[Deptheads] After Action Report

Sat May 31 11:43:35 PDT 2008

Open Gaming I feel is getting pushed under the rug again because we don't have space for it.  Many of us, including myself and I believe Victor, started going to conventions and hanging out in the open gaming are because it was so full of life and energy.  We need to get that back and make open gaming as important of a section of the convention as any other department.  How is the question, so I am offering ideas to work off of and grow off of.  We just need to address the fact we are turning a blind eye to open gaming that violates 2 of the written rules in the Con book.

I agree that the Flea Market is fine now, but we need to put in our back pocket the possibility of changing is.  As we get busier, the Dealer's will actually enjoy a break in the middle of the day to restock and rearrange their table, get food, sit for a change, etc.  As our economy is slumping, the choice of bringing more staff is not feasable to most dealers, so giving them a break period would actually be welcome at some point.  Janice is the one who can get the feel for how the dealer's feel about how things are going, and when it gets to the piont where they need a break we will look great in their eyes if we have a solution ready when it happens.

You don't know until you see the con books I've saved how much I agree with you about the con books.  I still love grabbing one and looking through it and remambering Luaus in Cleveland, Live gaming in Concord, everything that madedifferent conventions special.  Problem is, here we are with our least busy convention, and we are out of convention book space without going bigger on the book.  over 10% of that book is dedicated to a winners list, so do we remove it or what else do we remove from the book to accomodate our growth?  We need to do it for Gateway so we will know if we have it right when we will NEED it for Orccon.

John

PS, Yeah, I also loved the pre-reg list in the book.....made people pre-register to get their name in it.  First year we did it in Pittsburgh the Pre-reg doubled the following year.

-----Original Message-----
From: Victor B <fhoenix88 at yahoo.com>
To: deptheads at strategicon.net
Sent: Sat, 31 May 2008 9:51 am
Subject: Re: [Deptheads] After Action Report

thanks for your input

I will just address where we differ

1. Open gaming is under control.

Nomatter what you list or post you will have people that will plop down in the first available empty space and open game. 

Happens at comic con, gencon, dragon con, etc. Posted speed limits are up yet people ignore those too. '

2. The flea market is fine. Making it more like a dealer's room steps on dealer's toes.

3. Winner's list is like ribbons- many people love it. They see their name in the con book and are immortalized forever.

Their accomplishment is acknowledged in a sovenir. The con program is a sovenir that many people keep from each con, ballgame, theatre show, they attend. 

People like seeing their name in print for something positive. Some cons even print the pre-reg attendees.

V

----- Original Message ----
From: "Evil5757 at aol.com" <Evil5757 at aol.com>
To: deptheads at strategicon.net
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 8:57:55 AM
Subject: [Deptheads] After Action Report

Gamex 2008 After Action Report

I want to concentrate this After Action Report on 3 items that need attention for Gateway, with 1 General comment:

Program Book
Foyer Usage
Boardgames/Miniatures Ballroom
General

PROGRAM BOOK

I went over the program book and have the following insight and recommendations.  Our program book must cater to the “lowest common denominator,” our first time attendees.  Old Strategicon staff meetings answered many questions about events with “the attendees know what it is.”   We need to look at this book from a new person’s point of view.  A person who doesn’t know what Uno or Settlers of Catan is but is looking for a fun family game. A person who has never tried a RPG and is looking for one with some of their interests in it.  A person who loves Civil War history, but has never played a miniatures simulation of one.  An anime fan who has heard of the new CCGs and comes here to try them to see if they like one.  Please read it with nothing taken for granted and no pre-knowledge as you follow along.

Convention policy: Bonding – we need to add the days/times that reimbursement is available.  After re- reading our policy, we may be losing volunteers because they can’t stay until Monday to get their reimbursement.  We may need to look at having Volunteer Reimbursements each day if possible, or at least Sunday early afternoon.

Troubleshooting Staff – In the age of communication, I suggest making a comprehensive list of all Staff cell phones that other staff carries.  If someone has a question about Miniatures and can’t find Jose or Robyn, they can contact any of us and we can make a quick call and might be able to get a quick answer for any problem or at least let the person know when Jose or Robyn will be back to answer their question.  If implemented, we can include this is the paragraph associated with this title.

Convention Rules – 

#2 – Until we get a permanent Open Gaming space, we need to let people open game in the departments as space permits.  As we already allow them to do this, the rules needs to change to something like “Never use the table space in any room for open gaming until you have coordinated with the Department Headquarters.  There may be a planned event for the space you take and we don’t want to stop any games or move anyone if we can help it.”

#7 & Radisson Hotel Rules #1 – Often I see people playing games in the bar area.  As this action breaks both rules, (is Open Gaming a convention organized activity anymore, and if it is, #1 disallows it being in the bar) we need to address how we are going to handle it and state it plainly here.  Without dedicated Open Gaming space, we need to let people know EXACTLY where open gaming is and isn’t allowed.  If Open Gaming is a convention organized activity, we need to organize it and make a place for it.

#13 – ADD – We need to write a policy/guidance for people handling unruly or disruptive attendees.  If someone gets out of hand and someone else “handles it,” we can be at liability for not telling everyone “Don’t handle it yourself, get one of us” or something to that effect.  We have been very fortunate and have had no incidents since changing ownerships, but it only takes once.

General – All of the rule, rights of officials, and everything numbered is too bunched up and more difficult to read than it needs to be.  We need to space between each numbered item to make it easier to read and give a more professional appearance.

Event Registration – I suggest adding a line such as “Please cancel your event sign-up if you determine you will won’t be attending an event as soon as possible so others may sign-up in your place.”  If we give them this reminder, it may help events with limited number sign-ups such as RPGs and Miniatures events.

Game Auction – I didn’t see anything that spoke to “lot viewing” times or availability…do we have it or do we want to add it?

Flea Market – this is an idea with both positive and negative.  I have been with conventions that had an alternate plan for flea market in making it an event itself.  What would happen is that a room would be set aside for flea market sellers and opened for 2 hours a day.  It actually attracted more people to the sellers (limited time, more competition, planned event) than when tables were just “there.”  The Dealer’s Room actually liked it, because it would allow them to send someone to get food or whatever and not lose customer service.  One convention the dealer’s actually asked if we could officially close the Dealer’s Room so they could get an actual dinner and not worry about booth staffing.  Either way, after the flea market closed, the Dealer’s room got more business than any time of the day with people who didn’t find anything in flea market and had cash to spend.  The way we do it now is fine, but do we want to try this?  Maybe we can do flea market one way Saturday and one on Sunday and see how everyone reacts?

Product Policy – We are growing, we are attracting attention.  I spoke with Zev a bit before the convention with Heather and he mentioned about manufacturers coming out here and his belief that we could get them to do it now.  Continuing with the policy of product exclusivity by letter, we eliminate a reason for the manufacturer themselves to come out to Strategicon.  We also cheapen the effect of the manufacturers that do come to Strategicon (We came out here and they just wrote a letter?).  

Master Schedule – Add subtitle “Full event information can be found alphabetically in it’s department’s section following this schedule.”

Master Schedule – Font usage.  Do we want to explore using different fonts to denote basic event groupings?  Such as all Puffing Billy events being one font, Youth games being another font, Suggested Beginner Games another font, etc?  If so, we would want to keep it to 5 or 6 fonts (including regular events), so what groupings do we want to highlight?

Event Descriptions – We need to add Day/Time played to ALL events.  I found a game that I had been waiting to see then spent 4 minutes looking through the Master Schedule to find it.  We also need to add Event Duration, Max Number of Players, and GM for each event.  Miniatures and RPGs need to have the Game System listed IN BOLD as well so people can scan the descriptions and find systems they like easily.  More importantly, the chances of them missing a system they were looking for would be diminished significantly.  Another addition to each event applicable would be “This event has all materials you need provided” or something like that, encouraging people to try new games they normally wouldn’t.  

Event Descriptions – After each department header, list where sign-ups for events in that department occur.  If possible, also put when event sign-ups are accepted (such as up to 4 hours before each event, anytime during the day of the event, etc.).

Event Descriptions – Would it be an advantage for us to list specific events as their own grouping?  We could have had all of Steve’s events in a separate listing at Orccon, or Zev’s events and the Puffing Billy events this convention.  We have a lead on getting a Battletech tournament with up to 50 people next convention, so they could be for Gateway.  I would suggest the order of “Convention Special Events,” then the regular departments alphabetically.

Event Descriptions – When a game has a revised and/or re-published version, such as Axis and Allies, we need to print what version or subtitle of that game will be used.

Gamex 2008 Directory – Add what department holds events in each room to the convention map.  Also, denote where the Department HQ is in each room so it can be found easily.

Food – Suggested additions would be a map of the area with eating establishments numbered, hours of operation, and a book with menus at the reg desk.  This can be done with an easel, a large map, and a binder on a chain attached to the easel, saving space in the book.

Winners List – This is an established Strategicon tradition, but takes up over 10% of our program.  I suggest moving this list to an easel in the Dealer’s Room and using the space in the book for current convention information.  This sucks for me, because I actually got into and  won an event at Strategicon for the first time in 7 years, but I will sacrifice having my glory in the book for 9 more pages of Gateway information.

This is just what I caught.  I suggest everyone go through everything that relates to your department.  Next, think if you feel comfortable with a new attendee reading the information on events in your department and having not just a clue, but an excellent idea about what is happening in your department.  Lastly, send suggested changes to the list so we can help you by brainstorming different ideas with you.  My team came up with ideas I hadn’t thought about in over a year, simply with a fresh perspective on issues.  As a team, we can work out any issue any department wants to improve upon.

FOYER USAGE

As long as we are at the Radisson, this is our only true visual area.  We need to look at what events are located there.  They need to be visual events or REALLY special events.  I agree with the 4e demos being held there, it brought energy and “new shiney” feel to the area.  Honestly, when I discussed my department with Eric over a year ago I told him I would be making them so they would be visually attractive and designed for an area like this.  A large scale Settler’s board would be appropriate for this space.  I have to question using this premier space for flea market tables and overflow for scheduled events.  If people are arguing about needing this space, then we need to allocate it for events that will use it appropriately.

BOARDGAMES/MINIATURES BALLROOM

We need to look at redesigning the Ballroom to separate these departments East/West instead of North/South.  Boardgames is healthy, lively and growing, while Miniatures is shrinking.  Allocating the farthest section of the convention to them where only people meaning to go there will not help them get healthy.  Also, if nothing else, the airwall needs to open up to allow the air to circulate and not freeze the miniatures area out as it is doing currently.

IN GENERAL

What EVERY department needs to do is look at their events and see what is missing.  We need to see what systems and/or games are missing from our schedules, go to chat groups/ websites, whatever and solicit GMs.  For instance, there were no Conan RPG events, so RPGs would go to Conan Yahoo groups and say something like “we would really like someone to come to our convention and run some Conan games to introduce more people to the system” and see what we get.  Miniatures could do the same for Confrontation, Boardgames to revive the old Avalon Hill Classics or something like that, etc.  If we can fill and keep 2 voids in each department each convention, by Orccon 2010 we will truly have a complete gaming event base we can be proud of and webgroups will talk about.

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