Would you like to be involved in next year’s committee (2019/20)?
***Applications are now closed, and will re-open towards the end of the academic year.***
Being on the committee is one of the most rewarding and amazing things you can do while at King’s, but be aware that you must be committed and dedicated as it can be a lot of work (especially leading up to show).
* Normally people don’t, but if you would like to set up a campaign then please make it a public one!
There are 13 exciting positions to apply for:
-President
-Vice-President
-Treasurer
-Secretary
-Publicity and Design Officer
-Social Media and Marketing Officer
-Social Secretary
-Competitions Officer
-Latin Officer
-Classical & Modern Officer
-Hip Hop Officer
-General Officer
-Charity Officer
Check out the Dance Soc Constitution
ALL COMMITTEE MEMBERS MUST:
- Be King’s students in the next academic year (2018/19)
- Be a member of KCL Dance Soc.
- Attend committee meetings.
- Attend any other Dance Soc events, eg. Fresher’s Fair, charity shows, etc.
- Supervise and rep one or two dance classes each week – this involves dealing with money, memberships and rooms.
- Take on any other general committee duties assigned by the President.
Please note:
– You cannot run FOR MORE THAN TWO POSITIONS! You will be given the opportunity to give a short speech for each of the positions you are running for.
– ALL candidates MUST be members of Dance Soc by the election date. If you apply and are not a member, you will be removed from the election list.
– You will have a handover talk with current 2017/18 committee, so don’t worry – you’re not expected to be able to do it all straight away!
Here is a breakdown of each committee role and what they involve:
PRESIDENT
Head of the society and leader of the group. Must have been on committee the previous year (17/18)
If you really want to go for it, DO! Don’t let the amount of work it is put you off (you’ll regret it, trust me).
Main roles:
• Responsible for managing and overseeing the overall running of the society
• Enabling the committee to work well as a team and ensuring everyone is doing their job properly
• Giving the members what they want and modifying the society accordingly
• Welcoming new members, encouraging the shy ones, and entertaining the oldies in a new and original way
• Liaising with KCLSU, Greenwood Theatre, presidents of other societies and external organisations/groups
• Representing Dance Soc at various events – you must be able to give up a lot of time to socials, events, performances etc.
• Attending meetings with KCLSU, Greenwood theatre manager, other societies, etc
• Organise regular committee meetings and delegate tasks to committee members – you will have to chase people now and again (!) It is also important to be open to suggestions from your committee members.
• In charge of organising weekly dance classes and rooms, professional teachers and during show time: show bookings, choreographers, cast, backstage crew, lighting, ushers etc
• Keeping on track of everything that is happening within the society
• Keeping a written record of everything going on within the society
• Finding sponsorships and applying for funding
• Attend ALL events, meetings, occasions
• Be fair, welcoming and always willing to help
• Encourage and promote inter-society and inter-university friendships, support and collaboration
• With hard decisions, be able to be just, firm and most importantly trust your judgement when it comes to crunch time!
Requirements:
• Dance knowledge/background is necessary, but so is the ability to relate to a large group of people and accommodate for everyone’s needs
• Good at delegating
• Approachable, reliable, organised, good time management and decision-making
• Good communicator, problem solver
• DEDICATED AND PASSIONATE!!
• Important to know the basics of how to run a dance show/competition – prior committee experience is ESSENTIAL.
• Need to always be fair and do what’s best for the whole society regardless of personal feelings, how hard it is and how much it makes you look like a bad guy
VICE PRESIDENT
The Vice President is the President’s “Right Hand Man/Woman”. Most overall decisions are made by both the President and the VP, you must be able to give advice and support when needed. It is vital to maintain a strong relationship with the president and to keep in contact at all times – you never know when they might need you. As VP you are in effect a double act with the President; you work very closely to get all sorts of different jobs done. You are expected to step in if the President is not available and will take a fair amount of the workload when it comes to dance show.
Main roles:
• In charge of room bookings throughout the year for classes, Fusion and show rehearsals
• Create a class timetable for 1st term
• In charge of booking of professional teachers
• Create a rehearsal timetable for the show in 2nd term
• Chief organiser of choreographers and cast during show time
• Help organise / run Strictly Come Dance Soc, and liaise with RAG and participating societies
Requirements:
• Need to be organised, dependable, reliable and ready to step up at anytime!
• Be level headed, you will face all kinds of sticky situations, it’s crucial to stay calm and focus on finding solutions
• Be thick skinned, sometimes you have to make decisions not everyone will like
• Be supportive of your fellow committee members
• Be open and welcoming to all members of the society
SECRETARY
The Secretary supports the President, you should be on top of what is going on within the society and committee at all times.
Main roles
• Administration of the society
• In charge of checking and replying to all Dance Soc emails and private Facebook messages, there are a lot of questions asked that you will need to provide answers for!
• CHECK EMAILS EVERY DAY (multiple times, especially in fresher’s week and show time!)
• Sending out regular emails to our members about what’s going on in the society
• Taking minutes at committee meetings and making these available to your committee ASAP
• Collecting show information from choreographers – they may need a firm hand!
• During show time there is a lot of work needed from all committee members and the secretary has a large amount to do, particularly being on hand for the President/Vice President for anything that needs doing.
Requirements
• Organised, good time management (it is very easy to ignore ones degree), approachable and hard working.
• A good knowledge of the society is necessary in order to answer questions and organise things without prompting from others
TREASURER
The Treasurer is key to a successful society.
Main roles:
• Managing the money!
• Keeping an accurate and up to date record of all finances (both in and outgoings)
• Sorting out payments for teachers, purchases, hires, socials, etc.
• Collecting receipts/invoices and processing refunds
• Come up with a budget plan
• Collecting and processing information about numbers of people at classes and money taken per class in the week, overseeing cash flow on a weekly basis and more frequently at major events.
• Along with the president, decide on what gets subsidised and how you think the money is best used for the society
• Liaising with the KCLSU finance department
Requirements:
• Organisation is key! You also need to be reliable, and have good maths and Excel proficiency.
SOCIAL SECRETARY
This is a very rewarding and fun post, and will give you the chance to meet a lot of people in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
Main roles:
• Organise all social events (bar/club nights to theatre/dance shows), including regular socials (eg. Walkabout, Guy’s Bar, Café de Paris, joint society socials – new ideas welcome!) Initiation for Fusion, Christmas Jumper social, the 3 afterparties including hiring a venue and organising the final after party (the biggest social event of the Dance Soc calendar), committee dinners, etc
• Liaise with KCLSU, other societies, external companies, event managers, maintaining the high reputation of KCL Dance Society
• Work closely with the Publicity and Design Officer and Communication and Marketing Officer to promote events
• Organise mystery tour at the end of the year – this takes a lot of time during exams so be prepared for that
• Thinking of new ideas, always keeping in mind that drinking is not the only option for socials
Requirements:
• Party hard!!
• MUST be organised!
• Good communication skills – both with fellow students and event organisers
• Be confident – get to know everyone and make sure everyone feels part of the society
PUBLICITY AND DESIGN OFFICER
If you feel like you are the tiniest bit crafty, original and handy with a computer, then this is the job for you!
Main Roles:
• Produce material such as posters, flyers, logos, or leaflets for: Fresher’s Fair, Taster Day, Socials, Christmas Charity Showcase, The Dance Show, T-shirts (and any other events that the committee may organise during the year!)
• Design Discount Cards for lessons during the first term
• Design Programmes for the Charity Showcase and Dance Show
• Work with RAG to create materials for Strictly Come Dance Soc
• Work with Communications and Marketing Officer to get all those sneaky memes of your favourite Dance Soc members out there
• Liaise with Printing Companies and arrange payments
• Work closely in conjunction with the Communications and Marketing Officer to ensure publicity is distributed through the college using all possible media that KCL has to offer: SubTV, Roar, Radio, etc. Assist the CMO with publicity on social networking sites.
Requirements:
• Skilled with Adobe Photoshop & Publisher (or programs to that effect).
• Good communicator, innovative and creative
• Organised and reliable with printing deadlines
SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING OFFICER
As communication and marketing officer you will be working very closely with the Publicity and Design Officer.
Main roles:
• Share everything Dance Soc related on all social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat)
• Create Facebook events
• Manage Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts
• Update Dance Soc’s website (timetable, events, photos, videos, etc)
• Be responsible for promoting and advertising Dance Soc and all events, including classes, socials, dance show, etc
• Distribute posters/flyers throughout campuses with Publicity and Design Officer
• Liaises with KCLSU, KCL, ROAR, Sub-TV, KCL-Radio, student newspapers and provide written/audio/visual material/articles to ensure sufficient marketing of the society
Requirements:
• Enjoy being in as many freshers/halls pages as you possibly can (SPAM SPAM SPAM)
• Keen user of Twitter and Facebook, good knowledge of website design encouraged but not essential (pretty much nobody has prior experience of this!)
• Knowledge of all up and coming memes also encouraged, but again not essential
LATIN OFFICER
Main roles:
• Finding a salsa and bachata teacher(s) and ensuring they manage the classes satisfactorily and are paid correctly
• Organising and supervising weekly classes
• Organising our ever successful salsa socials
• Take the role of promoting salsa club nights and lessons outside of King’s
• Promoting and encouraging people to go out socially
• Liaise with popular salsa clubs (eg. Bar Salsa, Cubana) to receive potential discounts, loyalty schemes and organise charity socials/workshops/events and maybe performance opportunities
• Integrating different dance styles through social activities
Requirements:
• Need to be passionate about salsa (regardless of present skill level), approachable and fun yet outgoing enough to manage the large numbers of people that are present in classes
CLASSICAL & MODERN OFFICER
Main roles:
• Finding a ballet and a contemporary teacher(s)
• Sorting out ballet barres/resin for slippery floors
• Overseeing ballet and contemporary classes
• Organising and promoting our annual ballet social at Christmas time (usually a theatre trip to the Ballet!)
Requirements:
• Love ballet!!
HIP HOP OFFICER
Main roles:
• Finding a hip hop teacher
• Overseeing hip hop classes
• Organising hip hop socials/outings and workshops/masterclasses
• Liaise with our partners Breakin’ KCL – try to avoid clashes in hip hop classes
• Promote hip hop classes and the Fusion hip hop team
Requirements:
• Passionate about hip hop
CHARITY OFFICER
Main roles:
• Assign and be familiar with charities for which we are fundraising
• Continue to work with projects that are already up and ruining
• Help to develop and assess the feasibility of potential new projects
• Organise charity work inside and outside the university
• Organise / run the Christmas Charity Showcase
• Help organise / run Strictly Come Dance Soc
• Be familiar with the workings of Dance Soc, and what we can realistically achieve
• Work with the Treasurer to keep track of (charity) finances
• Liaise with KCLSU (submit required documents, attend Volunteer & Widening Participation Forum)
Requirements:
• Work with people from all backgrounds
• Friendly and approachable
• Organised and good at communicating with other people
• Come up with fresh ideas
GENERAL OFFICER
Main roles:
• Ordering and organising t-shirts (committee, show, competition) and Dance Soc kit
• Liaise with t-shirt and kit companies and individuals who bought kit, including all Fusion members
• In charge of maintaining the trunk inventory and lending costumes to choreographers for the show (and getting deposits)
• Responsible for purchasing any required equipment if this becomes necessary – speakers, cables, etc. (you will of course be reimbursed!). Purchasing required things over the Summer for fresher fair and events and also for Christmas showcase
Requirements:
• Organised/reliable – no kit can be late!
• Advisable to have an overdraft – you will have to pay the kit companies before Dance Soc re-imburses you. The invoices will be large, no one wants you to starve!
• Able to keep track of many individuals paying at once, often in cash
COMPETITIONS OFFICER
Main roles:
• Main line of contact with universities nationwide, via the competitions email account
• Liaise with groups/universities hosting dance competition events
• General organisation of the competitions such as completing official paperwork, transport + travel (coaches and train in advance), overnight stays (even more in advance), sending music, and organising competitions’ kit (with general officer)
• Organising KCL “Just Dance It!” competition – involves booking the theatre (with VP), contacting universities, hiring 3 professional judges, collecting payments (with Treasurer) and other information (eg music, T-shirts, etc.)
• Organising and hosting Fusion auditions for choreographers and dancers
• Ensure all Fusion members have Dance Soc membership and signed contracts
• Make sure Fusion choreographers have their pieces ready for the first competition
• Organising a few ‘Show and Tells’ throughout the year
Requirements:
• YOU MUST BE A CURRENT MEMBER OF KCL FUSION (2017/18).
• It is preferable to be a member of KCL Fusion 2018/19, but is not necessary. Please note this position does not guarantee you a position in Fusion. You MUST attend all competitions when in this role.