Final Report Written by Hella Bluhm Stieber & Mary Beth Train
Committee Members: Hella Bluhm Stieber, Chair. Shirley Lin, Signage.
Since I came on board late, I did not deal with all the items the facilities committee is normally responsible for, like the food arrangements.
Meeting room arrangements
I set up a spread sheet with the different meeting times, rooms, and events, as soon as I had most of that information available. That proved to be very useful for the other committee members as well as for the hotel. It is important to be in regular contact with all the committees responsible for the different program parts to make sure, that they have appropriate rooms and the right set-up for the different events. It was very helpful to have several meetings at the hotel to see how their set-up is and to make sure that everything will work. I found it also very valuable to have some face-to-face meetings with the other committee members. It was much easier to clarify some things that way then through e-mail or phone. The Precon meeting with the hotel staff proved very useful, since they had a change of contact persons, and some of the information about rooms and set-up got lost in the process. Since the "Banquet Event Order" forms from the hotel included all the room set-up, as well as any food arrangements, such as menus and quantity, I did not make separate forms for every event with all of that information.
The hotel’s "Banquet Event Order" (BEO) forms were sent to the Joint Committee Co-Chairs by the hotel. Those forms should have been faxed immediately to the following chairs: Facilities, Media, Program, Papers, Exhibits, RML Presentation. Those chairs would have caught errors, made the changes, and faxed them back to the Co-Chair collecting the forms. All forms should be faxed back, even those with no changes, so the forms coordinator would know all had been reviewed. There were at least 36 detailed forms to track. Better yet, the coordination of these forms should be the job of the facilities committee; it would have put me in better touch with these requirements for facilities.
It would have been helpful to have beforehand diagrams of the room set-ups with chairs, tables, media, posters and signs.
In planning the food, the hotel asked for past history of the conference to calculate the percentage of attendees who eat the continental breakfast and attend the lunches. The hotel need 3 days notice before each event to hire staff, since it had to go through a union hall. (Note: Union rules in conference cities affect facilities set-up and media equipment.)
A Joint Meeting Co-Chair staying in the hotel checked each room and the office either before or after each use to see that everything was ready and that things were picked up. There was always something to do.
Breaks
It was very successful to have the breaks and the beverages in the exhibit hall. This way many people went in there, and the exhibitors loved it.
Raffles were also held in the exhibit hall; exhibitors and attendees loved the location. There should have been a cart and mike on the exhibit hall BEO for raffles. We asked a hotel staffer to walk though the exhibit hall ringing dinner chimes before the PSRML 30th anniversary cake cutting, which took place there.
Registration
Many participants had problems to find the registration table or did not care to look for it, since it was in another area of the hotel. It should be closer to the other events or exhibits. It was convenient, however, to have it in front of the Joint Meeting office room. I put an "Emergency Box", well labeled, with a lift-up lid (so the lid wouldn’t get lost) with such things like tape, stapler, scissors, glue stick, pens, pencils, eraser, with each item labeled so it would go back in the box. We used it a lot. We should have added a coat rack and a table lamp for each of the six foot tables on the BEO.
Signage committee
The signage was a subcommittee of the facilities committee. It was important to keep up-to-date with last minute program or program title changes. I made a draft of what the signs should look like and got a copy of the meeting logo for the committee. You need a person at the meeting who is willing to set up signs every morning and change them during the day if needed. Make sure that they are signs and maps for events which are at a different location. (We did not have good maps for the PowerPoint class at San Jose State University. The maps should have been available at the Registration/Hospitality desk for pick up and should have been labeled for that class.) Shirley Lin has a separate report on how she made the reusable signs.
Report on Signage, by Shirley Lin, SCVMC Library, San Jose
Thirteen signs (22"x28") made for the following sessions:
1. Plenary session/speakers
2. Posters -2
3. Presentations -3
4. Registration/hospitality
5. Directionals -2
6. CE classes
7. Exhibitors
8. Dessert Reception/IMAX
9. E-Conference
Approximate cost: $140.00
Logo was created by Christian Anderson, friend of Ron Schultz--image downloaded from web; color reproduction put on all signs
Article was written describing the sign-making process for participants at request of co-joint chair, Mary Beth Train (attached)
Signs were put up and taken down by facilities chair, Hella Bluhm-Stieber. Might be better to delegate this task in future.
A Hip Librarian on Presentation Signs & Posters
By Shirley Lin, MLS, AHIP*
I was asked by Mary Beth Train, joint co-chair of the NCNMLG/MLGSCA in San Jose on Feb.5-6, to share my techniques in preparing the signs for the meeting. This is written for who asked about these signs with the "Bridge to the Millennium" logo by Christian Anderson (a friend of Ron Schultz, joint co-chair) on the top left corner on Royal Blue or Purple poster board.
The advantages of using this technique are many. The signs cost far less than commercial products and are reusable and repositionable. You can make last minute changes to copy without extra costs. Comparable costs for each commercial sign ( dimensions 22" x 28") would be around $35 for up to 10 words, each additional word costs $1.00 more. Medical Librarians are willing to share many words of wisdom with colleagues. Translated into signs this means more $$$ for more words. Estimate total costs around $700.00 for 14 signs.
My gross cost to produce about 14 large signs and smaller directional signs was around $140, not including my labor of love.
Supplies/charges breakdown:
Poster Board--heavy weight 22" x 28" @$2.00 x14 28.00
2-sided Mylar Pockets (Gaylord)
3mm 20.5" x 24.25" 2pks@$32.75 65.50
Double-sided roll of tape (3M) 3/4" @ 10.00 10.00
Logo -14 color copies from print of floppy disk image@.1.09 10.90
10.90
Text on 8.5" x 11" copy paper -using MS Word no charge
2 servings of Fruit Smoothies for sustenance & stamina 6.00
Total $ 119.40
NOTE: Local sales taxes and ship charges were not included in these figures.
Gross total costs estimated around $140 with these added charges ($20.00).
ORDERING:
All items should be ordered at least one month before the event or when needed.
The Mylar Pockets were the only item not easily found. Only Gaylord carries this item and I ordered the largest size (Catalog # M2024L) 20.5" x 24.25" which comes in packets of 10. A small note on the description in the catalog says that these items are .25" more all the way around in actual dimensions. The Gaylord Mylar Pockets come with two layers, front and back. Of the four sides, two are sealed and two left open so you can insert sheets of copy in between. Decide right away which sides you want to leave open and be consistent in positioning these pockets for all your signs. You'll save yourself a lot of grief when it's time to position your text and graphics. I decided to have the pockets open at the right and top for the easiest insertion. Bottom openings are very iffy. You're defying the laws of gravity when you are ready to set your signs up vertically, so don't do it!
The Gaylord order was sent for processing through our hospital order department in mid-December for the early February meeting. Due to holiday and other delays, the item was not processed until mid-January by the hospital ordering dept. It took several discreet, but anxious phone calls from my discreet and patient library assistant, Barbara J. Cabasug, to both vendor and processing clerks, before we got the order off to Gaylord to arrive about 2 weeks before the meeting.
All other items can be found in local stationers. If possible, the poster boards should be ordered from a art-supply store which carries heavier weight poster boards. These usually come in 28" x 44" sizes and with a small charge for cutting to the correct size. It can be done on the premise while you wait. My problem is not getting tempted and purchasing some of the alluring art supplies and art objets located nearby.
These techniques should also work for poster presentations and other displays.
ASSEMBLY:
Now comes the fun part. The challenge is not to get tangled up in the double sided tape when positioning the mylar pockets onto the poster board so you don't ruin too many before you get the technique down.
The 3-M company tapes come with a paper seal on one side which I discovered has a great advantage in holding on to the tape without getting too stuck up. After several mini-disasters, You'll have more control by putting a first strip of tape to the bottom of the back of the pocket back. Got that?
Then you could position your pocket first and get it aligned to the sides with the least change of error. After the paper seal is removed, your pocket is in place. Follow with two more tapes on left and right sides near the outer edges. Because of the long lengths of tape used, you may have trouble getting a smooth and straight seal. The smaller wrinkles can be smooth down and it's a transparent surface so don't try to be flawless in your execution. Once taped down, the tape can't be lifted and repositioned--you'll take up a good chunk of poster board with the tape. If you used colored poster board, it'll look like peeled wall paint.
CONTENTS:
After you have your boards assembled with the mylar pockets in place, you're ready to insert copy and graphics. There are some basic rules for attractive and effective presentations: SIMPLICITY, LEGIBILITY, CONSISTENCY. These same rules apply for slide, overheads and computer-generated talks.
Simplictiy: Keep graphics to a minimum. Keep colors to a minimum. Avoid mixing green and red in text and headers for the 7-10% audience with color-blindness (mostly males). Focus on the contents.
Legibility: Black type on white background looks the clearest. Use color for words you want to emphasis sparingly. You can type almost all of your copy on a word processor or presentation software and get acceptable quality from a deskjet or laser printer. I cut and pasted the copy for longer texts. If you want a more professional look, you could try to cut and paste and then copy the contents onto a ledger size 11" x 17" paper copy.
Consistency: Putting the conference logo and theme in the same location on your signs so attendees can find the right notices among competing ones. Take a tip for the advertising industry, such as Coca Cola, Apple, and KFC, and make your presentation have a consistent and distinctive look.
The Joint Meeting logo was obtained from the Joint Meeting webmaster who sent it to us via e-mail in different graphic formats. We copied the image using a good quality printer borrowed from one of the doctors. I cleaned the logo up (straightened out the jazzed lines) before using, I went to a local color copy store for reproduction. The quality of the image using our library deskjet printer was unacceptable.
Position graphics and texts as you'd like the final presentation to be read. Use a small piece of double-sided tape behind each insert and paste onto the back mylar sheet, so curve them if you think they'll look more appealing. For larger heading, try inexpensive software, like PrintShop Delux, to make banner-sized headers.
Put the text copy behind the top mylar sheet. You can still reposition your texts and graphic if you carefully lift the double-sided tape. Most signs look best with straightly positioned text. You can be a little more creative with the headings and slant or curve your headers.
I attended an excellent CE class on creating presentations using MS PowerPoint taught by Julia Kochi and Melissa Just, librarians from the University of California at San Francisco. Their principles of good presentations mentioned here apply to any format you may be using, whether posters, slides, overheads or computer-generated presentation talks. They gave me some good tips on effective presentations. Do take such classes if you want to be more effective in marketing your library to staff and for training presentations as well.
Good luck!
RESOURCES:
Gaylord Brothers, Box 4901, Syracuse, NY 13221-4901
1-800 448-6160
http://www.gaylord.com
University Art Centers, many locations in California and other region
CE Class: Creating Effective Presentations Using Microsoft PowerPoint.
Melissa Just, MLIS e-mail: just@library.ucsf.edu
Julia Kochi, MLIS, email: kochi@library.ucsf.edu
SOFTWARE USED: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint
* Medical Librarian (Dept. Mgr.), Milton J. Chatton Medical Library, 751 S.
Bascom Avenue, SSn (Dept. Mgr.), Milton J. Chatton Medical Library, 751
S. Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128. Hospital e-mail:
linshi@wpgate.hhs.co.santa-clara.ca.us
Part-time graphics artist, e-mail: silk@svpal.org
2/16/99 Shirley Lin, MLS, AHIP