Hello everyone,
This is our first newsletter of 2024 and this year we’re trying something a little different: previously, we would send these as large email updates to all our members via SUSU (i.e. people who have our free membership) but it was becoming apparent that these were getting buried (or perhaps filtered into spam) by the deluge of information which we are so often subjected to in this day and age.
We will trial publishing these on the website and simply use the mass email as a notification with a link to the full newsletter (these articles); any information which we can’t make public will still be included in the emails but we’ll remind you to check after each letter. Hopefully, this format will be more visible, create a publicly visible paper trail of how we’ve been operating, and it can look nicer with less effort on our part (SUSU’s mass emailing system has frequently mulched the formatting of past newsletters)!
Here are some confirmed key dates coming up:
- 5th Feb | 18:30 – 20:00 | 34/1025 | Workshop
- 14th Feb | 14:00 – 16:00 | 100/7011 | Workshop
- 19th Feb | 18:30 – 20:00 | 34/1025 | Workshop/EGM
- 28th Feb | 14:00 – 16:00 | 06/1083 | Workshop
- 12-14th April – SPANC
Onto the more detailed stuff:
Change and Adaptation Magazine
It is practically done! We’re just figuring out which printing quote gives us the best ratio of quality to quantity for our budget, we’re likely going to aim for somewhere in the middle and tweak what we do for future editions based on what we learn from that. We’ve learnt a lot from working on this magazine and we hope to pass this on through future workshops.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this edition and thank you for your patience; the process hasn’t been as smooth as some of us would have liked (and we were blindsighted by some historic issues which came home to roost) but we know what we’re doing now! The next magazine should be a much smoother process!
Speak of the devil…
Workshops
This month, we will be working towards our next magazine: Luck and Superstition!
We’re experimenting with alternating workshops between Monday evenings and Wednesday afternoons. Each workshop will consist partially of a group activity, some group discussion, and some time to work on whatever you want with like-minded people on hand to support you.
The first workshop will focus on coming up with ideas for the magazine. At the end of this one, we will have some prompts to help people get writing and a few people may even have locked in what they’re writing about. The second and third workshops will focus on helping you to write different types of articles and the fourth will be about compiling and designing the magazine.
Although the workshops will be primarily focused towards progressing with the creation of this next magazine, each one is intended to be accessible to people of all ability levels. Whether it’s your first workshop and you’ve never done anything like this before or you’re a seasoned journalist, there will be something for you to do! Bring friends and have fun!
EGM
On the 19th of February, as part of our workshop, we will be running an EGM to elect an Events Secretary and a new Head of Design to our committee, there may also be some minor constitutional tweaks to vote on (we’ll release more information if we go ahead with this). Whilst simply contributing to our efforts looks good on your CV, being part of the committee is something that can really make you stand out to future employers. The best bit? Joining the committee is simple and requires no prior experience, just a desire to learn and help us run things! The more passionate you are the better! After filling out our application form, our members are then given the opportunity to vote for their preferred candidate, if that turns out to be you, congratulations!
Apply to join the committee here!
Here’s a quick explanation of the two roles up for grabs:
Events Secretary
This role sees you in charge of organising events and socials for Wessex Scene. This can be anything from a small social gathering to a night or two away! You would also work with our Social Media and Marketing Manager to help with outreach, which means coordinating the arrangement of collaborations with other societies and groups. This role is good for developing planning and social skills.
Head of Design
This role puts you in charge of designing our magazines, any decision regarding the look and feel of our printed magazines is yours to make. You will work with the rest of the committee, particularly the Imagery Coordinator and Social Media & Marketing Manager, to complete much of the design work we need to do. If you’re based at WSA, there’s a good chance you’re already equipped with the skills to perform this role but anybody with an interest in design would have no trouble getting to grips with the role. This is a great opportunity to develop and practice your design skills and organisational abilities within a team.
SPANC 2024
The Student Publication Association National Conference is in Bristol this year (for reference, last year it was in Scotland and Sheffield the year before, it’s practically on our doorstep by comparison this year). This is a great opportunity to meet like-minded people from student publications from across the UK as well as attend many interesting talks by accomplished people already working in media.
Those of us who have been before have thoroughly enjoyed it and it would be great if some of us could make it to this one! Check out SPANC here!
Imagery Policy
This isn’t too relevant to most of you but just to keep you informed: due to issues with verifying the copyright status of many free images on the internet, we have decided to only allow images for which written permission has been obtained. Over the coming months (and as an ongoing thing) we will be looking for artists and photographers to contribute some more generic stock images that we can use without fear of being fined (the bots are getting too good at catching stuff now).
For those interested, the ideal resolution for article header images is 1480×720 (or a multiple of this). Other sizes can work, they just might not display in full.
Closing words
Thank you for reading, the corresponding mass email will contain a link to our WhatsApp community and a link for those of you who would like an account on this site! If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us!
Regards,
The Wessex Scene Committee
