Sheffield Council Defends Spending £30,000 On Hiring Venues

[HeHasRisen 3,405]

Just now, nightrider said:

at a cost of £10,000 per meeting. Does not sound good value for money to me.

Can you work out some alternative costings at another venue big enough to host such a meeting, including a full AV set up?

 

Surprised we haven't had the "its nice weather so cant they just meet up in a park" suggestion yet.

Edited July 16, 2021 by HeHasRisen

[nightrider 13]

4 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

Can you work out some alternative costings at another venue big enough to host such a meeting, including a full AV set up?

 

 

I have organised conferences in the past in Sheffield and was not charged anywhere near these prices, and AV was included.

[HeHasRisen 3,405]

OK, post your costings then based on the information in the linked article.

[nightrider 13]

17 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

OK, post your costings then based on the information in the linked article.

Included everything they have, except security guards. And that cannot possibly account for the difference. Let's just say we paid less than half of what they have paid, don't have time to dig out exact costings from archives.

[HeHasRisen 3,405]

Archives? So historical amounts that dont take into account a) inflation,  b) venues having being shut in the last 16 months more than they have been open and therefore raise prices to recoup money,  and/or c) "covid secure" measures?

Edited July 16, 2021 by HeHasRisen

[the_bloke 17]

The information in the link states:

 

The venue cost £5,992.00 plus VAT which included:

 - Hire of the sports hall, Skyline Suite and Meeting Room

 - Sports hall bleacher seating

 - Carpeting for the sports hall

 - Three black drapes for walls

 - Hire of tables, chairs and linen

 - Venue staffing to set-up and take down

 - Five stewards/security

 - Provision of 3phase power

 - Provision of hard wired internet 

 

In addition it cost £3,800 for AV/cameras and stage hire and £650 for webcasting set up.

 

Ponds Forge site has a package for the hall the council used:

 

Day Delegate Rate

 - Guests: 1200 max

 - Price from: £30.00 per person (100 people would be £3k)

Description & Details

 - Meeting Room Hire
 - 3 Servings of tea and coffee
 - Lunch
 - Standard AV equipment

 

As much as council incompetence annoys me, the addition of a function room (you need a bar and a roof terrace obviously) and a separate meeting room would no doubt be needed, and the carpets and drapes would help sound deadening on the recording.

 

I do wonder what the difference between the standard AV setup would be compared to what the council needed. Surely a static camera on top of the existing equipment was all that was needed? £650 for a feed from the camera to a laptop and broadcasting it on zoom? Who knows. I assume they get ripped of left right and centre for things like that as councillors and associated staff know as much about broadcasting video as I do about knitting.

[HeHasRisen 3,405]

One assumes you cant just whack a mobile phone on a tripod and film it, the quality would be horrendous.

[the_bloke 17]

41 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

One assumes you cant just whack a mobile phone on a tripod and film it, the quality would be horrendous.

You can watch the footage of the whole meeting here: https://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=7682

 

A lot of mobile 'phones record in better quality than that since you pointed it out. I suspect the cost of 'AV' is actually paying two people to film it and one of them to edit it in line with the audio track afterwards and put some words on the screen.

[HeHasRisen 3,405]

Aye and people wont work for free. They will legally have to subtitle it.

[the_bloke 17]

3 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

Aye and people wont work for free. They will legally have to subtitle it.

It's not a legal requirement for public sector organisations to subtitle live video streams. Even if it was, it's not an expensive task, especially with the native audio stream being in English and the output subtitles being in English.

[hackey lad 3,979]

You think they could have negotiated a deal for half bat , considering the councils bail out of Ponds Forge .