Heralds

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Heralds are the main spokesperson and speaker liaison before and during a lecture. Their primary function is to make sure the speaker is introduced, well equipped and speaks no longer than his or her allotted time.

Can I be a Herald Angel?

For this year, the 35c3, we decided to not create a Call for Heralds. We will instead run with experienced Heralds from past C3-Events. We already wrote emails to everyone, so if you haven't received an email so far, you are unfortunately not part of the 35c3-Heralds Team.

It is also worth noting, that many Heralds expressed the wish to do more then one shift on stage. In the last years we had so many Heralds, that most Heralds only did one shift. This year we are limiting the amount of Heralds by not training new Heralds, so that there is a fair chance of two shifts per Herald.

Communication

We run an opensource "Slack alternative" chat server called Rocket.chat that we are using to communicate during and before the event.

The Server can be found here: https://heralds.events.ccc.de This service provides free Apps for Android and Apple

Job Description

The Herald is typically seen as the person who announces the speaker at the beginning of a talk/lecture/... (see Static:Schedule). That is just the easy part of the job! Being a Herald Angel involves the following:

  1. Being familiar with your Speaker and their topic, enough to give a good introduction.
  2. Being in the room at least 15 minutes prior to your shift.
  3. Crowd-Control the audience
  4. Making announcements
  5. Introduce the speaker and the talk
  6. Manage the Q&A

It is rather likely, that the Stagemanager has less experience then you as the Herald. Please use your experience and knowledge to educate and train the stagemanager to the best of your abilities. If the Stage manager makes a serious mistake, you can override him/her, you do have a veto right on every decision he/she takes. Please do not micromanage. Make sure that your shift is a positive learning experience for the Stage manager.

There is a recording of the Herald-Introduction at SHA - it is adapted for SHA, but it has still a lot of truth in it. https://media.ccc.de/v/SHA2017-999-heralds_introduction

Herald Angel Briefing

In years before the 32c3, Herald Angels also did the tasks of the Stage managers. This year we will be splitting these tasks again. As a Herald, you need to cooperate closely with your stage manager and understand what the job of a stage manager includes. You can find more information here: Static:Stage_manager

Checklist

No checklist is ever complete. Study it well and think about the intention behind each point, so you can adapt to the ever changing demands and circumstances. Generally you should have your eyes everywhere, be responsible for everyone and more on time punctual then a japanese train driver.

Before the Congress

Preparation before the Talk

  • Have your:
    • Talkcards
    • Announcements sheet (obtain from the Herald Coordinators/Herald Archangels if any)
  • Know the proper room and show up 20 minutes prior to the session. Identify the working Herald Angel. (Talk changes happen, be prepared!)
  • DECT phone
  • Think about your outfit and change it if necessary to something nice(r), because you are the face of the Event on Stage.

Before a Talk

  • 20 Minutes before the talk, please go to the designated area for room coordinators and get to know these people, so you know where they sit and you can recognize them:
    • A/V Technican
    • your Stagemanager
  • This year, the Stagemanager is encouraged not to speak with the Speaker, to reduce Stress on the Speaker further, this means you have to ask these questions:
    • Are you happy with Audio and Video setup (T-10)
    • How much time for Q&A?
    • Would you like Water?
    • How / when would you like to be notified of your remaining time? (Acknowledge/Nod!)
    • Do you need anything else?
    • How would you like to be introduced? (modify your introduction slightly)
    • How do I properly pronounce your name?
    • What do you want me to tell the crowd about you (Awards, Prestigious Facts that may sound arrogant..)
  • Do a full Briefing with your Stagemanager, this includes:
    • Where the STM should stand, so you can see him/her while you are on Stage
    • Does the Speaker wish to be notified of the remaining time towards the End of the Slot or towrads the Beginning of the Q&A
    • How long will the Q&A be?
    • How many Time-Signs does the Speaker want
    • When and how you like to be notified of the times to go on and off-stage and when to start the introduction for the Speaker
    • Tell the STM how long your intro will be, so he knows when to tell you to start doing it.
    • Decide together with the STM if crowd flow management is necessary. Decide how early before the Talk you should go on Stage and help with Crowd Flow Management
    • Check with your stage manager which live translations are offered. Announce the translation and the phone numbers in the target language of the translation. A translation angel might be available to help you with the announcement.
      • This year there wont be translation via DECT!
      • Your StageManager can press a button and this way show the Translation-Infoscreen on the Beamer. Ask him to do this at a pre-arranged keyword and explain to the audience how to listen to a (live) translation by installing the App and joining the right Room

Starting a Talk

  • Kill time if the speaker needs more time to set up
    • Ask how people are enjoying the congress
  • Crowd-Control
    • If needed seat the people so most people can attend live
    • Observe the crowd flow and inform the crowd of free areas, of full areas. Work with your STM to utilize the Saalengel to the fullest as guides for the crowd.
    • If the previous talk was very full, discuss with your STM to maybe only let people leave for a couple of minutes, before the doors are opened to let the next people in.
    • If a talk starts to get full, start the defragmentation.
      • First-level: Hint at free areas, inform the crowd of areas that are rather full
      • Second-level: Make them get up and move together, so that seats at the edges of a block become free
      • Third-Level: Ask them to raise the hand if they have a free seat next to them
  • Make any announcements prior to introducing the speaker.
    • Sometimes there are changes to the schedule to announce
    • Remind people to ask questions into the microphone, since they are being broadcasted and recorded
  • Always inform the crowd of the translations as the last thing you do, before you do the Schnittmarke (VOC-Break)
  • Make a short break (~5-10sec) so the VOC knows where to cut the video. Please really do this!
  • 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!"
    • But, there are ways to create even better Introductions and we have created a Wikipage with a simple How-To to for you.

During Q&A

  • Take the stage and moderate the Q&A. (min. Distance to speaker 3m)
  • communicate silent with your stage manager to know how may questions may be taken
  • Allow only Questions, try to limit Comments
  • If a question was not asked into a microphone, please repeat the Question, before you ask the Speaker to answer the Question
  • Between a question and an answer and after every answer, you speak. Establish this as routine. You grant the audience the right to ask questions and you ask the Speaker to answer a question. If you establish this early, you have an easier time cutting people off, who don't ask questions but want to comment.
  • We want our Speakers to shine. Try as best as you can to let the Speaker shine. We are the professional assholes that take all the blame for everything, so the speaker can shine.

When Your Speaker is Finished

  • Take the stage and thank the Speaker Publicly. Ask for a Round of Applause.
  • Wait 5-10sec so the VOC knows where to cut the video
  • Make the necessary announcements
    • Remind the audience of any announcements
    • Mention the next upcoming talk
    • Ask the audience to please remove any trash with them as they leave
    • Check your Herald-Talk-Cards and with your STM for any other relevant Announcements
    • Do Crowd Flow Management if necessary

Important Numbers

What? Number When?
Himmel 1023 Call in case your fellow Angels (Video/Audio/Raum) are not present.
Speakersdesk 1020 Call in case your speaker is not present!
Security 110 Security Issues
CERT 112 Medical Emergency
VOC 1600 Call in case there are technical (Video) issues that you can not resolve through the VOC-Angels in the Saal
Infodesk 1111 Call if there is a conflict with the schedule or an attendee has a question you cannot answer.
Lindworm 5463 Call if you are overwhelmed or need assistance
Ijon 4566 Call if you are overwhelmed or need assistance
all Stagemanagers 1602
Lampenfieberbeauftragter (Stage Fright Council) 8434 Call if you have stage fright or fear being overwhelmed by it
Signal Angel Coordinator 8745 Call if you don't have a signal angel
Translation Coordinator 8424 8425 Call if you don't have German / English translation angles
Subtitles Coordinator ???? Will we have subtitles this year?
Awareness-Team 113 Someone convinced me of putting this here, but I don't know the number. Feel free to edit if you can.
STM Saal Adams 1612 Stage Manager Saal Adams
STM Saal Borg 1622 Stage Manager Saal Borg
STM Saal Clarke 1632 Stage Manager Saal Clarke
STM Saal Dijkstra 1642 Stage Manager Saal Dijkstra
STM Saal Eliza 1652 Stage Manager Saal Eliza
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