Michael聊聊：我在学生会遇到的挑战

以下

是我今天更新在视频号里

视频的文字版本，

方便喜欢看文章的朋友们阅读，

中间有不少口头语，和啰嗦的地方，

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What's up, everyone! Welcome back to Yapping with Michael.

大家好，欢迎回到“Michael聊聊”。

So, recently our school has been planning the homecoming school dance（Hoco）, which is actually today, or the day when this video was filmed. It’s an annual school dance that most high schools have, and since I'm part of the student government, I helped plan part of that dance. So, I want to talk to you guys about how the planning actually went—the parts that I had to deal with, or not deal with, but the parts that I had to sit through and try to come up with ideas for, as well as some of the bigger problems and challenges we ran into.

最近，我们学校一直在策划返校舞会（下面略作Hoco），实际上就在今天，或者说这段视频拍摄的当天举办。舞会是每年一次的活动，大多数美高都会有。作为学生会的一员，我参与了这次舞会的策划。我想跟大家聊聊这次策划的过程，包括我负责的部分，还有一些我们遇到的大问题和挑战。

We're gonna start with the beginning—the preparation. Usually, the preparation would include what the event actually is, the date of the event, and the venue of the event, if you already know it's gonna be a dance. Luckily for us, Hoco is an annual event, so we didn't have to plan that out, and the date was already set for October, so we didn’t have to figure that out either. But the venue was a pretty big problem, because the first step to having a good dance is having a good place for people to dance. If the dance is set in, like, I don't know, a garage or something, where's the fun in that, right?

我们先从一开始的准备工作说起。通常，准备工作包括确定活动内容、活动日期和场地，尤其是在明确活动是舞会的情况下。幸运的是，返校舞会是每年固定的活动，所以我们不用去策划这些，而且日期早就定在了十月，因此我们也不需要决定日期。不过，场地倒是个挺大的问题，因为举办一场成功的舞会，首要条件就是有一个适合跳舞的好场地。如果这种规模的舞会是在一个，比如说，车库或者类似地方举行，那感受会大打折扣，对吧？

So, we actually started planning this dance at the end of last year because we were also concerned that since it's Hoco season—or homecoming, Hoco is short for homecoming—around October, a lot of schools would be booking venues, and those run out really fast. This is why we did all the preparation work at the end of last year, or last school year. So, yeah, that's one of the first things we did. We looked through a lot of different venues, a lot of different dance places, and eventually, we found one that would match our budget. This wasn’t really a big problem; it was just about figuring out which one to pick. We had about five options that the teacher had already prepared for us. We just needed to see which one we felt looked the best. It took us a little bit, but we decided on one—it was like a jazz club. It looks pretty nice, you know; it has a concert hall, a dance ballroom, and even a room for quietness for people who might not want to dance and socialize that much. They can play board games or rest there a little bit. So, yeah, it seems like a nice place.

所以，我们实际上从去年年底就开始策划这次舞会，因为我们也担心，Hoco，也就是返校舞会homecoming的缩写，定在十月左右，会是返校舞会的旺季，很多学校都会预订场地，而这些场地会很快被预订一空。这也是我们为什么要在去年年底或者上学年末就做好所有准备工作的原因。于是，我们首先做的就是查看很多不同的场地，不同的舞会场所，最终找到一个符合我们预算的场地。其实这不算大问题，只是需要选择一个场地。老师为我们准备了大概五个场地选项，我们只是需要看哪个看起来最好。我们花了一些时间对比，最终选定了一个爵士俱乐部。这个地方看起来很不错，有演出大厅，有跳舞的舞厅，还有一个安静的房间，给那些不太想跳舞和社交的人，他们可以在那玩桌游或者休息一下。总之，是个不错的场地。

That’s the preparation work done, and then we went into summer vacation. We came back this year and started working on Part 2—the logistics. Logistics, I’d say, are really important as well because logistics include the time and schedule of the dance, the theme of the dance (which is a really big one), the ticket prices, and some bus details, though I wasn’t working on that part. I think the teacher was.

准备工作完成后，我们就进入了暑假。新学年回来后，我们开始进行第二部分工作——后勤安排。后勤方面我认为也非常重要，因为它包括舞会的时间表、舞会的主题（这是个很重要的部分）、门票价格，还有一些巴士安排，不过那部分由老师负责。

We had student government meetings where we talked about the theme, which we decided would be A Night in New Orleans. Now, the theme isn't that important; it’s just something to spread the news about Hoco. Instead of just saying “Hoco,” we're saying Hoco: A Night in New Orleans. This also includes recording the video for promos and making the posters. I helped make the video, but that was about it. So, that’s our theme—a night in New Orleans.

我们开了学生会会议，讨论主题，最后决定定为“新奥尔良之夜”。主题不是很重要，只是让大家对舞会有个预期，不再仅仅是“返校舞会”，而是“返校舞会：新奥尔良之夜”。这还包括拍摄宣传视频和制作海报，我参与了视频制作，基本就是这样。所以，我们的主题就是“新奥尔良之夜”。

For the ticket sales, last year, because we had just come back from COVID, the tickets were $89 per person, which is already a lot. But because we also had to rent buses and prepare food for everyone, we kind of went into a deficit, or debt, of about $3,000 for the student government. That’s one of the main things we have to worry about; I’d say it’s one of the biggest issues. The ticket price last year was set a little too low, and not enough people bought tickets, so we ended up with that problem. So, yeah, this year, we decided we would increase the ticket price just a little—from $89 to $104. It’s not great, but being part of student government, I can understand that we can't afford to take another deficit like last year, even though I wasn’t in student government last year.

门票方面，去年因为刚从疫情中恢复，票价定在了每人89美元，这已经不便宜了。但是我们还得租巴士，为每个人准备食物，最后导致学生会亏损了约3000美元。这个问题对我们来说非常重要，是学生会遇到的最大问题之一。我觉得这是我们第一个遇到的大问题——去年票价定得太低，买票的人也不多，导致了这种情况。所以今年，我们决定略微提高票价，从89美元提高到104美元。虽然这不是个好主意，但作为学生会的一员，我能理解我们不能像去年那样继续亏损，即使我去年还没加入学生会。

But here’s where another problem comes in—the students. They don’t care much about the budget or debt; they’re not in student government. They’re like, “Your job is to make this fun, to make this a fun experience, and to try not to make it too expensive.” And right now, we’re failing on the “try not to make it too expensive” part. There’s not much we can do about that. We’ve explained to so many students that some schools are charging $60 for a night in the gym with no food, nothing, just $60 for that. But the students won’t listen; all they care about is the result.

但另一个问题随之而来——同学们其实不太关心预算或赤字，因为他们没有参与学生会筹备工作。他们觉得学生会的工作就是让舞会有趣，创造一个有趣的体验，不要让票价太高。而现在，我们在“不让票价太高”这一点上没做到。我们也解释了很多遍，有的学校虽然只收60，但他们在学校体育馆办舞会，并且没有食物，装饰等等各种，60的价格就是跳舞。但有些同学不在意我们解释的内容，而更关心结果（这其实也是人之常情）。

As a result, I don’t think we got the 325 people we wanted to make our money back. I think we got somewhere around 300, so that’s not too bad.

最终，我觉得我们没有达到预期的325人购票以收回成本，估计大约有300人左右参加，不过整体也还不错。

So, yeah, that’s the logistics part, which is really important because now that we have the logistics part down, we can start spreading the news about Hoco and selling tickets. The last big problem we have is how to get people to go to Hoco. This is an event we planned for the school, but how do we advertise it to make people see that it’s actually going to be a fun, good event?

所以，这就是后勤安排的部分，搞定后我们就可以开始宣传舞会并销售门票。最后一个大问题是如何吸引人们来参加舞会。这是我们为学校策划的活动，但我们该如何宣传，让人们觉得这是一个有趣的好活动？

We sent emails to Stash, which for us is just students—basically, student news but for students. Usually, at school, student news emails are for teachers only, but the teachers send student news emails to everyone. We made posters, made videos, stuck up the posters everywhere, and posted the videos on our Instagrams. We also had a Hoco Proposal Competition, which is where you could ask someone to Hoco, record yourself doing it, and then send it to the student government Instagram. We’d repost it, and whoever gets the most likes on their video, they and the person they ask out, each get a free ticket to Hoco, which is a pretty good idea. Honestly, we got quite a lot—like 20 already. Each one has, like, 200 likes; I think one of them is going to win.

我们发邮件给学生——在我们这里叫“Stash”，相当于学生版新闻。通常，学校的新闻邮件是发给老师的，但我们也会给所有学生发“学生新闻”邮件。我们制作了海报和视频，把海报贴在各处，视频也发到我们的Ins上。此外，我们还举办了一个“舞会邀请赛”，可以拍摄自己邀请他人去舞会的视频，上传到学生会的Ins上。获赞最多的人和被邀请的人，可以获得免费的舞会门票。我觉得这个主意不错，得到了不少反响，大概有20多个投稿，其中一个视频大约有200个赞，可能会是最终的赢家。

Apart from that, we had ticket sales every day at lunch, with a poster right outside the dining hall where everyone can see it. So, yeah, it was pretty good. And now that all the preparation is done, we’re just going into tonight.

除此之外，我们每天午餐时会在餐厅外面设一个售票点，摆放海报，大家都能看到。所以一切都进行得挺好，现在所有准备工作都完成了，我们就等今晚了。

Something I forgot to mention, though—oh my god, my voice cracked—something I forgot to mention is the music. Music choice is also very important because you want to have some good songs. Some people want rap, but most people don’t want too much rap. Like, you don’t want a dance with just rap songs because I don’t know if anyone actually knows that many rap songs. But yeah, that’s another important thing. The final song is crucial; you want to send everyone off on a good night. We took a little bit of time planning that, but it wasn’t that hard.

还有一件事我忘记提了——哦，我的声音破音了——最后要说的是音乐。音乐选择也很重要，因为你需要一些好歌。有些人喜欢说唱，但大部分人不喜欢全都是说唱。你肯定不希望整个舞会都是说唱类型的音乐，因为我不知道是否有人会知道那么多说唱歌曲。不过，最后一首歌尤其重要，你当然希望用一首好歌让大家结束舞会。我们花了一些时间来选歌，但这件事并不太难。

Finally, I’d say the biggest problem was just advertising it so people would go. Before, when I wasn’t in student government, I used to think, “Geez, why are the tickets $89 for Hoco? Why is this venue not what I expected it to be?” I didn’t really know or understand how much work people put into these dances, so I feel like I didn’t appreciate their efforts as much, maybe. Now that I’m actually in student government, I think it’s karma or something, but it’s coming back to me. I understand the amount of work that goes into this. I respect it, and I really hope the students will enjoy it because it’s for them.

最后，我会说最大的挑战就是宣传舞会。以前我不在学生会时，我常常觉得“天哪，为什么返校舞会的票价要89美元？为什么场地跟我想象的不一样？”我不太了解策划这些舞会需要付出多少工作。所以我觉得可能没有那么理解别人的努力。现在，我进入了学生会，我觉得这可能是一种“感同身受”，我开始理解这种努力。我尊重它，并且真的希望同学们会享受这场舞会，因为这是为他们准备的。

But yeah, those are the main things we did to prepare for homecoming: the preparation, the logistics, and the advertisement. It was much harder than I expected; I genuinely didn’t expect so many students to complain about the price. Like, okay, $104 is a lot, but you get a good experience out of it, you know?

总之，这就是我们为返校舞会做的主要准备工作：准备、后勤安排和宣传。比我预期的要难得多；我真没想到会有这么多同学抱怨票价。是的，104美元确实不便宜，但你能获得一个不错的体验，对吧？

Anyway, maybe after Hoco, I’ll talk to you guys about how it went. We’ll see afterward. But yeah, if nothing really happens, we’ll just move on. So, yeah, I’d say that’s it for today’s video. Thanks, guys. See you in the next one!

可能在舞会结束后，我会告诉你们舞会的情况。我们之后看看。如果没什么特别的情况，我们就翻篇聊别的去。所以，今天的内容就到这里，谢谢大家，下次见！