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.

Behind the Scenes of the SEE Homecoming Comedy Show

Laura Yannai
Venue Director
seevenue@umd.edu

As most (or hopefully all) of you know, Thursday October 13^th will mark SEE’s annual Homecoming Comedy Show in Cole Fieldhouse. Each year SEE strives to put on a great show featuring a comedian at the top of their field, and this year, with Aziz Ansari as our headliner, will be no different. We are so excited about having Aziz come to our campus and we hope you are too! We have been working very hard to make this show a success and if you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind-the-scenes of a SEE event, here is your chance to find out.

The Homecoming Comedy Show is SEE’s first all-hands-on-deck event of the school year. This means that on the day of the show every SEE Director, as well as members of our Tech and Security Teams, will be working from the minute the sun comes up until way after the sun goes down to make sure the show runs smoothly. We build the stage, set up lights and sound equipment, make sure the chairs on the floor are set up properly, set up green rooms and much more. Once the show is over, we take apart everything we worked so hard to put together! It is a day long—and sometimes exhausting—process, but it’s all worth it when we hear the audience screaming with laughter and cheering for our comedian.

As SEE’s Venue Director I am a member of the SEE Production Team, which consists of the Venue, Tech, Security and Hospitality Directors. Once a programmer books an event and our Promotions Team figures out how best to advertise it to the UMD campus, the job of the Production Team is to physically put it together. Whether it is ordering sound equipment for the stage or figuring out where to position Security Team members around the venue, we like to get our hands dirty and take pride in seeing the physical manifestations of our work. A few weeks ago we held an official Homecoming Comedy Show production meeting. Our advisors, the SEE Comedy Director and contacts from the Fire Marshal’s office, UMD Police, Campus Recreation Services and Facilities Management were all in attendance at this meeting. We discussed the production of the show at length, coordinating various details such as the set-up of the chairs on the floor, the position and set-up of the stage and the rooms that would be used as green rooms for Aziz. Even small details such as the number of ambulances that will be present at the event (following regulations set forth by the Fire Marshal’s office) had to be discussed. Any questions, concerns or anticipated problems were discussed to ensure that no details of the event were overlooked.

I have been making preparations for the Homecoming Comedy Show ever since April when I reserved Cole as our venue. Over the past few weeks I have been planning for the event along with my fellow Production Team members as well as with my contacts throughout various campus departments. I have been filling out Facilities Request forms to request tables, chairs and other items for the event and coordinating green rooms and green room set ups for Aziz. I have also been working with DOTS to reserve parking permits. At an all-hands-on-deck event, we accommodate many vehicles on campus, whether it is an 18-wheeler for our tech company or a personal car for our artist. I obtain parking permits from DOTS to make sure everyone has a place to park.  More importantly, I have been making sure that everything will be set up and delivered on time so we are not scrambling to set anything up at the last minute!

Overall, SEE’s Homecoming Comedy Show is a great example of what we do best, which is to bring you the entertainment that you want to see the way you deserve to see it. I hope you enjoy the show!