Marshalls Information
INFORMATION FOR HUMAN SIGN MARSHALLS
PRINCES BRIDGE – SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER 2009
Grand Finale to the 2009 Melbourne WALK AGAINST WARMING
www.waw.org.au
(Try the DOC or PDF versions of this page if it is hard to read)
Some of you have been involved with earlier signs and some or you are new. You are in for a fun experience as we unveil the “instantaneous human-bollard marking out method”.
When and Where Are You Needed to Start?
Please arrive at 11 AM at the south-east corner of Princes Bridge. Princes Bridge is the one that connects Swanston St to St Kilda Rd – it runs from the Arts Centre to Flinders St. The southeast corner is on the Arts Centre end / MCG or Alexandra Gardens or Boat Shed side. Many of us will already have donned the orange marshall vests, so we will be easy to spot. If you are a bit late, we will have moved 30 meters down the ramp to the grassy area down near the boat sheds. (We will leave a marshall up on top to direct latecomers.)
When Will You Finish?
You will be finished at about 1 PM after aerial photos of the Human Sign have been taken and news helicopters have left.
What Should Human Sign Marshalls Bring / Wear?
- a backpack
- sun protection, or rain and wind protection, depending on the weather – it could be rainy and cold or it could be 42 degrees. This is Melbourne in summer!
- two bottles of water. One for you, and one in case anyone in the public that you are near is also desperate for a drink (health / fatigue issue). So bring some paper cups too.
- perhaps some wrapped lollies, again in case anyone in the crowd feels faint and thinks a lolly might help
- scissors (safely stowed and stowable) – in case you need to cut some barrier tape
- light-coloured hat and top
- camera
- lunch or something to eat (in case you plan on getting hungry)
- pen and pad
What Happens When You Show Up at 11 AM at the Southeast Corner of Princes Bridge?
We will move from the southeast corner of the bridge, 30 meters down to the grassy area before the boat sheds. Fluorescent orange vests will be passed out. Remember to return these vests to the same place where you got them.
After a few words of welcome to all 204 human sign marshalls, we will break up into the 21 Teams. Team Leaders will then instruct you as to your specific role. Most people will not know beforehand what team they will end up in. That is OK. We will sort it out on the spot.
The 21 Teams People Needed
North Boundary 10
East Boundary 20
South Boundary 6
West Boundary 20
S 12
A (in Safe) 12
F 10
E (in Safe) 12
C 8
L 6
I (in Climate) 4
M 12
A (in Climate) 12
T (in Climate) 8
E (in Climate) 12
Hyphen 4
D 8
O 8
I (in It) 4
T (in It) 8
! 8
Total 204
Other Key Roles
Sign Boss 2IC:
Letter Loaders
What If We Don’t Have 204 Marshalls??
The first teams we will fill will be the Boundary Teams. It is critical that we have full complements for the boundary teams.
Then we will make sure all the Letter Teams are filled to a similar % full. If not all Letter Teams are full, then the Letter Teams will recruit the final “human bollards” from the contingent of Walkers as they arrive.
And Then What Happens? See Running Sheet starting on the next page. (Some of the opening bits are repeated from the above, for completeness.)
RUNNING SHEET
Early in the morning, a small team assemble to mark out the “tick marks” on the footpath, withou disrupting any bridge traffic. These “tick marks” determine the x-axis positions of the letters.
11:00 All marshalls meet at southeast corner of the bridge. Probably best if you have already had your coffee and gone to the toilet, as you will not be able to do so for the next two hours. Nearest public toilets are probably in Flinders St Station.
11:05 For our pre-event briefing, we will walk to a quiet spot ~ 30 meters down to the grass, east of the bridge, down in Alexandra Gardens, in the direction of the boat houses. Fluorescent orange vests will be passed out. Remember to return these vests to the same place where you got them. Some initial words of welcome and safety messages.
11:10 Break into the 21 Teams, listed above. Team members will meet their team leader and review their jobs. A limited number of megaphones and radios will be distributed to people who will be in key positions
11:40 All Teams – when directed, take positions on the bridge.
For East and West Boundary Teams, immediately go ahead and take your final positions down the marked white line that separates the footpath from the bike lane. Deploy 160 meters of boundary tape down each side of the bridge. Work out where you will have your three (relatively evenly spaced) gates. Assign Gate Keepers (two people at each Gate). Watch out for cyclists. Encourage cyclist to proceed slowly and to ring their bells.
For all other teams, your initial position is on the east footpath, somewhere near your final position. “SAFE” will be at the Arts Centre end. “DO IT !” will be on the Flinders St end. The sign will be photographed from the East, with the Eureka Tower and Southbank in the background. As you stand on the east footpath, you are at the base of the Sign.
Due to continuing vehicle traffic flow at this time, the North & South Boundary Teams cannot take their final positions spanning the bridge at their respective pedestrian crosswalks. However, these teams can work with the East & West Boundary teams at the corners of our perimeter to divert bike traffic over to the footpath – if the cyclists cooperate. Note, if it looks safest to allow a cyclist free use of the bike lane, then let that happen. A few bikes in our photo won’t matter. However, warn cyclists to go slowly, ring their bells, and watch out for marshalls who are now assuming that we have free access to this blocked off bike lane.
For the duration of the event in the role of Marshall Manager, I will stand in one spot, which will be in the middle of the bridge, on the east-side, on the edge of the clearway (bike lane), in case you need me for something special and unusual (e.g. police concerns, accidents or upsets of any type). I will have a radio, as will 9 other marshalls on the bridge. My aim is to let Sign Boss Tony Bodsworth get on with making the Sign. Please direct any issues to me that are not directly related to the making of the Sign.
~12:00 Police stop tram and vehicular traffic.
WHEN SAFE, in other words when traffic has completely left the bridge (watch out for cars doing U-turns or ignoring police lines), all Letter Teams & North and South Boundary Teams move into final position. Deploy tape to mark out boundaries and letters. When this is done, there of course should be no trams, cars, or members of the public within our Sign perimeter!
~ 12:30 Walkers arrive from the North (coming down Swanston St.).
North Boundary Team directs marchers evenly left or right onto the defined footpaths. Walkers keep walking to the South End of the Bridge.
When The Lead Walkers Get to the South End of the Bridge…
1). Open just the two gates most distant to the Walkers - the south-most east & west gates (one each side of the bridge). Fill letters down at that southern end of the Sign (i.e. “SAFE CLIM”) in an orderly way. Coordinate this between Gate Keepers, the visible flag-holding Letter Loaders, and the Letter Minders. Gate Keepers need to make sure they are not letting too many people in!
Prams are OK within the Sign. We want to be inclusive to small families.
Bicycles however should not come into the Sign. They can be dangerous and will take up too much space. Sorry!
And some groups (with their own protest agendas) might carry card tables and want to set them up on the bridge. Unfortunately for any such groups, there will be no room on the bridge to set up tables and so the marshalls should let them know that.
2). After the south end of the Sign is full, and after direction from “Sign Boss” Tony Bodsworth, open the other 4 gates and load all letters evenly.
3). If not all Walkers can fit in the Sign, the East & West Boundary Teams will need to ask excess people to just back up against the bridge railing, making even East and West boundaries down the length of the bridge (people may need to be encouraged to continue marching south towards the Arts Centre so we do not end up with a lumpy border). Those with big banners might like to stand outside of the Sign, on the Boundary, with their banner facing the people in the Sign. Lots of photo ops for the photographers.
People will stand in this Human Sign and not sit – because who wants to sit on a dirty bridge, and we will fit more people in that way. For safety, everyone should stand. We don’t want anyone tripping and falling on top of someone who was sitting. Explain this to people and they should cooperate. If someone has brought a chair (maybe due to a disability), that’s OK. We are trying to be very inclusive here! Keep an eye out for anyone feeling feint. If they do, assist them to leave the sign and sit in the boundary (not that it will be much less claustrophobic there).
4). Permanently close gates when letters in each area are full.
Plus another 10 to 15 minutes
Photos of the message will be taken by blimp, airplane, & TV helicopters, and we can disperse. But wait for a clear signal from the Sign Boss! It would be a disaster if we broke up too early, as you can imagine!
In fact, we will photograph what the bridge looks like after the Sign breaks up and everyone mingles on the bridge. That will be the grand finale second photo.
Remember to return your vests to where you got them! I will eventually also move to the vest-return location in order to say “thanks” and “until next time”!
Then join us for a drink over at Transport, at Fed Square (or perhaps the drinking spot down below).
END OF RUNNING SHEET
MORE DETAILED JOB DESCRIPTIONS
The following is mostly for team leaders. But the more people that know what is meant to go on, the better.
North Boundary Team
Final Location: After Police stop traffic, form a line across the bridge, south of the pedestrian crosswalk that crosses from Flinders St Station to the “Transport” restaurant at Fed Square. Act as human bollards. Deploy hand-held barrier tape.
Role: Keep passers-by from entering the Sign area on the roadway – not that they would normally want to. When Walkers come, they will automatically be split by the tram super-stop to the right and left. Keep them separated to the right and left on the east and west footpaths. Allow the cross-walk to function normally at all times for pedestrians who have nothing to do with the Sign. (You can invite random pedestrians to join in of course).
East Boundary Team
Final Location: Along the 160 m long line that separates pedestrian traffic from bike traffic on the east side of the bridge (the MCG side). Actually this is just down the middle of what used to be just a wide footpath.
Role: Initially, using “human bollards and tape”, make a “clearway” out of the bike lane. This will form a visual border between the letters and excess Walkers that may end up staying on the border. Later, manage the 3 gates through which Walkers will leave the footpath and enter the letters from the east side.
South Boundary Team
Final Location: After Police stop traffic, form a line across the bridge, north of the pedestrian cross-walk that crosses from the Arts Centre to Alexandra Gardens. Act as human bollards. Deploy hand-held barrier tape.
Role: Keep passers-by from entering the Sign area on the roadway – not that they would normally want to. Allow cross-walk to function normally.
West Boundary Team
Location: Along the 160 m long line that separates pedestrian traffic from bike traffic on the east side of the bridge (the Southbank side). Actually this is just down the middle of what used to be just a wide footpath.
Role: Same as East Boundary Team. Initially, using “human bollards and tape”, make a “clearway” out of the bike lane. This will form a visual border between the letters and excess Walkers that may end up staying on the border. Later, manage the 3 gates through which marchers will leave the footpath and enter the letters from the west side.
Letter Teams – The Instantaneous Human Bollard Marking Out Method
Given we have no access to the vehicular traffic areas of the bridge in advance, we are using the instantaneous human bollard marking-out method. We will take advantage of the parallel lines already on the bridge (tram tracks, car lane markers, etc.). Like this
Each Letter Team Leader will have a map like the above for their letter.
The M1, M2, etc are the 60 or so tick marks that we will mark out in advance on both the east and west footpaths.
These tick marks will show the x-axis position (i.e. the long edge, i.e. footpath coordinates) of all letter corners and nodes. Each tick mark will be uniquely denoted.
Your job as a Letter Marshall will be to work out where, in relation to those tick marks and a tram track or other bridge feature, where you are meant to stand. All the corners and nodes of the letters are placed (on the design drawing) on, or centred between, one of the dozen or so different parallel lines that you see as you walk across the bridge (tram tracks, car lanes, etc.). These are the pink dots in the drawing above. Though there will be no pink dots in real life, that is where you stand. So that is the trick. Each letter team will have plenty of time to work out where people should stand.
These Letter Teams then become “human bollards” marking out the double-outline of the letters simply by each person holding in each hand an end of a piece of barrier tape / string (provided by me). In the drawing above, the red lines denote the tape. In the drawing above there are dotted yellow lines. There will be no dotted yellow lines in real life. You will have to eyeball between the opposing tick marks to square up your letter.
The picture below shows a trial letter “F” in my backyard. This took 3 minutes to set out after a lot less instruction than you have just received, and some consumption of red wine prior to the exercise.
The Letter Leaders will be aided by the Sign Boss and his 2IC to make sure all letters are looking good. Using the latest technology (i.e. a remote/portable camera view screen), the Sign Boss will be able to “see what the blimp sees” and so know where any adjustments are needed.
Once you are sure you are in the right place, you will be provided with a piece of chalk to make a mark just so you don’t wander off and in case of “The Red Sea Scenario”. See below.
Shadowing and Contrast: With the sun almost directly overhead, shadowing should not be the problem it has been in the past, even with people standing. Walkers are being asked (via email and the website) to wear light coloured tops and hats in order to improve the contrast with the dingy bridge deck. Letter Minders should try to avoid shadows of people overlapping other people (from the perspective of the blimp or airplane). You could try shifting around people of different heights – but don’t sweat this too much.
Moses and the Red Sea Scenario: One difficulty with being on Princes Bridge is that it is necessary thoroughfare for emergency vehicles. So, if it happens that an ambulance, fire truck, etc comes toward the bridge with all lights and sirens blazing, Letter Marshalls in particular will need to forget about marking out letters (for now) and get people to split right down the middle of the bridge. We should be able to clear a path for the emergency vehicle to clear the bridge. Then, if we had not to that point taken a suitable photo, we will have to put the Sign back together again (using the chalk marks that you have made). Hopefully this scenario will not come up, but whilst in the Sign, there is no harm in Letter Marshalls telling people what to do in that situation. “Just calmly move to the sides of the bridge and afterward wait for the Letter Marshalls to re-establish their positions and barrier tape.”
