Candidate Q&A - 2010 Chair (President)

[kjayers]

Do you have questions for the candidates for 2010 Chair/President?  Ask here.

[BigGuy]

I'm the only one running right now so I'll just say hello.
 I'm Beau Gentry, the guy wearing the cloud suit on Saturday.
 I welcome any and all questions that you might have for the con chair election.

[AllyKat]

I know I'm not a voting member (yet ^_^ ) but I want to ask a couple questions of the Chair as it
pertains to his/her job. Since you kinda took on the role mid-term last year (this year technically???)
I wonder...

1. What words of assurance do you have for average Convention go-ers that (in reference to the
issues of crowding and miscommunications which allegedly abound at K-con 2009) this year's K-con
will not repeat the same mistakes?

2. How open are you to suggestions from people outside of the board and staff, meaning, if approached
by a average Convention attendee with an idea for doing something that has not been done yet;
how honestly likely is it that you will take this idea to the board as opposed to just considering it
yourself and then choosing it's viability?

3. Who in the board/staff is most closely responsible for your (perhaps) joint successes in Convention
hosting and preperation. That is to say; who is your biggest ally on staff and why?

And finally...

4. Will you wear the cloud suit next year?? ^__^

Thanks for your time!

~Allykat

[BigGuy]

to answer
1) we now know where the lines will be a major issue and we will work with the Hotel and our staff all year to try and make the lines move smoother. We have a few ideas to try and lessen the crowding. Also having nice weather could lead people to spend more time outside at the fountain or in Pioneer square.
2) If someone comes to me with an awesome idea, I would take it to the board asap to see if we could put it into place. I like to ask questions and get multiple viewpoints on ideas, so asking the board and other staffers is something I do pretty regularly.
3) All the Exec board are incredibly helpful, and the staff make the con happen. I was really lucky that most of the Board had been at the Exec level before and they helped me a lot. All The staff are so valuable. I don't think I had a single person not do something I asked them to do, everybody worked really hard to make this con happen. Eric T, Steve L. and John K. were all very helpful to me all year
4) Hell yeah I'll wear the cloud suit again. Seriously, my roommates and I didn't expect the reaction that suit got.

[kalagei]

That suit was amazing Beau.

I smell a potential charity auction item =D

[Dealrith]

Let him be....his hair is already up for auction as to who gets to pet it.

[AllyKat]

That suit was amazing Beau.

I smell a potential charity auction item =D

Seriously though... I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate that suit into a potential
mascot for 2011!! Or... perhaps something for this year... Not sure yet... I really love
it though! It's amazing!

~Allykat

[MichaelEvans]

My opinion is that the cloud coat should be his mantle as convention chair, until he replaces it or is no longer the chair.

[Mr Silmero]

Ok I got a simple question


1. What do you believe is the biggest Hurdle Kumoricon will have to overcome in 2010 and how do you plan to tackle this problem?


also a non-serious question to Beau himself


How do you like your new title of Beaushonen?

[MichaelEvans]

I have a followup Q:

1. What do you believe is the biggest Hurdle Kumoricon will have to overcome in 2010 and how do you plan to tackle this problem?

In the event that the Biggest Hurdle you think Kumoricon 2010 faces is the attendance cap or related things:  What is the NEXT biggest hurdle you currently see and how do you plan to address it?

[Mr Silmero]

I have a followup Q:

1. What do you believe is the biggest Hurdle Kumoricon will have to overcome in 2010 and how do you plan to tackle this problem?

In the event that the Biggest Hurdle you think Kumoricon 2010 faces is the attendance cap or related things:  What is the NEXT biggest hurdle you currently see and how do you plan to address it?

ohhhhh nice.

[BigGuy]

 I think we have 2 major hurdles to deal with.
 1) we need more dedicated competent staff. The ones we have are great, but we are burning people out by overworking them. But this is something we face every year.
 2) The hotel issues that have been gone over time and again. No mingle space and caps on how many people can be in one place at a time. Also the stigma of being at that hotel at all, some people won't come back just because we are at that location.

 To get more staff we need the staff we have to go out and recruit new people. You are our best advertisers.
 The hotel issues for crowding and line management we will just need to plan better. Train people on line management and try to have large draw events in different parts of the hotel at the same time.

For attendance capping, it might not be an issue. It's very possible that Kumoricon has drawn almost all of the people in it's going to. Simply, we just might not get any bigger than a 5000 person convention. That's not a bad thing, 5k people is fine. We just need to plan around the fact that we didn't have the growth spike this year that we have in the past. If the economy turns around and in 2010 we still have around 5k attendees then we should just try to be the best mid size convention we can and plan for that.

[RemSaverem]

What is this cloud suit? Is it a suit, the fabric of which looks like the sky and clouds? Or were you cosplaying Cloud Strife?Meantime....I'm confused, I thought at Prog Suite around 2pm on Saturday I heard the statement "We already hit our hard cap" to which I inquired what that number was and was told "6500".  What was our total unduplicated attendance?

How would you feel about something akin to a corporation's "exit interview" process? If there are folks who have been staff, particularly long-term or at least multi-year staff, who choose not to return, inquiring of them why they are no longer part of the family and what it would have taken for them to remain. How would you feel about a survey of staff who have made and retained multi-year commitments, asking us what keeps us here,& what incentives might keep others here or lure them in?

What would your dream scenario be for 2011 and beyond, if you were Haruhi Suzumiya and could redraw the con world as you saw fit?What is your #1 goal for con year 2010?Is there any plausibility to the following future scenarios: Multiple hotels, college campuses, adding a 4th full day?
Thanks and love from a 7-year-so-far staffer! PS Could we have tiered "staff appreciation" shwag/pins/badges/events of some type, something that didn't cost any or hardly any money, but encouraged folks to become/remain long-term staff by celebrating long-term commitments to the con?

[Meganekko]

Since Portland's weather is dubious at best, what plans are being made in case we should see bad weather (rain/cold/generally unpleasant) that will help keep crowding and congestion down while people wish to remain indoors?

Also due to a running joke between me and Mr. Silmero; will we actually see an opportunity to pet your "soft as kittens" hair on the auction block?

[superjaz]

i would like to say 3 things , 1 kudos for saying the most realistic attendance cap i have seen that would still give quality, 2 as for lack of growth we were against pax this year and while the mass of attendees are either k con or pax, there are some who go to both and chose pax over k con, 3 the cloud suit was a suit that was blue with clouds all over it And was full of awesome

[RemSaverem]

i would like to say 3 things , 1 kudos for saying the most realistic attendance cap i have seen that would still give quality, 2 as for lack of growth we were against pax this year and while the mass of attendees are either k con or pax, there are some who go to both and chose pax over k con, 3 the cloud suit was a suit that was blue with clouds all over it And was full of awesome

Sorry I missed it. Hope to see pix!
Another query:
Given the person who came to R&R and talked about how union employees were upset and being laid off without severance or something like that:
If the hotel staff were already overwhelmed and contracting out with their present complement of staff, what do you imagine (and this is not rhetorical, but sincere) that it will be like next year with potentially far fewer hotel employees? A relief or a headache or??

[BigGuy]

We will be having meetings with the Hotel managers throughout the year and we plan on bringing up the issues we had. I will ask about their staff levels.
 The weather is something we really can't plan for. There have been a few ideas to clear some room on the plaza level to make room for people to hang out that I will bring up at the meetings.
 We soft capped Saturday not based on numbers, but on what the inside of the hotel looked like, we lifted the cap later that day and started letting more people in(preregistered people will never be turned away due to caps) Sorry if you heard we hit our hard cap, we did not.
 An exit interview would be good,maybe a form people could fill out online.
 We have access to a button maker and blank buttons are fairly cheap, we could have buttons like "staff since 200x" or "locker loader 200x" for people who help out with getting stuff in/out of the locker. these are limited only by peoples creativity.
 For 2011 we will have our new facilities person start looking into possibly venues asap after elections.

For the less serious questions
My roommate made the cloud suit for me and if I put it up for auction she would "murder me in the face" she worked really hard on it, we never thought people would respond the way they did to it.
 I said at closing ceremonies that I would make an auction item some time for someone to pet my hair, and for all the people there to remind me if I forgot. I said it so I'm going to do it.
 "Beaushonen" is nice but seems a bit weird to me since I am nothing like  one of those pretty boys associated with Bishonen shows

[RemSaverem]

*giggling*
Bishie is in the eye of the beholder, and it's apparent you have quite a few admirers 
Ahem. Yah. So.
In my dream world we'd have artists make button templates incorporating the mascots, logos, chops for each year, and market them as fundraisers, and anyone who was staff in the given years would get one free that superimposed "staff" somewhere on the button. But until I know how to conjure completed artworks and buttons out of thin air I'll understand if that's cost and labor prohibitive!
I volunteer to help whoever undertakes to design an exit interview for staff who leave (and hopefully a satisfaction survey for those who stick around as well).
Serious question: If it ever got to a point that the Board or Facilities felt a mediator were necessary between Alto Nimbus / the Board and a hotel (or other corporate or legal entity), do we have one lined up? Do we have attorneys? (Sorry to not know this.)
Do you have an opinion on whether we should try to go beyond 2 am or not, and if so, in what areas? On what basis will this be decided?
Thanks!

[BigGuy]

Serious question: If it ever got to a point that the Board or Facilities felt a mediator were necessary between Alto Nimbus / the Board and a hotel (or other corporate or legal entity), do we have one lined up? Do we have attorneys? (Sorry to not know this.)

We have a lawyer that looks over our contracts and when we are redoing them our bylaws, if something happened where we needed a lawyer to step in and mediate we'll have one.

Do you have an opinion on whether we should try to go beyond 2 am or not, and if so, in what areas? On what basis will this be decided?

We had programming going after 2am this year. Gaming was open until 6am I believe, viewing rooms were open 22 or 24 hours and some panels ran until 3am or later.
 I had reservations about having staff for those hours, but I think it went well. It's mostly based on who wants to run things late night/early morning

[RemSaverem]

FYI: At the CS we tried to stay open 'til 4 am, but mostly were done with activities (and having anyone left besides very tired staff, some of whom were back on at 8 or 9 am to run panels) by just after 3 am.
Thanks for the replies!

[Hawkeye]

How do you plan to retain neutrality if a conflict between staff members comes up, and you have personal connections to the situation or have not heard both sides of the story? 

How do you plan to make sure that directors do not blatantly interfere with another director's job?  I ask because I know this has been a problem in our past.

How do you plan to improve communications between directors when a multi-departmental issue is at stake?

How do you envision your position as Con Chair fitting in with the board as a whole?

[BigGuy]

 I try to remain as neutral as possible, staff members bickering with each other was a significant portion of how I spent my time at con this year. I admit that I got frazzled and didn't handle some situations as well as I could have. I can't witness every single event in the con, so I have to rely on info given to me. If people come and tell me they are having problems with someone then I have to go talk with that person. If they tell me contradictory info then all I can do is make sure both parties know our rules/regulations and what I expect out of them, which is very simple : do your best to get along with everyone and do your job the best you can.

Most of the departments have such different duties that blatant interference from another director shouldn't be happening. However if a director tells someone they need them to help with something at con, unless they are doing something right then they are expected to help out.
  I don't like how people divide themselves up by departments in this convention. We all work for Kumoricon, your main department is Kumoricon. Operations,Programming and all the others are basically sub-departments. I can't make people cooperate, but I will stress this as much as I can.

Directors are in contact with each other all the time. We arranged exec meetings almost every night at the hotel and we all have each others cell numbers. I grabbed other directors to figure things out a few times at con.

I think the con chair position mostly is to interact with the staff and attendees/guests and give everybody the encouragement and advice they need to do their jobs.

[RemSaverem]

I like your reply but am sad to hear that internecine miscommunications or rivalries or whatever else got into a stuck place, ate up so much of your own personal time at con.
Is it conceivable that there could be someone (in addition to Vice) who worked directly under the Chair whose role could be on-site mediator, to take some of the brunt off your shoulders?
We could have a crew who dressed up like fire extinguishers to provide a funny, ice-breaking visual, who go around stopping at-con flame wars or inflamed tempers

[camname21]

bubble fire extinguisher

[Rathany]

Is it conceivable that there could be someone (in addition to Vice) who worked directly under the Chair whose role could be on-site mediator, to take some of the brunt off your shoulders?

Pezzer would be awesome at this, if we could talk him into it. 

[RemSaverem]

Is it conceivable that there could be someone (in addition to Vice) who worked directly under the Chair whose role could be on-site mediator, to take some of the brunt off your shoulders?

Pezzer would be awesome at this, if we could talk him into it. 

And would he dress the part?

[Mister_manji]

How will you deal with staff members that, while loved by some, have become a liability to the convention?

On that note, with the drive for new staff all encompassing, what efforts will be made to weed out those who are unprofessional or act inappropriately?

[RemSaverem]

How will you deal with staff members that, while loved by some, have become a liability to the convention?

On that note, with the drive for new staff all encompassing, what efforts will be made to weed out those who are unprofessional or act inappropriately?

Wow, I have no idea what it would take to be a liability to the convention (?)
Intense questions.
One possible idea is having people who worked as managers and coordinators in various departments give either formal or anecdotal reviews to their respective Chairs as to what they observed in the performance of each staffer, volunteer, and/or panelist working alongside them?

[Mister_manji]

I felt it necessary to ask

[BigGuy]

If someone is behaving inappropriately I'll try to talk to them privately and see what's going on. If you see someone that needs to be talked to let me know.
If we can't reach a compromise then I might ask them to leave, or just take a walk to cool off for a bit.
 Any feedback you want to send along about staff/volunteers would be great. anything from"that person is awesome!" to "maybe they should be in a different department/job" and anything else you's like to share.
 And really, sometimes it's as easier as just re-slotting someone to a different job. Some people don't know all the different jobs we have and might sign up for one that doesn't suit them very well.

We can't really weed people out, we also don't have to sign every staff form that comes in either. We had a meeting recently where we went through the staff list and talked about each staffer and what we thought of them. Most were awesome, some might need to be moved to other jobs. Some will not be staff again(very few).

[RemSaverem]

If someone is behaving inappropriately I'll try to talk to them privately and see what's going on. If you see someone that needs to be talked to let me know.
We can't really weed people out, we also don't have to sign every staff form that comes in either. We had a meeting recently where we went through the staff list and talked about each staffer and what we thought of them. Most were awesome, some might need to be moved to other jobs. Some will not be staff again(very few).

Wow, that is very thorough of you, I am impressed!
I love everyone on Creation Station crew and aim to keep them. There was one person I hadn't met, who was a friend of another staffer, who said they wanted to be a co-judge, then never showed up; which reinforces my leaning to only accept as staff someone I have met (or Jaki has). Other than that, everyone was pretty great. There are always some basic things that could be tidied up, but at least in our wing of Prog, there's nothing that a little help keeping track of time wouldn't cure, and we're approaching that with logistics such as clocks for the room (can we get them from hotel or storage?), enlarged con schedule on wall like prog office had (can Publicity provide this?), and printing and carrying with us a CS-specific staff/panelist schedule and contact list, so there's never confusion about who is on when. (Sometimes teensy print in con schedule book is hard to tell if something is at :00 or :30.) Thanks!

[TomtheFanboy]

Mr. Candidate, how do you see the relationship between Kumoricon and Pcoky Club working out in 2010?

[BigGuy]

I think we have a good relationship with the Pocky club. Honestly I haven't had time to come to any of the at con Pocky club activities, or to follow a delivery, but I hadn't heard any complaints.
 If something is working I don't see the need to change it just to change it.

[RemSaverem]

I think we have a good relationship with the Pocky club. Honestly I haven't had time to come to any of the at con Pocky club activities, or to follow a delivery, but I hadn't heard any complaints.
 If something is working I don't see the need to change it just to change it.

*nods*
Jaki said something comparable in the Prog Q & A thread.
For my 2 cents, I happened to be in the stairwell as Tom was coaching a new delivery cosplayer, and I have always appreciated PC's sensitivity to making sure folks are open to being glomped as part of the delivery. Plus, you know, yum and fun!

[AllyKat]

For my 2 cents, I happened to be in the stairwell as Tom was coaching a new delivery cosplayer, and I have always appreciated PC's sensitivity to making sure folks are open to being glomped as part of the delivery. Plus, you know, yum and fun!

Speaking of glomps....

I remember the days of yore when a glomp was fun and fancy free and not at all like some of the debilitating crashings of human bodies I've witnessed at my single year at Kumoricon...

What defines a glomp for you; potential Chair-people? And at what point does it become the conventions responsibility to step in and stop glomps from occuring? Is there a basis for telling people to head outside? A three strikes policy? Or is it more an honor system "Tell you once and not gonna tell you again" scenario.

I'm curious because while I am very timid to the idea of actually supporting the weight of someone who is running at me top speed with a hug, I'm totally okay with that kinda sudden "Hey! I remember you!" quick step and squeeze kinda glomp that I used to do to all my friends... It's hard to explain on a forum...but no one was ever off the ground for any amount of time. I know there is a million places where gray area causes you problems... but I'm curious as to how you would handle the glomp issue with your board members, and if you would change anything from previous years.

~Allykat

[camname21]

I'm curious because while I am very timid to the idea of actually supporting the weight of someone who is running at me top speed with a hug, I'm totally okay with that kinda sudden "Hey! I remember you!" quick step and squeeze kinda glomp that I used to do to all my friends...

Turn with the hug, helps avoid falling on your backside.

[AllyKat]

I'm curious because while I am very timid to the idea of actually supporting the weight of someone who is running at me top speed with a hug, I'm totally okay with that kinda sudden "Hey! I remember you!" quick step and squeeze kinda glomp that I used to do to all my friends...

Turn with the hug, helps avoid falling on your backside.

I'd imagine with my coordination, it'd take multiple lessons... like yoga.

~Allykat

[BigGuy]

as long as no one gets hurt because of the glomp and their isn't any weirdness (one person really really didn't want to be glomped) I'll pretty much let it slide.
 You really have to consider the situation of the glomp though. Are they wearing spikeys that can hurt you? Are you going to hurt their cosplay they put a lot of time/effort/money into?
The full on running tackle hug is fine for people who know each other, and are safe about it, but if you don't know someone I think asking before you hug them is the best way to go. Most people will say yes anyways(who doesn't like hugs?)

[TomtheFanboy]

As usual, Pocky Club needs to know, what is your favorite flavor of Pocky.

[BigGuy]

I like the dark chocolate one, Either Men's or Mousse, can't remember what it's called. The one with crushed hazelnuts was really good also.

[kjayers]

Congratulations, Beau Gentry!

As elsewhere mentioned, since the election has occurred, further questions may be asked as desired, but this "Candidate Q&A" is now closed.