1. 7 TeV media event ALICE experience Despina Hatzifotiadou 26th EPPOG Meeting 16 April 2010 Oslo LHC restart - 7 TeV media event - Experience from ALICE Preparation for the media event Invitation had gone out back in the autumn for an event on an unspecified date Many meetings and exchanges between experiments and CERN Press Office number of media we could accept in the Control Room lists of ALICE members prepared to talk to the press our plans for the day (see report during 25th EPPOG Meeting) Media training - public, in small groups, one-to-one (Dec. 2009, Feb. 2010) Internal meetings for organisation of the event 23 March 2010 First 7 TeV collisions were announced for the 30th March (promised one week’s notice) Media visits schedules (many versions) - everything was planned to the hour

2. 7 TeV media event ALICE experience Despina Hatzifotiadou 26th EPPOG Meeting 16 April 2010 Oslo 20 November 2009 LHC restart with circulating beam 23 November 2009 First 900 GeV collisions 6 December 2009 First 900 GeV collisions - stable beams 14 December 2009 First 2.36 TeV collisions Did not quite make it to be an event - no photos

3. 7 TeV media event ALICE experience Despina Hatzifotiadou 26th EPPOG Meeting 16 April 2010 Oslo Preparation for the live broadcast and webcast - 7 TeV collisions From the CCC and the 4 experiments Control Rooms Many interactions with CERN audiovisual team Installed 3 cameras in ALICE CR + microphones + mixer + dedicated PC Eventually had 3 people to control the cameras and “direct” the show Received many versions of script by Paola Catapano, CERN scientific journalist, who would “run the show” (interviews etc..) and by Jacques Fichet (more technical, for the cameramen) Following suggestion by Silvano de Gennaro agreed to participate in “Round the Ring” show (each experiment every hour for ten minutes) started looking for people mentally prepared to talk in front of the camera

4. 7 TeV media event ALICE experience Despina Hatzifotiadou 26th EPPOG Meeting 16 April 2010 Oslo The day before Everything was set to the last detail First journalists were expected at 9:00 The programme of the broadcast was starting at 8:30 - 9:00 am Suddenly we received news that LHC would try for collisions during the night And could we accept media between 2:30 and 9 am ? Various scenarios were developed concerning the visits and the broadcasting Scenario C : collisions before 7 am (first possibility for arrival of journalists) Scenario B : collisions after 7 am Late afternoon/evening: rehearsal of broadcast/webcast with the audiovisual team (Paola and Silvano in the CCC interviewing us in the ACR) Late afternoon : scenario B was opted for, we were asked to be in the ACR at 6:00 Cameramen etc were also due at 6:00 Unclear how broadcast programme would be adapted..

5. 7 TeV media event ALICE experience Despina Hatzifotiadou 26th EPPOG Meeting 16 April 2010 Oslo 30 March morning 6:00 am In ALICE CR waiting for action 7:00 am Bus appears with the first batch of ~15 reporters Everybody was welcome to enter the Control Room Many stayed on to wait for the collisions to happen More ALICE members appeared More buses during the morning brought a total of 25 journalists, photographers and TV crews Many interactions between physicists and reporters Interviews, visits to the exhibition at point 2, coffee.. Broadcast / webcast happening from 9 am on.. While waiting for collisions Paola, from the CCC, was contacting one experiment after the other; several people appeared on the show, commenting on ALICE, the status of the experiment etc Person from CERN Press Office always present

6. 7 TeV media event ALICE experience Despina Hatzifotiadou 26th EPPOG Meeting 16 April 2010 Oslo 13:06 Beams collided Control Room full of ALICE members and journalists + TVs first reconstructed events appeared on the screens Applause.. More Interviews.. Photographs.. Champagne…

7. 7 TeV media event ALICE experience Despina Hatzifotiadou 26th EPPOG Meeting 16 April 2010 Oslo

8. In addition, during this memorable day…. Press Conference which was webcast Event displays on: http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/Public/en/Chapter1/news2010.html http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/Collaboration/galleries/Pictures/pin-point-media7TeV.html http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1255398 Photographs on CDS: http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1255397 Animations on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ictBOjWcVAg + a couple of twits http://twitter.com/ALICEexperiment Towards the end of the day Thank you messages were exchanged between Press Office, Experiments Spokespersons, Webcasting team, outreach coordinators..

9. 7 TeV media event ALICE experience Despina Hatzifotiadou 26th EPPOG Meeting 16 April 2010 Oslo

11. ALICE Institutes feedback after the event..probably only a sample Many Institutes organised an event on the 30th March, often jointly with other LHC experiment groups A number of them had a special high quality webcast connection Very positive comments on the quality of the webcast Italy Bologna : all LHC experiments - big screen- EVO with CERN - journalists - few min on RAI3 regional Torino : broadcast on big screen - students followed Trieste : broadcast on big screen + PCs - posters - answering questions- interview “Il Piccolo” (local) Danemark Niels Bohr Institute : open morning in collaboration with “Politiken” - broadcast on big screen, talks and expl. 3TVs, 2 radios, >1 interviews 75 tickets for the public Germany GSI : broadcast in main lecture hall - 10 people watched - interviews - local TV filmed South Africa iThemba LABS : big screen - ALICE members and other colleagues France Strasbourg: broadcast on big screen + PCs - 5 journalists /photographers - interview to local TV UK Birmingham: webcast on big screen for the public in Phys. Dept. - announcement by Univ. Press Office interviews on Mexican, German, Italian, French, Greek, Swiss …TV (national and local) interviews on local and national press

12. 7 TeV media event ALICE experience Despina Hatzifotiadou 26th EPPOG Meeting 16 April 2010 Oslo Conclusions The media event was a success It was lucky that less media than expected came We proved flexible and coped well with last minute change of plans Timing was good First two attempts gave everybody the chance to savour the anticipation and the excitement Fortunately the third attempt was successful ! All were satisfied Journalists enjoy talking to physicists Physicists enjoy talking to journalists For ALICE it has been a very positive experience THANKS TO ALL WHO MADE IT HAPPEN