someone else has responsibility for these tasks. The treasurer has to make sure that
committee members give them details of expected and actual expenditure, and also needs to
provide the Committee with regular financial updates. Chose someone who can use Excel
well – you need separate figures on expected and actual expenditure, and break downs of
how any special funding was used. Everything needs to add up right!!
We had a ‘clubs and societies’ bank account with NatWest, which was one of the only banks
who weren’t going to charge us…their service left a lot to be desired though. Access to the
bank was generally in the daytime, so chose a branch close to where you work/study. You
may need to give some warning plus written permission and things in order to take out large
amounts of cash for the actual festival weekend. Have lots of signatories in case one of them
walks out the week before the festival as happened for us – nightmare!

==Sponsorship==
In general we found that small scale sponsorship is a lot of work and you don’t get much for
it. We successfully got funding from Hobgoblin music shops – I think businesses already into
folk are more likely to agree. Also, ask people to sponsor specific bits of the festival eg. wrist
bands, a ceilidh, posters etc and quote a price for it, in return for publicity. Donations in kind
e.g. asking local restaurants to provide meals for artists can work too.

The University Music Department joint funded the concert with money they already had set
aside for their concert series and wanted to spend on a folk artist. Again, I think working in
partnership with other organisations is more successful because you both gain, rather than
going ‘begging’ when it may not be clear how the donor is really going to benefit.

On the other hand lottery funding or charity funding was well worth the time although the
form is quite an epic! . We had to demonstrate the social benefits of IVFDF to the local
community. The central IVFDF constitution was amended at the 2003 Reps Meeting to
include Aims and Objectives – these are generally required by funders. When making
funding applications it is generally best to be honest about what the festival can already selffund,
and apply for funding for something extra to what you usually do. Look out for the
‘Grant Making Trusts’ guide and the Funder Finder CD-Rom.

We also got Special Initiative funding from the Union – hopefully yours will be able to provide
some extra dosh too!

Also a bit of funding (£150/350 depending who you talk to) is almost guaranteed from the
Scottish Country Dance Society, you just have to write to them to request it.
We also successfully applied for a bursary (which will probably be available again next year)
to attend the Association of Festival Organisers conference on behalf of IVFDF. It was quite
useful, although the fact that it was taking place just down the road was a great incentive!!

==Budget==
We worked to a very conservative budget, a sort of worst case scenario, which was very
reassuring when making commitments to what felt like very large expenditures!

==Expenses==
Keep reminding Committee members to claim expenses! We were quite happy to accept
some estimates of expenditure on travel, mobile phones, other phone calls etc as well as the
usual expenses with receipts. Everyone is giving an enormous amount of time for nothing so
they don’t need to be out of pocket as well!!

==Underwriting and loan==
You can apply in writing one year in advance (I think) for a loan (thus far £1000) from central
IVFDF funds, which helps a lot with cash flow. You can also expect some underwriting from
Friends of IVFDF, although the amount they could offer us (£300) was minimal in relation to
our actual budget! These systems are under review by the Reps meeting so things may
improve.

==Insurance==
Not exactly a ‘finance’ thing but never mind! The event needs public liability insurance which
can be obtained by becoming a member of EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society)
who can be contacted via their website. Usually you need to make a special application to
join as ‘IVFDF’ but for some reason this year they said that we were covered already because
the Ceilidh Society was a member.

==Tickets==
We printed event/day tickets on card, and sold them through the Union box office as well as
selling them directly. See below for details of wrist band supplier for weekend tickets. Here’s
a quick resume of our ticket prices (including a couple that weren’t on the flier):

<table>
<tr><th>Type</th><th>Waged</th><th>Unwaged</th></tr>
<tr><td>Full weekend</td><td>£20</td><td>£13</td></tr>
<tr><td>Afternoon ceilidhs</td><td>£3</td><td>£3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Friday evening</td><td>£5</td><td>£4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Saturday</td><td>£10</td><td>£7</td></tr>
<tr><td>HoraceX</td><td>£3.50</td><td>£3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Workshops</td><td>£3</td><td>£2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Saturday concert</td><td>£6</td><td>£4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Saturday ceilidhs</td><td>£5</td><td>£4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stewards</td><td>£7</td><td>£7</td></tr>
</table>

It’s impossible to keep track of tickets using tick sheets. It doesn’t work – various people told
us this and we were sure we would be different but… Anyway as far as I can tell the only
way to keep track is to have different tickets for different purposes and know how many you
had when you started. Because we did this as well as the tick sheets we have a good idea of
final numbers but as the counting takes time and tickets are in different locations, we weren’t
able to work this out until after the festival.

Advanced ticket sales: Even though the number of these is fairly low you need to be very
careful to record all the details in the event of any problems. That means recording the
details of every cheque received, the person you received the money from, and what it was
for. I’d suggest a grid in a spreadsheet or database with the total automatically calculated so
that you can check the final figures without any effort. Always take reservations ‘just in case’
or inform people that they are not available – <i>telling people that it will be no problem if they
just turn up is an invitation for disaster as we found out!</i>

Despite the fact that most of our advanced tickets were bought in the last month we had
bookings on flyers we had sent out going back over quite a period of time.
There should be more encouragement to book in advance. Just about every past IVFDF
including ours, had a problem with late booking. This needs to change (for cash flow
reasons) and we would encourage you to offer cash advantages for advanced bookings (or
increase the price for those who pay on the door or late). Credit card/online bookings might
help.

==Secretary==
The day to day general duty of the secretary was to field the emails coming to the festival.
Almost all correspondence I dealt with was via email. The letterhead we designed did get
some use though in correspondence to stall holders/bands etc. An email link from the
website proved to be used plenty. Our official email address was set up specifically for the
festival, and therefore was easy to recognise and use. Also this meant that emails going out
from the festival seemed more professional. Emails coming in often needed to be forwarded
to other members of the committee. When this happened I would forward the mail, and reply
to the sender, informing him/her of who the mail had been forwarded to, and the email of
that person. This means that the sender knows that the mail has been received and dealt
with, and can contact that person directly.

Often, especially as the festival approaches, enquiry’s come through about minor things that
haven’t been considered. When a meeting is week away, it is easier to get in contact with the
committee by email and resolve the issue so a reply can be given. To keep enquiries to a
minimum, it is really useful to have as much information as possible available on the website.
The more major, but less frequent job is to send out reminders for meetings: I generally tried
to send two, one ten days before, the other four days before. And to write the minutes of the
meetings . These minutes contain the decisions of the committee, and who is going to act on
them. I typed all the minutes and then distributed them as an attachment to an email. (The
committee were all attached to one email list set up at the beginning of the process,
Committee members were then added and removed as appropriate as the committee grew
and changed). The advantage of the email was that the committee could save the minutes
to disk, so whereas pieces of paper are easily lost, computers aren’t.

I found that the best way to organise the minutes was to group together related stuff, ie
publicity, money etc, rather than to record everything in the exact order it was mentioned in
the meeting. This meant that finding things when referring back to the minutes was easier.
When people volunteered to do a certain task, their name was boldified so it stood out in the
minutes. The Secretary also takes the minutes of the Reps Meeting during the festival (see
below).

==Craft fair==

===Balance of stalls===
This is a list of all the stalls at Sheffield IVFDF, 2003. The first
three are regular IVFDFers, and expect to be invited. Pete Cunningham (PJ music)and Mick
Peat (ADA Music) are willing to distribute publicity at other festivals, so well worth
approaching early. Otherwise, I went round all the festivals I went to, and local markets, and
then wrote to everyone who sounded remotely interested. Some of them might be worth
approaching again, but bear in mind that the majority are local. You might get requests for a
monopoly on certain goods, so it could be useful to decide in advance what you’re going to
say about this (for example, we agreed not to invite any more CD stalls).

===Craft Contacts===
<table>
<tr><th>Name</th><th>Address</th><th>Phone / email</th><th>Contact</th><th>Product</th></tr>
<tr><td>P J Music</td>
<td>Wayside Cottage,
Chapel Lane,
Botesdale,
Diss,
Norfolk,
IP22 1DT</td>
<td>01379 890088, 07968 687011, pjmusic@btinternet.com</td>
<td>Pete Cunningham</td>
<td>Musical instruments, etc

<tr><td>Pete Grassby</td>
<td>22 Derwent Road,
Coventry CV6 2HB</td>
<td>Pete Grassby</td>
<td>Musical instruments, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>ADA Music</td>
<td></td>
<td>01773 85000, 01773 853428</td>
<td>Mick Peat</td>
<td>CDs</td></tr>

<tr><td>Thrift music</td>
<td>21 Connaught Avenue,
Frinton-on-Sea,
Essex
CO13 9PN</td>
<td>01255 679232, info@thrift-music.com</td>
<td>Jon/Pam Fitzgerald</td>
<td>Instruments, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>Earth Spirit</td>
<td>16 School Grove,
Aston, Sheffield
S26 2DF</td>
<td>0114 2879592</td>
<td>Andy Ducker</td>
<td>Ladies ethnic/alternative clothing</td></tr>

<tr><td>Mullumbimby</td>
<td>1 St Laurence's
Terrace, Adwick-le-Street, Doncaster
DN6 7AH</td>
<td>01302 725418, 07909 603175, mullumbimby@bushinternet.com</td>
<td>Julie Mudie</td>
<td>Gemstones, crystals, ethnic products, jewellery, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>Guat Shoes</td>
<td>221 School Road,
Sheffield,
S10 1GN</td>
<td>0114 268 6364, sales@guatshoes.co.uk</td>
<td>Bridget Tingle</td>
<td>Hand-made shoes</td></tr>

<tr><td>Crafty Things</td>
<td>7 Rising Street,
Sheffield
S3 9HW</td>
<td>0114 2966788, ben@craftythings.net</td>
<td>Ben Masters</td>
<td>Suncatchers, cards, beads, coaster, hats, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>SRFN</td>
<td></td>
<td>morris.this@virgin.net</td>
<td>Sue Cain</td>
<td>Music stuff</td></tr>
</table>

<tr><td>Yabba</td>
<td>Unit 16,
Chaucer Yard,
Countess Road,
Sheffield
S1 4TE</td>
<td>0114 2756066, 07932 886582, sales@yabba.uk.net</td>
<td></td>
<td>Jamaican condiments, cooking sauces, etc</td></tr>

<tr><td>Dave Eyre</td>
<td>43 Storrs Hall Road,
Sheffield, S6 5AW</td>
<td>0114 2344044, dave@deyre.plus.com</td>
<td>Dave Eyre</td>
<td>Collectors books, vinyl, etc</td></tr>

</table>

===Cost===
We charged £15 per stall. This seemed to be viewed as reasonable.

===Space===
Decide in advance how much space you’re going to allow for each stall. I kind of
had in mind one trestle table each, but wasn’t there at setting up time (long
story!) and people helped themselves to three each by default. It just about
worked, but if you’re short on space it might be as well to make this clear in
advance, as actually three tables seemed to be the minimum people needed.

===Setting up===
Many of the stalls wanted quite a bit of time to set up (up to a couple of
hours). If this isn’t possible, make it clear if, for example, the fair’s likely to get
off to a slow start and it doesn’t matter if not everyone’s ready at the beginning!

===Licensing===
Try to find out whether or not you need a license to hold a craft fair. We had
to obtain a license from the markets department of the local council.

===Where / When===
Our craft fair was in the same room as the main events (afternoon /
evening ceilidhs), which meant it could benefit from people hanging around and
there didn’t seem to be a security problem. We opened it all day and evening
Saturday and all day Sunday, and traders reported that Sunday afternoon was
the busiest time for sales, although people browsed all weekend. Sales might
have been higher if the stalls were near the welcome desk, as people were quite
slow to seek them out. It was also possible to leave the stalls set up overnight,
which was greatly appreciated.

===Public opening===
We officially opened to the public during the day, which helped attract
stalls and, we thought, meant there was a possibility of non-IVFDFers being
tempted to join in a ceilidh. In fact very few people wandered in, possibly
because of a lack of publicity and inaccessibility.

==Steward Co-ordinator==
===General points===
* Firstly if your event is spread across multiple venues it can become difficult to have one
steward co-ordinator (can’t exist in two places at once) thus it is a good idea to have
two. We had one steward co-ordinator helping to run things in the students union and
one at Burton Street (the sleeping venue).
* We produced a stewards pack for each of the stewards, each pack contained a time table
for the steward (when they where on duty), as well as a document containing all the
useful information a steward should know for dealing with festival goers.
* Sound engineers are extremely useful people, basically they can run the set-up of an
event as steward co-ordinator, you just need to make sure they have enough people to
help them set-up in time (you can get numbers from the sound engineer).
* Throughout the whole weekend every man and his dog will need to get hold of you. If
you have got a mobile give the number to everybody (put it in the stewards pack). If
you don't have a mobile see if you can get one, it makes life a lot easier.
* You will need some way to move equipment around between venues. Since normally the
number of people (with cars) who can do this is fairly limited try to arrange this first, and
try to avoid allocating this job to committee, as they really will be busy enough!

===The Desk===
We found it helpful during IVFDF to have one central help desk, constantly staffed, where
people could come for help and to buy tickets and t-shirts.
* It’s extremely helpful to have a list of all the pre-booked tickets in a nice easy to use tick
sheet for the staff on the desk.
* Label the steward packs on the desk with the persons name to speed things up.
* If large coach parties have pre-phoned to tell you numbers it worth getting tickets ready
for them.
* Most of the acts/artists will have comp tickets, it worth bundling them into labelled
envelopes so they can be quickly handed to bands as they arrive so they can get on with
setting up.
* It's worth having sign up sheets for a few things at the desk, the most important of
which is display rehearsal slots, and the Morris tour. This makes running these events a
lot easier.

We attempted to get a small number of stewards to take on responsibility for a venue for the
whole weekend, but it was too much work and no-one volunteered! This might be a good
use of Committee expertise, and the continuity would help a lot, as the stewarding shifts
change so often. In each venue the person could have all the information about that venue,
and about all events/artists there.

==Booking the Bands & Performers==
This is what we did. The most important thing is to make the bookings early and to get them
in writing.

===18 months before===
Choose who you want to appear; contact them to check availability and
cost. Early contact means it's more likely they will be available and
probably cheaper too. There is a huge fee difference between acts so
don't be put off if the first few you contact seem extortionate, e.g. Kate
Rusby wanted £2000 which is several times more than Martin Carthy.
Make sure you remember to agree on who supplies the PA, the sound
man, the caller for ceilidh bands, and workshop duties.

===12 months before===
We sent out booking letters to performers confirming the booking: what
we expected from them, and what their fee was. Included a copy of this
agreement for them to sign and return. Fees and riders are negotiable,
so get these sorted and state what has been agreed on the confirmation
letter.

===2 months before===
Sent out a reminder/confirmation of agreed performance(s), fee, rider,
PA, with a copy to be signed & returned.
Also sent details of location, accommodation, and mobile phone number
for the event, and requested photos/info for the programme and
preferred method of payment.

===IVFDF===
Have a person at the venue to check that the band turns up and help with
setting up of equipment. Have performers tickets ready, and have
payment ready to hand over at the end of the performance.

Problems encountered:
* One band complained of too many requests for confirmation, but this was because they
didn't respond until we contacted them several times by email and letter.
* One band had a very precise PA and stage set up. They sent this to us early, but we
were unable to respond until very late due to our lateness in booking the PA.
* One band turned up and requested several guest tickets, which had not been agreed or
requested before.
* Booking through an agent, rather than the band/performer directly - the agent tends to
be harsh and demanding whereas when booking with the band they tended to be more
flexible.
* In general, the lesser-known and less well-established acts were the more demanding
and difficult to deal with. Martin Carthy was extremely friendly and nice to deal with.

Just a note to say that IVFDF has thus far avoided the attentions of the Performing Rights
Society (PRS) but could be liable in the future. If you need to know more, give me (Anne) a
ring as I attended a training session at the AFO conference. You also need to check that the
venues have a Public Entertainment Licence. Addendum: We have since been contacted by
the union for details of who played – apparently the union paid the fee our behalf.

==Publicity==
We think there is a fair bit you can do in the way of publicising the event to people but it’s
impossible to do everything. In our case we targeted our publicity at the other folk festivals
and events with a fairly young audience and made sure that flyers and leaflets made it to
these events. We spent a lot of time at festivals with Russel (the ceilidh monster) on our
backs, which was a good talking point and made us lots of friends too!, we also made a fairly
huge banner and took it along to as many festivals as we possibly could. In general our idea
was to try and ensure that IVFDF got into peoples minds and stayed there.
We used our logo loads, so it’s worth having one you really like! We produced flyers, (one lot
didn’t include the location of the festival which was a bit of a blunder!), A4 posters and A5
posters. Pete Cunningham (PJ music) and Mick Peat (ADA Music) are willing to distribute
flyers at other festivals

We sent flyers to all the active student organisations we had listed in early 2002 and we also
emailed all the student unions and folk, dance or music related student related organisations
we could find an address for. In general we didn’t send out flyers blind (because it costs too
much) but we did offer them in the email we sent out and quite a few took us up on it. By
the time this reaches anyone we should have our mailing list compiled in a form that is
suitable to give out.

We spent a fairly large amount on having inserts added to our local student ‘What’s On’
weekly publication to create a bit more of an impression on local students than a simple
advert.

We put in a fair amount of effort in advertising to the local area including adverts in local folk
magazines. In general our decision on this was based on whether we thought the advert
would bring in enough extra ticket sales to cover the cost– we found this a very useful rule of
thumb. We also sent flyers to the established UK Ceilidh Series, e.g. Haddenham
Attached is a document giving details of lots of useful contacts including UK folk listings. Also
useful are the Yorkshire Folk Arts website which has lists of all UK Folk Magazines. Also
Direct Roots (comprehensive annual folk event listings) [www.direct-roots.com] .

==Website==
We put in quite a bit of effort into the design of the website but apart from
impressing a few people this was probably fairly pointless. The important thing is to make
sure that the information about the festival is available and even this can take a fair amount
of work. In our case this post was taken on as part of the running of publicity but you may
well find that this is enough work in itself.

==Morris Tour==
* Get permission from the council to dance at the sites you want, and remember to
take the letter granting this permission with you on the tour to avoid getting booted
off by jobsworths.
* Check out the pubs in advance for folk friendlyness and capacity for lunch.
* Trying to get teams to commit in advance seemed futile. Have a sign up list in
reception.
* Get teams to state who they NEED to be with (we had about four teams who all
seemed to be sharing musicians and dancers and no-one seemed to know exactly
what the connections were).
* Groups of about three teams seemed sensible in the morning, about four or five later
on. Any more and each team doesn't get enough dancing, any fewer and it’s too
knackering.
* If any group doesn't contain a suitably knowledgeable person, get a local steward to
guide them round the spots.

==Workshops==
Sorry – we didn’t get any feedback or list of contacts from our workshop organiser who has
now left the country!

Issues to consider include:
* Priority given to weekend ticket holders/people paying for individual workshops
* Advance bookings (or not!)
* Knowing your capacity for each workshop in advance
* Checking equipment requirements e.g. microphones, CD player, type of fllor, size of
room, other e.g. brooms/wellies!
* Contingnecy plans if workshops leaders don’t turn up – we had particular problems with
local ones…
* How to inform people of last minute changes e.g. imtes/venues
* Be clear about expectations on performers e.g. bands who are also providing workshops.
Other than that, feel free to rack the brains of the rest of the committee – we might know
something/someone useful.

==Venue Booking==
As you are probably aware, accommodation was our biggest problem! I think it is going to
become increasingly difficult to find venues willing to let large numbers of people stay
overnight as everyone is becoming obsessed with health and safety and fire regulations etc.
I’d therefore recommend making venue booking your first priority as there are a lot more
good bands around than there are suitable venues!! Also, if you run into difficulties with the
Union/University it would probably be worth taking an early decision to look for another site
e.g. a school, like Cambridge used very successfully. It seemed like an expensive option
when we first considered it but we ended up paying at least as much in individual charges.
Also, a venue like a school may give you more autonomy to run the event how you want e.g.
less regulations/no paid security staff, which could resolve a few of the problems we
encountered.

Although everyone was accommodated in the Union at the 1998 Sheffield IVFDF it took the
Union 23 months this time to decide that they could only allow about 60 people to stay there.
We were also let down by the University sports centre. We tried over thirty other venues, all
of which refused us, before finding the Burton Street Project. I’d still recommend trying
community centres, church halls, scout huts etc if you can’t get everyone in on University
premises.

Other issues to consider:
* Luggage storage
* Showers
* Late night dance/session space
* Quiet sleeping area
* Children (you’re responsible for any unaccompanied under 18s if anything goes wrong).

==Attendance estimates==
It's really helpful to be able to give venues estimates of attendance at each event. Don't
forget that fire limits etc. are far higher than the number of people that you can comfortably
fit in for a ceilidh. These were our estimated attendance figures but I imagine they were
exceeded:

<table>
<tr><th>Event</th><th>Numbers</th></tr>
<tr><td>Fri eve Hekety ceilidh</td><td>350</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fri eve Alterations ceilidh</td><td>150</td></tr>
<tr><td>Workshops</td><td>10-100</td></tr>
<tr><td>Display ceilidh</td><td>300</td></tr>
<tr><td>Survivor's ceilidhs</td><td>300</td></tr>
<tr><td>Concert</td><td>200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sat eve Bedlam ceilidh</td><td>450</td></tr>
<tr><td>HoraceX</td><td>Unknown<br><i>(we were all busy dancing)</i></td></tr>
<tr><td>Reps Meeting</td><td>30</td></tr>
</table>

We had approximate capacities for the various venues based in part on our own experiences
in those venues and in part from information provided by the university so we knew when to
stop people entering and ask them to go to an alternative venue if one had space. By the
end of the first night we knew we had a problem because we were in danger of having far
more people than we had room for. Have a plan for what to do if you sell out, although
preferably a plan so that you don’t!

===Security===
It is worth explaining fully to Security staff what to expect at the event, and that it will not be
like dealing with a normal student club night. Our Security staff seemed to be expecting lots
of trouble but in the end were very impressed by what they experienced (exactly the same
happened in 98, although they seemed to have forgotten...), and they have offered to write a
reference for future IVFDFs.

===Children===
Make sure both sides know where they stand with this issue in advance. We had discussed
this issue with the Union and informed them when asked that there would be some
accompanied children. However on the Friday night of the festival Security told us that no
children were allowed in the venue at all. By which time there was very little we could do
about it, and several people got very upset.

===Confirmation===
We had problems with St. Phillips, which we booked over the phone: when we phoned back
they thought we had only made a provisional booking and as a result we could only use it
from 10.30 rather than 9 as planned. It’s worth checking, even if you feel like you’re
nagging!

==Programme==
You’ll know the format of a standard IVFDF: ceilidhs, workshops, Morris tour, display ceilidh
etc. We were very pleased with the popularity of the concert and roots event which were
changes from the usual programme. We tried to expand the display ceilidh from just dance
spots to include music/song/storytelling but I’m not aware that anyone took up the invitation.
We included the Scottish dance despite the fact that not many Sheffield people went to it, but
there are a lot of people from Scotland who attend IVFDF regularly and want a dedicated
dance…they expect a list of the programmed dances in advance. The caller type person is
usually happy to supply this.

We tried an A6 format for our programme which seemed to go down fairly well with people.
It gave us more flexibility in presentation as well as being easier for people to carry round in
a pocket. We also had a request for a large print version of the programme (it is probably a
legal requirement to provide this!)

Include LOTS of maps / directions (public transport, driving and on foot) / info on shops the
local area etc as people will somehow manage to miss some of it!

Our programme was not available very far in advance, which created some problems.
Advice on Hosting IVFDF

==Equipment==
You need to have a complete list of equipment required for each event and to check on any
special requirements for that equipment in that venue (i.e. PAT testing). Make sure that you
compile the list well in advance (at least a couple of weeks) and keep updating the list as you
get closer. A PAT tester on site (John Stewart) is very handy for last minute jobs.

==Parking==
You need parking near venues, and to find out whether there is a charge or not. Sort out a
drop-off point for coaches, and weekend parking for them, there are usually three or four
coaches. If sleeping is not at same place as events it is worth getting at least the large
parties to drop off their baggage at the sleeping venue when they arrive. We had to contact
the local police to arrange space for coaches to stop on the road (since we didn’t have
anywhere else they could park). We paid for two campus parking permits for the Friday
daytime so that committee could deliver stuff by car and park up – very useful.

==Signs==
It’s worth putting up lots of IVFDF signs to places, even if they’re already signed in other
ways. We had lots of complaints about finding the university from the tram stop, and finding
union venues, despite the fact that there were lots of directions but People didn’t notice them
as they weren’t IVFDF signs! Make signs on bright coloured paper, protect them from the
weather, and check throughout the weekend whether they’re still there!!

==Wristbands==
A lot smarter than badges / scrappy bits of paper! They took 2-3 weeks and cost about £80.
Orakel UK Ltd. 01824 702214 orakel-uk@admin.be

==T-Shirts==
We deliberately had fewer t-shirts made than previous IVFDFs because we felt on balance
that the loss in revenue was worth it to avoid the hassle of storing and transporting the ones
that didn’t sell at the event. We had and sold about 150 standard T-Shirts and an additional
50 steward T-shirt which included a fair number of ‘Lady fit’ ones – very popular as were the
few children/baby ones. We charged £7 per t-shirt. In retrospect we could have sold
considerably more than we had but this may well be due to the particularly high number of
attendees!

==Walk==
We organised a walk in conjunction with the Uni Walking Society. They planned their regular
Saturday walk specially to include a half and whole day route that could be accessed via
buses from Sheffield. It wasn’t very well attended - we could probably have advertised it
better – but it didn’t cost us anything apart from a couple of free tickets and it was good to
build on links with other Societies.

==Questionnaire/Survey==
Obviously decide for yourselves whether this is an additional task that you want to undertake,
but we did get some back some very useful information. Funders like statistics and quotes
about what people got out of the event. We got over 200 responses and with practice it only
took about 2-3 minutes to input data from one questionnaire. We used an Excel spreadsheet
to collate the data. Analysis took a fair few hours and the write up another few, so it’s quite
a big job. You’re welcome to use our questionnaire (or probably redesign it if you’ve got
someone with better computer design skills on the team!) or simplify it.

==Phone Numbers and Contact Address==
We got hold of a landline and a mobile phone number which actually earnt us money every
time someone called. They also (more importantly) could be redirected to any landline/any
phone respectively which was very handy indeed. Exeter have expressed an interest in
acquiring them so can hopefully pass them on after their event. Obviously you’ll need a
postal address too, and it can be a bit tricky deciding who’s not going to move until after
IVFDF!

==Finally==
Very sorry this has turned into an epic read! There are also lots of suggestions in the [[Sheffield, Survey
Report|Survey Report]].

The guidance document that someone from [[Cambridge, How to run an IVFDF|Cambridge]] produced (well worth a read) is also avaialble.

There’s also an excellent, comprehensive guide to running festivals called ‘How to Paddle
Your Own Canoe’ by Richard Crowe of Folk South West. If you don’t mind footing the
photocopying bill you’re welcome to your own copy – it’s probably about 50 pages long!

Do get in touch if there’s anything else you want to know.
Anne, Chair IVFDF 2003, 0114 266 8347, annewyatt@musician.org.

History 2000 - 2009

2005-04-07T13:11:29Z

IVFDF:

[[History 2000 - 2009|2000 - 2009]]   |   [[History 1990 - 1999|1990 - 1999]]   |   [[History 1980 - 1989|1980 - 1989]]   |   [[History 1970 - 1979|1970 - 1979]]   |   [[History 1960 - 1969|1960 - 1969]]   |   [[History 1950 - 1959|1950 - 1959]]

<historylist>
2005|East Anglia|2005.gif|Possible the smallest committee so far. Running a very superior festival
2004|Exeter|exeter.gif||http://www.events.ex.ac.uk/ivfdf2004/
2003|Sheffield|2003.gif|The first IVFDF I've heard of that sold out. Going to need bigger venues next year!|http://ivfdf.ceilidhsoc.org/
2002|St. Andrews|2002.gif|IVFDF wandered all the way north to this quiet coastal village
2001|Cambridge|2001.gif|The first time IVFDF has been held in a school, which turned out to be an ideal site|http://ivfdf.ucam.org/
2000|Glasgow|2000.gif|A very successful festival held over the various buildings of Glasgow University
</historylist>
[[Category:History]]

Representatives meeting

2005-04-07T02:30:32Z

IVFDF:

[[Category:About IVFDF]]

Future events

2005-04-07T02:27:27Z

IVFDF:

One of the greatest aspects of IVFDF is its variety. Each year the festival is organised by a different group (usually associated with a university) with its own flavour and style. It also means that there is always the opertunity for any group that fancies a go to host the festival.

The festival is organised on a 3 year rolling schedule to allow each group pleanty of time to make arrangement.
This means that at any point there will usually be 2 or 3 festival committees in existence, one finishing (or in final preporations), one preparing for the next year and pottentially one just starting their planning.

If you would like to host and organise the festival all that is required is to come along to the [[Representatives meeting|AGM]] (held each year at the festival) with a bsic plan for what you would like to do. The AGM will choose between the various proposals.

If you would like to host the festival but are unsure if your group is up to the task you are welcome to as much or as little help as you feel you require.

[[Category:Future Events]]

Future events

2005-04-07T02:26:55Z

IVFDF:

One of the greatest aspects of IVFDF is its variety. Each year the festival is organised by a different group
(usually associated with a university) with its own flavour and style. It also means that there is always the
opertunity for any group that fancies a go to host the festival.

The festival is organised on a 3 year rolling schedule to allow each group pleanty of time to make arrangement.
This means that at any point there will usually be 2 or 3 festival committees in existence, one finishing (or in
final preporations), one preparing for the next year and pottentially one just starting their planning.

If you would like to host and organise the festival all that is required is to come along to the
[[Representatives meeting|AGM]] (held each year at the festival) with a bsic plan for what you would like to do.
The AGM will choose between the various proposals.

If you would like to host the festival but are unsure if your group is up to the task you are welcome to as much
or as little help as you feel you require.

[[Category:Future Events]]

Cambridge, Deciding on your programme

2005-04-07T02:09:59Z

IVFDF:

[[Cambridge, Setting up IVFDF|Setting up IVFDF]]   |   [[Cambridge, Deciding on your programme|Your programme]]   |   [[Cambridge, As IVFDF approaches|As IVFDF approaches]]   |   [[Cambridge, The festival build-up|Build-up]]   |   [[Cambridge, During the festival|During the festival]]   |   [[Cambridge, Random afterthoughts|Afterthoughts]]   |   [[Cambridge, Detailed attendance numbers|Attendance Numbers]]

==Programme==
This is where you decide what your festival will be. Don't listen
to what Cambridge tell you.

We actually asked ourselves two questions here:-
<ul><li>Do we have to follow the standard IVFDF format?
<li>Do we want to?
</ul>
(At that stage we were slightly worried that there had not been
very many displays in the 1997 display ceilidh, and were wondering
whether perhaps the displays could go to the evening dance and we
do something else on Saturday afternoon.)

Anyway our answers were no, yes.

On Friday evening we wanted a standard ceilidh, with something
a bit different, starting later to take the load off the ceilidh
as people arrived during the evening. In fact we used a French
dance as the different dance.

On Saturday we had the usual arrangement of workshops, with a
morris tour departing after the first; a display ceilidh in
the afternoon, one more workshop slot and then three big evening
dances. The evening dances were a ceilidh, a scottish dance
and something else. Often the something else has been a Playford
biased dance but we decided to have a Contra dance which turned
out to be very successful; in 1997 we had a Playfordish dance
which attracted a reasonable number, but not really enough
for the large hall it was in - it was definitely the least
popular dance whereas in 2001 all three dances were of roughly
equal popularity. We specifically wanted the Scottish dance
to be accessible to competent dancers who didn't know any
Scottish dances which is why we booked a caller we asked to call
the dances throughout rather then do a standard
Scottish MC job of announcing the dance and then letting
people who know it get on with it.

At some point we added up the available dancing space and had
a panic as to whether people would fit. (Our panic was valid
except we forgot that actually there are a lot of flaked-out
non-dancing people so we sold more tickets than we had
simultaneous dancers.) We had a bit of a debate and the options
we discussed were:-
<ul><li>Run another ceilidh
<li>Run a fourth, different, dance. What sort of different?
<li>Run speakers to an overflow room from the main ceilidh.
</ul>
Running two parallel dances that are essentially the same is
pretty unkind to whatever band ends up being regarded as the
second best one. I don't know how well the overflow room
would have worked had it been really needed, but in the
event a fourth dance would probably have left one of the
dances distinctly less well attended so in fact we seem
to have done the right thing even if it was rather by accident.

On Sunday we followed the standard format of morning workshops
followed by the survivors ceilidh.

==Workshops==
Our guiding principles were
<ul><li>We wanted a wide range of workshops
<li>We specifically wanted some Playford type workshops (the Round
is a Playford biased club)
<li>We wanted to ensure that a determined Anglo-American, Morris
or Scottish dancer could have a reasonable festival without going
too far from his determined dance form
<li>We wanted a few wacky workshops
<li>We wanted lots of cheap workshops (i.e. calling in favours
or finding local leaders who would not need expensive travel)
</ul>
We were nowhere near as formal as that list applies, but if you
had asked us that is probably the sort of list we would have
produced.

Most of the workshop leaders agreed to run their workshops six
months or more before the festival, but we didn't set up the
timetable until about a month before. This caused us some
problems (including getting the timetable in the programme
wrong because of some last minute changes) but on the other
hand did allow us to slot in some quite late additions such
as when some foreign dancer said "how about my running a yodelling
workshop". The massage and juggling workshops were run by
university societies we had asked ages before the festival
but never gave us useful replies until the last minute. (Some
other societies never gave useful replies so you were spared
their wacky workshops.) This is probably inevitable given
that we are asking favours from these societies who will
presumably call for volunteers to run the workshop and get
vague replies from students who can't plan when to submit
essays, let alone when to run workshops. Given that we are
cadging favours to get cheap workshops it is difficult to
argue with a workshop leader who suddenly says he can't do
Saturday, but is happy to come on Sunday.

Our workshop organiser also blames some of the delay on the
various workshops being farmed out to be organised by committee members with
the right contacts; this slowed everything down compared to
having everything organised by one person.

The other problem late workshop scheduling gives is advertising
to local dance clubs. Often local dancers will be interested
in one or two workshops in particular and will want to come
to a workshop by some renowned expert, but will demand to know
when to turn up.

I suspect that if our workshops had been organised by some
control freak type then we would have had a less interesting
workshop programme published a lot earlier. Let's face it:-
you don't really have much choice in who is going to organise
your workshop programme so you don't have much choice in
organisation style.

There are a tremendous number of people with a lot of goodwill
towards IVFDF so finding workshop leaders is actually quite
easy. If you are a poor lost student struggling to organise
workshops then start sending out SOS messages and help will
appear. Be a bit careful about how you handle this - it is
<strong>your</strong> festival so when someone tells you
to have workshops in X, Y and Z then be prepared to think
whether you actually want that; with luck you will have
to throw out various workshop possibilities so make sure it
ends up as your choice. The obvious starting point is the
last year's IVFDF workshop organiser who probably has a
few workshops they lost because the leader couldn't make
the particular date (danger signal, that was his choice,
not yours) or can put you in touch with any of his workshop
leaders ("I really liked that Welsh dance workshop in Cambridge,
can you suggest someone who could do it in St Andrews?"). Your
local dance clubs may be good at finding local experts (though
they will be unlikely to understand what IVFDF is about). The
other thing is to ask around the IVFDF fraternity - I expect
you could run a complete set of IVFDF workshops using the
festival goers from the previous year.

If your workshop leader has not seen IVFDF before then you
may need to explain what it is all about so that he can
pitch his workshop at the right level. You will also
struggle to extract a blurb for his workshop to go in the
programme. From the workshop leader's point of view
writing such a blurb is quite difficult, especially if
you don't really know about IVFDF; this makes postponing
writing it a very attractive proposition. It may end up
easier for the workshop organiser to discuss the workshop
with the leader and then produce a draft write-up. SAEs
and nagging E-mails help too.

[[Category:Running An IVFDF]]
[[Category:Cambridge]]