Contents:
At the beginning of the year, make a list of all the offices and the number of people in each. This can usually be obtained from the grad student advisor. Create an equitable rotation of about 25 elements: combine small offices, and call on large offices more often. Perhaps look at last year's schedule to avoid an office running a TGIF both late in the spring and early in the fall.
Here are two models for assigning TGIFs to offices. You can choose one of them or devise your own.
Could one of you please volunteer to coordinate the TGIF on ? (If that date doesn't work for any of you, suggest another on which you would like to run the TGIF.) Use "reply all" to respond, so everyone knows who the coordinator is. This doesn't mean you have to do all the work -- typically people in the office share the responsibilities of brainstorming a theme, purchasing food, and publicizing, none of which is particularly onerous -- but I'd like to have one point of contact. I will remind you when the TGIF date approaches, and explain any details that you don't know. Thanks, -Mike TGIF czar
Pester non-responding offices until all assignments are made by the end of the first week of the quarter.
Remind organizers each week; otherwise, they frequently forget. I do this via a cron job. At the beginning of the quarter I place a bunch of lines like the following in my crontab entry:
00 8 11 5 * /usr/ucb/mail -s "TGIF reminder" gjb < /homes/gws/mernst/class/grad-life/tgif-reminder 00 8 18 5 * /usr/ucb/mail -s "TGIF reminder" friedman < /homes/gws/mernst/class/grad-life/tgif-reminder
These send the reminder at 8:00 on Monday morning. Here are the contents of my tgif-reminder file:
Thanks for volunteering to run the TGIF this week. You should know the theme now (or brainstorm one soon). Remember to advertise the TGIF on Wednesday to the uw-cs.grads newsgroup, then send email to cs-grads-mail, cs-staff, and faculty on Friday. You can find more details about running a TGIF at http://www/orgs/student-affairs/gsc/tgif/ Feel free to ask me if you have any questions. -MikeWhen you see the reminder on the newsgroup Wednesday, update the TGIF WWW page with the theme. If you don't see it by Thursday morning, you should worry: the organizer might have dropped the ball. You might want to consider also sending mail the Monday after the TGIF to remind them to settle up with you (pay you any excess profit or get reimbursed for any deficit).
The main point of these procedures is that the TGIF doesn't come as a surprise to the office that is supposed to take responsibility. You will regret it if you are forced to run around finding an office to run a TGIF in the week before the event -- it's too easy for people to refuse and you to waste time and energy. (It's a very good idea to ask a faculty member to run one of the TGIFs, as it increases faculty, and student, participation. Here, you need to ask in person from among those who tend to attend, and my policy was to give that person his/her choice of date rather than making an assignment -- so nail this down early in the quarter or at the end of the preceding one.) Update the TGIF WWW page with the office number and organizer when you have them all (or as you get volunteers).
Coordinate with the department so that TGIFs don't conflict with talks, and TGIFs don't conflict with special departmental TGIFs or other parties such as the affiliates meeting, end of quarter parties, the ACM barbecue, and the departmental picnic. After a departmental event like the above, collect the excess beer for use at the next few student TGIFs. This helps balance the cash flow, and the department doesn't mind -- it's even expected. The department staff should know what the schedule is.
TGIFs late in the term tend to be most sparsely attended (as do the more boring ones). Plan on many organizers spending more than they are allotted. Afterward, collect excess money, or reimburse the organizers. As a matter of policy, I always fully reimbursed even organizers who overspent; some offices refused payment when they went over the limit, however.
You might want to reserve Sieg 322 for TGIF at the beginning of the quarter (possibly with a little note saying that you'll relinquish the reservation if someone really needs it). TGIFs with TGIF-unfriendly activities occurring in 322 can be a headache; it just keeps all parties aware of what will happen during that time slot. (NB: I don't know how this flies with the new room reservation policies on "weekly meetings".)
The supplies, including napkins, some utensils, some plasticware, and a money basket, are located in Sieg 428 at present.
If you are really motivated to make TGIFs bigger and better, you might consider asking people (faculty and not) why they do/don't attend TGIF.
30 bananas perfect [MDE: 16 was too few]
16 ice cream, 1/2 gal, various flavors 12 is more than enough [MDE: yes]
1 chocolate sprinkles leftovers in TGIF drawer
1 multi-colored sprinkles [MDE: no one ate 'em]
2 cans whipped cream, 14 oz. 1 1/2 is probably right
[MDE: 1 was too few]
Toppings: 3 Chocolate * Fudge, 18 oz. 1 or 1 1/2 is ok [MDE: 1
was too few; 1 magic
shell was too few, also]
1 Butterscotch * Fudge, 18 oz. about right
1 Pineapple, 12 oz. about right
2 bags chocolate chips, 12 oz. 1 is enough [MDE: 2 was fine]
1 bag M&Ms, 16 oz. just right
1 bag oreo cookies, 20 oz. just right
1 bag mini reese's cups just right
7 2 liter bottles root beer 4 is plenty [MDE: yes]
3 2 liter bottles coke/pepsi 2 is plenty [MDE: yes]
72 spoons all this is about right
60 bowls
60 16 oz. cups
2 rolls paper towels napkins in TGIF drawer
Straws
ice cream scoops more scoops, more parallelism
Total budget: $102.14 Income @ $2/head = $105
[MDE: spent $83, income $150, for the first TGIF of the 1999/2000 season]
Neal Cardwell says, of his 1997 ice cream TGIF:
I'm afraid i don't remember how much stuff i got. All i remember was
thinking in the check-out line "hmm, maybe i got too much stuff," and then
at the end "gee, i guess they finished it all off". :-)
Brad Chamberlains says, of his 1998 ice cream TGIF:
Just two bunches of bananas seems like plenty to me.
Magic shell is a must.
I've also gotten maraschino cherries and chopped nuts on some occasions.
Food Theme: Ice Cream, Junk Food (invest in Hostess), Health Food (eat them bananas), Cookies, Watermelon (Vodkamelon!), Coffee & Donuts, Bagels & Cheese, Wine & Cheese, Beer & Cheezewhiz.
Group Theme: Theory, Systems, Faculty, 1st Years, 2nd Years, nth Years, Women in CS.
Sporting Theme: Olympics, Baseball, Hockey, Football, Basketball.
Contest Theme: Mystery Nut Brownie (one brownie has a nut; person who chomps gets something), Bug-House, Pictionary.
Topical Themes: Inauguration, Election, Victory Celebration, Finished with {quals,generals,phd}.
Holiday Theme: New Years (1st TGIF of the Year), Groundhog Day, Valentines Day (Love is Hell), Presidents' Day, Ides of March, Spring Break, April Fools', Easter, May Day, End of the Year (Summer), Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, non-US Holiday.
Running a TGIF is really quite simple. One member of the office serves as coordinator, but typically people in the office share the responsibilities of brainstorming a theme, purchasing food, publicizing, and setup and cleanup.
TGIFs near holidays (Halloween, Valentine's Day, Easter) can be easily themed toward that holiday; we have also had successful TGIFs centered around ethnic food, ice cream, and so forth. You can even choose a theme like "foods that begin with the letter c" or "foods that are round"; let your imagination run wild! It is not acceptable to simply buy beer and chips; be creative.Typical TGIFs spend about $65 on food and drink; don't overspend this budget without getting the coordinator's permission to put on a more expensive affair (which is a good thing to do a couple times a quarter). You should end up with about 15 beers; so, check for leftovers in the 4th floor printer closet (ps4ws) fridge or on and about the bookshelf in the foyer of 428 to see how many you need! If there are no leftovers, get about 12 bottles; if you like, you may additionally buy a 6-pack of a better beer. A reasonable beer to buy is Henry Weinhardt, which is inexpensive and acceptable to most people; Pyramid Wheaten is also good. Don't forget to buy non-alcoholic beverages as well! I recommend about three 2-liter bottles. Root beer is quite popular. If you buy diet, don't buy a full 2-liter, not enough people drink it. BTW: you can blow all your money on this part; be careful not to go crazy with beer and other expensive drinks like Thomas Kemper root beer/black cherry unless it's theme related.
After buying food and collecting money, give any excess to the coordinator (or get reimbursed if you ran a deficit). No receipts are necessary, and you do all the accounting yourself. If you need to be fronted money, ask the coordinator for a loan. You and your office should not expect to make or lose money on a TGIF!
Publicity includes dreaming up a clever and witty announcement, then posting it to the graduate student newsgroup on Wednesday and sending it to the following mailing lists 30-60 minutes before the event:
cs-grads-mail, cs-staff, faculty(You might also want to send a zephyrgram right beforehand. zwrite -i talks is as good an instance as any.) Remind people to contribute $2 (plus $1 per beer after the first one) when they attend; the TGIFs are fully self-supporting, and if we get consistent payment, they can be more lavish. It helps to seed the pot with one-dollar bills so that attendees can make change.
The money bucket (a former mint container), napkins, and some utensils are stored in a bookshelf in Sieg 428 (on the left as you enter); make sure there are enough before your TGIF, and replenish the supply if necessary. You should clean and return these items so that the next TGIF organizers can find them.
You may want to drag an additional table from 422 into the hallway to hold food and drinks; and move tables away from the wall, to facilitate access. If you hold a TGIF in the Chateau, don't put everything in one room (such as the conference room); it's too crowded. Instead, use some offices as well, to help people spread out and encourage mingling.
Cleanup is your office's responsibility! But, you can usually get help from kindly TG-goers. Put leftovers in the 4th floor printer closet fridge, labelled "TGIF". If you leave glass bottles lying around (or on top of the trash receptacles), they will be discarded. Instead, take them to the glass recycling dumpster adjacent to the Chateau (on the west end, nearest the fountain). Wipe down the table... especially if this was an ice cream TGIF or similar! If you took in more money than you spent, give the profit to the TGIF coordinator; if income was less than outgo, the TGIF coordinator will make you whole. Again, don't gouge yourself or your office-mates.
Michael Ernst