Chairperson - as described by Laura Augustinus (chair F21-S22-F22)

Hi all baristas,

I thought it might be a good idea for me to present what I do as chairperson for Analog, in case you are curious or thinking about running.

As chairperson, I handle a lot of the admin stuff, politics and HR in the organisation.

In general admin consists of:
—> emails - reading, handling, responding, etc. - not just analog’s email but also analog-related mail to my own mail
—> contact with FM at all times (Emil also has a lot of contact with FM)

I coordinate admin in the board
--> i send out board meeting agenda where i put on the first few points and then the rest add to it. I make sure someone is ordering food. I host and direct the meeting.
--> make sure we follow our policies and remain as unbiased as possible
--> make sure we are nuanced in our discussions
--> I maintain the overview of: is the café booked here? do we loan it out here? under which circumstances? Who will be contact person? etc.

I also have tasks outside of Analog:
- Analog’s chair sits as a part of SAF - student activity fund - where i read applications and (mostly) accept applications for money. The other members are scroll bar and student council chairs. SAF was funded by us a while back.
- Coordinate with student council or other student organisations if needed

In combination with the vice-chair and the rest of the board, we handle the tasks of:
- opening and closing Analog (getting machines serviced before we open, order everything so we are fully stocked, coordinate with FM and CCL and other people, etc.) -> this is managed by Emil / operations primarily, but i of course help where and when i can.
- Penguins Process - getting new members (with the entire board) - incl. preparing, announcing, reviewing applications, board meeting to decide, emails to accept or reject, onboarding new penguins, courses, etc.)
- planning and hosting semester cleaning
- planning and hosting kick off - shared task
- GA (sending emails out, organising food and content, booking student council to help, host, evaluation, etc.)
- contact with FM at all times (we would like help, they need our help, questions both ways, coordination, rule following, etc.)
- Ana’s Logs - writing and sending out

Overall, the Vice and Chair make sure to align on the direction of the café strategy and vision-wise. We also talk about issues with each other before anything else happens. It’s really nice to have another head to think with - am i nuts, or am i sensible, you know?


I then handle board HR:
- We all have different strengths in the board and it is my responsibility as chair to recognise these traits and make sure to utilise our combined skills.
- as chair it is a great idea to delegate tasks. So much will land on your table, that it is best to almost take no tasks on yourself at the meetings. Something will come both before and after the meeting that you as chair must be the one to handle.
- I’m also the one people go to if they need to cancel, if they have something private that affects their board-work, etc.

I help the operations team:
- keeping an eye on our manager chat, making sure i help out where and when i can
- i try to support the operations team. give guidance and input if needed, otherwise backing them up. they are the pros.

I help the crews:
- i am contact person for most crews and people who want to initiate something. they come to me and ask ‘hey what to do, is this possible, may i do this, etc.’

I help and guide baristas:
- lots have questions when they see me. in the café or in the halls. Anytime I am at ITU people have some form of question or input. And that’s okay - that is what i am here for.
- fx. when is this event? can we host this? i heard someone say that...? we don’t have anymore milk or coffee! can we have another type of cocoa? what do i do with the cloth when it’s dirty? how do i steam the milk? this person would like to talk to analog, and that is you!
I am here for all types of inquiries.

i do a lot of HR for baristas:
--> making sure my baristas are doing okay. checking up on people, asking if they are okay and such.
--> when people have a problem with life, on their shift, with other baristas etc. I am the primary one handling it.

In total - I am responsible for a café with 1 mio dkk in revenue a year and 80 employees. In this volunteer job it is extra important for me to make sure people are doing okay - both personally and in the barista-job, because you are all volunteers. If I give you a headache, you don’t even get paid to deal with it. I care about everyone and want everyone to feel okay.

…and then there are the extra things - that means things that depends on my own person ambitions, or if something has been requested by baristas (platform)
- kleen hub (i have a monthly meeting and extra messaging in between)
- charity week
- barista suggestion: alternative platform (we ended up with basecamp)
- in general we try to optimise the café as much as possible.

In the board, we all help each other with answering emails, discussing requests, discussing issues in the organisation, discuss operations and barista welfare. We support each other with our individual projects and lift as one. eg. Oskar and cups, Mo and feedback box, Mie and interior initiatives, Jakob and Anders with finance, Niclas with policy writings, and so much more.

All the best,
Laura ☕️💕