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Heralds
Heralds are the main spokesperson and speaker liason in a conference area for a certain amount of time. Their primary function is to make sure the speaker is introduced, well equipped and speaks no longer than their allotted time.
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Can I be a Herald Angel?
- Can you create a 1min introduction of speaker and session, and speak it freely?
- Do you feel comfortable doing this on the stage in front of a lot of hackers?
- Would you be able to moderate a Q&A session at the end if the speaker asks you to do that?
- Can you be on time?
- Do you speak English (ideally fluently)?
If you answered yes to all these questions, then we'd love to have you as a Herald!
How to Become a Herald
Herald Angels are not automatically enabled, since a special skill and orientation are involved. Herald Angels and those wishing to be Herald Angels meet during the regular Angel Meetings in the Heaven (Level A, far in the back of the hackcenter). We have a short orientation after each meeting for new Herald Angels.
Assigning shifts
Heralds need to attend an orientation and have their Engelsystem account authorized to sign up for Herald shifts. To do this, attend a meeting or get in touch with one of the Herald Archangels. One of them will be present during every regular angel meeting. You'll get a short briefing of what to do, but you should get the idea from this page as well. ;-)
Job Description
The Herald is typically seen as the person who announces the speaker at the beginning of a talk/lecture/... (see Schedule). That is just the easy part of the job! Being a Herald Angel involves the following:
- Being familiar with your Speaker and their topic, enough to give a good introduction.
- Being in the room at least 15 minutes prior to your shift and making sure your speaker and all needed fellow angels are in the room.
- Making the speaker feel comfortable and taking care of any special needs.
- Being the first to react and take care of any problem.
- Watching the room and making sure the event/talk runs smoothly.
- Ensuring the speaker ends on time!
Herald Angel Briefing
Important Numbers
Note: These numbers are from 26C3 and may need updating.
- EMERGENCY/NOTRUF (112) : Security or Medical Emergency
- Speakers Room (1020): Call in case your speaker is not present!
- Heaven (1023): Call in case your fellow Angels (Video/Audio/Raum) are not present.
- Info desk INFO (4636): Call if there is a conflict with the schedule or an attendee has a question you cannot answer.
- Arch Angels (1024)
Preparation
- Have your:
- Announcements sheet (obtain from the Herald Archangels if any)
- Brief speaker introduction
- Timekeeping Device
- Know the proper room and show up 15 minutes prior to the session. Identify the working Herald Angel. (Room changes happen, be prepared!)
- DECT phone handy
Before your Speaker Begins
- Make sure your speaker is in the room. If they are not, go through the call list above.
- Introduce yourself to the next Speaker. Go through the following info and questions:
- How do you properly pronounce your name?
- How would you like to be introduced?
- Do you need a special (something to) VGA adapter?
- Do you need an Audio Out for your presentation?
- How much time will you have for Q&A?
- Work out a system for notifying the speaker how much time is left. (Hand signals for 10, 5, 1, and 0 minutes left or use available cards. Make sure the speaker knows to acknowledge you with a nod of the head or other gesture so they realize how much time is left.)
- Would you like water?
- Make sure the speaker knows to repeat all questions into the microphone.
- Be sure the previous speaker, if any, ends on time.
- If there is no Herald Angel in the room, politely inform the current speaker when their time runs out. (Note: This is normally the job of the Herald Angel who introduced the speaker, but sometimes you will have to do it.)
- Ask the previous speaker to clear the stage, along with the group who has questions for them to head to a breakout room.
- Work to set up the current speaker
- Always have them connect their video first. If there is a problem, notify the Audio and Video Angels immediately.
- Inform the Audio and Visual angels of how the talk will be handled.
- If there is a Q&A session, be sure to make sure the microphones in the audience will be turned on.
- Fill up all available seats in the room if there is an over capacity crowd
- Introduce the speaker
- This can be as simple as, "(Speaker) will now talk about (Topic). Let's give (Him or Her) a warm round of applause!"
- Kill time if the speaker needs more time to set up
- Ask how people are enjoying the congress
During Your Speaker's Talk
- Check that the entrances/emergency exits are not blocked. Please walk around the room and ask people in front of exits and aisleways to clear out. If attendees start piling up inside, ask them to find and take available seats
- There are NO SAVED SEATS once a talk begins. Fill all available seats
- If the room is too crowded, ask attendees to go outside and watch the video stream.
- 'If you are unable to enforce emergency exit routes or other security requirements, please call 110 from your DECT'
- Be ready with a microphone or microphone stands to make sure the audience can ask questions into a microphone. (This is especially important for those watching a stream!)
- Notify the speaker of how much time is left with the pre-agreed signals. Make sure they acknowledge your signals.
- Unless there is no talk following, allow ABSOLUTE maximum of 5min over time if necessary. Do everything within your power to allow speaker(s) to gracefully end their session.
- If necessary, take the mic during Q&A and say "three more questions" or "one more question"
When Your Speaker is Finished
- Take the stage and thank the Speaker Publicly. Ask for a Round of Applause.
- Ask the previous speaker to clear the stage, along with the group who has questions for them to head to a breakout room.
- Stick around, fix problems if any, including setting up the next speaker if no Herald Angel is present.
Suggestions for This Year
- Radio and dispatch via DECT headsets for those for communication for crowd control. Basically, having a DECT network allows us to use conference calls (DECT can even do multicast, but this is probably easier done on the PBX level anyway). This should of course be limited to Angels only. This will allow more coordination among Angels, right now it is often a decision made by separate Guardian Angels whether the doors should be closed or not.
- Use of traffic signs on the doors of the halls to communicate that they are closed and/or exit only. There are so many texts plastered everywhere that people do ignore whatever texts that are on the door.
- Crowd control: have the doors at the back in Saal 1 exit only instead of the ones in the front, this will make it easier to fill it up beginning at the front rows
Mission Angels
Mission Angels are a sub-group of the Herald Angels whose job is to facilitate communication between the Peace Missions and those at the bcc. Mission Angels will be dispatched to popular talks to relay questions from those watching the streams as well as work within the bcc to facilitate regular communication between attendees at the bcc and those attending Peace Missions.
Mission Angels must:
- Be enabled as a Herald in the Angel System
- Have a working knowledge of IRC and/or Skype
- Bring their own laptops to talks and register their laptop on the 27c3-FixIP network
See Nick Farr or Lindw0rm for more details.
