[Deptheads] John Paiva's after action report

[Janice Sellers]

<< As in ALL departments, I am a VERY VERY strong supporter of makingsure your staff goes out and plays a couple of games during theconvention. As such, all departments need to be staffed with a coupleof “extra” people so our regular staffers/volunteers can get somegames in and enjoy their experience. >>
A shortage of volunteers is something we are experiencing in everysingle department, the last time I checked.  And that's just to get toa reasonable level where some of us don't have to work 16-hour days,much less be able to take time off to play a game.  So far I haven'theard any ideas on where these volunteers are supposed to come from.
<< Miniatures<<	Going into the miniatures room, I felt shut out from the rest ofthe convention. Regardless of the fact that I am a miniatures playerand may be a bit preferential on this subject, the fact is thatminiatures ARE the biggest eye candy events we have at the convention.We need to do something to get them to the forefront of the convention(more in a bit). I believe we got Jose a new assistant, so that helps,but I believe we need to get him a third assistant. Reason being, weNEED to start getting miniatures events on Friday and Monday. Theconvention is growing, and only having 2 days of miniatures weakens usas a whole. >>
Jose had an assistant?  Who was that?  What I primarily heard as minisfeedback is that the room was fairly empty most of the time and, asyou said, it was only running two days.  Based on that, I'd say asecond assistant (not third) is jumping the gun by a whole lot.
<< Boardgames/Miniatures Ballroom<<	In order to address the miniatures problem, I am going to suggestJose and Patrick get together to open up the ballroom a bit and splitthe room East/West instead of North/South. I believe that there is anairwall that can be closed halfway or whatever they decide, but I feelthis needs to be addressed. As I talked to a couple of our regularsfrom Miniatures, they also said it felt “relegated to the back”this convention. >>
Funny, that's exactly the idea that Hugh and I suggested way back inOctober when we met at the Radisson.  And we were soundly shot down byeveryone, particularly Patrick Havert.  Jose *specifically* requestedminis be put in the back ballrooms.
<< RPGs<<	We NEED to get a HQ up on the 3rd floor with the events. All weneed is one fight to break out, someone not involved to get hurt, andwe are guilty of culpable negligence by not having anyone in hearingrange of the incident or readily available to render assistance. WhileI TOTALLY understand the RPG departments desire to not be a blockedoff “club” doing their own thing and want to be “in the con,”we need a stationary location within shouting distance of all RPGrooms at a location known and easy to find of all RPG participants. >>
For years, RPG HQ was on the same floor as the RPG rooms, and the RPGdepartment thrived.  I don't know how different it is to run the RPGdepartment now (and yes, I did work in that department for severalyears).  However, one significant argument I can think of againsthaving RPG HQ up there again is that it would take a room away thatcould be used to run games.
<< Pre-registration<<	This is the 3rd feedback seminar in a row that it has beenmentioned about pre-registration and people not showing up for events.I did some checking, and it appears to be most harmful in the RPGsection (people pre-reging for an event, then no one showing up). IHATE event fees, so please read all of the following before yelling atme… When people pre-register for a RPG event, charge them $2 perevent they pre-register for. When we check to see who is at the gamesand that they are running, each pre-registered person for the eventgets a $2.50 Dealer Dollar certificate. Things that will happenbecause of this are a) people will be more inclined to show up forgames they sign up for. b) others at the event will see them gettingthe certificate and will be more inclined to pre-register themselvesfor following conventions. c) more Dealer Dollars floating around tobe spent at the Dealer’s Room. d) Each person missing an event paysfor 4 people that attend, so financially we should break even. It willbe up to you guys to determine things like “unable to attend”break off dates for refunds and the like, but the overall plan shouldget more people to register only for events they want to attend, andif more people show up and it costs us a little money, it will beworth it not to have events cancelled because they were full and noone shows up. >>
I agree with Robert about the Southern California gaming conventionculture and how it reacts to event fees.  I would like to know how yougathered information about the problem and have some actual numbers,so we can determine how significant the problem is.  I'm sure everyoneis cognizant of the fact that the people who tend to come to feedbackseminars are the most vocal.  While I'm not discounting theirconcerns, without actual data, it's impossible to know whether thosevoices are a minority or not.
<< Special Projects Department<<	I talked with Eric during the Con, and it was decided that mydepartment should be called Special Projects or something like that toavoid it being mistaken with regular Miniatures (editor's note -- alsoto allow it more leeway in what it covers -- it won't always beminiatures). In May, I will be adding 1/700 scale General Quarters(WWII Naval Warfare) to the Mustangs and Messerschmitts. My departmentneeds to do two things immediately, and that is to get something to“border” the 30’ x 20’ floor area we need to use and signage.A white board has already been requested to get “on site” signagetaken care of, but I could really use some suggestions as to what touse as a border for the area. For the foreseeable future, I will be atthe same location against the half-wall of the staircase. >>
This is another one where I'm with Robert.  If you're running minis,why can't they be with the minis department?  For that matter, whyisn't GW with the minis department?  Shunting GW into the Penthousemay work on some levels, but they are a big draw, and they're veryvisual.  At the least events like that should be in the foyer to drawpeople's attention to the con.  On another level, they should be inthe same room as the other minis events, to draw attention to them.
If you're going to run an event that isn't minis, then why wouldn't itjust go under the appropriate department?  And if it's something thatsomehow doesn't fit in any of the departments we already have, whywouldn't it be a special event?
<< Open Gaming<<	We need to get an Open Gaming department re-established so thatopen gaming is not relegated to “whatever space is left.” Somepossibilities are a) use the foyer where The War Game was as strictlyopen gaming. My department is being made for “join as the gameprogresses” anyway, so this will fit in with open gaming as well. b)move the computer room and movie room elsewhere, and use the 3 roomsright next to the Hotel entrance as “Open Gaming Alley.” c) Usethe San Jose Room for open gaming. If anyone has any suggestions, theywill be very welcome. I want open gaming to be given the dedicatedspace it deserves. >>
You haven't actually given any reasons why open gaming deservesdedicated space.  The foyer should be used for eye candy games andthings that will draw people in to see what we're doing, not for opengaming.  Open gaming is a total crapshoot as to what happens there;why put it in a premier spot?
<< Program Book<<	It was decided at the Feedback Seminar to go back to 8 ¬Ω x 11program books. OK, it wasn‚Äôt ‚Ķ BUT we need to get the overallschedule back into the book. It was brought up that the old books useda smaller font, and this may help our problem. I suggest that a coupleof ORCCON books be printed up using different fonts so we can look atthem during the next meeting for use in future conventions. HOWEVER,the rate we are growing may require that either a larger or thickerbook be used in the near future. We may want to start getting quoteson this now to prepare. >>
One thing that would probably help tremendously with the programs isEric not having to rush and do them at the last minute.  We apparentlyno longer have a graphics guru (can anyone tell me just why?), so weshould try to find a new one.  If work on the program can be startedearlier, it'll be a lot easier to shovel more information into it.
<< Food<<	This was the number 2 issue brought up at the feedback seminar(gee…wonder what was number 1…) and with a bit more research, weshould get a better list of eating establishments (and not HQs). Also,it was brought up to ask around and see who would deliver thatnormally does not deliver. The sandwich stand by registration will beworked on to get longer hours as well. >>
There are simply not that many restaurants within walking distance ofthe Radisson.  If we want to extend our information list to deliveryplaces, we should look at things like LABite.com and other similarservices.
<< Movie Room<<	The desire to have real action movies surfaced during the feedback.At this point, having 2 movies rooms is not probable, so we need tosplit the 2 genres somehow. Also the question remains…what actionmovies to show? Probably a mix of war and cult films would work, likeCharge of the Light Brigade, Robocop, Patton, Conan, something likethat. >>
A proposal is already in Eric A.'s hands for this type of programming. From a couple of months ago, if I recall correctly.
<< Special Guests<<	We have been doing great in this department and need to keep it up.Maybe next time around we could include a “Dinner with…” on theprogram, selling tickets for the dinner at either $20 (meal cost notincluded) or $50 (meal cost included) with the proceeds going to acharity of the guests’ choice. I have known Steve Jackson for about13 years now, and KNOW he is not one to “blow off” anyone whowants to talk to him. He was so burned out at Orccon, however, that Igot 2 comments about how he didn’t talk to people. Having somethinglike this would help matters, and MOST of the people who would be ourguests would like the charity thing and gladly participate in it. >>
We're quickly running out of "A list" celebrities to have as guests.The industry as a whole doesn't have as many as it used to who areactual *draws" to a convention.  As an example, Ron Heinsoo, the leaddeveloper of 4e, who was mentioned earlier by someone -- Rob's a greatguy, I used to work with him, but I don't see a lot of people ponyingup to come to the con to see him if they weren't already coming.
<< Staff Break Room<<	As the room in the back of the Dealer’s Room is fairly unknown, Iam going to suggest it be turned into a Staff Break Room. If the Concould stock it with things like sodas, quick snacks, stuff like thatwould be nice, but here’s what we need. This could be a place onsite where conversations can take place that might be better not inrandom ears. Idea out there … expand on this at your leisure. >>
It would not take long for the word to get out that there are food anddrinks in the room, which means that Catalina F would need to beclosed off for this, or anyone from the con would be able to walk in.Which would require monitoring the room.  Which would require morevolunteers.  See my comment about volunteers earlier in this message.
If all you want is a meeting area, the hotel already has plenty ofspaces where that can happen.  When people need to find a spot for aprivate conversation, they'll find it.
Janice