Area Facilitators Handbook AF history and organization Operational AF Responsibilities and Duties Budgeting AF Relationships to other parties No Shopping For Answers Communications Tools Afterburns Media Relations Plans Crisis Communications Plan Principles of Effective Crisis Communication Media Tips and Talking Points Flipside Incident Command System < a id"red-dawn-protocol" href="red-dawn-protocol">Red Dawn Protocol Planning Milestones for AFs AF history and organization History of the Area Facilitator In the early years of Flipside, AAR (now Catalyst Collective, or CatCol) managed the Leads directly. It made sense: the event was small and it was operationally feasible. However, as each year passed and Flipside grew in attendance, the volunteer leadership cadre also grew and became more difficult for the LLC to manage effectively by itself. The LLC realized that they were becoming overwhelmed with keeping up with a year-round community, focusing on the financial and legal aspects of producing the event, and overseeing the volunteer Leads at the event. To this end AAR, with the help of other community leaders, grouped Flipside’s volunteer departments by similar purposes, organizing them into ‘areas’. Managing the group of Leads in each area would be an ‘Area Facilitator’ who would oversee and support the operations of the Leads to insure that they were able to successfully complete their tasks for Flipside. The Area Facilitator would be a managerial resource, oversee the departments in their area, and act as a more immediate administrative resource for the Leads and volunteers in that area. AAR would continue to involve itself more directly in the operations of critical, liability-specific departments and in certain limited situations that required a different type of attention, while the majority of event operations management was transferred to the AFs. This created a new level of leadership potential for the community, and allowed AAR to reduce their workload while still being able to support the Leads via the AFs. Since its inception in 2005, the AF cadre has proven itself invaluable, becoming a year-round resource helping to grow and improve our community, both through activities at the warehouse and the planning and production of Flipside. When needed, new Area Facilitator positions have been created to accommodate the expanding needs of the community. In 2010, recognizing that there is always a possibility that they will be temporarily unable to serve as the legal and financial liability entity for the event, AAR instituted the Red Dawn Policy, assigning the continuation of the event largely to the AF cadre. This, in addition to a continuous push to empower the Area Facilitators with increased autonomy, has resulted in a stronger relationship between the tactical operations of Flipside that the AFs oversee, and the strategic vision of the organization provided and supported by AAR. In 2022, AFs could volunteer to serve as backups for Actual during the event. What is an AF? The Area Facilitator’s Role Each AF oversees a group of several related departments called an area. They support the Leads in their area to help those Leads accomplish their departments’ operational tasks. Appointed by Catalyst Collective (CatCol) each year before the Flipside season gets started, the AFs hold fairly time-intensive, year-round positions with an expectation of two or more years of service. AFs should help keep their Leads on task and on schedule, set expectations and provide Leads with the broader organizational perspective when needed. AFs serve as subject-matter experts on their area when dealing with other AFs or CatCol, communicating who is doing what, who needs what, budgetary needs, etc. When a Lead has an idea for something new and perhaps expensive, the AF should look at how the idea fits in with what the rest of the organization is doing, whether it steps on any toes, and how feasible it is. When someone has a good idea, we try to find a way to say Yes to it. This can yield real benefits. For example: when a new City Signage lead had an idea to make many more street signs out of more durable materials, the upfront expense was considerably beyond the planned budget, but the result was street signs that were much more useful during the event. AFs should understand, on a basic level, how each department within their area operates in order to support their Leads and volunteers, and to fill in for their Leads in a pinch. They should also understand the structure of the Flipside volunteer organization: how the other areas operate and interact, as well as the relationships they have to CatCol and the CC. AFs should have solid volunteer-management and communication skills. Because of the tactical nature of their role, AFs are typically on the front lines of volunteer operations, visible and accessible to their Leads and the rest of the volunteer community both at the event and throughout the year. What does this mean? AFs are managers, responsible for inspiring their Leads and making sure that they are able to accomplish their goals. AFs also work with their Leads to develop good management skills, such as delegation, communication, time management, budgeting, and recruitment and retention. In a dispute between volunteers or Leads, AFs may be called on to step in and resolve it. Term Length AFs usually assume their role sometime in the summer after Flipside. We ask that Area Facilitators commit to a minimum of two years. The Flipside organization is active year-round, and getting started in the quiet season during the summer gives time to learn the position and prepare for the ramp-up in the fall, which includes the AF/CatCol retreat, Leads Rodeo, and Town Hall. We also want to allow each person time to fully understand their role; sometimes it takes someone more than a year to really hit their stride. Operational AF Responsibilities and Duties Monthly meetings The AFs and CatCol members have one meeting a month, at a time and date typically decided during retreat. Leads Selection AFs have primary responsibility for lead selection, recruiting potential Leads, publicizing the nomination and feedback process, participating in the actual leads-selection event (Leads Rodeo), and contacting people who have and have not been chosen. Some leads are designated “liability leads”: mainly those in Safety departments or those handling a lot of money. CatCol has veto over liability leads, but in practice this is very rarely used. AFs drive the Leads selection process, with community feedback being accepted electronically. AFs should choose the best candidates for the positions, but remember that others showing an interest should not be completely forgotten. Someone may not the best fit this year for a particular position, but they may benefit from serving in a different lead role or working with a senior Lead to help them gain some experience. We grow awesome leaders in our community, and sometimes that takes varied experiences and a few years. As an operational note, when choosing a lead from among a number of candidates for that position, always notify the people you did not choose before the person you did choose, so that no one needs to find out via social media that they were not chosen (this has happened). Budgeting CatCol’s annual budget is hammered out at the November AF meeting. CatCol brings a tentative budget to that meeting with the expectation that AFs will bring information from their areas to improve it. The budget is a planning document that helps us set ticket prices, but it is not carved in stone. The afterburns that Leads submit do include a spot for estimating next year’s budget, and AFs should take that information into account when available. But incomplete afterburns, new leads with new ideas, and old leads with new information mean that this information is imperfect at best, and the constraints of the calendar—leads are chosen right around budget-writing—mean that new leads won’t have much chance to assess their budget needs before the budget is written. The budget has slack, and can easily accommodate small overages. Big overages will be tougher, but can be absorbed when needed. Supporting leads in their visions while still being financially responsible is a balancing act, as most Leads do not or cannot see the larger budgetary picture. Prior to the start of a new Flipside season, CatCol will meet with the Area Facilitators to discuss the budgets for the previous and the coming year. Once familiar with their area’s budget, the AF should meet with their Leads to discuss their departmental budgets in order to get a sense whether the estimated budget is accurate, and if there are any new capital expenses expected. As Leads begin spending ticket money, AFs are responsible for making sure they are doing so in a sound manner. AFs are also expected to educate their Leads in the reimbursement process, including reminding them (repeatedly, many times) that all receipts should be turned into CatCol, and should be accompanied by a TPS form. Each AF should have a good grasp of their Leads’ financial needs and a goal to keep them on budget (with a certain amount of wiggle room). Any gross deviations or capital expenses should be cleared with CatCol prior to the expenditure. For the most part, once an area’s budget is agreed upon with the AF, CatCol will trust them to manage it effectively. It is also very important that AFs make sure that their Leads are turning in the receipts for their departmental expenses in a timely fashion. We always try to save money when it is realistic to do so. The organization has an obligation to be good stewards of the ticket money that our participants entrust to us, and limiting our expenditures encourages the creative solutions that Burners are so good at. Lottery-exemption lists Ticket requests from Leads, CC members, AFs, CatCol members, and their respective family members are all automatically exempted from any ticket lottery that might be held (assuming they’re registered in our profile system correctly.) Leads can designate certain other volunteers as deserving of lottery exemption, subject to AF approval. Before ticket opening, AFs should collect lists of these people from their Leads. The AFs will organize these lists, reality-check them, and submit them to CatCol. Note: As of 2023, this process is in flux with the relatively new Volunteer Management System. These are the people needed to ensure that Flipside can be run competently. They and their families are guaranteed tickets in the event of a lottery. This is one of the very few perks offered to volunteers, and the lottery-exempt list should be kept as small as possible. This is what we have called “critical volunteers.” There’s been a lot of confusion about what that really means; “lottery-exempt” is more precise. As of 2023, there has not been a ticket lottery since 2013, and as an organization, we have gotten lax about dealing with lottery-exempt lists. This could come back to haunt us. Ticket set-asides Leads can also request some tickets be set aside for unnamed volunteers to be ticketed later. This is normally limited to DaFT and some of the Safety departments. Again, the number of ticket set-asides should be kept as small as possible, and AFs should reality-check those numbers. Set-asides are not documented in the Leads handbook–some leads generally know that tickets will be made available for their volunteers, but we don’t need to discuss that we have a formal system to accommodate that. Set-asides encourage entitled behavior. Ideally these should be used sparingly. In years where ticket demand was low, we have been loose with after-sale tickets, which may have created the wrong idea about how easy it is to find a ticket. If we suddenly find ourselves with demand exceeding supply, this will come back to haunt us. Early Entry Lists Before the event, AFs ask their leads to submit Early Entry lists, collect and organize them, reality-check them, and submit them to CatCol, which finalizes these lists and sends official invitations to volunteers to join us on the site before the beginning of the event. There are significant financial and legal ramifications in bringing people on site prior to and after the event, as well as safety and social issues. The Early Entry process is meant to bring in volunteers in waves so that each wave lays the groundwork for the next wave’s entry, from ‘foundation’ to ‘frame’ to ‘canvas’ to ‘event.’ A certain amount of infrastructure must exist on the event site to support the people arriving to assist with infrastructure setup, begin departmental operations, or set up extensive theme camp/art installations. As the managers of the event, it is important that we have adequate support structures in place prior to allowing each successive group of participants to enter the event site. It is also important that we can depend on the people who are on site before all the infrastructure is set up. AFs should keep Leads on task for providing complete and accurate lists of people their department needs to arrive early. People who arrive during Early Entry without being on the list need to be individually cleared, which adds friction and slows us down. The Lead who invited that volunteer or their AF will be called to the gate to confirm that the volunteer should be allowed on site. Backup During Flipside, there is always a CatCol member on duty, known by the comms handle Actual. There is a second person on call that we informally refer to as Backup. Starting in 2022, AFs could volunteer to serve as Backup. This involves an extra training session. Afterburns and Embers AFs are responsible for reminding their Leads to create their Afterburn reports, and for writing their own. Each Lead also has the option of sending their Afterburn directly to CatCol. Every year CatCol asks each Lead and Area Facilitator to submit an Afterburn report that summarizes what, where, who, and how they (and their volunteers) were able to accomplish their tasks, identifying what worked and what didn’t, and giving budgetary guidance for the next year. Debrief We schedule a casual gathering in July to discuss how the event went. AF Retreat We schedule a weekend-long retreat in mid-September. This is the kickoff event for the coming event cycle, where we discuss big-picture questions and look at next year’s event from a mile-high view. AF Relationships to other parties The Flipside volunteer community is based on a lowerarchy–an inverted pyramid model of leadership. The philosophy is that the most important people at Flipside are the volunteers (the largest, widest, top-most level), and every strata serves to support the one above. At the bottom of the pyramid, then, is CatCol, who serve the AFs, who serve the Leads, who serve the volunteers. As senior volunteers within the organization, AFs have a special responsibility to be positive representatives of the organization. Don’t troll Facebook in your capacity as an AF, or spread false information about Flipside. If someone asks you a question or you want to contribute a point, be sure you know what you’re talking about before you say it. Be professional in your dealings with vendors. If you are involved in an independent project that is critical of the organization or is prone to be confused with it, talk to CatCol first. AF/CatCol/CC Catalyst Collective (CatCol) is the entity that assumes the financial and legal liability associated with the production of Flipside, and supports a year-round community based around this event. This includes the rental and operation of the warehouse and a variety of other initiatives into which CatCol invests the community’s money. The Combustion Chamber (CC) is a community advisory body that acts as a communications channel between the larger Flipside community and CatCol. They provide feedback on policies that affect the event and the community. CatCol relies on the AFs to plan and run their areas with autonomy, but will step in when an AF requests CatCol support or when the situation requires, so that the AF can continue to effectively manage their area. In some cases, CatCol may be more hands-on with a Lead or department. As community servants, the AFs should also keep an ear open to the CC and the issues they bring to the table from the community, as their concerns may affect the operation of a particular area, department, or Lead. Similarly, although the CC does not have oversight of operations, there are some operational decisions that have policy overtones or need buy-in from the broader community, or education of it. AFs should be mindful of anything happening in their area that looks like this, and bring it before the CC—ideally scheduled as an agenda item, but if time does not permit, at least raise the subject during the “AF update” at a CC meeting. Any situations that warrant (or could potentially warrant) CatCol involvement should be escalated immediately; such situations include but are not limited to potential criminal issues, legal liability concerns, significant financial issues or social concerns in which a participant, volunteer or Lead’s behavior may jeopardize their department, the warehouse, or the event. As stated previously, AFs may serve in lieu of CatCol in the event that the Red Dawn Protocol is activated. AF/AF Relationships AFs should maintain steady lines of communication amongst each other to better understand how the entire event operates, how the overall planning/operations process is progressing, and to be aware of any inter-area friction or dropped balls. Checking in with other AFs also helps prevent miscommunications or lapses in memory, particularly once things get rolling and more hectic. The monthly AF meetings and the AF slack channel are the primary methods of communication. There is also the AF calendar and the AF Trello board. The meetings are especially useful for raising issues that other AFs can help with, and resolving those issues quickly. AF/Lead Relationships AFs should check in regularly with their Leads so that the Leads feel supported in their roles, to remind them of upcoming deadlines and tasks (lotter-exemption lists, etc), to learn how things are progressing in the department, and to learn whether the Leads are having any problems in their personal lives that might interfere with their volunteer responsibilities. AFs should give their Leads the autonomy to run their departments as they see fit. In extreme circumstances, AFs need to assist a Lead more directly to help the department achieve its goals. If an AF witnesses a Lead operating in a way that puts their department at risk or is detrimental to other volunteers, it should be addressed immediately. If the AF would prefer, these situations can be brought to the attention of CatCol and the Volunteer Coordinator so an appropriate plan can be reached to resolve the situation. Our goal is to give all Leads autonomy with support. The autonomy is for the Leads to grow as leaders and to come up with new approaches to their departments, and the support is for them to feel safe in doing that, and to provide a backstop in case they fail. Our organization is made of layers of support—layers of backstops—so that it is OK to fail. We take risks on people to develop them as servant leaders. And they take risks to push the envelope of Flipside. No failure should be crippling. AF/Volunteer Relationships The Area Facilitator role is an important but occasionally opaque role within the Flipside volunteer organization, and the people carrying out those roles might not be familiar to many of the volunteers who are making Flipside go. Based on each department’s purpose, it will be more or less significant that each volunteer working with a Lead understand that there is a higher level of management supporting their Lead (and indeed, the volunteers’ work as well). Be mindful of interacting with volunteers. It may be appropriate to check in with your Leads first to make sure that your actions do not seem as though you are subverting their authority. It is important that AFs are seen supporting their Leads and their efforts. It is also important that your area’s volunteers know who you are. You may need to step in and act in your Lead’s role should they need to step down at the last minute or should they be unavailable in a particular situation or at a particular time. It is rare, but if a Lead is not working well in their position, the most important people who will be able to give you a heads up will be their volunteers, or in some cases, a lack of volunteers. In this case, identifying deficits early will allow an AF to work closer with the Lead to accomplish their goals. AF/Participant Relationships Many participants who come to Flipside may have no idea about the complexity or size of the volunteer organization that works to produce the event or that there are teams that work outside the event to support our community year-round. As a member of the operational management team, AFs should promote volunteerism and encourage participants to become more involved. AF/External Relationships Area Facilitators are the operational managers of Flipside. As such you will likely be assisting your Leads in talking to the outside world, or you may be interacting with the outside world on your own. Keep in mind that your behavior can, and likely will, reflect upon the organization as a whole. Any inquiries from the media should be directed to the Media Liaison, inquiries from any public agency should be directed to CatCol. AFs are supported by CatCol and the Flipside community; people may ask you questions about Flipside, or people may try shopping for answers from ‘the person in charge.’ Make us all look good when interacting with participants, volunteers, Leads, or anyone else inside and outside of our community. No Shopping For Answers A managerial policy that our organization has adopted is “No shopping for answers.” This phrase describes a pattern of behavior where a person in an organization will disregard established chains of communication and keep asking different people until they get the answer they want. Example: a child wants a cookie, so he goes to his mom and asks her if he can have one. She says “no.” The kid then goes to his father and asks him; he also says “no.” The kid then finds his grandfather and asks him. Grandpa, not having talked with the child’s mom or dad, says ‘sure!’ And so the kid gets his cookie and learns how to Shop for Answers. Sadly, an undesirable pattern of behavior was reinforced by Grandpa, the correct lines of communication were not respected, and the authority of the child’s parents was weakened. The same situation can occur regarding Flipside: if someone doesn’t get what they want (or more likely, what they want fast enough) from their Lead or AF who has already told them ‘no’ or ‘let me look into that’, they may approach another person they think has the authority to give them what they want. This may mean bypassing a Lead and going directly to an AF, asking another AF, or asking an LLC member. They will bounce around the organization until someone gives them what they want. Why This is Important We expect that decisions are made for good reasons; answer-shopping relies on finding the person who lacks the information needed to make a good decision. And it undermines the legitimate decision-makers. Discouraging a Culture of Entitlement Many times, people may not realize that they are not following the chain of communication, or may not be aware that they are shopping for answers because they’re friends with AF X or CatCol member Y and feel comfortable going directly to them. In these cases, we should support each other by putting those folks in touch with the appropriate person (Lead, AF, etc) and allow for resolution via the correct channels. By promoting this practice, we support our Leads, and each other, prevent more than one person working to address an issue, and avoid encouraging a culture of entitlement throughout our community. How We Can Avoid Encouraging ‘Shopping For Answers’ The best way to head this type of behavior off is to set the organizational expectation that we don’t support shopping for answers. We educate our volunteers in what it is, why it’s counterproductive, and illustrate to them how to properly follow appropriate lines of communication. In practice, the best way to head this behavior off at the pass is to check in with the appropriate people whenever you’re unsure of a situation and it seems like someone hasn’t communicated with the right leader. Asking the person setting off your ‘Spider Sense’ “Did you check with your Lead/AF about this? (i.e. go through the appropriate chain of communication)” will show that: someone is either shopping for an answer (yes, I asked X, and they said no), in which case you can educate them about our policy and learn more about the situation, or: that they are not following the appropriate chain of communication (no, I didn’t), in which case, you can redirect them to the appropriate person. ## …And Sometimes the Chain Needs to be Broken It’s important to not confuse Shopping For Answers with escalating a concern. Sometimes decisions may need to be expedited or overridden. Ideally, when this needs to happen, all of the appropriate people should be brought together to collaboratively work out a solution. If bringing everyone together for a collaborative solution is not feasible, it becomes crucial that you (as the manager ‘breaking’ the chain to expedite or overturn someone else’s decision) inform all of the appropriate people of the change you are making, and more importantly why the change is occurring to keep everyone on the same page. This applies equally to any situation in which authority has been delegated. In summary, by supporting a ‘no shopping for answers’ practice throughout our organizational chain of communication, we exhibit better communication practices, set a good example of how we expect our organization to communicate within itself, and empower our volunteer leadership structure. Dealing with Vendors & Spending Money The income from Burning Flipside’s ticket money funds this year’s event, and pays for the warehouse, our off-season events, rainy-day funds, and a host of other expenses throughout the year. Most departments have some budget to fund their operations for the year. Leads should meet with their AFs prior to spending any money for their department. When it’s time to make smaller purchases on behalf of a department, Leads will usually pay for the purchase with their own money and then get reimbursed by CatCol. The reimbursement process is easy: Leads make the purchase, label the receipt with their name and department, and submit the receipt to CatCol, who will then write a reimbursement check to the Lead. If a Lead can’t foot the bill on their own, no problem: we can also makes purchases using a CatCol debit card. If anyone other than the lead is making the purchase, they should clear it with their AF first. We prefer to give reimbursements directly to the Lead to ensure that the Lead is aware of all purchases made in their department. The point is: we don’t want anyone spending their personal money on Flipside as long as the expense is within budget, or is necessary and has been approved by CatCol. Reimbursement and receipts SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS! Original receipts are preferred for reimbursement. However, these can get lost or degrade before they are submitted. If you have a smartphone, it’s a good idea to take a clear picture of it as soon as the receipt is generated. To be reimbursed for Flipside purchases, all receipts should be turned in to CatCol’s treasurer. Please accompany the receipt with your name, position, AF, and the details of the expenditure. All receipts should be turned in as soon as possible after the purchase. A handy form will be available on the website. You can e-mail clear photos of receipts to receipts@burningflipside.org. CatCol attempts to track our expenses quarterly. This is really hard to do if people don’t let us know what we’re spending. Reimbursement requests need to come from you, the Lead. Random participants should not be submitting reimbursement requests. If you had a volunteer purchase something for the department, get the receipt from them and pass it along as described here. If a volunteer purchased something on their own initiative, you need to consider whether its appropriate to submit for reimbursement at all. Budget needs Figure out what your department will need to spend money on and how much it will need to spend as soon as possible, and let your AF know. The sooner the AFs and CatCol have an accurate picture of their budget needs, the more time we’ll have to make sure we can cover those needs. Reading past Afterburns can help. See also “Inventorying infrastructure” below. Don’t be reluctant to ask for something that will help your department run better or that will make Flipside better in general. You might not get the budget for it, but you definitely won’t get the budget if you don’t ask. Your afterburn will be the best place to describe your department’s budget needs in the next year. If you found your budget was off, or you know some equipment needs to be replaced next year, there’s a spot in the afterburn for that. Care and feeding of volunteers If you’ve got a volunteer-heavy department during the event, budget for volunteer fluffing. Water, food and snacks may be an important factor for your department’s well-being in the hot summer sun. Defining what is a reasonable level of support is an ongoing conversation. We want to take care of our volunteers, but not at the expense of the tenet of self-reliance. We also need to avoid creating a sense of entitlement among some volunteers, or the perception of entitlement among others. And we cannot have the majority of our budget going into food, water and snacks. Capital expenses Capital expenses (CapEx), defined as purchases of single items that cost more than USD250 and that are outside of the recurring budget (see above), should be cleared with CatCol prior to purchase. For authorized CapEx purchases, CatCol can either reimburse you through the normal process, or CatCol can pay for the purchase directly using its debit card. If you are handing off payment to a CatCol member, make sure that member knows exactly what you’ve been quoted, and what the quote is for. This bit us on the ass when one person got an estimate from one location of a big company, and then another person went down to write a check at a different location, and was given a substantially higher figure to pay. This took almost a year to resolve. Shop around Research prices on your budget items with different vendors. Many times cheaper solutions can be found with a little legwork or Internet research. Talk to your AF, who may have more experience or additional information on where to shop. Cheap is good, but cheapest isn’t necessarily best. We are happy to spend the money we need to spend to get a good product or service that we can depend on. Having reliable vendors is often more important. Vendors that we’ve built up good relationships with over time and who will cut us some slack are also important. Beware of hidden costs, especially with cheap vendors. Bargains If you can get something free or at an unusual discount, that is great, but make sure to communicate that in your Afterburn so that the organization can budget appropriately if/when the what-a-deal goes away. Stewardship We are always talking about saving money, but it’s not because we’re broke—we’re not. We are happy to spend the money we need to spend to run Flipside responsibly. We try to save money because we are stewards of the community’s money: so it’s not that we’re trying to be cheap, we’re trying to be prudent. Flipside is not a commercial festival like Lightning in a Bottle or ACL Festival, where the attendee gives the organizer money, and the organizer gives the attendee an experience. When someone gives us money for a ticket, they’re entrusting us with it to use it on their behalf, so that we all can make Flipside happen together. We love it when our volunteers make things happen for little or no money—partly because that involves the creativity that we’re about. That doesn’t mean we won’t spend money on the things that we need. Departmental fundraisers or donation drives TL;DR: Don’t. Participants pay no small change for their tickets. That ticket money is there specifically to make the event go. Fundraisers complicate our bookkeeping, since CatCol needs to account for and pay taxes on any funds raised. If your department needs more money, talk to your AF (see Budget needs; Capital expenses above). Seeking donations or loans of infrastructure within the community may create the impression that the organization is not willing to spend ticket money when needed. Donations of large items often create more issues than they resolve, including accounting and storage. It’s OK for a few people in your department to fill in gaps with infrastructure they have anyhow, but open calls for donations send the wrong message about Flipside’s priorities (see also Bargains above). Vendor/service contracts Non-liability vendor contracts can be signed for by the appropriate Leads, AFs, or LLC members. Service contracts for EMS, security or the like must be signed by an LLC member. Always get LLC approval before signing a service contract with a new vendor. Vehicle/equipment rentals All vehicle and heavy equipment rentals must be approved beforehand by AF or LLC members (typically by default through the budgeting/capital expense process). Delivery of rental vehicles/heavy equipment must be received by the appropriate Lead, their AF, or an LLC member. All rental equipment should be inspected and any pre-existing damages thoroughly documented on official paperwork at the time of receipt. Rental contracts will typically offer insurance as an option–always get it. Check-out process with rentals Ask if there are any gotchas with the equipment. For example, some of the trucks from Penske require you to refill the gas tanks in a certain way to avoid getting dinged for partly filled tanks. Walk around and inspect the equipment. Take pictures of the equipment to document its condition in case of later dispute. If there’s an odometer or usage meter, take a picture of that. Check-in process with rentals Take pictures of the equipment to document its condition in case of later dispute. If there’s an odometer or usage meter, take a picture of that. Delivery acceptance Make sure the thing you receive is the thing you expect. This bit us on the ass when our survival guides were printed with the pages out of order, and we didn’t realize it until after we had picked them up and brought them back to the Warehouse. Panic ensued while we tried to figure out if we could get them reprinted quickly enough. Business accounts In the past, CatCol has operated on a cash basis with its vendors. This is fine for smaller transactions, but can be unwieldy with large transactions. If a vendor is willing to open a business account with CatCol and that would smooth out the process, get in touch with a CatCol member to discuss it. Vendor contact info Maintain a record of the vendors you worked with and the quality of the service the provided, and put that information in your Afterburn (likewise, if there is a reason to avoid a certain vendor). This helps to establish rapport with good vendors, and to avoid reinventing the wheel whenever a new Lead takes the role. Keep vendor contact info handy at all times during the event, in case you need to contact them due to a breakdown, etc. Mailing address If you need to give a mailing address, don’t give the Warehouse address. Use our PO Box: Austin Artistic Reconstruction / PO Box 9987 / Austin TX 78766 Communications Tools This is an overview of the online resources we use. As a lead, you should be subscribed to the following mailing lists and have access to other online tools. Mailing lists The AF list You should have been signed up for this when you took on the AF role. Currently this is not used much. The Combustion Chamber list You will be signed up for the CC list mostly so that you can monitor discussions that relate to your area. You should generally avoid participating in the day-to-day traffic. If anything does come up that relates to your area, by all means feel free to jump in. And if any topics wind up being put on the agenda that relate to your area, you and/or an appropriate departmental lead might want to be at that meeting as a subject-matter expert. The Leads list You should be signed up for this. This is mostly for sending out announcements that all leads needs to hear. Announce You should have long been subscribed to the Announce list, but you can also use it as a resource when you need to, you know, announce something. Send a message to our Content lead via the form at http://www.burningflipside.com/contact/ff-submission. Our guideline is to send one Announce message per month at the beginning of the month, and to roll all the news into that. We will break that guideline with one-off announcements when we need to, but we really prefer not to. You can use the same form to submit messages for the Flipside Flame, and our goal is to also send that once a month, in mid-month. The difference in purpose between the two is that Announce is used for “company business” and the Flame can be used for that or community announcements. In practical terms, Announce is sent as an e-mail message to everyone on the Announce list (which is everyone who has requested a Flipside ticket in the past couple years, plus many more) and also posted on the website, and propagated via social media, while the Flame is not sent out as e-mail. Other mailing lists If your department needs a list, please check with your AF to have one set up. Calendars We use Google Calendars. If you use any kind of calendaring app, it would be a really good idea to add the public calendar to your app. AF Availability This is at https://goo.gl/8BAQMw You should have been signed up for this with editing rights when you took on the AF role. We use this mostly to show when the next AF meeting is scheduled for, and to indicate when we’ll be unavailable. Burning Flipside public calendar This is at https://goo.gl/5PMIPO This is a public calendar that everyone can access. We use this for public events like Town Halls, CC meetings, Work Weekends, and of course Flipside. If you want to get something put on the calendar, ask your AF. The content from this calendar also feeds through to our website at http://www.burningflipside.com/calendar You should have been signed up for this with editing rights when you took on the AF role. Burning Flipside Warehouse calendar This is at https://goo.gl/knBPJA This is specifically for events booked at the Warehouse. It overlaps somewhat with the public calendar, but there are some events that are not necessarily open to the public that will appear here. If you want to book the warehouse for your department’s use, make sure it’s available. Burning Flipside website The Flipside website is divided into several parts. This makes it easier to maintain, and harder for a problem with one part to break the whole thing. Public-facing website The public-facing website is at http://www.burningflipside.com You can create, edit, and delete content on it. It runs on WordPress, so if you’re familiar with that, you’re all set. Please use your powers for good. There’s a pretty elaborate hierarchical structure of pages already in place, but hopefully it’s logical. There are also posts, which are used for regularly added content, like CC minutes, Announce messages, and the Flame. Summaries of new posts get added to the “Recent news” section of the front page, but do not become part of the page hierarchy. You need to be logged in at http://profiles.burningflipside.com to edit the website. When you’re logged in, you’ll see an extra menu tier at the top of the browser window that gives you quick access to creating new pages/posts, etc. If you click the text “Burning Flipside” in this menu, it takes you to the back-end interface, which is completely different. It is also pretty easy to set up a simple web-to-mail contact form on the website, but may not be immediately self-explanatory. If you need help, ask. Profiles site This is at http://profiles.burningflipside.com This is the part of the site where you manage your identity: it stores your personal information. It’s also how you log into every part of the website. It has another cool feature for leads: Leads Directory When you are logged into the website, you’ll see a “Leads” menu item at the top of the screen. Click on that and it will take you to a directory of all leads, AFs, CC members, and CatCol members. The direct link for it is https://profiles.burningflipside.com/lead/directory.php This is mobile-friendly, and you can even trigger a phone call or text message from the directory. This pulls information from your profile on the site. Please keep your profile up to date so that your fellow volunteers can find you. In order to get the most out of this, it’s important that all the leads actually be in the system, which can be a bigger problem than you might think. Make sure your leads all have accounts on the website. We then need to indicate that they are leads, which also happens via http://profiles.burningflipside.com under “Admin”. This is a two-step process. Click on “Groups” in the sidebar, then on “Leads” in the list of groups. That will show a list of everyone who is a lead, and everyone who isn’t. You can remove a lead by clicking the big minus sign next to their name from the leads list, and add a lead by clicking the big plus sign next to their name in the non-leads list. Although you can page through these lists, it’s much faster to search. Each time you add someone, be sure to click “Submit Changes”. Click on “Users” in the sidebar, then on “Current” just below that. This gives you a similar list of all people registered on the website. Search for a person, click on their username, and their details will appear. At the bottom will be Area/Position popup menus. Indicate their area, then their position. Click “Submit Changes.” Because of the way leads information is recorded in profiles, a person can only be listed under one lead role, even if they wear many hats. Social media Burning Flipside has a presence on Facebook and Twitter. We give priority to channels that we control—our mailing lists and our website—and repost to social media. New blog posts on the website are automatically reposted to our official Facebook page and Twitter account. Our official Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/BurningFlipside, and a number of people can post there. Our Twitter account is, unsurprisingly, @BurningFlipside. It doesn’t seem to get as much action as our Facebook page. It is important to note that the “Burning Flipside Flipizens” group is not an official organ of CatCol. (Nor are any of the many other groups on Facebook that relate to Flipside.) If we want to put something there, we can post it to the official page, and then individuals can repost it to the Flipizens group, or individuals can post links to our website directly to the Flipizens group, but we don’t treat the Flipizens group as a primary source for official information. Slack We are use a Slack channel as the primary communications medium for AFs. New AFs should receive an invitation to Slack as part of the initiation ritual. There are desktop and mobile apps for Slack, and it can be accessed through the web. There’s also help online for using Slack: https://get.slack.help/. Memory We have a shared file repository we call Memory. We host this on our website, using Owncloud software. It’s similar to Dropbox–it has a web interface, desktop apps that sync files to your computer, and smartphone apps. The desktop app puts files from Memory right on your desktop and treat them the same as any file on your computer. The web interface has a primitive document editor, but if you want to do anything fancy, it’s probably easier to create the document on your computer and sync it. Memory: https://memory.burningflipside.com/ Owncloud desktop-app downloads: https://owncloud.org/install/ (click “Desktop clients” under “Sync”) Trello We use Trello.com as a shared to-do list, with a specific board for the AFs. Trello is based on an organizational concept called “personal kanban”. You can go to Youtube and search on either “trello” or “personal kanban” to see a bunch of educational videos. Trello is organized into boards, lists, and cards. A board represents an area of activity. A board contains lists, and each list generally represents a phase of completion, such as “to-do/doing/done” (but the lists can be anything, and lists can be added or removed) Each list contains cards, and each card represents a task. As you move a task through stages of completion, you drag the card from one list to another. When you click on a card, you can add a lot more information to it, including extended descriptions, comments, checklists, attached documents, etc. You can give a task a due date, you can assign it to someone, and you can give it tags as another way to slice and dice the information. It’s especially helpful to assign your tasks to yourself on a card so that you can filter the view and only see your own tasks. And for ongoing, complex tasks, it’s helpful to leave comments as you go indicating what you did when you worked on it. There are a bunch of shortcuts for using Trello more efficiently, and there are apps for Android and iOS. If you would like to set up a board for your own area, we can do that. We have an “organization” on Trello, and prefer for the boards to be connected to the organization rather than any one person. Get in touch with Adam. Afterburns As an incoming lead, you may find it useful to read over the afterburns written by your predecessors. Your AF should have access to them. An Afterburn is how you document what worked and what didn’t in your corner of Flipside. Afterburns are an important part of our institutional memory, so that future volunteers don’t need to reinvent the wheel–and so you can remind yourself what you did. Afterburns are critical to the future of the organization. Many decisions are based on the information contained and if you skip yours, your successor will be making decisions blind. Also, don’t overthink it. While the information is important, you don’t need to spend weeks making a PhD thesis. Getting it done is what’s important. Leads should submit their Afterburns to their AFs unless they have a reason not to, in which case they should submit it to the board. AFs should submit their Afterburns to the board. It’s a great idea to keep a journal of what you’re doing as a lead when you do it, so that you aren’t left scratching your head after Flipside is over when you’re trying to write your Afterburn. If you are routinely e-mailing other people in the course of your departmental activities, you can use these e-mails both to keep your fellow volunteers up to date and as a journal for yourself, and digest those e-mails into an Afterburn after the fact. Embers If you have any feedback from your volunteers, we’d love to hear it as well! We call these addenda ‘Ember’ reports. Encourage your volunteers to participate by writing an Ember. Online form There is an online form here: http://www.burningflipside.com/afterburn-form If you prefer not to use that, you can write your own free-form. Following is a suggested structure for your afterburn. Structure Part 1: Introduction/about your position Describe your position and how you defined it What were your major goals? Part 2: Facts & figures How many volunteers did you have? How many did you need? What infrastructure did your department use? Did you need more/less of those resources? What hours did your department operate? Should they be more or less? What vendors did you use? How did they work out? Should we use them again? Part 3: The good and the bad What worked well? What worked poorly? Possible solutions What can the organization do to support your department MVPs & VIPs Part 4: The Future Where do you see your department next year? How might it change Are you interested in returning as Lead? If not, why not? Anyone you see as a potential future lead? This could be in your department or another Proposed budget for next year. The more detailed, the better Part 5: Misc Ember reports. If you had volunteers and they provided feedback, add that here. Miscellaneous comments. Anything that doesn’t go anywhere else goes here Private comments. Anything you don’t want made public goes here. Media Relations Plan Our goal is to minimize publicity. to avoid misrepresentations, especially sensationalistic coverage. to avoid attracting people who aren’t ready for Flipside. to protect the privacy of participants. Try to ensure that any media coverage is positive and accurately describes the event, the Flipside community, and the principles of the event. Where you can, develop good rapport with media representatives wishing to cover Flipside. At the event Media must go through the normal process for obtaining tickets, the same as all other participants. We do not provide free tickets. Burning Flipside is a private event and any crews showing up without tickets will not be allowed to enter. If we know that professional media is coming to the event, the Media Liaison should arrange meet them at Gate. If media representatives arrive with prior notice or without, the Gate staff should contact Actual. Actual should dispatch the Media Liaison to meet the crew at Gate, and have Gate ask the media representatives to wait. The Media Liaison should encourage media representatives to closely read our Commercial Media Agreement (which all participants with any kind of recording device sign), which crucially contains the following passage: Further, I agree that Catalyst Collective (CatCol) exclusively owns and controls all rights of privacy, intellectual property, and authority to allow or disallow any media depictions of the event, attendees, persons, performances, and/or art at the event. However, as long as media depictions are not commercially distributed and do not infringe on anyone’s art or right to privacy, CatCol will allow personal media depictions. If the media representatives refuse to sign the agreement, they don’t enter. Maintain awareness of all media at the event. Prevent unauthorized commercial use of images or recordings taken at Flipside, the Warehouse, etc. Limit access and creation of images inside the event to pre-approved media organizations (where possible). Burning Flipside does not normally issue any press releases or solicit media coverage. Any media relations at Flipside concerning emergencies, (sensationalist) problems, etc. will be handled according to the Crisis Communications Plan. Media Liaison and CatCol will be familiar with this plan and handle the situation appropriately. Privacy Members of the media and multimedia artists must ask permission before capturing any media or audio of anyone at Flipside. In some cases, signed releases must be secured. Outside the event Apart from the event itself, media may be interested in covering the year-round community or in getting background information about the event; media may also be give us advance notice of their interest in covering the event. Direct the media representative to the Media Liaison media@BurningFlipside.org, cc CatCol board@BurningFlipside.org and the Comms AF communications-af@BurningFlipside.org The Media Liaison will reply to seek background information and send the Commercial Media Agreement for reporters’ review, if applicable. The Media Liaison will contact CatCol and the Comms AF with submitted information and a recommendation on how to proceed. CatCol will formulate a response to the media request and convey it to the Media Liaison and Communication AF. The Media Liaison will pass along the response and negotiate how they can participate in the event and how they can cover it (if applicable). Do not impede reporters exercising their first-amendment rights. This is a delicate matter. General Message for Media Burning Flipside is a event inspired by Burning Man that promotes the creation of a temporary, collaborative community featuring art, music, and entertainment created solely by the participants. It is held at Apache Pass in Downtown Texas, Texas, and is organized entirely by volunteers. There are no spectators, no cash transactions, and no concessions (although we sell ice at cost). This is a sincere experiment in creating a gift economy, and adheres to a strong Leave No Trace ethic. See “Media Talking Points” for more details. Other Media Relations Tactics (see Talking Points document for specific tips on being interviewed) Limit official response to media inquiries to Media Liaison, Communications AF, and CatCol Be persuasive, not confrontational. Never argue with a reporter. A reporter usually won’t let us review their story before it’s published. If the story is highly controversial, we may ask the reporter during the interview to read back their quotes to confirm accuracy. Respect reporters’ First Amendment rights. If the published story contains minor factual errors or omissions, endure it – in fact, expect it! If the story seriously misrepresents your position or misstates an important fact, call it to the reporter’s attention in a letter, requesting a correction. Crisis Communications Plan This plan provides guidance on working with any media coverage that may result from an emergency at Burning Flipside. Learning how to deal with the media when we are in the middle of a difficult situation at Flipside is not the best time to create an effective strategy. It is essential to communicate effectively when the unexpected happens. If a Crisis Happens The campsite locations for CatCol members, Ranger lead and media liaison should be posted at Safety HQ. The Rangers handle the situation according to the Incident Command System (ICS). If media arrives, gate staff contacts the Media Liaison over the radio and hold them at the Gate or divert them to the Media staging point (The Pavilion, at Apache Pass). As the situation is managed, CatCol and the Media Liaison will gather to review the situation at the Cat Cave and make the following decisions: Review the facts of the situation. Select a central spokesperson(s) and backup through whom all messages are communicated. Write a short statement about: what happened where it happened when it happened how it was handled how we will proceed If possible, the statement should be reviewed by an attorney. The statement should anticipate questions reporters will ask. Determine ahead of time what we will say and what you won’t or can’t say. Statement should mention what is known about what has happened, and where appropriate, giving sympathy to those involved and their families (if they have been hurt or injured). Convert the statement into several sound bites. Quickly brainstorm possible questions and develop answers. Decide how much access the media will be given to event. The Media Liaison will keep an organized record of all contact and coverage. Contacts Jason Coomer, AAR Counsel: 512-785-1477 (mobile) Bristol Myers, AAR Criminal Defense: 512-791-6850 (mobile) Jim “RonJon” Graham: 831-234-4337, Burning Man PR (call 24 hours in case of emergency) Principles of Effective Crisis Communication The following strategies have used by organizations for years to communicate with the media and increase the likelihood of fair coverage during a crisis. Be pro-active Deal with the crisis head-on. Do not hide out. Being pro-active with the media does not mean that we will avoid negative stories in the press. It means we may suggest stories to reporters and it means the coverage we get should be balanced and that the public hears directly from us, about how we have tackled a situation and how we intend to try and ensure it doesn’t happen again. If we know a difficult situation is going to become public knowledge, it is much better to take control of the situation, rather than let Burning Flipside become the subject of speculation and rumor. The media will want to carry out interviews and get comments from Flipside participants related to the incident and “experts” such as the police, fire fighters, medics, and those in positions of responsibility. It is better to control the situation and help the reporters develop their story. The most important communications strategy in a crisis, particularly in the first few hours, is to be open with the public by being available to the news media. Perception is truth and the media creates the perception following a crisis. There’s always another source Don’t think we’re the only source for a story about Burning Flipside – especially a negative one. If we won’t talk, the reporter will find somebody who will. And it may be somebody who doesn’t know the whole story or who has an axe to grind, like a local politician, neighbor, or law enforcement officer. Don’t say “no comment” It implies confirmation of the question. “Sheriff Smith says you kidnapped 14 children to sacrifice in a naked pagan drug ritual.” We reply, “No comment.” The audience interprets that as guilt or a cover-up. The rule of thumb for responding is to explain why you can’t respond and then offer other useful information. The trade journal, PR News, cites a survey that says 65 percent of the public takes “no comment” as an admission of guilt. It’s OK to say, “I’m not sure how to answer that.” Reporters also translate “No comment” into “Guilty as charged.” Does this mean we must always answer a reporter’s questions? No. There are a number of good reasons why you should not do so: Matters in litigation Causes of accidents when the investigation is not complete (which amounts to speculating) Matters outside your areas of expertise and knowledge Another possible answer is, “I’m sorry, but I simply cannot answer that question because _________” and give the reason. Then go on to tell the reporter something you can share that will give them information they can use for a story (preferably one of our positive key messages, see Talking Points document for positive key messages). Never lie Tell the truth! You can skirt a sensitive question, but don’t lie. A falsehood will inevitably come back to haunt us. Don’t risk the long-term consequences to our reputation by lying to the media. “I don’t know, but I will find out and get back to you before your deadline” is an infinitely better thing to say to a reporter than making up facts that don’t turn out to be true. Know the facts Be prepared! Half the problems in dealing with the media arise through genuine misunderstandings. Make sure that any statement answers ALL of the key elements of any statement – Who; what; when; where; why; and how. Give ’em sound bites Speak in sound bites – short sentences and concise thoughts. Don’t ramble. Develop a list of the key points you want to make. Then construct short, 15- to 20-second sound bites explaining those points and don’t deviate from them. This approach will help us you focus our message on what’s really important. Show Concern Announce that we take the problem seriously. Then take it seriously, even if the issue is non-existent or overblown. Lessons can always be learned, and these could prevent a future disaster. “Off the Record”: Don’t go there Never go off the record. In a crisis there is already much confusion. Do not add to it. Respond to media questions as if everything you say is on the record and will be reported, and that includes any informal conversation before and after the formal interview. If you don’t want to see it in print or hear it on the air, don’t say it! Don’t Lose Your Temper Sometimes a reporter is intentionally rude or hostile, attempting to get you to lose your cool and go beyond the agreed upon statement. There are no previews For a news story, the media won’t let us see, edit, correct or otherwise preview a story before it is printed or aired. Don’t threaten not to cooperate or to withhold information unless you have the right to approve what is used (for example a pre-approved documentary). Keep media updated In a crisis situation, the media should be updated every half hour for the first two hours and then hourly thereafter, even if it means telling them there is nothing new to report. If there is later media contact, it should contain information regarding steps will be taking the following the crisis. Keep media in eyesight…ALWAYS The media liaison, CatCol member or other appointed Flipside representative should keep the media in eyesight at all times while they are on site. This is to ensure that we know exactly what the media observes and will allow us to better answer any questions they may have. Conclusion: The good news for FS: media will be understaffed for the holiday weekend. As simple and naive as it may sound, the best approach with news media is to tell the plain truth and tell it promptly. Take the lead in delivering information, even when the content of the information is distasteful. Set the tone for ongoing relationships with the media by being as open and honest as possible from the beginning. Journalists often suspect that persons who are evasive, difficult to reach, or close-mouthed may be covering up something. It is hard to control a message when you don’t deliver anything substantial. Stick to the facts. Sometimes journalists want to make more of things than is there, but we have to try to encourage a fair media portrayal of the situation, and provide enough access for a significant understanding of the crisis and what we’re doing about it. Media Tips and Talking Points General Tips on Being Interviewed Talk to the reporter, not the camera. It’s better to meet a journalist face-to-face than on the telephone. It is easier to be tempted on the telephone into saying more than we would have wished. Do not assume much knowledge on the part of the interviewer; avoid using “Burner” jargon without any explanation. Think ahead about the points you wish to make and your responses to standard questions and arguments; think of some difficult questions and your answers. If you are in doubt, always be prepared to say “I don’t know.” Don’t lie. Don’t volunteer information, stick to the basic facts. Tell only what you want the interviewer to know. Be prepared for random questions about Burning Flipside and/or the Burning Man community. A journalist is unlikely to stick solely to the specific topic of the interview. Become familiar with the publication or broadcast that the reporter represents before any interview. Don’t hesitate to share information that is already on the website or available to the public. Withholding such information will only force the reporter to develop other sources. Assume that everything said to a reporter is on the record. If you don’t want to see it in print or on the air, don’t say it. You can add other information you think is important later if you realize you forgot something. Don’t be defensive or nasty. If you are not expressing the official CatCol view, say so. Be clear if it’s your personal point of view. Be sincere about how you feel. If it upsets you, or you’re frustrated, say that. Don’t lose eye contact (for TV interviews) – steady gazing at a person like this is not an easy or natural thing to do, but try to do it. Suggest that the reporter call later for follow up. Smile! Enjoy it. Take the interview as an opportunity to tell our story. Responses to Potential Questions and Misconceptions What is Burning Flipside? Burning Flipside is an event inspired by Burning Man. A place for self expression and an experiment in temporary, collaborative community building. A place of acceptance, inclusivity, and respect. Organized entirely by volunteers. The art and entertainment is created solely by participants. No spectators. No cash transactions are permitted at Flipside. No concession stands. Experiment in creating a gift economy. Where are participants from? People come from across the United States to attend, and occasionally some international attendees. How many people are attending this year? Provide the accurate number for the year. How long has Flipside existed? Burning Flipside began in 1998 as a group of about thirty friends who were inspired by the Burning Man festival. Apart from 2020-21 due to the pandemic, it has been held every year since. Who is in charge? There are currently eight members of the Catalyst Collective. Catalyst Collective is responsible for the business and legal aspects of the Flipside event. Catalyst Collective supports the community of participants in creating the event. Community-building is a necessary and desired result of this event and Catalyst Collective’s other year-round activities. Catalyst Collective is involved in supporting year-round artistic initiatives such as providing a work space for projects, supporting art fundraisers, encouraging the local artistic community, and supporting other burn events. None of the Catalyst Collective directors, nor anyone involved in the volunteer-driven organization, receive financial compensation. I’ve heard there is a lot of drug use at Flipside… Illegal drug use is not allowed at Flipside. We cooperate with all local laws and regulations. The number of drug-related medical emergencies we encounter is practically non-existent, unlike the larger number that would routinely occur at an ordinary rock concert or a city of similar size. What we’re really trying to do here is (redirect to creating collaborative community, art, etc) …lots of nudity Flipside is a clothing optional event. But there’s more nudity at some Travis County public parks. ….(but we do have better costumes than any public park in the area.) There are many ways to define self-expression: building art installations, creating music, and clothing choices (including what not to wear). …lots of sex That’s a common myth about burner events. We’re not sure where it comes from. Burning Flipside is about art and the community that makes it, and makes it happen. Who pays for everything? Income from tickets sales pays for the basic infrastructure. Everything else is contributed/gifted by participants. What is the connection to Burning Man? Burning Flipside is a regional art and music festival inspired by Burning Man. Like Burning Man, it is a place for radical self expression and an experiment in temporary community building. It is one of the first Burning Man-inspired events. The community that has grown up around the event holds many principles in common with Burning Man. For example: There are no spectators, LNT, civic responsibility. No cash transactions, no concession stands. Is Burning Flipside a pagan event? / a modern Woodstock? / a hippie festival? Pagans refer to an ancient religion; Flipside has no religious affiliation. The Woodstock Festival was a rock concert with advertising and paid performers. Burning Flipside intentionally creates a noncommercial environment in which spontaneous activity is free to happen. Musicians who want a stage build it themselves. Participants in Burning Flipside tend to be highly educated, often work in the professions. They are diverse in terms of age, race, sex, income, political beliefs. Burning Flipside is about radical self-reliance – it is not a youth movement. Burning Flipside is: A populist phenomenon Transcends divisions of age, income, and class, and does not exhibit the normal boundaries of a subculture. Spreads at a grassroots level, very quickly, often by word of mouth. Inspires immense enthusiasm. A social experiment Part of Burning Flipside is certainly a celebration, but it is also a carefully planned and organized social experiment in temporary collaborative community. Talk of community is not merely shorthand for a loosely shared life-style. Physical and social infrastructures are devised with certain goals in mind. An alternative to mass culture and consumer society For the majority of participants the principles of our community is not an ideology – it is an ingrained ethic that is inherent in all aspects of the event Includes material from Burning Man’s “Media Myths.” Flipside Incident Command System Introduction: Why ICS? Burning Flipside has grown from a 30-person event to an event comprising nearly 3,000 participants, 69 Leads, and a host of volunteer and infrastructure resources. Many of these departments are focused on maintaining the safety of the event and have volunteers on-call 24/7. Just like a city of similar size in the default world, Pyropolis is subject to the same risks of natural or human-caused incidents that may result in damage or loss of property, injury, or death. It is therefore important to establish a system of response to successfully manage these incidents when they occur. Part I: What is ICS? The Incident Command System is a tool used by default-world Emergency Services to manage emergencies requiring the coordination of several departments or agencies. The strengths of ICS are in its ease of learning, its modularity, and its focus on roles and responsibilities. It is easy to learn the basics of the ICS template in less than ten minutes. The ICS template (aka ‘the toolbox’) can expand or contract appropriately based on the complexity of an incident. ICS is a system in which control over chaos is established because everyone involved is playing by the same rules, from the IC to the individual responders. Incidents therefore can be managed successfully, minimizing further risk to responders and maintaining order and organization. Each incident is overseen by an Incident Commander (IC), who manages the overall response and makes informed decisions on what actions to take based on the feedback of the involved departments and their inherent expertise in the matter. Flipside’s Safety departments form the core of the IC’s Toolbox; they represent specialized resources that can be utilized to resolve the incident. Just like a standard toolbox, not every tool will need to be used for every incident, yet it is important for potential Incident Commanders to know what is available and how they can be applied. Part II: Basic Composition of ICS The table below illustrates the basic Chain of Command for ICS. The goal of the Flipside ICS program is to educate as many people as possible in this simple diagram, and to develop a working knowledge of what it means and how it is used in the event an incident at the event. Basic ICS At its most basic, ICS is a chain of command whereby all volunteer departments report to the IC to resolve an incident. Next, we’ll briefly touch on how the IC, CatCol and the Volunteer Departments operate within ICS. The final Part of Basic Flipside ICS: “Where Do I Fit In?” will outline how individual volunteers can help, summarized by four simple rules: Get Your Shirt Report to the IC Know Your Role Don’t Freelance The Incident Commander (IC) The IC (Incident Commander) is a manager, not a doer. This can be tough for a lot of people whose innate sense is to focus on helping an acute aspect of an incident. The IC is responsible for the Big Picture, not for each individual detail of the incident. Therefore, a good IC understands the tools available to them to manage the incident, and delegates them appropriately. The IC is never alone. There can be a misconception that the IC must make every critical decision to manage an emergency. This is simply not true. The IC makes an educated decision based on the feedback of experts he or she consults regarding the incident (CatCol and the departmental reps operating in the incident). The IC and the department managers work together to resolve the incident safely for responders, victims, and any bystanders. The CatCol member on call, aka “Flipside Actual” CatCol works with the IC in an incident as a supplemental managerial resource, and also as the chief entity that will interface with outside authorities not directly responding to the incident (i.e. media, law enforcement, etc). Think of the IC as generally looking inward to focus on the incident and the event, and CatCol as generally looking outward to focus on the outside influences that will be affecting the event. One CatCol member will typically remain at the IC’s side during a major incident while the rest may convene elsewhere to cooperate with responding agencies. Departmental Resources The major volunteer departments at Flipside represent resources to be utilized during an incident. They can also be understood as the IC’s “tool box.” Rangers PETs Fire Site Ops Ancillary Departments In smaller incidents, the IC will identify tasks for each department’s volunteers and assign them appropriately. For example, the IC may tell Ranger Mittens: “Ranger Mittens, help clear the road so the PETs can take the patient to the Gate.” In more complex incidents the IC may delegate departmental operations to a Department Supervisor, who will then be in charge of that department’s operations for the incident; they will identify tasks related to their department and assign volunteers appropriately. Departmental Supervisors continue to check in with the IC to provide updates on tasks and other information. For example, the IC may say: “Ranger Mittens, you’re the most knowledgeable Ranger here; will you please manage any incoming Rangers to establish a Perimeter around the incident, have one escort the ambulances down, and assign any other Ranger-specific tasks? I’d like a status update in five minutes. Part III: “Where Do I Fit In?” – Flipside Volunteer Response The success of ICS and the safe resolution of an incident depend largely on cooperation amongst everyone who is responding to the incident. This means that everyone is playing by the same rules and is following the same chain of command. To this end, Flipside is taking a Four-Step approach to educate its volunteers in regards to incidents that occur at Flipside. Step 1: Get Your Shirt Interested volunteers who are sober and wish to help are instructed to obtain their departmental shirt. This will make it easier for the IC or departmental head to quickly and effectively identify volunteers available so they can be assigned to a task. Step 2: Report to the IC Volunteers should then report to Incident Command for their assignment. They may be assigned a task by the IC or the departmental head. By default, IC will usually be the Ranger of the Day. Many times, Incident Command will be located at Ranger HQ. Other times, it will be at the site of the incident. If everyone is familiar with the term when you say “Where’s the IC?” then they’ll be able to point you to them every time. Step 3: Know Your Role Once you’ve been assigned to a task by the IC or your departmental head, do it and stick with it. ICS depends on control and trust to efficiently manage an incident. That means understanding who’s assigned to what task in any given moment, and trusting them to accomplish that task. You may not be assigned to the exciting task you wanted to do, but it’s incredibly important to the Big Picture. Don’t let ego get in the way. Step 4: Don’t Freelance It is very difficult to bypass an incident to grab a shirt. There is an emotional desire to just jump in and help that is tough to override. However, in a serious incident, organizational cohesion and control of the situation is critical, both to the success of the operation and to the public perception of how the organization is handling the incident. There is a saying in emergency services: freelancers aren’t heroes, they’re the next casualty. If something does happen to you, then you are taking up resources that should have been assigned elsewhere. Don’t give in to ego. If there is an obvious, immediate threat to someone’s life, by all means act appropriately if it is safe to do so. However, utilize appropriate judgment based on the situation; grabbing your shirt and checking in with IC should be priority over ‘checking it out.’ There are only precious few situations that won’t benefit from you taking the extra couple of minutes to grab your shirt and report to IC. Part IV: Advanced ICS — The IC’s Toolbox For those wanting to learn more about ICS, we’ll explore some more advanced concepts. To be involved in Flipside ICS, most volunteers will only need to know the information before this section. Modularity As mentioned above, ICS is modular; it can expand or contract to address whatever needs an incident may develop. The Incident Commander has many tools available to use. It’s important to remember that just as every incident may not require every tool, incidents requiring specific tools may not require some of their many applications. Think of a Buffet: take what you want, leave what you don’t need. The Deputy IC An Incident Commander can very quickly become very busy in an incident while organizing the various departmental responses and dealing with volunteers arriving wanting to help out. The creation of a Deputy IC can help mitigate some of that stress by off-loading certain tasks onto them so that the IC can focus on more directly managing the incident and the departmental responses. The Deputy IC can act as a volunteer coordinator, routing incoming volunteers to department heads for task assignment, monitor the radio for any communications that the IC might miss, or for any other task he or she needs assistance. The IC needs to be able to communicate their expectations to their Deputy IC quickly and effectively so they can both be effective in their roles. Safety Officer In some incidents, the IC should appoint a ‘Safety Officer,’ who will be in charge of making sure that all operations are undertaken safely. The Safety Officer will confer with the various departmental supervisors and can, if needed, call a halt to any operation they deem is unsafe for Flipside volunteers to undertake. Departmental Supervisors Ranger Supervisor PET Supervisor Fire Department Site Ops Supervisor Ancillary Department Supervisor To effectively manage incidents requiring multiple departments working together, it may be useful to appoint Supervisors to oversee the departmental operations. Appointing Department Supervisors frees the IC from dealing with certain details that might otherwise distract them from the Big Picture. It also allows those with specialized training to coordinate amongst themselves how to best solve any challenges. Department Supervisors should be accessible by the IC, the Safety Officer, and by other Department Supervisors to maintain organizational cohesion and facilitate departmental coordination. ICs should give Department Supervisors a particular task or list of tasks to accomplish and then allow the Department Supervisor and their volunteers decide the best way to achieve the tasks set by the IC. Departmental Resources and Tasks Many Incident Commanders may not be familiar with the departments serving Flipside; to help remedy this, we’ve assembled a more in depth examination of Flipside’s departments and the various tasks that ICs may assign to them. Listed below are some potential tasks for each department in the event of an incident. These lists are not complete, but are intended to serve as a foundation for an advanced response. Resources and Tasks Rangers Rangers will likely form the bulk of operational personnel on comm., and it’s critical to effectively manage them. Crowd control/perimeter Utilize Rangers to keep scenes safe or to give PETs or other departments more room to operate. Escort Send a Ranger or two to escort emergency vehicles from the Gate to IC, HQ, or the scene. Mediation Rangers may be called on to mediate any disputes that arise from the incident, as emotions may run high. Green dot Emotionally unstable victims or participants may need counseling during or in the wake of and incident. Road clearing Rangers can be used to make sure emergency vehicles have access to and from the scene, clearing the roads of crowds. LZ assist Establishing a presence at the LZ and maintaining safety will be important in case helicopters need to land. Tent clearing If safe, Rangers can clear tents and insure people are safely evacuated. PETs Some PETs may have some ICS experience; managing the medical aspect of an incident will be their focus. Triage Depending on the number of patients, PETs may be assigned to triage categories of the wounded Treatment PET resources can also be tasked with treating patients and stabilizing wounds. Staging Depending on the location of the incident, a PET may be tasked with bringing supplies to the scene and making them available. Transport access/egress PETs with appropriate experience may be tasked with setting up lanes for emergency vehicles to enter and depart the scene. Fire Professional fire fighters practice ICS nearly every day. Coupled with other experience, they’re invaluable during an incident. Fire suppression Fire Team members can be tasked with actively putting out fire utilizing water or foam. Fire safety Prevention of other things catching fire is a task that will potentially save further loss of property or life. Technical rescue Fire fighters are trained in rescue techniques; they should be the only ones performing rescue operations. HazMat response Fire fighters are also trained in HazMat mitigation and spill response. Site Ops Site Ops represents the “DPW” areas of Flipside: Shaven Apes, DaFT, etc. These people will absolutely want to help. Extra hands Non-dangerous tasks involving manual labor may need to be performed. You can supplement other teams’ tasks this way. Crowd control Maintaining a safety perimeter is another very good task for Site Ops volunteers. Machinery use Site Ops or DaFT will have access to any machinery that Flipside has rented, don’t forget these resources. Effigy DaFT knows the ins and outs of the effigy’s structure. They’ll tell you what’s likely to happen if it’s damaged. Ancillary departments Ancillary Departments are other entities that may become involved in an Incident. Don’t forget them! Gate Gate can close access to the event, insure that emergency traffic can get into the event, and monitor media response. Sound Utilize Sound Marhsalls when available to cut music if the incident warrants it. This can free up other departments. Perimeter Perimeter should be on the lookout for visitors coming to take a closer look and route them to Gate. Red Dawn Protocol Summary: This policy outlines the steps to be taken if none of the CatCol directors are able to serve as Actual, due to incapacity or absence. If this happens and none of them are able to fulfill their roles during the course of the event, the legal liability of the event will be at risk. It is extremely likely that the event can continue without the CatCol’s direct involvement; however to maintain organizational cohesion, a leadership body will need to be gathered to officially assume managerial control of the event. This process is known as the Red Dawn Protocol. Who is involved? Once it has been established that no CatCol is available, assemble the following people at HQ as quickly as possible A Quorum (5+) of the AFs 360/24/7 Art City Planning Communications Genesis Safety Site Ops Site Prep Site Sign Off Volunteer Coordination Also The Ranger Lead or Duty Chief (Ranger of the 12) The PETs Lead or Duty Chief The Fire Lead or Duty Chief Once this group (the Red Dawn Council) has been gathered, do the following: Request that Khaki close the gate to all incoming traffic until further notice. The Red Dawn Council will answer the following question by consensus: Are we comfortable with Flipside continuing? This question must be asked and answered by consensus before anything else happens. Request that Khaki record the decision in the Ranger Log. If the answer is “No” The event will be shut down and all participants will be informed that the event has ended prematurely due to the event becoming unsustainable. Event Evacuation Contingency Plans will be enacted immediately, as if it were ‘Exodus Monday’. The Site Sign Off AF must be present (or located immediately after the ‘No’ verdict is reached) to begin coordinating breakdown of organizational infrastructure. If the answer is “Yes” The event will continue as normal. The above group’s mission is to guide the continuation of Flipside. They are empowered to handle all CatCol-level decisions including, but not limited to: Initiation of DefCon 10 (emergency sound abatement) Evictions (assuming the role of CatCol) Go/No-Go for Effigy Burn Representing the CatCol/organization in any Law Enforcement, public media, or neighbor interactions. The Red Dawn Council is encouraged to seek out the experience and advice of other leaders in the community, namely previous AAR or CatCol members and others who may be able to assist in preserving the event. Their feedback will be valuable. Next, do the following: The assembled body will decide on people to serve as Flipside Actual and a rotation schedule for them. A former CatCol member could be called upon to fill this role and to advise in general, if the members of the Red Dawn Council are in agreement, and the former member is willing and available. A face-to-face meeting should be called that includes representatives of the Red Dawn Council and Regina, the Gate Manager, to inform her of the situation and update her that the event will continue normally. Khaki will inform Gate that they are clear to reopen to incoming traffic. If CatCol members have been removed by Law Enforcement, their criminal legal representation should be notified and consulted to get them released from custody: Bristol Meyers: 512-791-6850 AAR/CatCol’s civil lawyer should also be informed of the situation (as a courtesy call): Jason Coomer: 512-474-1477 The Red Dawn Binder describes Flipside’s daily routine, and should be located in the Echelon trailer. Refer to that to understand what needs to be done. The event will then continue in this matter until CatCol members have returned to active status on-site. Statement of Intent CatCol has created this protocol to insure the continuity of Flipside based on their complete faith and absolute confidence in the organization’s operational leadership to preserve the event and the community created by it. In the event that we are unable to perform our duties, we trust the safety, continuity, and preservation of Burning Flipside in the hands of the event’s leadership. We will do everything we can to support you and the community, and we thank you for your willingness to assume this responsibility. Catalyst Collective: Patrick Boyd Cooper Crouse Kat Decker Christie Hollis Tim Maxwell Julie Nodine Susan Shelton Mercedes Vaughn Planning Milestones for AFs Points in italics are not Flipside events, but are important to keep in mind for planning purposes. This information will change based on the shift to an April date in 2025. Assume that most things will shift up the calendar by a few weeks! 2026 dates have not been locked in, so these dates are guidelines. September Burning Man: week before first Monday AF retreat: 3rd Saturday. Check in with DSC prior to Town Hall on any changes to their process Fall Town Hall: fourth Saturday in September Open DaFT submissions (with TH) Open leads nominations (with TH) Open sticket submissions (with TH); set dates for judging. October Myschievia: weekend before 2nd Monday ACL Fest: 2nd & 3rd weekends in October Close leads noms: 3rd Friday Allow AFs a weekend to check in with nominees to let them back out. Open feedback on leads noms following Monday City Planning/Art reviews theme-camp/art/DMV/disinfo registration form Set the date for Lead’s Rodeo November Leads Rodeo: No hard date Set dates with landowner for land recon, work weekends, Safetyside. DaFT proposal deadline: No hard date December Winter Leads All Hands: 2nd Saturday. Order ambulance for event Write mass-gathering permit application January Get in changes to theme-camp/art reg form Submit mass-gathering permit application Ticket-request window opens: a week before MLK weekend Land recon: Saturday before MLK weekend. Ticket-request window closes: a week after MLK weekend (ideally ends before Burning Man opens) Get departmental art requests in to Graphic Arts lead CatCol retreat VC contacts patch and T-shirt vendors for drop-dead dates Freezerburn: weekend before 3rd Monday Settle major changes to roads by end of January Ramp up wristbands February Spring Town Hall: first Saturday in February Open Theme-Camp Registration window: first Saturday in February (with TH) Open Art Registration window: first Saturday in February (with TH) Work Weekend I: last weekend Get your Critical Volunteers list in: first weekend Ticket-request opening: 2nd or 3rd weekend Finish graphic arts: end of month March Work Weekend II: last weekend T-Shirt orders typically due: mid-March; dependent on vendor Safetyside signups: mid-March Order ticket printing: 4th weekend SXSW: mid-March Unbroken Spring: third weekend in March April Close Theme-Camp & Art Registration window: April 1 Table/shade requests due: early April Radio Orders Due: mid-April Pre-event inventory: mid-April Spring Leads All Hands: Must be by end of April, aim for mid-April Almaburn: second week in April Safetyside: wants to compete with Spring Leads All Hands Work Weekend III: next to last weekend Patch Orders typically due (typically 1 month before Flipside) Eeyore’s Birthday: Last Saturday May Gate dry run: Early May Get your early-entry/stay-late lists in: 2 weeks before Flipside (nominal) Work Weekend IV: first weekend Load-In [Saturday before Flipside] Flipside [weekend before last Monday] June Load-out/post-event cleanup [Saturday after event usually] Volunteer Appreciation party: Last weekend of June Get those Afterburns in July AF debrief party: 2nd weekend in July Ticket/gate debrief: Late July August Set next-year e-mails for AFs, Sticket lead, some 360 leads, some Comms leads, any other known leads Burning Man run-up: late August Choose and book venue for AF Retreat (volunteer coordinator?) for 3rd weekend in Sept Have Sticket Lead chosen and trained and organized.
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