Planning the Annual Picnic for the College of Computing

by Idris Hsi - last updated August 29, 1999

Introduction

The Annual Picnic is an event sponsored by the College. It usually takes place during the first week of the Fall term. The main purpose of the picnic is to get all the people in the College (faculty, staff, students - usually graduate) out to eat some food, play some sports, and have a good time. The secondary purpose is to meet the new faculty and graduate students.

Basic Procedures

Putting Someone In Charge:

It's absolutely essential that someone be placed in charge of coordinating this event. Hopefully that somebody is reading this page. Essentially, the PhD coordinator is in charge of coordinating the picnic from the faculty end of things and some student is responsible for making sure students get there and that advertising happens. (There are other little logistical bits too but I'll explain those as we go).

The PhD coordinator is responsible for finding a graduate student from the Graduate Student Committee or from the student body in general to help coordinate the student side of the picnic (and some of the other picnic aspects in general).
Hopefully you're the person in charge and you're reading this way in advance and not the week before.
To the student picnic coordinator: This doesn't have to be a lot of work but it does take a little attention to detail.

Planning the Day and Time:

The picnic is usually scheduled for the first week in the Fall Term. Ideally, it should be after the first week of school, maybe even that weekend, because no one has anything to do the first week. The picnic usually runs from 12 to 5 pm.

Sundays are better than Saturdays for some reason (trust me on this).
Check for religious holidays, campus holidays, regional athletic events, other College events, and so on before scheduling. If you have time and you care, get a consensus from the students and faculty.
Make sure you have a rain date as a backup.
You can't make everyone happy so pick the best date and stick to it. Once you've committed to a date, it's a lot of trouble to readvertise and get everyone to shift.

Getting a Location:

There are lots of little parks all throughout Atlanta. There's someone at Student Services who can help you schedule one. The favorite park is Terrell Mill Park. Barbara Durham (barbara@cc.gatech.edu) can help you get it scheduled.

Make sure we reserve the park and area a bunch of months in advance!!
There seems to be a legacy map to Terrell Mill Park lying around the College. Hopefully the PhD coordinator has it. Make sure that the day and time is changed on it. Make lots of copies for people to pick up.
We usually reserve the pavilion that's not by the playground and is near the parking lot. It seats 40-50 people but that's never been a problem before.
Make sure that any messages you send to everyone has directions on how to get there.

Getting a Budget:

This isn't my area. Someone else needs to write and finish this part. I assume that funding comes from the Dean's office.

Notifying the Faculty and College:

Make sure that the key people (the Dean's assistant, Student Services, etc.) know which day you've selected. WARN EVERYONE AT LEAST 3-4 WEEKS IN ADVANCE! Then warn them again 1-2 weeks before that. Make sure the students are told during orientation, during the 7001 Intro to the PhD program course, during the GTA workshop, and so on. DON'T LET THIS BE A LAST MINUTE EVENT! The more warning you give people, the greater the chance that they will make an effort to show up. Here are a list of things that you should include in your advertising message.

Don't forget to include time, day, location, and how to get there.
Find out who needs rides and who can drive them there.
Make sure that people know to bring a little random food. There's always plenty of food but it's more interesting if people contribute.
Make sure that people bring their sports equipment and random toys.
Families and significant others are welcome and encouraged to attend.
If you need a suggestion, see the sample message at the bottom of the document. And for Pete's sake, be creative, original, and fun. Don't just use the message provided!

Planning Before the Picnic:

This is a list of things that you should make sure of before the day of the picnic.

Make sure we have the park scheduled.
Arrange Rides

Find out how many people need rides.
Find out how many drivers you have.
Always have backup drivers. You may have drivers who need to leave during the day and you'll want to have a way to bring people home after the picnic. You will also need people with trunk and car space to take things back to the College.
Arrange a time and place for drivers and riders to meet. A half hour before the start of the picnic at the College of Computing is usually a good start.
Make sure you have a drop-dead time. i.e. if you're not there, no ride.

Arrange Food

Find out if anyone has any food or random suggestions prior to ordering the food.
Make sure that all the necessary supplies have been accounted for from the College (see the list below).
Make sure the food has been ordered and that the quanitites have been updated from the year before.
Make sure that you or other people will be there to meet the food if it's being delivered.

Make sure that everyone knows about the Annual-ish Faculty-Student Softball Game
Put copies of the map in the Copy or Mail rooms the week of the picnic.
Send out another reminder at the beginning of the week and on the Friday before the picnic.
The PhD coordinator should make sure that some faculty members (ideally junior faculty or certain Assistant Deans) have been designated as Grillmeisters. I don't know why it's faculty except that it is. It's probably some old tradition...

On the day of the picnic: Before the Picnic:

Make sure that extra maps are available for drivers, just in case.
Make sure all the rides are arranged and that all the students have been taken to the picnic (or have rides).
Whoever's meeting the food should have a list of things we're supposed to get so we can confirm the completeness of the order.
It's not a bad idea to start lighting the charcoal and arranging a queue for the burgers and hot dogs.
Pack the ice into the ice chests and put cups there for people to scoop the ice out.
Make sure one ice chest has been reserved for storing the raw meat!

On the day of the picnic: During the picnic:

Have fun.
Make sure the Grillmeisters get drinks and support (like a substitute Grillmeister to give them a chance to eat).
If there are problems, such as missing items, be prepared to make a run to the local grocery store. Save the reciept!!!
Take notes about food and other things, just in case.
Everything else should take care of itself.

On the day of the picnic: After the picnic:

Make sure that all the trash gets picked up. This is to ensure that we can get the park the next year.
The extra food should get divided up to the people who helped make it happen - especially the Grillmeisters.
Unopened drinks and other non-perishables (napkins, plates, etc.) should go back to the College to support the various Grad Teas and other events that the College hosts.
Make sure that everyone has a ride back to the College or to home.
Check all the grounds one more time and make sure that no one left anything valuable behind.

Picnic Aftermath:

Update this web page!!!!
Thank everyone who pitched in!!!

Food and Supplies

What ABSOLUTELY HAS to be there:

3-4 Ice chests - for holding ice for drinks and for the meat
A kitchen knife
BBQ equipment - spatulas, tongs, whatever. Just make sure some tools are there! It's hard to flip burgers with your hands.
Aluminum Foil or Plastic Wrap.
Extra Garbage Bags
Paper Towels and Napkins
Fire extinguisher
First Aid Kit

What we ordered last year (1999):

LINDA - I'm guessing you need to fill this section in!

What was leftover from last year (1999):

A half tray of beans (total).
2 packages of hamburgers (but we ran out of buns and more people could have shown up)
3 packages of hot dogs (but you can never have too many hot dogs)
12 2-liter bottles of various sodas. More water would be better.
Lots of fruits - a better variety would have been nice.

What we ran out of last year (1999):

water
water
water (the suggestion from the students is to trade in about half of the sodas for water).
Hamburger buns (3 more packages would have been great)
Hot Dog buns (3 more packages would have been great)
Cookies (no one brought extra desserts).
Veggie Burgers (I think)
slices of cheese - ran out quickly - (another package would be good)

The Dismal Failure List (ongoing):

BBQ beans in large quantities (1999 quantities were fine)
Iced Tea in concentrate form. (one year we got 4 1-gallon jugs of concentrate - ick)
Large quantities of macaroni, potato, or pasta salad. If you order enough for about 8-10 people, that should be enough. One year, we were all taking home massive quanitites of leftover salads. And I have yet to taste one of these catered, store-bought salads that was halfway decent.
Large quantites of sodas - the picnic days are usually HOT! Water is much better than sodas.

What we need to make sure we have for next year (2000):

In addition to the adjustments that you make to the old list, here are some suggestions.

More water.
More vegetarian food - consult vegetarians before ordering!!!
Different fruits in addition to what we ordered - maybe 2-3 watermelons or bunches of grapes would be nice.

Things to Get People To Bring

Sunscreen!! Sunglasses. Hats.
Lawn chairs
Beach Towels
Side dishes/desserts.
Footballs, Soccer balls, Volleyballs, Tennis Equipment, Ultimate Frisbees, Softball Equipment.
Juggling Equipment - very popular!
Water toys
Boomerangs and other random aerodynamic things.

Sample Advertising Message

When: Sunday, August 29th, 12-5 pm. (We'll need help setting up, cooking
and cleaning up. If you can help with these things, it'd be
greatly appreciated.)

Where: Terrel Mill Park.

Rides: If you need a ride, send me email. If you can take people to the picnic,
to and from the CoC, please let me know that as well.

What you can/should bring:
   Yourself
   Significant Others
   Pets (on leash)
   Children
   Frisbees (for Ultimate Frisbee)
   Softball Equipment! (Students, we're still practicing Saturday at
                        11 out by SAC!)
   Tennis Equipment
   Juggling Equipment
   Footballs
   Volleyballs (and a net, if you have one)
   Badminton (and a net, if you can't steal one from the volleyball
              players)
   Soccer Balls
   Water Balloons and other Water Throwing equipment
   Kites
   Nerf Toys
   Large, Inflatable Earth Globes
   Sunscreen
   Sunglasses
   Boomerangs and other aerodynamic flying things (no rocks or pointy
        sticks, please)
   Tree-climbing shoes
   Sense of fun

What not to bring (suggested):
   Problems/worries/stresses
   Homework (You're excused if you're taking a theory course)
   Laptops (You can't run around with a laptop and play frisbee)
   Sharp scissors (You shouldn't run around with those in general)
   Communication devices - pagers, modems, cell phones (if you can help
        it, i.e. not surgically attached)
   Complaints about the time and day of the picnic.

Food provided:
   Hamburgers (including veggie burgers)
   Hot dogs
   Condiments
   BBQ Beans
   Chips
   Drinks (soft drinks, iced tea, bottled water)
   Cookies

Everyone is encouraged to bring a side dish or dessert to help make
things more interesting but there will be enough food for everyone.

Directions:

From Tech:
        - I75 North past 285
        - Exit 111 (Delk Road)
        - Cross Powers Ferry Road
        - Look for a Kroger then a Publix Supermarket on your right as landmarks.
        - Veer left onto Terrell Mill Road
        - Park will be on left.