From CASSA

This page attempts to list all the things that need to be done at various times before a MegaLAN in order to make it happen. The big problem we've had in the past is that the organisers change regularly, and a lot of things are never documented. The other big problem is leaving things for too late. This page hopes to address both of those issues.

Tasks are grouped into rough timeframes and space for names, dates and notes are provided. Update the details as necessary.

Contents 1 > 1 Month Before 2 1 Month Before 3 1 Week Before 4 The Afternoon Before - Setup 5 During the MegaLAN 6 Packup Time!

[edit] > 1 Month Before

These things should be done as early as possible - some (e.g. booking) require the date of the LAN to be fixed, but others can be done or started regardless.

MegaLAN Sub-Committee
Setup MegaLAN sub-committee. You will need to request the Secretary, VP or President to call a General Meeting to form this committee.

Role	Assigned To	Notified (Y/N)	Duties
MegaLan Co-ordinator	?	?	Usually Social Co-ordinator. Responsible for running the entire MegaLAN. Reports to President. Call meetings to ensure tasks are allocated, underway and completed.
Network Administrator	?	?	Responsible for the MegaLAN network configuration, organising the network equipment, designing the LAN table layout, organising firewall and router (Internet) access. Liaise with Treasurer for any budget costs.
Staff Liaison	?	?	Usually Staff Representative. Responsible for authorising Facilities Request Forms, assisting with printing.
Equipment Co-ordinator	?	?	Responsible for contacting Hire companies, getting approval for Hire - forms signed by President, collecting equipment and returning equipment. Liaise with Treasurer for any budget costs.

Book the Rooms
Book ML14.113-116. Rooms 114, 5 and 6 are three adjoining rooms with retractable concertina walls (where we hold the LAN), and 113 is a large gym/dance studio (misc uses, good to have).
The form(s) you need are in the Facilities Management Office section of this page:

• Definitely need to fill in the Student Request for Use of ECU Facilities form
• Probably also need to complete the Application to Conduct a Function on Campus form and the Risk Criteria For Functions on Campus form.
  

Book the rooms for the night before from 4pm to 10pm (for setup), then from 9am to midnight for the first day, then until 2pm for the second day.
Get the staff rep to sign off on forms as needed. Deliver the forms to the FMO - ML3.151.

The LAN date should be fairly confirmed before this is done, although it is always best to book as early as possible - even if changes must be made.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Book Tables and Bins
Request as many trestle tables as possible (usually stored in the KK gallery storage room) and plenty of big green bins - at least 3 general and 3 recycling.
These are both requested through the FMO - best to do it when you book the room.

The LAN date should be fairly confirmed before this is done, although it is always best to book as early as possible - even if changes must be made.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Contact Potential Sponsors (External)
Get in touch with any potential sponsors for the LAN - companies/people willing to donate prizes. Try to do it in person wherever possible, but phone/email also works as long as you follow up on it as needed.
Likely sponsors include game stores (EB, Gametraders, etc), nerd stores (Empire, Tactics, etc) and tech/computer stores (Austin, PLE, JBHIFI, etc). Also consider non-local/online sponsors such as Razor, PCcasegear, ThinkGeek, Valve (Steam credit), mWave.com.au, DVDcrave, etc. THE WORST THEY CAN DO IS SAY NO.
Be sure to mention that the club is a not-for-profit student association, and be willing/offer to advertise their business a bit - logo on posters, fliers on tables, posters on walls, etc.

Exact date of LAN not important for this task - most companies require at least a month's notice.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Contact Potential Sponsors (Internal)
Get in touch with SCSS admin to see if they are willing to sponsor/donate anything. Best points of contact are the school administrator (currently Jacquie Irving) or the head of school (currently Craig Valli).
Try to contact in person (building 13 reception area), but follow up via email. They will often donate things such as thumb drives, which previously we have filled with free indie games and whatnot.

Exact date of LAN not important for this task

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Design Advertising Materials
Design at least one poster advertising the LAN. Make sure it looks good in A3, A4 and A5.
If possible, create more than one poster, and create an alternate poster for use outside of ECU - this version should show where the LAN rooms and parking are on a campus map.

Here is a prior poster by Rith (Simon Vin) as an example. The essential poster details are:

• Dates/times and location
• Prices ($10 members, $15 non-members) and reservation details/link
• No alcohol
• Bring: PC, powerboard, headphones, sleeping gear (if needed)
• No CRT monitors or surge protected powerboards (due to power consumption and surge protection handled by 3-phase power box)
• No mention of file sharing / leeching - CASSA does not condone piracy or copyright infringement

Date and details must be confirmed before advertising can be released, but designing them in advance means they can go out quick when details set Since we've purchased 24port switches and hence ethernet cable between switches and PCs can be quite long, we will be providing or selling these from now on

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Determine Event Budget
With the assistance of the treasurer, determine a budget for the LAN and allocate funds for all necessary purchases.

Probable expenses are:

• Tournament Prizes (try to get most things for free from sponsors, but may need to buy a few things...)
• Food and Drinks (a large FAL run needs to be done before the LAN. Previous ones have come in at ~$400. Can always sell leftovers from office)
• Hire of power equipment - 3-phase box, 3-phase extension cable, and regular extension cables

Now that we've purchased our own switches, we no longer need to hire them from RF-LAN

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

[edit] 1 Month Before

These things should be done quite early, but the date of the LAN really needs to be fixed before they are done.

Hire/Book Power Equipment
To power the LAN, we need the following (please add details to this section!):

• 3-Phase power distribution box (what specs? lots of detail is good...)
• 3-Phase extension cable (details? We've hired 50m 32A 5pin this time around - update if it turns out unsuitable)
• Regular extension cables (how many, what lengths?)

We need to hire these for the duration of the LAN - arrange the most suitable pickup and return times.
Potential sources include Coates Hire, Matrix Production Hire, Rexel Electrical Supplies, Nadam Events...
Be sure to shop around, prices vary a lot and be sure to play the non-profit/student association/educational institution card.

We have powerlooms/powerchains of our own now

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Advertise
Finalise the advertising materials and get them out there as soon as possible. All over ML campus using the Poster Placement map, on JO campus, on the website, Facebook and Twitter...
Also try to advertise in other areas such as: ECU or SCSS events/news page, ECU social media feeds, other uni comp sci clubs (give them posters and fliers as well as advertising on their websites - liaise with their people), sites/forums for other local groups who may be interested... Remember to use alternate version of poster with campus map for external advertising.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Arrange Tournaments
Write up a tournament schedule and detail it fully (numbers of teams, team sizes, rounds, game versions/mods/modes/maps, etc). Remember to have tournaments for various games - some casual, some hardcore, different genres and platforms. Determine prizes for tournaments.

There is always a PowerStone (Dreamcase) tournament, and the prize for it is always a dildo, i.e. "The CASSA Dong". The dildo tends to be donated back by the tournament winner (often Peter Hannay) to be won next time.

Allow for adequate time between tournaments and try to avoid overlap in similar games - it is likely that things will not run to time, and getting people all paying attention and joining the right game/server can be like herding cats. Make plans for advertising tournament info on a projector and with a microphone.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Arrange Firewall Access and Routing
The LAN needs full Internet access (not just Web) for things like game authentication. This requires the ability to bypass the ECU firewall, using staff credentials. If the ethernet ports in the LAN room do not allow people to connect to the firewall, you'll need to arrange with IT to have the status of the ports changed for the duration of the event. The staff rep should be the one in charge of making this happen.

Our normal solution is to use a PC/laptop with two NICs to handle the link between the LAN and the Internet (taking care of NAT, DHCP, routing, etc). This box runs a script that bypasses the firewall, allowing Internet access and making the LAN work.

It is important to make sure the network is tested in advance

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Contact Fighting Game Group
In 2011 Sem 1, we had the awesome people from OzHadou set up fighting games in 14.113. Our main contact person with them was ???? (who remembers the person's name?)

They're self sufficient, setting up 4 or so places for people to play 2D fighters and running their own tournament. A good number of their own people turned up (I believe we charge them $5 if they're just there for the consoles).

We'd like to integrate them into our room some more, so it's worth looking into that - perhaps giving them a projector in the main room.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

[edit] 1 Week Before

These things can be done earlier, but shouldn't be a problem if they're left until this late.

Buy Food & Drinks from FAL
Go to FAL and buy a big load of food and drinks for the LAN. In addition to the normal stock of soft drinks, water, chocolate bars and chips, we usually get some pot noodles (and make sure to have an urn or kettle available at the LAN).

Whatever we puchase can be sold as normal from the room after the LAN, but avoid overstocking on things we don't normally sell. Two boxes of pot noodles is plenty.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Contact Maintenance Regarding Air Conditioning
ECU Maintenance (extension 5554) are responsible for air conditioning on campus.

Someone (often the Staff Rep) needs to inform them that there will be an event (tell them the start and end times and make sure they know it goes all night) that generates a lot of heat from people/computers in the rooms, and ask them if they can set the air conditioning to a lower temperature for the duration of the event.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Confirm Booking & Equipment with Facilities
Contact the FMO to confirm that they will deliver the trestle tables and bins to the LAN rooms in time for the setup (afternoon before the day of the LAN).

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Confirm Firewall Access and Network Setup
Be sure to test the planned network setup with the routing box and ensure that firewall access will be available.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Promote the LAN Lots
If we're not already full, promote the LAN lots in all forms of media you can.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Print Stuff
Make A3 printouts of the following things, as necessary:

• Price lists for food & drinks
• Signs to put up as needed - pointers to entrance and toilets, no entry signs, etc
• Posters about not condoning any illegal material or activity, police being called if necessary, minimising external download traffic, etc
• Posters thanking sponsors / advertising them as necessary

The staff rep can help to get things printed in A3

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

Admin Desk - Manning Roster
Assign Admin Desk roster to committee members. Ensure that assigned members are going to be available at the times rostered. Ensure that members are not involved in Tournaments during their roster times.

Assigned To	Due Date	Notes	Done (Y/N)
?	?	?	?

[edit] The Afternoon Before - Setup

The afternoon / evening before the LAN is when we set everything up. The main thing we need at this point is people willing to help. 5 or so people is enough, but more makes things go quicker

Remember to bring...

• 3-Phase power box and extension cable (picked up from supplier)
• Regular extension cables, powerboards and powerchains
• Powerstrips from office - always need a few spare ones for admin and console areas (min: 3 - 1 for fridge, 1 for admin and 1 spare)
• Switches and routing box, plus a laptop or two for network testing (1 x managed 24port GB (surecom), 5 x un-managed 24port GB (3com))
• Network cables ( 10 x 20m, 50 x 5m (in packets for sales), and other network cables )
• Gaffer tape (black with a fibre weave, not the smooth grey one) to tape down cables
• Consoles from office (and all their controllers, games, cables, power converters, etc) - be sure to charge controller batteries!
• Food & drinks
• Cash box
• Fridge from office
• Urn or kettle for hot water (pot noodles)
• Printed price lists/signs/posters/etc and blutak (can use tape if needed)
• Pens

Before you can start setting up, you'll need to get someone from facilities to unlock/open the concertina doors.

Once they're open move desks and chairs out of the way so that the trestle tables can be deployed. Use them first, then use desks (biggest ones first if there are different sizes) to make up the rest of the seating. Seating layout used in 2011 Sem 1 can be found here.

Once the tables and chairs are in position, lay down the network and power as indicated here. Powerchains are in red, extension and ethernet cable path is in orange, blue and red circles are switches and powerchains needing outlets (i.e. what the extension cables lead to).

Be sure to test every switch on the network and confirm they all have power, network and Internet access.

Tape down the cables wherever they cross walking areas with gaffer tape once the network/power has been tested - be wide and thorough with it or it will come undone.

Set up the consoles and hook them up to the projectors.

Set up the fridge in the admin area and make sure it is fully stocked, put food on display.

Put up price lists, signs, posters, etc.

Ensure that the rooms/building is locked when done - call security once finished.

[edit] During the MegaLAN

Announce Tournament times when they are approaching - use the Tournament Schedule Doc.

Announce competition winners.

[edit] Packup Time!

Usually around 2PM - the LAN finishes. You need to announce that it is time to packup and leave. Ask attendees to return any items that have been borrowed like power leads, network cables, keyboards, mice etc. Packup should be done in the reverse fashion that setup is performed. Return all equipment to the CASSA office and secure it neatly inside. Return any hire equipment to the hire office (as appropriate).



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