A thought for 2010: a dedicated Bag Check location

[Radien]

Slash:

Well, maybe rubber bands should be reserved for cases where the rubber band can wrap all the way around the item itself.  Mainly props and small handbags.

Masking tape it is, then. For that matter, don't they make wide rolls of masking tape?


Meganekko:

You seem to be pretty gun-ho about all this. Have you decided to head this up for 2010? If so, I'd like to offer to be your assistant. This sounds like it will be a big enough operation that you'll need more than one dedicated staffer. I'd also offer to pick up the project if Real Life interferes in the future.

[Slash5150]

Slash:

Well, maybe rubber bands should be reserved for cases where the rubber band can wrap all the way around the item itself.  Mainly props and small handbags.

Masking tape it is, then. For that matter, don't they make wide rolls of masking tape?

Thinner masking tape is going to go better in the long run IMO.  And using rubber bands for props is a better idea,

Basically, I was just making a long tape run along the table, then writing the number, pulling the tape up and ripping it to get it on the item.

[MichaelEvans]

Yes, the 'blue masking tape' AKA painter's tape comes in a variety of sizes; usually found in or near the painting section of a hardware store.

Black Sharpie + Painter's Tape can be quite useful; though it does have the detraction of leaving trace residue of adhesive, it is designed specifically to minimize the transfer of adhesive from the tape.

If we use that system I'd suggest we have the convention guest apply the tape to a location they can remember.

[Slash5150]

Yes, the 'blue masking tape' AKA painter's tape comes in a variety of sizes; usually found in or near the painting section of a hardware store.

Black Sharpie + Painter's Tape can be quite useful; though it does have the detraction of leaving trace residue of adhesive, it is designed specifically to minimize the transfer of adhesive from the tape.

If we use that system I'd suggest we have the convention guest apply the tape to a location they can remember.

Except if they do that, then the risk gets run of the tape being placed in some obscure place.

[Meganekko]

@ Raiden

Yeah, I've decided to run this and I'd love for you to be my assistant.  There shouldn't be any problems with Real Life forcing me to drop this, but in case of the unforeseen emergency I'd be glad to know that you could act as my proxy or take over for me.

I'm working on getting a detailed plan, with shots of the shelving I have available, drawings of what I could possibly make (most like at own expense since I have materials and time to spare), what else we may need, and any possible budget data, as well as our operational procedures and disclaimers, and all other such paper work.

From there the next step is finding out who the next Head of Operations is.  They should be voted in at the October 24th Meeting.  They'll be the person to pitch the Bag Check proposal to.  From there either Operations or the members will have to give us the green light.

Hopefully we can get approval quickly, and from there we get more staffers.  Kurokaizoku said that gaming bag check usually aims for 5 staffers in "the pit", so if we have at least 10 to 15, we can arrange shorter shifts and allow plenty of time for our staff to also participate as con goers too.  I know for sure Becky V. (who is not on the forums to my knowledge) wants to work with us on seeing this Bag Check to fruition.

@Slash

Tan Painter's Tape... it comes in a variety of colors, but blue is 3m's standby color.  Tan would cause much less eyestrain in dark rooms and still pretty non sticky, should grip to itself if you do loopies of it.

@MichealEvans

I want to be sure my staff remembers where the tape is too.

[Slash5150]

@ Raiden

Yeah, I've decided to run this and I'd love for you to be my assistant.  There shouldn't be any problems with Real Life forcing me to drop this, but in case of the unforeseen emergency I'd be glad to know that you could act as my proxy or take over for me.

I'm working on getting a detailed plan, with shots of the shelving I have available, drawings of what I could possibly make (most like at own expense since I have materials and time to spare), what else we may need, and any possible budget data, as well as our operational procedures and disclaimers, and all other such paper work.

From there the next step is finding out who the next Head of Operations is.  They should be voted in at the October 24th Meeting.  They'll be the person to pitch the Bag Check proposal to.  From there either Operations or the members will have to give us the green light.

Hopefully we can get approval quickly, and from there we get more staffers.  Kurokaizoku said that gaming bag check usually aims for 5 staffers in "the pit", so if we have at least 10 to 15, we can arrange shorter shifts and allow plenty of time for our staff to also participate as con goers too.  I know for sure Becky V. (who is not on the forums to my knowledge) wants to work with us on seeing this Bag Check to fruition.

@Slash

Tan Painter's Tape... it comes in a variety of colors, but blue is 3m's standby color.  Tan would cause much less eyestrain in dark rooms and still pretty non sticky, should grip to itself if you do loopies of it.

@MichealEvans

I want to be sure my staff remembers where the tape is too.

I would say get white artists tape, but that stuff is pricey, especially if you factor probably 150 to 200 bags.  You'll probably go through about 3 or 4 rolls depending on whos using it.  Another thing I told people was if they're going to come back, if they leave the tape on, it'll be a lot easier for them to check their bag in.

[DancingTofu]

I can build 8'x5' clothing racks for ~$10 each.  If it's an interest, I'll build them if the con reimburses me for the materials.

As for tracking bags, I mentioned earlier and maybe it just went unnoticed: what about an electronic filing system?  A $40 computer from Free Geek can do this job effectively.

I'd recommend for shelves using SAFCO's Wire Cube Shelving units.  They snap together and you can use them to have shelves of various sizes for various needs.  They're also excellent if you use the clothespin method of bag ID because you can clip a clothespin to one of these things really easily.  They're kind of expensive (comes out to about $9 a shelf), but maybe you could buy some secondhand for cheap?  I know some people who may be looking to get rid of a few of these. (apparently they're ugly, according to my mom)

[Radien]

@ Raiden

Yeah, I've decided to run this and I'd love for you to be my assistant.  There shouldn't be any problems with Real Life forcing me to drop this, but in case of the unforeseen emergency I'd be glad to know that you could act as my proxy or take over for me.

Okay, great. I hope to see you at the next meeting.

Even if nothing interferes with your ability to run this, this is the sort of service that will need at least one person on duty at all hours of operation, and it might help quite a bit to have a second dedicated staffer. Operations can supply staff minions, but it would suck if there came a point where there was no one there to relieve you. I would hate for either of us to get stuck at the bag check for hours because of that. (Especially if the only one on duty really needed to pee)

Oh, one more thing: check the spelling of my user name.

I'm working on getting a detailed plan, with shots of the shelving I have available, drawings of what I could possibly make (most like at own expense since I have materials and time to spare), what else we may need, and any possible budget data, as well as our operational procedures and disclaimers, and all other such paper work.

From there the next step is finding out who the next Head of Operations is.  They should be voted in at the October 24th Meeting.  They'll be the person to pitch the Bag Check proposal to.  From there either Operations or the members will have to give us the green light.

Hopefully we can get approval quickly, and from there we get more staffers.  Kurokaizoku said that gaming bag check usually aims for 5 staffers in "the pit", so if we have at least 10 to 15, we can arrange shorter shifts and allow plenty of time for our staff to also participate as con goers too.  I know for sure Becky V. (who is not on the forums to my knowledge) wants to work with us on seeing this Bag Check to fruition.

Sounds good! You're covering everything I was about to mention.

Regarding what you and Tofu were discussing about the shelving system: I went over to Portland Craig's List and did some searching, and here's what I found.

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/hsh/1375009165.html
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/for/1372488513.html
http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/for/1377182280.html

Those were the only appropriate ones I was able to find, but at $2.50 or less per cube they're pretty affordable. So yes, used shelving systems are available for cheap, but we may have to get them gradually.

Also, a couple of notes about my search: I had to use a variety of words to get results, because people seem unsure what to call them. Wire shelf, rack, bin, cube, organizer, shelving system, storage system... eventually I just searched for "wire" and sifted through the 98 results.  Secondly, my search is on Portland Craig's List. I don't live in Portland anymore, so someone else will most likely have to pick these up if we want them. My search for the Eugene area didn't turn up much.

[babysugarbear28]

just thought I would mention... you are going to want this bag check (if it does come to be.. cause it is kindof a neat idea) to be somewhere stair accessible. So plaza level (what was viewing 3 or 4) or in the exec tower because having people HAVE to use elevators to get to it would be a nightmare as we are already dealing with the elevators as an issue as is and it would be good to put it off to the side as lines to everything on plaza level are already take up a lot of space. I really can't say how busy exec tower was during the day (a lot of people didn't know where it was and will know next year.) So I would leave that to programming and ops where they would want to put that all but 3rd/23rd floor and a hotel room wouldn't be the greatest places to put it due to the limited ability to get to it and giving up a bigger room wouldn't be all that ideal either... and ballroom level (rounds) would be difficult due to location and the fact that level gets regularly cleared out due to events...  and firecode >.<... anyway... just thought id mentioned what i had noticed....

its time for sleep now... sorry if i rambled

[Radien]

just thought I would mention... you are going to want this bag check (if it does come to be.. cause it is kindof a neat idea) to be somewhere stair accessible. So plaza level (what was viewing 3 or 4) or in the exec tower because having people HAVE to use elevators to get to it would be a nightmare as we are already dealing with the elevators as an issue as is and it would be good to put it off to the side as lines to everything on plaza level are already take up a lot of space. I really can't say how busy exec tower was during the day (a lot of people didn't know where it was and will know next year.) So I would leave that to programming and ops where they would want to put that all but 3rd/23rd floor and a hotel room wouldn't be the greatest places to put it due to the limited ability to get to it and giving up a bigger room wouldn't be all that ideal either... and ballroom level (rounds) would be difficult due to location and the fact that level gets regularly cleared out due to events...  and firecode >.<... anyway... just thought id mentioned what i had noticed....

its time for sleep now... sorry if i rambled

23rd floor would definitely not be ideal... 3rd floor would be okay, but attendees REALLY shouldn't be using the elevators to access the 3rd floor unless they have disabilities... Ballroom would be near Gaming, but escalators would be a problem... The Executive Tower would be great for space but definitely not for convenience or intuitiveness... basically, we probably want somewhere on the 2nd floor since it'll be accessible (and closer to the viewing room that might serve as bag check on Monday), but that'll be tough since it's the best place for everything and everybody wants to be there.    So it's up to Operations to figure out if they can budget space.

[Slash5150]

just thought I would mention... you are going to want this bag check (if it does come to be.. cause it is kindof a neat idea) to be somewhere stair accessible. So plaza level (what was viewing 3 or 4) or in the exec tower because having people HAVE to use elevators to get to it would be a nightmare as we are already dealing with the elevators as an issue as is and it would be good to put it off to the side as lines to everything on plaza level are already take up a lot of space. I really can't say how busy exec tower was during the day (a lot of people didn't know where it was and will know next year.) So I would leave that to programming and ops where they would want to put that all but 3rd/23rd floor and a hotel room wouldn't be the greatest places to put it due to the limited ability to get to it and giving up a bigger room wouldn't be all that ideal either... and ballroom level (rounds) would be difficult due to location and the fact that level gets regularly cleared out due to events...  and firecode >.<... anyway... just thought id mentioned what i had noticed....

its time for sleep now... sorry if i rambled

23rd floor would definitely not be ideal... 3rd floor would be okay, but attendees REALLY shouldn't be using the elevators to access the 3rd floor unless they have disabilities... Ballroom would be near Gaming, but escalators would be a problem... The Executive Tower would be great for space but definitely not for convenience or intuitiveness... basically, we probably want somewhere on the 2nd floor since it'll be accessible (and closer to the viewing room that might serve as bag check on Monday), but that'll be tough since it's the best place for everything and everybody wants to be there.    So it's up to Operations to figure out if they can budget space.

Looking at the maps...yojis will hate me, but I think the best area would be Plaza Suite, and then Yoji office could be moved to boardroom east. (The room that appeared closed across from reg office) Again, I'm just speculating off what I can see from the maps.

[MichaelEvans]

Looking at the maps...yojis will hate me, but I think the best area would be Plaza Suite, and then Yoji office could be moved to boardroom east. (The room that appeared closed across from reg office) Again, I'm just speculating off what I can see from the maps.

I don't think that would work out very well either.   I seem to recall that in addition to Yojimbo it was also Lost+Found which seemed to work out; though a more conspicuous location would be better.

Broadway I (Viewing 1) might be a good choice since that could allow Yojimbo, Lost+Found, and 'bag check' to integrate, and it would make use of that little area to the side of the women's room.

The Plaza room (where Yojimbo & Lost+Found were in 2009) is rated as holding 18 people in conference mode... and doesn't have a theater mode, but we may be able to safely fit around 25-30 people in there.  Is there any viewing block that could more readily be displaced from one of the viewing rooms in to that environment (Aprox 1/2 the density the other rooms used for viewing are quoted as having)?

[Radien]

Broadway I (Viewing 1) might be a good choice since that could allow Yojimbo, Lost+Found, and 'bag check' to integrate, and it would make use of that little area to the side of the women's room.

Integrate? Do you mean bag check sharing a room with Yoji?  I doubt they'd like that.  In addition to space issues, if lost and found is in the same room as bag check, there will not be as much incentive to claim baggage before bag check closes. Yojimbo would essentially be running bag check for us after hours.

So unless you meant something else...


Edit: Typo. "Lose and found"? Yeah, it's only called that if it's done badly...

[MichaelEvans]

I meant everything but Yojimbo running bag check after hours.  There would be a given closing time for bag check, and that's when those with access to the bag check database would be in bed.

Sure the yojimbo office could -technically- also run bag check, but I would not want to force them do so.  Unless it is an emergency any bag retrieval would have to wait until morning.

[Radien]

I meant everything but Yojimbo running bag check after hours.  There would be a given closing time for bag check, and that's when those with access to the bag check database would be in bed.

Sure the yojimbo office could -technically- also run bag check, but I would not want to force them do so.  Unless it is an emergency any bag retrieval would have to wait until morning.

I didn't mean they should *really* run it... just that people coming in late to claim their bags from lost and found would be extra work for them.  If we can successfully discourage enough people from doing this, though, I guess it'll be fine regardless.

[AllyKat]

I meant everything but Yojimbo running bag check after hours.  There would be a given closing time for bag check, and that's when those with access to the bag check database would be in bed.

Sure the yojimbo office could -technically- also run bag check, but I would not want to force them do so.  Unless it is an emergency any bag retrieval would have to wait until morning.

I didn't mean they should *really* run it... just that people coming in late to claim their bags from lost and found would be extra work for them.  If we can successfully discourage enough people from doing this, though, I guess it'll be fine regardless.

I get this Mental picture from that movie TOYS? (does anyone remember that movie?) Where the researchers are working and the room is
slowly closing in on them and the table they are working on...

"Sorry folks... just needed a teensy bit more space..."

With the potential for growth in the yoji team almost a neccessity, remember that that means we will need all the space we can get for
yojimbo HQ. Not saying it's not a good idea, just saying, as the con grows, so does it's need for Yoji and more of them, we were understaffed
this year in many areas... so 2010 may prove to be a sardine game regardless of space! ^_^

[Meganekko]

Sorry for the delayed response here... I got caught away from the comp for a few days.  Also sorry about the spelling error Radien, my fingers got carried away and I forgot to check earlier then thought I had; my bad.

So,

Shelves:

The wire shelving units are an interesting choice, my main concern is that cost and the volume we'd need might make these rather inefficient (even second hand). 
Also when heavily loaded, they look as if they may be some what tipsy.  I would hate to see somebody squished under a mountain of bags and wire mesh...

Another thought would be to look into is second hand wire mesh bread racks.

Lightweight, super durable, adjustable, and easy to move.  I've seen them for sale due closing bakeries and small grocery outlets rather cheap.

Also, should we need to build, I have a full wood shop and cabinetry/built in shelving experience which I offer up freely.


Location:

I agree it MUSTMUSTMUST be stairs accessible!

That said, my issue with the bag check on the same floor is gaming/ballroom is that crowd control made that level inaccessible at times, especially to minors when close to curfew.
If there were no fire code conflicts with the Ballroom Level and people could freely go there, it would be ideal, however since there are times when it is closed off for fire codes it would be a poor choice.

I love our Yoji's and would hate to squish them out of their office or make them work extra on our bag check.  I would agree that it would be convenient to be near them so that when bag checks hours of operation are over that in an emergency they can get a bag to who needs it.  I don't want them running it, since they've already got more to do than hands to do it with.

To be honest, if we could have Broadway 1 for the full length of the con, it may be possible to have a later/over night skeleton crew) and keep the bag check open at all times and then have full crews come in a bit earlier.  That said, each time we increase the hours of operation and size, we need more staff.  To be honest, I think Broadway 1 would be the perfect size.  Look at how little space gaming uses for their bag check, its just a tabled off area when bags are placed on the floor and under the tables and they are able to move a lot of bags.  Now our operation would have to be bigger and with any sort of shelving we could handle many more bags even if we are just setting the bags on the shelves.  I'd like to be more organized than that, but as a worst case scenario if we are tabled off in some area, we can still make it work.

Staff:

Yeah, I'm glad to get as many people working bag check as possible.

This really needs its own team, so I'd rather not have to rely on Operations sending in people (although basically we'd all be working for Operations).  Its a big project even if we get a small space, let alone an actual room.  I'm gonna need all the help I can get.  Once approved by Operations, I would like to start up a Bag Check staff/volunteer forum that way we have a more accurate count of who will work bag check and make sure everybody knows the system. 


If I missed something or have typos; sorry... let me know and I will get back to you and fix any concerns.

[Slash5150]

Looking at the maps...yojis will hate me, but I think the best area would be Plaza Suite, and then Yoji office could be moved to boardroom east. (The room that appeared closed across from reg office) Again, I'm just speculating off what I can see from the maps.

I don't think that would work out very well either.   I seem to recall that in addition to Yojimbo it was also Lost+Found which seemed to work out; though a more conspicuous location would be better.

Broadway I (Viewing 1) might be a good choice since that could allow Yojimbo, Lost+Found, and 'bag check' to integrate, and it would make use of that little area to the side of the women's room.

The Plaza room (where Yojimbo & Lost+Found were in 2009) is rated as holding 18 people in conference mode... and doesn't have a theater mode, but we may be able to safely fit around 25-30 people in there.  Is there any viewing block that could more readily be displaced from one of the viewing rooms in to that environment (Aprox 1/2 the density the other rooms used for viewing are quoted as having)?

I'm not sure if you misread what I said.

But what I was saying was to put the Bag Check on the second floor.  theres one door, easy exit, easy entrance, easy to find location and pretty much out of the way of anything big.  By moving the Yoji Office to the location I mentioned, its near service elevators and everything.

The Yoji office shouldn't be completely full anyways, as most of the yojis, I assume, would be roaming.

[Meganekko]

Somehow I missed something, but I think we all need better maps.

[Slash5150]

Actually, before my idea can be fully applied, I guess the main question would be, does Programming use both offices (BoardRoom East and West) or just the one room that I saw.

[Jamiche]

Actually, before my idea can be fully applied, I guess the main question would be, does Programming use both offices (BoardRoom East and West) or just the one room that I saw.

Yes, both of the boardrooms were being used by Programming.

[Slash5150]

Actually, before my idea can be fully applied, I guess the main question would be, does Programming use both offices (BoardRoom East and West) or just the one room that I saw.

Yes, both of the boardrooms were being used by Programming.

Okay, then there kinda goes that idea.