Apply for the OUPS Committee!

OUPS Committee

It's that time of year again when we must lamentably pass on the poetry baton. If you think you've got what it takes to be on the OUPS committee and carry on spreading the poetry love throughout Oxford next year, then apply!

Below is an approximate outline of the positions we'll be looking to appoint, although depending on the individuals who apply we may or may not shuffle around some of the duties, merge positions together, appoint more than one person to a position, etc. But for now, this is what next year's committee will roughly look like:

PRESIDENT


The big job. It's the president's responsibility to organise the termcards (so awareness of the current poetry scene is a must, and if you've got connections, even better), host events, liaise with guest speakers and generally run the ship. The president really needs to be sociable, happy with public speaking and very, very committed.

VICE-PRESIDENT


Because the role of President can be so time-consuming, we may or may not appoint a vice-president to be on call to assist in liaising with guest speakers, taking care of them and so on, and generally filling in for the President when necessary.

SECRETARY

If you want to get involved and play a vital part in running the society, but don't necessarily want to get on stage, this is the job for you. The secretary is in charge of the admin: sending the weekly emails, updating the mailing list, archiving lists of members and taking the minutes at meetings. It's a big job and the secretary needs to be committed but above all, super-organised.

TREASURER

OUPS is a fairly low-budget society so every penny counts. It's the treasurer's job to keep accounts, look after the bank account and pay poets, but also to come up with ideas for money-saving/money-making. If you're that rare combination of poetry-loving and number-crunching, OUPS will be ever-grateful for your help.

ASH EDITOR

This is the most autonomous of the OUPS positions; the ASH editor is mostly left to their own devices to take submissions and produce our termly magazine, and also is mainly responsible for the selling of it. Good poetic taste is a must. If you have any questions email the current editor, Sophie, at sophie.yeo@ccc.ox.ac.uk.

PUBLICITY MANAGER

We may or may not split this position into two: print publicity manager and online publicity manager. Either way the posters must get made and the society's web presence must be felt. If you think you could design beautiful posters/flyers, and/or make our web site (www.oxfordpoetry.blogspot.com) spectacular, and even have other ideas for how to generate publicity, then apply.

WORKSHOP DIRECTOR

The weekly poetry workshops are a long-standing and much-loved part of the OUPS package. We need someone who is able to commit to an evening a week and is capable of running a workshop, directing discussion, giving constructive criticism etc. This may or may not be combined with any of the other positions.

LIVE EVENTS MANAGER

/Creative Directer. The Live Events Manager is responsible for coming up with and organising 'special' events, i.e. other than the weekly readings, but will still have to work in close contact with the President. The main one-off event is Poetry Out Loud, our annual recitation competiton, but also writing competitions, joint events with other societies, socials and so on all need to get organised.

If these all sound a bit scary, never fear: this year's committee will still be around next year to show the new committee the ropes. It is a lot of work, but it's great fun as well and, let's face it, looks pretty good on the old CV.

So if you think you have what it takes, here's what happens now:

- Send an email to tess.somervell at chch.ox.ac.uk, listing which position/s you're interested in applying for, numbering them according to preference if you wish. Applying for more than one position will not jeopardise your chances at getting your first choice of position. Give a paragraph or so for each position describing why you'd be perfect for that role, and any ideas you have for what you'd do in that position next year.

- Do this by noon on Friday 28th May, that's Friday of 5th week.

- We'll then organise short interviews, probably to held on the Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday of 6th week.

- Taking into account the interviews and application emails, we'll appoint the new committee! And let everyone know early in 7th week.

Good luck!