The Central Societies Committee (CSC) is encouraging societies to host events predominantly online and announced that it is working on a multi-camera live-streaming service to aid the transition away from in-person events.
The CSC made the announcements earlier this week at an information session for Trinity society officers at which new guidelines for societies – currently navigating event-planning in the middle of a pandemic – were outlined.
With Dublin set to move into level three of the government’s coronavirus road map, Trinity’s societies will be severely limited in the coming weeks. At level three, no indoor or outdoor gatherings are permitted to take place meaning that all society events will be taking place online even as College opens up.
Societies will now be able to book a space in the Graduates Memorial Building to host hybrid events for digital audiences. The CSC also promised to make an increased number of bookable Zoom licenses available with the possibility of societies obtaining free individual licenses based on their assessed need.
Membership for all societies will be a minimum of €1.50, with the exception of any societies that have previously had free membership. This is expected to soften the blow that the loss of Freshers’ Fair may have on membership numbers.
With classes set to resume on September 28th, the chance of freshers’ week resembling any other year has dwindled, and this month, it was confirmed that the iconic freshers’ fair would not be going ahead this year.
To compensate, the CSC will be launching a Society Membership Hub where students can sign up to an unlimited number of societies. Societies will be able to include videos and photos of and about their society with the goal of enticing new students and returning students alike to sign up. Societies will also be expected to create a short video that will be shown to new students at orientation.
The CSC stressed that the guidelines given by government and College will necessarily supersede any advice given by the CSC.
When level three restrictions are imposed on the capital, further, higher and adult education institutions are expected “to escalate all appropriate protective measures and limit congregation as far as possible”, according to the Government’s website.
