[Deptheads] 3 Weeks ago...

[Janice Sellers]

That's a lovely thought, but unfortunately it isn't a very realistic
view of how this group has been operating.  The departments as they
stand now are constantly competing with each other for the space and
time slots they think are most desirable, whether or not it's good for
the cons (and sometimes whether it's even good for the department
itself).  The point of an event coordinator is to try to balance the
needs of each type of gaming with the needs of the convention as a
whole by looking analytically at actual *data* such as space available
at the venue, space needed by given events, number of planned events,
number of expected participants, historical information relating to
how events have actually performed in the past, etc.  That does not
require being an "expert" in each of the game types but does require
being able to collect the information needed and the capability to
analyze it objectively, and is the type of work done by system
analysts.  To date, what effort has been made at this type of analysis
at our conventions has been hampered by the fact that we have mostly
operated on anecdotal information rather than facts.

Janice

On 11/5/09, Heather <heather at ocbg.net> wrote:
> I've never thought of us "competing" with one another, and I've always
> thought people have tried to contribute ideas where the could about the
> various other departments they were not "in"  but one person would as a
> coordinator would have be an "expert" in all the various fields, and even
> then people would naturally contribute in areas they would have interest
> in..which is what I think we already are now.