Pros and Cons of the con?
Pros:
The attendees. This is the biggest turnout the con has had. You guys ARE the con, and we can't have it without you. Well, we could, but it would be a lot of us spending lots of money to hang out for a weekend without anyone to entertain. We do appreciate you, no matter what a few bad apples may do.
The Staff and Volunteers. You can say whatever you want, but I am thankful for each and every one of our staff members. We didn't have enough people to do this right, and I really wish we had, but I don't take for granted even one of the people that did step up and help out with this con. There was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears put into doing this, and a lot of lost sleep. If you believe it's easy or that you can do it better, get involved. Come to meetings, and be instrumental in making changes. Volunteer. We need more people, and if you love this con and you want to see it survive, we certainly want to have you join us.
Guests and Panelists: We did the best we could with what we had to work with, and it seems that in the end a lot of people wound up having a good time, and that's really all one can ask, isn't it.
And, on a personal note, I'm also very grateful that even with the craziness no one specifically yelled at me or ripped into me. I tried to let everyone know I was sorry for their inconvience, and tried to ask people nicely to not block hallways by sitting or standing in the middle of them... Everyone was pretty understanding, probably cause I asked, and not yelled at them. The only time anyone gave me even the littlest bit of flack was when I was calling out to people stopping in front of me asking them if they could move because I had a heavy box in my arms that I was trying to run to one of the panel rooms as quickly as possible so I could start the Sailor Moon panel and one of the guys started going, "ooh you have a box you're so special" in a really mocking way. BTW, if I ever see you again, I'm dropping my heavy box on your foot.
But back to the positiveness, everyone was really understanding about stuff being off schedule, and realized that maybe it wasn't my fault and I was doing the best I could with what I had to work with. And I really appreciate 99% the con goers I dealt with. ^_^
Cons:
The Hotel: Never, ever, ever again. Never. The place was too small, which was obvious from the get go when it was announced... The layout was terrible. I was a staff member and I had a difficult time figuring out where everything was. Forget trying to explain it to another. There were a couple times when people asked me where something was, and instead of trying to explain the wicked confusing layout, I just walked with them across the hotel to their panel. Sure, in that moment I could have just given them the ultra confusing map and said "It's over that way" and gestured in some general direction, but I figured maybe that one person would appreciate the fact that I helped them not be totally lost.
Hotel management also did a lot of things that hurt the con, such as not telling us about certain rules until the last minute, or booking a wedding for the main events hall on the same day as closing ceremonies, totally screwing up scheduling for the last day.
Unless the directors are complete masochists, I don't think we'll EVER be using that hotel again.
Equipment (or lack there of): Many panelists had problems with being able to have the equiment they needed brought to the panel room and set up in time for their panels. In many cases, we were told we'd be given something, and it either didn't exist or was misplaced. I ran Sailor Moon live action two nights in a row and it started an hour late both times no matter how much prep I did earlier in the day because I can't run it if the necessary equipment isn't given to me on time. I wasn't the only one to have this issue.
Panels that run over their alotted time: My new pet peeve. This is my first year actually running a panel, and it was a learning experience. Here's a thought though: If panelists want to run their panel for an hour and a half - 2 hours, they should ask for that amount of time so it can be put on the schedule. But the half hour to hour buffer between panels is NOT so you can keep your stuff going. It's so you can take your stuff out and I can get my stuff in. If you're still running your panel up til 5 minutes before mine, I can't possibly have enough time to rearrange the room to accomodate my set up. One guy and I were able to arrange it so that he could keep running some amv's until I was setting up, and that was mostly ok cause he wasn't entirely in my way, but I still would have appreciated him being done on time. Another group though, I had to bring a bunch of stuff in, move tables and chairs around, and they were still sitting in there chatting and such for the buffer period and made it impossible for me to set up. So, please be kind and respect the time slots. Or at least keep an eye to clear out when the next group is ready to come in.
General Disorganization: I spoke about this at the rant and rave. We need to be a lot more co-ordinated next year. Not only do we have to have more resources for staffing, which comes from people like you, but we have to be organized enough to have a clear view of who needs to be doing what when. If we have five people just running around trying to find something to do, we're not going to have as much being done as if we have a clear staff schedule. A schedule of some sort would also help with trying to find out where the random grunt type people are at any given time. If they're scheduled to be somewhere at a particular time, they should be more easily found than if they're wandering around and looking for a place to help out. And the organization of getting volunteers for the con needs to start before the con. We didn't have a volunteer coordinator before the convention started and that cannot happen again.
Registration: WAS A MESS. It MUST change. We not only had an issue with being short handed, but we also had a lot of technical problems between people having paid and not being on lists or having the wrong ages listed on their badge so instead of 18, they were 14, and we had to make new badges for them. All the problems with pre-reg was a huge reason of why it went as slow as it did. If I could have just looked for a badge, looked at an id, and sent you on your way, we'd have been so much faster and wouldn't have had half of the issues we did. You're upset about it and you have EVERY RIGHT TO BE. And I'm right there with you.
As a last thought though, I want every single one of you to really think about something. It's one thing to list the pros and cons of something. You can complain about something all you want. But in order to really see something come out of it is to be proactive. I'm going to beat this horse to death, resurrect it, and then kill the damn thing again, but everyone who reads this thread should sign up to volunteer next year. Even if you just put in a few hours one day of the con as a gopher, you will be contributing to the con and becoming a part of the solution instead of just beating the issue of the problem to death.
Please come to meetings, especially the one that is happening in late October because we'll be electing people to RUN THE CON next year. If you want to see things change, get involved and help choose the directors that will shape next year's convention.
