[Guide] AN Lectures

[keltingmeith]

Hey guys - Brenden and the gang are actually going to be getting ready to head off to Sydney (last I heard, they leave Sunday?), so they might not see this feedback for about a week or so. (I'll make sure to send the topic to them when they get back, though, if they miss it!)

I will say, though, that each time we run lectures, we run into these issues. People being unruly/rude, people not being focused or paying attention and, worst of all, people just not showing up. Most of these lectures were completely booked out - did you see an empty seat in your lecture theatre? (ignoring the third English lecture - that was cray cray, yo) Don't even get me started on the amount of food that was ditched in the theatre during the winter lectures last year (and by food, I mean there were fish and chip packets with food still in them lying around)

Of course, we hate that people like you guys feel disadvantaged by this stuff. As you said, it sucks for us who want to put a good show on for you, but even moreso it sucks for you guys, who lose what could be an absolutely fantastic experience. Because of this, we've come up with quite a few plans, contingencies and work-arounds to try and stop it all. Charging kids was something we looked into, but the problem is that, as has been outlined before, the moment you charge money, even just a little bit, you lose people who just can't do it. It might be hard to imagine for you, but some people can't even sacrifice $5 to attend these lectures, and they're some of the most diligent of the lot. They're the kids who I ask if they want the notes, they blush a little, quietly shake their head, and then proceed into the lecture and take as many notes as they can. They're the ones who can't attend any other company's lectures, and they're some of the ones who benefit most out of us doing this.

Obviously, we don't want to lose them - they're partly the reason this whole thing was started! So, charging becomes out of the question. We also looked at things such as paying a $5 deposit which we'd reimburse when they came to the lecture - the problem with that is that then it HAS to go through the parents, and not all parents are open to this kind of thing. (particularly when it becomes a case of money - "are you sure it's worth the money? I just don't want you wasting on a useless experience...") Obvious exception if the kid has a debit/credit card, but you have to be 18 to have one of those, and not every year 12 is 18 even at the end of the year. (hell, I know people that weren't 18 until their second year of uni!) Not to mention that it would be too hard to try and work out the reimbursing process that would have to follow.

Not that your suggestions are bad - I can guarantee you 100% that Brenden will read over them and consider them as much as possible, because he's just a top bloke like that. But that's just some insight as to why we haven't moved to charging for the lectures, even after seeing the behaviour repeat time and time again.

[babushka818]

Off-Topic: just out of curiosity, how did these people know about the lectures then?

It was posted on Facebook too, some people share the details with their schools and friends, tag people on Facebook and whatnot. Not too sure how anyone else finds out, but I think AN might run some of the more common VCE discussion pages on Facebook too, so not so dedicated people might go from that, I'm really not sure. Point is, I don't think it's people from the actual forums who disrupt the lectures.

How can you judge someone? I mean how can you tell if they are dedicated or not? (you can't exactly judge a book by it's cover  )
Agreed!

Not essentially directed at me, but this is exactly the issue! It really should be means tested in some way to stop non-dedicated students attending, but as far as I can tell, there's no way to accurately do that, and I think exclusively inviting the AN population might be too small a group to run lectures for. You make a good point, and it's not like you can ask for registrations with a survey;

"Some questions before you can register:
-Are you in VCE?
-Do you care about school?
-Are you dedicated?
Thanks for this information, please proceed."

So I'm not sure what happens from here on in :/ It's not effective obviously, but I don't know what could be. They could open registrations through the AN forums for a few days first to ensure dedicated students and if there's spares then open it to everyone else? I don't know if they already do that or what though..

[babushka818]

Hey guys - Brenden and the gang are actually going to be getting ready to head off to Sydney (last I heard, they leave Sunday?), so they might not see this feedback for about a week or so. (I'll make sure to send the topic to them when they get back, though, if they miss it!)

I will say, though, that each time we run lectures, we run into these issues. People being unruly/rude, people not being focused or paying attention and, worst of all, people just not showing up. Most of these lectures were completely booked out - did you see an empty seat in your lecture theatre? (ignoring the third English lecture - that was cray cray, yo) Don't even get me started on the amount of food that was ditched in the theatre during the winter lectures last year (and by food, I mean there were fish and chip packets with food still in them lying around)

Of course, we hate that people like you guys feel disadvantaged by this stuff. As you said, it sucks for us who want to put a good show on for you, but even moreso it sucks for you guys, who lose what could be an absolutely fantastic experience. Because of this, we've come up with quite a few plans, contingencies and work-arounds to try and stop it all. Charging kids was something we looked into, but the problem is that, as has been outlined before, the moment you charge money, even just a little bit, you lose people who just can't do it. It might be hard to imagine for you, but some people can't even sacrifice $5 to attend these lectures, and they're some of the most diligent of the lot. They're the kids who I ask if they want the notes, they blush a little, quietly shake their head, and then proceed into the lecture and take as many notes as they can. They're the ones who can't attend any other company's lectures, and they're some of the ones who benefit most out of us doing this.

Obviously, we don't want to lose them - they're partly the reason this whole thing was started! So, charging becomes out of the question. We also looked at things such as paying a $5 deposit which we'd reimburse when they came to the lecture - the problem with that is that then it HAS to go through the parents, and not all parents are open to this kind of thing. (particularly when it becomes a case of money - "are you sure it's worth the money? I just don't want you wasting on a useless experience...") Obvious exception if the kid has a debit/credit card, but you have to be 18 to have one of those, and not every year 12 is 18 even at the end of the year. (hell, I know people that weren't 18 until their second year of uni!) Not to mention that it would be too hard to try and work out the reimbursing process that would have to follow.

Not that your suggestions are bad - I can guarantee you 100% that Brenden will read over them and consider them as much as possible, because he's just a top bloke like that. But that's just some insight as to why we haven't moved to charging for the lectures, even after seeing the behaviour repeat time and time again.

Genuine thanks for this post Euler!! Appreciate you letting us know that you guys are aware of the issues
I also understand why you want to keep them free; it's for those who need it and can't afford it and it's so nice that you guys want to help out everyone, not just those who can give you something. There's an awesome system going for it!

Really do appreciate your efforts to not charge for these lectures, got so much respect for this community. If you could check out and consider some of the other suggestions that don't involve charging money, hopefully these can get even better for everyone involved! Thanks again Euler

[keltingmeith]

Genuine thanks for this post Euler!! Appreciate you letting us know that you guys are aware of the issues
I also understand why you want to keep them free; it's for those who need it and can't afford it and it's so nice that you guys want to help out everyone, not just those who can give you something. There's an awesome system going for it!

Really do appreciate your efforts to not charge for these lectures, got so much respect for this community. If you could check out and consider some of the other suggestions that don't involve charging money, hopefully these can get even better for everyone involved! Thanks again Euler

Nah man, 100%, EVERYTHING mentioned will get looked at. We value you guys, and we value your opinion (which is why we send out so many surveys. ), so we will look at it all without a doubt.

[brenden]

Yeah, we've pondered many options before. I think the solution is to be more vigilant and to have people checking in on theatres and pointing out loud people. I've often "shooshed" theatres and remained in the room, and people actually stay quiet. I'm of the belief that the solution lies in simply getting better at crowd control.

[studentofthenow]

Yeah, we've pondered many options before. I think the solution is to be more vigilant and to have people checking in on theatres and pointing out loud people. I've often "shooshed" theatres and remained in the room, and people actually stay quiet. I'm of the belief that the solution lies in simply getting better at crowd control.

Or get a better crowd

[heids]

While I also suggested a small charge a couple of pages back, I'm going to add that in VCE, I would have been one of the students who couldn't have come if it was even $5 (never know, I might have been able to sneak it from the cash box with no one looking ).  They do exist.  And they literally cannot access other resources.

[TheAspiringDoc]

While I also suggested a small charge a couple of pages back, I'm going to add that in VCE, I would have been one of the students who couldn't have come if it was even $5 (never know, I might have been able to sneak it from the cash box with no one looking ).  They do exist.  And they literally cannot access other resources.

agreed. And I think it is currently a fair set up as AN stills sells heaps of notes and does good advertising so I am strongly in favour of free attendance

[Sine]

Chemistry lecture was excellent.

Thushan had the best explanation for NMR now I finally understand it.

Also the funniest thing happened, Thushan was trying to get someones answer to a question and he goes "the asian, er um with the hair"

[sweetiepi]

Thanks Brenden and the team for organising these lectures!
The Chem and Spesh lectures were really helpful and cleared up a few topics I had trouble in!
Thanks to Matt for explaining the partial fractions better than my teacher ever taught me!
Also cheers to Thushan for explaining all the (what seems quite complex) concepts clearly!
The interactivity of these lectures made it quite fun!
(Even the notes are amazing!)
    

[pika_power]

Long time reader, first time poster 

Just want to say the lectures were INCREDIBLE. I thought Matt, Lauren and Thushan were terrific (as always). They were honestly much more engaging than lecturers from those commercial companies *insert Brenden's cough here*. And there were some pretty hilarious moments with Thushan in the last Chem lecture

In terms of the problems and stuff raised before, it didn't really affect my learning but I do see where you guys are coming from and hopefully it gets sorted out by the crew.

Thanks heaps AN and RMIT for being awesome!

[brenden]

Long time reader, first time poster 

Just want to say the lectures were INCREDIBLE. I thought Matt, Lauren and Thushan were terrific (as always). They were honestly much more engaging than lecturers from those commercial companies *insert Brenden's cough here*. And there were some pretty hilarious moments with Thushan in the last Chem lecture

In terms of the problems and stuff raised before, it didn't really affect my learning but I do see where you guys are coming from and hopefully it gets sorted out by the crew.

Thanks heaps AN and RMIT for being awesome!

Thanks for your kind words pika_power, I'll make sure the lecturers see them . (Although I'm sure I won't even have to). Hope to see you posting more and at the next lecture series! (Also, come to the meet up at 1pm today, Flagstaff Gardens!)

[qazser]

Thanks for your kind words pika_power, I'll make sure the lecturers see them . (Although I'm sure I won't even have to). Hope to see you posting more and at the next lecture series! (Also, come to the meet up at 1pm today, Flagstaff Gardens!)

Hey brenden,

Here's another suggestion, sorry if im posting too much
-maybe implement a system where active AN members get an early bird PM to book lectures,
-then previous AN lecture attendees get an early bird pm

before it is posted on facebook, so you can ensure you will have a more dedicated crowd.

Was also thinking, headstart lectures don't mean much to those disrespectful kids yesterday and on thrusday because school hasn't started therefore no pressure on results etc. Whereas, i believe the mid year lecture would garner more respect and attention, b/c its closer to the end of the course. The crowd at revision lecture would probably be the most attentive of all three.

[babushka818]

Yeah, we've pondered many options before. I think the solution is to be more vigilant and to have people checking in on theatres and pointing out loud people. I've often "shooshed" theatres and remained in the room, and people actually stay quiet. I'm of the belief that the solution lies in simply getting better at crowd control.

Whilst I agree completely that better crowd control is definitely important for more successful lectures, I'd like to emphasise another popular concern; crowd quality really should be watched in some way. There are so many people who miss out on attending lectures who are dedicated and even if the crowds are quieter, it doesn't mean that everyone who goes actually cares. But that's easier to complain about than fix. Still, I'm of the belief that better crowds would make it easier and less necessary to have constant crowd control.

In regards to the crowd control stuff though, as seen in this thread, when you called people out, they'd shut up. Even when you were present in the lectures, generally everyone was so much better. 2 of my 3 lectures were with Thushan and in his polls, he did get pretty frustrated with some of the things that got posted that were way too inappropriate. But when you left, people started being disrespectful again. Issue here is that you can't be there in every lecture all the time making sure everyone's listening, and you shouldn't have to. I don't know, just some thoughts you can consider.

Anyway, hope you have a great trip up to Sydney

[geminii]

Whilst I agree completely that better crowd control is definitely important for more successful lectures, I'd like to emphasise another popular concern; crowd quality really should be watched in some way. There are so many people who miss out on attending lectures who are dedicated and even if the crowds are quieter, it doesn't mean that everyone who goes actually cares. But that's easier to complain about than fix. Still, I'm of the belief that better crowds would make it easier and less necessary to have constant crowd control.

In regards to the crowd control stuff though, as seen in this thread, when you called people out, they'd shut up. Even when you were present in the lectures, generally everyone was so much better. 2 of my 3 lectures were with Thushan and in his polls, he did get pretty frustrated with some of the things that got posted that were way too inappropriate. But when you left, people started being disrespectful again. Issue here is that you can't be there in every lecture all the time making sure everyone's listening, and you shouldn't have to. I don't know, just some thoughts you can consider.

Agreed, some of the stuff people wrote on Thushan's live polls were not appropriate. I felt really bad for him, since he was trying so hard and had put in a lot of work to deliver a lecture, and people were just disrespecting him. I do agree that although AN is awesome to allow people to come to lectures for free, a small cost should be made compulsory (like $5-20). It's MUCH less costly than other companies like TSFX and I think it's much more affordable. This would ultimately separate those who are going to the lectures just to hang out with their friends, and those who are going to actually learn something.