The Department of Controls for BOSM plays a paramount role in organising, scheduling, and executing BOSM smoothly. Despite his busy schedule, Raihan Riaz, the BOSM Controls CoSSAcan, sat down with the BOSM English Press to discuss the role of his department in the fest and the various facets of organizing an event as large as BOSM.

BOSM Controls has many responsibilities throughout the fest. Pre-fest, the department handles all inventory acquisition, pre-scheduling, and requisitions. During the fest, it is responsible for scheduling matches, distributing refreshments, handling registration, distributing in-kind goods, announcing results and scoresheets, and managing content on the official fest app.

Raihan recalled how BOSM 2018 had 1500 participants, which was beyond the accommodation capacity of BITS and caused logistical problems. This year, between 1300 and 1350 participants are expected, and the fest is expected to run smoothly while ensuring ‘quality over quantity’ for all involved.

A major talking point for BOSM 2019 is the possibility of rain, which is forecast for all five days. Raihan revealed that the latest forecasts actually show that the rains have moved on to next week, and ‘fingers crossed, knock on wood, I think we’re safe for BOSM.’ Nevertheless, keeping previous incidences in mind, there has been increased spending on rain contingencies. These include acquiring tarpaulin sheets for courts, making sure food stalls are better protected and hiring more guards to help with manpower-related tasks on the field. ‘However, we hope to have bright, sunny, and brilliant conditions this time,’ Raihan laughed.

BOSM Controls is accustomed to dealing with registration and scheduling challenges that incoming teams face, especially on the first few days of the fest. This time, they hope to circumvent these issues by balancing participation and optimising scheduling. Beginning the planning and execution phases early has also been a priority this time around, since ‘being the point of coordination for over 25 sports gets difficult,’ in Raihan’s words. He said that he hopes to have results and fixtures announced as early as possible during the fest, for the benefit of the concerned bodies.