The Big F?

14 March 2010

Hello all,

Thank your for your comments. I have noted all of points that have been raised and we will discuss them all internally. I am always very keen to hear what you think about any aspect of the Students Association. If you want to contact me, you can email me directly president@hwusa.org.

This has been a very difficult year for the Students Association. Despite the suggestions that have been made about how we could do things differently or better (which I have noted and we will discuss), our commercial team have done an excellent job at trying to compete in an increasingly competitive environment with very limited resources to achieve it.

I think it is very important that the information we have is factually correct, so I have taken this opportunity to respond to a few issues raised.

“Is it true that the Big F is cancelled for good?!”

Yes, I can confirm that the Big F has been cancelled and will not return to HWUSA.

“'I’m certain there will be an event at the end of term”

Ordinarily, we would run an end of term event. However, this Semester (term) actually finishes on a Thursday. It is has not yet been decided whether an end of Semester event will run in the Union, but a decision will be made soon. As many of you will be aware, the Spring Ball is also running on this final Thursday of the Semester.

“Cancelling all the weekly events except one, yeah that's a great way to get people to the union and make some money. It'll really encourage prospective students too when they find out we have no club night or live music...”

When we run any event or service, our objective is to make sure that it contributes to the student experience, is what students actually want and makes the life's of Heriot-Watt students better. The decisions we have taken this Semester have been difficult, but I am confident that they have been the right decisions. Far from actually getting people to the Union and making us money, the Big F has been making a loss and not attracting sufficient numbers to suggest it is truly valued by our students. We are currently conducting an events survey. The data we get from this, the focus group we held last month and Student Voice 2010 (which will be held after the Easter break) will contribute to a strong events programme and to the longer-term HWUSA strategy. I think it is important to note that just because we have done something for a long time, doesn’t mean we need to keep doing it – we need to be sure that it is what students want.

In comparison, between now and the Easter break you will find in The Union, The Monday Night Project, the final Open Mic Night, Drama Society production, Beer Festival, as well as several other society, sports club and private events. At this time of the semester, we look to reduce the number of regular events taking place anyway, in-line with the higher work loads you all find yourself under leading up to the end of term.

“Seriously though, wouldn't it have been worth trying a rebrand or a new DJ?” We did attempt to rebrand the Big F after the Christmas break but we simply do not have the resources to support this fully. I am confident that our commercial team did everything they could to try and improve the situation and I am grateful for their efforts and loyalty. We are limited by the resources that we have and this is reflected in the condition of the building and what we can do in comparison to the ever increasing competition from across Edinburgh. As boring as it sounds, it is fundamentally important that we develop a complete strategy for HWUSA so that the resources can be committed to it. This is something that has not been done before.

“they should think about getting different groups of people each week to organise an event for the friday, perhaps the differnt societies with an agreed percentage of the ticket sales money going back to the society, that way they might be able to organise something different each week that will appeal to other people and will also encourage people to come as they will want to support there society/friends”

Absolutely! This is something that we are very keen to encourage. At the moment, I think we offer a very flexible and accommodating service for societies and groups to organise their own events in the Union. One of the positive things to come out of cancelling the Big F is that the drama society and the beer festival will have more space and fewer restrictions. We really need to determine if students only want to see student run events or if they are looking for events like the Big F run by the Union.

“also instead of a dj every week how about getting some live music acts? i know last year around this time there was N-Trance which brought a fair crowd in, theres been nothing like that this year.”

As I have mentioned above, resources limit us. The very poor state of the Associations finances means that we have not been able to commit to such events or acts. When we have a long-term strategy and a plan for dealing with the deficit, then I am sure that things will change and we will be in a position to deliver what students want. At the moment, I do not feel that we would take such a risk strategy as to sign up an expensive act in the hope that would suddenly encourage students to use our building for the rest of the semester.