ELECTION NIGHT - OB BRIEFING!

For those doing OBs on the night.

We have not snagged the technical side of the the OBs but we think you will need:

1. A laptop with Skype installed
2. A way of connecting that laptop to the internet (maybe a 3G dongle, or a check to see if you will be able to plug into the internet whereever you end up
3. A camera and tripod (full camera kit) with a firewire to plug in to a Mac.

You will keep the Skype call open all night to Kayleigh James (with me in newsroom co-ordinating) in the newsroom. You will offer "grabs" to Kayleigh as you get them. In football terms this will be a bit like being in the dressing room after a big match, getting the interviews with the winners. Kayleigh has one of the biggest jobs on the night and will get the full credit as OB Editor. She will feed through any interviews you do through to the gallery as a offer to the director (Maddie) and output editor (Catherine).

In the field you will need I think a team of three people - you will need to go with two mates therefore and you will need to train them up.

1. Yourself to do the journalism on camera
2. Somebody to point the camera at you (arguably you can do this yourself - VJ style - but that will be hard for interviews because the person you are speaking to might stray out of the frame)
3. Somebody to sit on the laptop talking to the studio and getting direction from the studio and - from your end - offering material to Kayleigh in the newsroom. We will have no talkback as such. It should be OK to do this as part of the continuous Skype call. We will have backup with mobile phones of course.

The best place to be by far is in the count. But you need permission for this and a security pass. We are applying very late for this (my fault). The best way in will be to ask the candidates campaign teams to help you (where appropriate as in Eastleigh and Winchester). Where you are going in as a guest of the candidate (they have limited numbers of 'tickets' to the count and they tend to be in high demand. Glenn has got in as aq guest of a minor party - UKIP - but you will still need to clear the fact that you are using a camera and broadcasting with THE RETURNING OFFICER for the count. You can track downthe returning officer either via your contacts in the parties; or via the PRESS OFFICER for the council in whose buildings the count will be taking place.

FAILSAFE. If you find you can not get in to the count, then a possible fall back is to got to the victory/commiserations gathering of one of the political parties - eg the Tories. They often gather in their HQ or local social (eg the Labour Club, the Conservative Club) for a booze up watching the results come in. You need to get an invite to one of these as a fallback. Therefore if the result comes in at say Eastleigh and you are not in the count, then at least you can offer us the activists watching the count. This will be an OK shot because if say the Tories win, then they will all cheer and it will be a good shot. This shot will be a bit like those OBs from pubs when big England matches are on, showing people jumping in the air when a goal is scored... plus the inevitable shedload of vox pops that follow.

You need to see the BBC College of Journalism video about this - it is on the coursesite - the link is on the messageboard. Obviously they have a much betetr sey up - on the other hand they are doing 600 results, and we are only doing five of six. So it is challenging but not riddiculous thing for us to attempt.

Nobody is remotely expecting students to work at this level, so even the attempt to do it stands you in tremendously good stead. But I think at least some of it will work and it will be fantastic.

We are limiting the number of OBs just to make it all manageable. We have got allthe OBs we want covered now and further assistance should be in the newsroom and studio... where help would be much appreciated for additional volunteers.