Sorry for the late reply. I'll start from the top and work through these.
#1 Yoji Training - I feel a lot can be done in this area, especially with the bodies and resources we have in our staff, what kind of training do you feel Yoji's are lacking and how would you go about Yoji training in this upcoming year
First off we need to set the impression right away of what we need/want out of the Yojis. With that said the training I'd expect would be more towards knowledge training. With Yoji being a quality and not security they are going to need to know what is happening around the con. Where rooms are, what is going on, what is going to be where. Also teaching them to work with the attendees. Pretty much customer service so they can work with attendees. Also getting started in the specialty things like peace bonding so we have a core group of yojis doing.
#2 Scheduling - I saw a lot of great ideas trying to be implemented with the Yoji schedule this year, including dedicated Yojis for peacebonding etc, but sadly we were spread too thin at times to make due, how will you go about Yoji shift scheduling next year
First off creating a skeleton schedule that would be made early on so everyone can be distributed early on in the year. Once the con schedule has been finished adding those hours requirements in.
#3 Warm Bodies - How many Yoji do we need?
This isn't something we know. At this time we had around 40 or 50 yoji. Since the convention isn't expect to grow as much this coming year as was expected for this last year it would probably be close to that same amount as long as we get the schedule working early and the distribution worked out.
Robert you said the Yoji are not security (I agree fully) rather that they are Quality Assurance for the Con - with this in mind
#4 What traits should a prospective Yoji posses (other than the inability to sleep, masochism, and no allergies to caffeine?)
Preferably they would have patience and the ability to work with others as a team. Other than that once we can establish a training for everyone traits won't be as mandatory.
Thanks Brandon,
I posted this in the wrong Q & A so here's another for you
As a Yoji I was often unaware of who VIPs were and sadly I don't think we provided the VIP service that we intended (priority seating, no waiting in lines, etc) how do we plan to rectify this next year?
Putting info into the trainings so of course so everyone knows who the point of contact who deals with them would be for starters along with of course what their benefits are. With the VIPs they are supposed to work with the coordinator who is in charge of VIPs. Other wise they actually need to come up and say to you "I'm a VIP, can I get in there and take my seat." They make up about 0.03% of our attendees so unless they step up and make it know that they should be getting special treatment there is no way for us to know who they are.
Round 2
How do you plan to deal with staff conflicts between Operations staff members?
Brandon has it on this. You can't prepare for all conflicts. Some of them happen with no reason of why until after it has hit. Listening to what people have to say is the first step and maintaining an open mind towards the issue are the approach I figure towards it.
How do you plan to make people feel like Registration is more accessible if they lose a badge and are sent up for a replacement as per our policies?
Of course the first step is to making the reg system more streamlined. As it stands we only have one working station that can access the pre-reg info. I want to still get my plan into motion to have a database that can be accessed from multiple systems at all times. With this we can not only input the registrations as we're going be we can access the info faster so we can look up registrations with more ease. We also have a second badge printer so we are now not only limited to having only one person working on printing all badges. This means we can distribute the the printing of our specialty badges at con and our attendees reprints.
Do you have a plan for where you might like to see the Registration office be located?
There have been discussions to where it might end up. As it stands though it is still something that requires the new board to make the decision so its something for them as a whole.
How do you plan to increase communications between Registration staff and next year's VIP coordinator to facilitate VIP badge pick-up?
If I'm correct the VIP badges were supposed to be up at Will Call. A maid squad member or another staffer were supposed to go through the lines and try to find the VIPs when they first arrive. Once they have been found they head over. Sign in and move on to either the coordinator who they had contact for already because they were called pre-con or they go get their rooms and come down later. The only thing that might make for a change would be to have their VIP coordinator or an assistant under them with their own area that is near the reg area so they can can just move the VIPs through as they come up personally.
Do you have any plans for increasing volunteer recruitment for 2010?
I plan to get a manager in place much early on so they can work with those who show interest early on. This person would be charismatic and expected to work to bring in people through out the year.
Round 3
How do you intend to make sure your managers are kept in the loop throughout the year to keep communication problems to a minimum.
Regular progress reports as we go into the year. Giving them expectations of what I expect of them through out the year and also hearing from them what they expect of me through the year.
Round 4
To Rob twice during con I had a question the ops director should have had an answer for and all the answer I got was a shrug (no ask so n so, ect) and once (after a question with no answer) you said that you were going to just be a yoji next year, so what changed your mind?
So I strive to know everything. Its a bad habit of mine. With that said if I don't know the answer to something its either because the information hasn't been brought to my attention yet or I haven't gone to get it. I need to work on my communication skills between myself and my team so as things come up I know about them already.
As to me saying I didn't want to be director I don't remember why I would have said that. I've gone into this each year with the thought that I love being apart of the con and where ever I can help and people want I'll be. Since I was nominated for the position I'm going to work to fill it to the best of my abilities. If the staff don't feel I can manage this then I'll find a place where people feel I can do my job. The only difference between me being staff as a director and as a staffer under a director (beside of course the work hours, responsibility, requirements) is that the staff choose if I'm good enough to be a director as opposed to a director if I'm good enough to be a staffer.
I'm not KO'ed yet so keep em coming
