[Deptheads] John Paiva's after action report

Fri Feb 22 18:29:40 PST 2008

  >RSI 
  > Usually they get 80-120 people each Feb and Sept, this con they got about 30. 

  At 30 people, is the RSI space still justified?   Why did they lose 75% of their audience from the previous con?  

  >Game Library 
  >We need to get an assistant for Larry to keep this open regularly. 

  How many people used the Game Library?   Was there any shrinkage? (aka, games that did not come back)

  >As such, all departments need to be staffed with a couple of extra people so our regular staffers/volunteers can get some games in and enjoy their experience.

  Good idea, but which departments definitely need more volunteers?   How many?  On which days?  And what is the plan to get those volunteers? 

  >Miniatures 
  >Going into the miniatures room, I felt shut out from the rest of the convention. 

  Agreed.  I ran 2 minis events and it almost felt as shut out as RPGs.  But you don't know shut out until you run a game in Room 300 at far end of the RPG Corridor of Banishment. 

  >the fact is that miniatures ARE the biggest eye candy events we have at the convention. 

  Agreed.  It would be nice to utilize the eye candy events in a bigger way.   Even people who do not play minis like to see the big dynamic displays like the Star Wars Mos Eisley setup and the Warhammer Siege. 

  >RPGs 
  >All we need is one fight to break out, someone not involved to get hurt, and we are guilty of culpable negligence by not having anyone in hearing range of the incident or readily available to render assistance. 

  Fights???  John, you must play a rougher version of D&D than we do.  Only physical altercations I have ever see in 25 years of attending conventions were a few teenage shoving matches during the early Magic days. 

  >If a non-degreed legal advocate as myself can find 4 laws to file a $150,000+ lawsuit against the convention if something was to happen to me in this situation, what would a real lawyer find? 

  A real lawyer would find nothing because you need either (a) actual harm or (b) deep corporate pockets to make a lawsuit worth filing.    However, those bedframes are an accident begging to happen. 

  >Pre-registration 
  >This is the 3rd feedback seminar in a row that it has been mentioned about pre-registration and people not showing up for events. I did some checking, and it appears to be most harmful in the RPG section

  Paul and/or Denys, can you confirm this? 

  The biggest complaint I heard repeatedly was that people did not know HOW to prereg for events on the website.   I suggest a BIG BUTTON and a smoother transition from buying your badge to then doing pre-reg for events. 

  >charge them $2 per event they pre-register for. 

  Event fees are standard on the East coast, but unheard of in SoCal.   PacifiCon did $1 event fees back in the early 80s and it did have the desired effect on pre-regs.  However, now you need many more volunteers who are handling money.    Welcome to more problems than you solve.   

  Also, the amount of bad blood would be spectacular and nowhere near the trade for solving the pre-reg problem. The bitching at GenCon SoCal over the event fees was extreme since most of the attendees had never been a fee / event con. 

  >Special Projects Department 
  I talked with Eric during the Con, and it was decided that my department should be called Special Projects or something like that to avoid it being mistaken with regular Miniatures 

  I am confused.   If you are running miniatures, why would the events not be under Miniatures?  If the events are not miniatures, what will they be? 

  >In May, I will be adding 1/700 scale General Quarters (WWII Naval Warfare) to the Mustangs and Messerschmitts. 

  How many people came to the M&M events?   Would it be better to try to grow a M&M audience before switching to GQ? 

  >Open Gaming 
  >We need to get an Open Gaming department re-established so that open gaming is not relegated to whatever space is left.

  Open Gaming should be given the least interesting space because it is the area where we have lowest ability to determine its look and focus.   Prime spaces - especially the Foyer - should be used for Eye Candy Events.   

  San Jose has that great window.   When it was used for the Boffers, that room was great eye candy and impressive.   Never waste that space on anything not visually stimulating. 

  >Flea Market 
  >It was real slow on Sunday, maybe lowering the number of tables available will extend it through both days?

  They sucked up good space for way too many hours.   We should have set Flea Market hours, preferably when the Dealer's Room is closed.  Aim people at the Market, but don't let the sellers just sit and mope for hours. 

  >Program Book 
  >It was decided at the Feedback Seminar to go back to 8½ x 11 program books. 

  What is the difference in printing costs?

  >It was brought up that the old books used a smaller font, and this may help our problem. 

  Change the font size and next Feedback Seminar will complain about font size. 

  >Movie Room 
  >The desire to have real action movies surfaced during the feedback. 

  If we only had the convention near the Entertainment Capital of the World...then maybe we could have special guests with their movies or the kind of movies they show at horror / scifi / fantasy film festivals.

  >Probably a mix of war and cult films would work, 

  Don't our attendees have cable?  Netflix?   Better use is to show them stuff that is rare and unusual that they may not know exists out there.   Then you can advertise the Movie Room as more than a crash space. 

  >Special Guests
  >Maybe next time around we could include a Dinner 

  ConQuest has tried this and it failed miserably.  Finally, they just hosted a "Meet the Guests" hour with free appetizers and soda.  That worked.   

  >I am NOT an expert on what 4th edition will entail, 

  I am. 

  4e D&D will be an RPG.  Like 3e and 3.5, the game will favor the use of minis and battlemat for gameplay.   As for the "roleplay" component, 4e promises to have a greater emphasis than 3e. 

  RPGA will be switching to 4e completely after Gateway because the Living Greyhawk campaign will be officially ending.  4e Living Forgotten Realms begins at GenCon 2008 and Mike Rizzo (our RPG guy) will be making sure we have 4e RPGA events at Gateway. 

  In April 2008, WotC will launch the new edition of the D&D collectible minis game which is an entirely separate game line than the RPG.   The minis game has no roleplay element and it is strictly a competitive skirmish game.   

  The D&D 4e RPG officially launches in June.  However, we are discussing the idea of Gamex becoming an "early launch point" for the game since our convention happens about one week before the game hits the shelves.   

  Even if this does not happen, Mike Rizzo is meeting with RPGA HQ to discuss the possiblity of Gamex using the 4e demonstration adventure that will be presented at the "D&D Experience" convention. 

  >Most people still think of D&D as the original Role Playing Game, and moving it to collectibles right away would be a mistake. 

  4e will be with RPG and RPGA will handle the Living campaigns for 4e.  The miniatures game will be under Victor with the collectibles.  

---------------------------------
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mordred.punk.net/pipermail/deptheads/attachments/20080222/5a82455d/attachment-0001.htm