2009 Director of Relations Nomination Q & A, Discussion

[modab]

This thread is for discussion about the Director of Relations position for Kumoricon 2009.

Here is a list of people who have accepted the nomination for Director of Relations:
Dawn Hewitt
The most current list of all nominations for all elected positions is here: http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=7900.0

You may ask questions for them to answer in this post, and if you know them please encourage them to reply. Remember to be civil. You may also use this thread to discuss the responsibilities of this position for 2009, especially ones you think should be added, modified, or removed.

Here is the position description of Director of Relations, as put together by our current director:
*Oversee managership of exhibitors hall and artist alley.
*Choose and arrange guests.
*Find appropriate liasons for guests.
*Woth with our partner charity P:ear
*Oversee the green room
*Be a resource to guests during the con, making sure they have all they need.
*Oversee industry managership, which includes getting swag bag stuff.
*Coordinate and talk with industry guests, like executives of other cons.
*Arrange the Industry Dinner and the VIP Dinner
*Keep on top of everything going on in the worlds of the anime and manga industries, as well as other conventions.

Please note, this is a rough draft of the position description, but I felt it should go out now and be formatted to be compatible with the other positions later.

[staze]

All,

I'd like to mention that questions to the relations director should generally stay away from questions like "what guests would you look to invite this coming year?"

Basically, we don't want someone doing the typical political thing, and promising things that are impossible (like promising Takahashi, or Clamp, etc).

So, you could ask breakdown, e.g. "what types of guests would you like to see at Kumoricon 09?" but not "what guests will you bring to Kumoricon?". The second question is impossible to answer since the people running have no idea of their budget, or who is available during our con next year.

Thanks!

[staze]

To start, I'd like to ask that every accepted candidate introduce themselves, and tell us all a bit about yourself. Previous experience is a plus, but ultimately, we're just trying to get to know the candidates.

Thanks!

[Rathany]

Heya Everyone!

I am Dawn Hewitt.  I was Vice Chair this past year for Kcon. 

Some general info about me: I am going into 4th year Japanese in a few weeks at PSU.  I hope to graduate this year.  If all goes well, I intend to go on the Summer Waseda Program next summer.  Hopefully, I will be out of the country for several weeks.  However, I have full confidence that I can do this Directorship from Japan. 

Some plans for Relations for Kcon 2009:
Many cons list vendors on their website as soon as they are confirmed.  Given the problems this year, I think that this may help restore some confidence in Kcon.  Also, many of the people I know really look forward to shopping at cons, so info like this can help build excitement. 

I also intend to break Exhibitors Hall and Artist Alley into separate managerships.  With the possibility of having them in separate locations next year, I think this is nessesary.  Also, I think in the con overall there is a problem with there being too big a leap between general staffer/mook and positions of responsibility.  I want to look and see where I can create jobs where people can have some responsibility and descisions making power without having to jump into a major position of power. 

I have a great deal of familiarity with the manga industry and tend to know alot about what's going on there.  For anime, I can't rattle off names and explain rights issues like I can with manga companies, but I do have a good general grasp on what goes on there.  What I don't know, I can learn. 

One more possible issue with me being Relations Director, besides hoping to go to Tokyo, is that I have many food restrictions.  As Relations Director I will have to arrange dinners and run the Green Room.  I do not see this being a major issue.  I will just have to supply my homemade grenadine instead of the bottled kind for the green room.  I am already looking at restaurants for the industry dinner.  I am confident that I can find great options within budget where both myself and guests can eat.  For the VIP dinner this year, I had a lovely plate of lettuce and if that is all the hotel can do for me next year, that is also fine.  I DO NOT want the con spending extra money to accomidate my complicated food problems. 

Anyway, I enjoyed my last two years working with Kcon and hope to serve you all as Relations Director in 2009. 

[kylite]

How do each of you plan to resolve the lack of communication from our AA/Exhibitor's Hall coordinators?

[staze]

How do each of you plan to resolve the lack of communication from our AA/Exhibitor's Hall coordinators?

As I said, please keep this pleasant. This question has the smell of something that could quickly get out of hand.

[Rathany]

How do each of you plan to resolve the lack of communication from our AA/Exhibitor's Hall coordinators?

I will have the exhibitors@ email addy also forward to me until I know that things are going well this year and that my managers are receiving the emails.  I intend to have lots of communication with my managers and make sure everything is going well. 

If anything happens which is either a logistical problem or a manager having a personal issue I will step in and cover matters as long as it is needed.  As Vice Chair, I was not hesitant to step in where help was needed, for whatever reason.  (Except for issues that are all really techy and make my brain hurt, like diagnosing router problems or merging databases.  Those sorts of issues need to go to other people if they need to be done in a timely fashion.)  This applies to any of my managers and coordinators and staffers, not just EX and AA. 

Also, I plan to have contracts numbered and tracked.  People who get contracts from another vendor instead of from us will not be given booth space.  We need to have a level of control over who gets in.

I could ramble on for a while about Ex Hall and related issues, but I will try to keep my answers somewhat concise. 

[TomtheFanboy]

As the President of Pocky Club I have already gathered a lot of data on what pocky our staff prefers. Things change though so Nominees, what is your favorite flavor of Pocky?

Do you have any new ideas for Artist Alley and the Exhibitor's Hall? There has been talk about having the Artists out in one of the Lobbies or in a separate room elsewhere in the hotel.

What experience do you have dealing with businesses like those that our Industry Managers negotiate with.

How quickly could you adjust your schedule to attend a board meeting? Less to do with Relations, just a general nominee question.

[PhantmK]

I feel that this is an important question and so I am posting in every staff elected election section:
Who do you plan to appoint as your assistant director and have they accepted the offer for the position?

[Rathany]

As the President of Pocky Club I have already gathered a lot of data on what Pocky our staff prefers. Things change though so Nominees, what is your favorite flavor of Pocky?

Find one that wont kill me and that will be my favorite.

Do you have any new ideas for Artist Alley and the Exhibitor's Hall? There has been talk about having the Artists out in one of the Lobbies or in a separate room elsewhere in the hotel.

I covered most of this in my previous post.  There is an idea to have Artist Alley out in the upper lobby.  I like the idea, but nothing is final either way until the next board decides. 

What experience do you have dealing with businesses like those that our Industry Managers negotiate with.

Well, I did talk to some industry people down at San Diego Comic Con as a representative of Kcon.  That was fun. 

I have interacted with industry before, mostly in a more informal way.  In some ways, the anime industry is not much different from other industries.  These are not fan run companies, they are corporations like any other.  Though, the people they send out as reps do tend to be fans. 

How quickly could you adjust your schedule to attend a board meeting? Less to do with Relations, just a general nominee question.

I did not miss a board or general meeting last year.  As stated above, I hope to miss some generals next year.  I hope to make all exec meetings via skype, but that may be tricky.  Though, with a 13 hour time difference it may just mean me getting up pretty early. 

I feel that this is an important question and so I am posting in every staff elected election section:
Who do you plan to appoint as your assistant director and have they accepted the offer for the position?

I will let you know once I have one firmly in place. 

[Rathany]

I have just confirmed with Tabitha Teo that she would accept being my assistant

I am very happy that she would be my assistant because I think that her skills and experience would be of great help to me.  She is aware of my hopefull absence next summer and what that will mean to her as my assistant.  Since she has been a guest liason for us, she can give me lots of good guidence on what we actually do for guests and all that behind-the-scenes stuff.  Also, at dinners we host, in the green room and at other times she is great at chatting with guests and keeping conversations going. 

I got strong reccomendations for both her and for Nate from John Krall.  However, I approached Tabby first because I think her skill sets are more what I am looking for to compliment my own skills and experiences. 

[AnimeMatrix]

I have just confirmed with Tabitha Teo that she would accept being my assistant

I am very happy that she would be my assistant because I think that her skills and experience would be of great help to me.  She is aware of my hopefull absence next summer and what that will mean to her as my assistant.  Since she has been a guest liason for us, she can give me lots of good guidence on what we actually do for guests and all that behind-the-scenes stuff.  Also, at dinners we host, in the green room and at other times she is great at chatting with guests and keeping conversations going. 

I got strong reccomendations for both her and for Nate from John Krall.  However, I approached Tabby first because I think her skill sets are more what I am looking for to compliment my own skills and experiences. 

I really don't know if this is the appropriate place, but I felt like saying it. I feel very honored that you asked me to be your assistant should you win the position ^_^.

Now I'll ask a legitamate question- how're your communication skills? And how easy is it to get a hold of you?

[Rathany]

Thanks   I am very happy that you accepted. 

Now I'll ask a legitamate question- how're your communication skills? And how easy is it to get a hold of you?

I work hard at being easy to reach.  Except for one week when I was very sick, my emails were always answered promptly.  I spend time combing forums for questions to answer.  My cell is almost always with me.  I plan to be reachable via cell phone while in Japan.  Luckily, I have a cell phone that will work in Japan, though I have yet to look at rates for using it there. 

The best way to reach me is email.  I use my inbox kind of as a to-do list. 

I do believe that I communicate clearly.  Then again, most people tend to think that about themselves.  I have spent years as a secretary and administrative assistant, so I understand the importance of making sure that even the smallest details are communicated clearly.  I sometimes write in a very 'conversational' style online, with deliberate grammatical flaws.  However, I am very capable of writing in more formal ways. 

In Japanese, my communication skills are still fairly poor.  Hopefully, I can improve those greatly this year.  If Publicity doesn't mind, I would like to work on making an abridged version of the Kcon website in Japanese.  (Actually, I've already started writing copy for it.)  I think that us having information about our con and the City of Portland in Japanese may help our con seem more appealing to potential Japanese guests.  Also, I am going to insist on bilingual business cards this year.  I hope to make this con seem more accessible to Japanese businesses.  Considering the trend of Japanese companies trying to sell directly to US consumers without an American company in the middle, this may become more and more important. 

Or the trend might fizzle out.  The anime/manga market is hard to predict.