Yojimbo Idea - #01

[saviorangel]

Hey, when I was at a recent meeting, I had a chat with [kylite] in regards to a procedure that my benefit the Yojimbo Task Force during the convention hours of operation. The suggested plan went something along these lines:

A floor plan of the convention area is needed, and should be 'grid'ed out. Note where Yojimbo placement is going to be than annotate these locations on the grid. When the convention goes live, the morning team should be in place in accordance to this grid. The strategy comes an hour later, when the gird "Rotates", in which case the volunteer staff not required within an area rotates to the next position on the grid, like a giant gear clicking just once. This can be done one person at a time, relieving the next member to post himself at the following grid marker, or just shift en masse. However it works best is fine.

What this serves to do, based on observations of past K-con experiences, is maintain movement for the staff. Too often a volunteer (often a young person) will become lethargic, bored, tired or what-have you. This hourly rotation keeps things new for the team member, giving them some movement and helps them stay focused and on task. Also, if a customer is admonished for a policy violation (badge, etc) and finds another staff member later on at the same post inquiring about that person's defiance of said policy, then being told by that other member and NOT the same staff member can go a long way to defusing an issue. This trick works in customer service; I fell it has application here too.

Either way, the laymen suggestion is posted stations with hourly rotation. On shift members get to be in a new area every hour, keeping things fresh from their perspective and helps to keep them on Yojimbo matters. Take it or leave it; I feel that it could help our Yojimbo Task Force in the long run as they are often the front line in customer service when the convention is live.

[DancingTofu]

I think this could work well for some, and not so well for others.  Some Yojimbo are particularly interested in certain areas, and particularly annoyed with others.  Also, some people prefer to put in all their time in one or two chunks, then enjoy the rest of the convention freely.  That's what I did with Sakuracon.  I worked from Midnight Saturday to 6pm Saturday with a 2-hour break early in the shift.  It worked really well for me because I had things I wanted to do Saturday night and all day Friday, but nothing in between. 

That in mind, it's simply a matter of effective scheduling.  4 weeks before the con, the Yojimbo manager (all the managers should do this, actually) asks all their staff to fill in a time table marking half-hour slots as "preferred", "available", "off" (but not necessarily unavailable), and "unavailable".  There should also be a table for which areas people wish to or not to work in, and each area could then be marked "preferred", "okay", and "avoid".  Again, every subdepartmental manager should do this if they want to have the happiest, most effective staff.  As more staff come after the initial schedules are made, they can be used to reinforce thin points in the schedule, fill in the blanks, and fill in to give the staff that got their stuff in early some bonus time off.  Doing this would also give the managers a clear idea of exactly how many staff they WANT and how many staff they NEED, which they can announce at the final general meeting before the con.

[Mister_manji]

so what happens when people don't show up?

[kylite]

any yoji not doing their job that does not provide satisfactory reasoning as to WHY, will be removed from the squad.