Striking a Balance

Laura Yannai
SEE Venue Director
seevenue@umd.edu

One of the most common questions I get asked is, how much work do you do for SEE each week? Technically speaking, each director has five mandatory office hours a week and a weekly board meeting on Thursday afternoons. Our office hours are a time to do SEE work and a time when people outside of SEE know they can get in touch with us, and our board meetings on Thursday are a time for us to discuss new business and upcoming events.  But my work for SEE is not consistent on a week-to-week basis, nor is it prioritized the same way each week.

As Venue Director, much of my work consists of communicating, through email and telephone, with people from various campus departments. This includes but is not limited to Campus Reservations and the Department of Transportation Services (DOTS), among others. I look through artist riders to see what kind of green room, parking and non-technical setup information they have requested and figure out where I need to make these requests in order to make them happen. Sometimes it’s as simple as filling out a request form for a parking permit and faxing that to DOTS. At other times, such as for the Homecoming Comedy Show, it’s a lot more difficult. In such cases, I’m triple-checking work orders to Facilities Management that request venue access time, tables, trashcans, recycling bins, as well as hundreds of chairs – and everything needs to get delivered and set up in a certain way. At times like these, the amount of time I put into my SEE work extends well beyond the five-office hour requirement. More often than not, my friends don’t need to ask me where I am to know I’m in the SEE office.

I’m going to be honest, balancing SEE work, my outside job and my academics can be pretty challenging. We are always told that we are students first and SEE directors second. This is not always an easy guideline to adhere to. When it’s the week before Art Attack and I have about 30 things on my to-do list, it’s very hard to prioritize my studies over a phone call that absolutely has to be made or the tents for McKeldin Mall will not get delivered at the right time. It’s also hard not to skip a class when the Spring Comedy Show is happening in the Grand Ballroom in a few hours and I want to go make sure that everything is set up properly. At times like these, I’m a SEE director above all else but by no one else’s choice but my own.

On the other hand, when I have a paper due and three tests in two days, it is hard to sit in the SEE office and fill out requests for parking permits when I know that I really should be in the library studying. It’s important for me to communicate with other directors about what’s going on in my life so that if I don’t respond to e-mails right away or have to miss some office hours, everyone knows why. There are definitely times when I am a student first and a SEE director second, but as with everything else in life, it’s a balance.

In an ideal world I would be able to tell you that I’m great at balancing and that no one task gets forgotten in lieu of another. Realistically, that’s not really how it goes. I operate between two poles: on one end, I’m rushing in and out of the SEE office in a frenzy because I have a biochemistry review session to go to, and on the other end I’m spending an entire day doing nothing but SEE work. My goal is to give whatever I am working on 100 percent of my concentration. I accept that there are days when I will not be able to do any SEE work and days when I will be doing nothing but SEE work. Regardless of what I am working on, so long as I am giving it my full attention and making sure I get the job done right I know that everything is going to work out.

This work/life balance has been a valuable learning experience and one that I know every college student will experience in some way, shape or form during his or her collegiate years. If I could offer any advice, it would be this: stay organized, stay passionate and stay positive.

Event Survey Opportunity

Hey UMD Students! What types of events do you want to see on campus after spring break? Fill out the survey below to let SEE Directors know what programs you want to see this year.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B3SLVSX

The Thoughts behind Seth Meyers

Eric Feldman
Comedy Director
seecomedy@umd.edu

My name is Eric Feldman. I am a senior engineering major at the University of Maryland and as part of my campus involvement, I am the comedy director of Student Entertainment Events. As Comedy Director, I selected Aziz Ansari for the Homecoming Comedy Show and Seth Meyers for our Spring Comedy Show. 

Since I was a freshman, the SEE Spring Comedy Show has been held in the Grand Ballroom. Freshman year, SEE brought Zach Galifianakis. I decided to go 20 minutes before the show started and I had a great time. My sophomore year, SEE brought Dave Attell and Jo Koy, two very successful Spring Comedy Show events that were held in the Grand Ballroom. Last year, we brought Gabriel Iglesias. We priced tickets at five dollars and held the show in the Grand Ballroom. The show sold out and everyone visibly had a great time as Iglesias performed for an hour longer than anyone had expected.

We have now arrived at the Spring 2012 Comedy Show and I would like to share with you all my side of the story and what led me to proposing Seth Meyers. For starters, the Spring Comedy Show has always been placed in the Grand Ballroom. So it is no surprise that I associate this show in my mind with the Grand Ballroom and thus, when I proposed the event, the Grand Ballroom was the natural venue of choice. Second, I had the unique opportunity to book Seth Meyers for our Spring Comedy Show; an opportunity that students would be overjoyed with—and I was thrilled. While The Diamondback is correct and Seth Meyers tied for first place on our previous comedy survey, I just could not pass up the opportunity to bring Seth Meyers to campus. He was in our budget, popular and would bring with him a great show. I didn’t feel that it was right to bring a less popular comedian and put him/her in the Grand Ballroom, leaving many potentially unsatisfied. I do want to apologize for bringing someone that people wanted to see according to our research and putting him in too small of a venue. But I wanted to assure everyone that I was doing the best job that I could do with the budget and opportunities that I had.

Our job is to please the students. After all, I am a student and no different than any one of you. I am trying to please everyone to the best of my ability. So why would I do anything that would intentionally make people upset by depriving them the opportunity to see their favorite comedian? I wouldn’t. 

The truth is, as an organization housed in the Stamp Student Union, utilizing venues in the Stamp, such as the Grand Ballroom, is very economically feasible for us. Special grants for the Homecoming Comedy Show are what allow us to house the show in Cole Field House. However, due to the costs of the stage, lights, sound, video, security and more when we produce an event in Cole, it is difficult for us to afford it for any other comedy shows for the year. If I wanted to put Seth Meyers in Cole Field House, we wouldn’t have been able to bring The Second City in the fall, and we wouldn’t have been able to bring another comedy event in April to be released at a later date. Our mission, as stated on our website, is to program diversely throughout the year. To us, that does not mean two large shows, it means providing the campus community with several diverse shows. 

Economic majors may agree that charging more for tickets now will make up for the difference in the production costs associated with a larger venue. And you’re right. However, SEE operates with strict financial and spending guidelines, with few exceptions. As such, we must have the money in our programming line before we can book the talent, venue, etc. That means that charging students more money now for tickets will help us for future shows but will not for this show. This is partially why we raised ticket prices slightly from last year, so that we can ever so slowly build our programming budget to one day be able to bring big talent at big venues all while still fulfilling our mission. Additionally, the talent cost is dependent on the size of venue they are performing in, so SEE would not only experience a jump in production costs bringing Seth to Cole, but also a jump in talent fees.

As much as many of you would like us to charge 30 dollars a ticket now and place the show in Cole, we also recognize that not everyone can afford to spend 30 dollars on entertainment and that students deserve to pay a fair price for tickets. The complaint that tickets are too cheap is selfish and unfair to students on a budget. People complain when tickets are too expensive, when tickets are too cheap, when the venue is too small, when the venue is too big, when the performer is too unknown and when the performer is too recognizable. We want to make you, the students, happy, but it is difficult when the feedback is unconstructive and without research and understanding.

My name is Eric Feldman and I am senior at the University of Maryland. I have done the best I can as Comedy Director for SEE, and on behalf of SEE, I hope that by working together we can develop a mutual understanding of the programming process and continue to bring great acts to campus.