[Deptheads] As we grow...

Tue Jun 7 23:14:13 PDT 2011

I think Karl's piont is the closest to the mark of any I have heard in the last couple years. 

Quoted for Neil's benefit "I would say that maybe we are approaching this thing all wrong.  It just dawned on me, why don't we encourage the parents to play games with their children."

In addition to that, I see that Cash N Guns and Werewolf are very popular with the kids at night, why don't we have a couple of those during the day? Not necessarily just for the kids, but I don't remember seeing any run during the early or mid hours of the day.

Mike
HKC

-----Original Message-----
From: Victor B <fhoenix88 at yahoo.com>
To: deptheads at strategicon.net; fad23 at hotmail.com
Sent: Tue, Jun 7, 2011 10:58 pm
Subject: Re: [Deptheads] As we grow...

We used to have kids programming complete with staff. What happened? It became babysitting and like a daycare job and the staff and vols quit and no one else stepped up.
In the past 2 years we have mentioned getting someone to once again run kids programming(staffing, scheduling, etc) but no volunteers.. 
Lots of people (staff, volunteers, guests) suggest we have kids programming but no one is stepping up to do it. Why? Because it is not an easy task. 

But we do offer a few things for kids. The video game room is the kid's lounge and hangout. They do an excellent job with that room. I also see groups of kids for pokemon, yugioh, naruto, bakugan and other kid friendly ccgs . At night they are playing "are you a werewolf". Live-action Ca$h n guns is a big hit with the kids as are the interactive dance/sing/music/motion video games. Some will play boardgames and miniature games and we even have a few that do paint-and-take each convention and enter the painting competition. The kid's category alwyas has a nice number or entries. The library is full of family games and last 2 cons we had a sunday larp that was tween themed.

Maybe we just need to make sure all the kid friendly events are marked in the program book so families looking for kid programming can easily find them (like they can find family and kid friendly games on the website).
And keep a sprinkling of "for kids" events each con like simon sez (which was very cool)...and maybe some more craft events for kids besides the paint-n-take.

V

From: "fad23 at hotmail.com" <fad23 at hotmail.com>
To: deptheads at strategicon.net
Sent: Tue, June 7, 2011 8:34:04 PM
Subject: [Deptheads] As we grow...

One of my new volunteers approached me last weekend and had one item of conversation which she felt we (the convention) must consider as we grow: how we deal with our child guests. 

At the moment we have a "family Sunday" which seems like an attraction. At other times it appears that children are left by their parents in the video game room, or roam with no real direction. This is just an observation, but I imagine that means that we could implement some idea that could give these visitors some real content.

For the last convention, I brought in Bill Chott to do Simon Sez. I'm sure he'd come back to do it again, but I think we could do a lot more! 

I'm not suggesting a specific plan at the moment. I'm not a parent, so I can only guess the concerns of the gamer parents I know who attend. The aim of this message is to spark a discussion that might lead to ideas that eventually become a plan.

Obviously there are many issues that would be of concern: content, staffing, scheduling, and other practical matters. I suppose I'd like to read your thoughts on this notion, and consider them as much as I am able.

Then there's the idea of a short term plan and a long term plan - things I can add to the schedule for Gateway and what we imagine as the shape of the convention in the years to come. Just in the typing of this message I'm getting inspired. Any light bulbs popping over your heads?

I expect I'll be opening this discussion up to my friends in private. In the mean time, if you have opinions or ideas, I'd be interested in reading them. 

Thanks for your time. I look forward to reading your responses.

twenty-three-skidoo,

Neil Figuracion
Fad23

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: "Eric M. Aldrich" <ealdrich at mac.com>
Sender: deptheads-bounces at strategicon.net
Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:10:01 
To: <Deptheads at strategicon.net>
Reply-To: deptheads at strategicon.net
Subject: [Deptheads] A few new additions to the list

I've added three new people to the list -- one way overdue :-(

The overdue one is Fred Upton -- he's the second on the RPGA side. He's been actively helping us for years, and Mickey and Mike have frequently asked me to add him and I've flaked, so he's finally here.

The next person is Taralyn Frasqueri-Molina, or "TL" as she goes by. She's the person behind lining up the artwork and is working with marketing. Thanks to her we had the wonderful conbook cover art and TShirts this last show.

Finally, we have someone who is genuinely new, Frank Vassallo, who is taking over for Harmon Ward running the historical end of the miniatures team for at least this show. Harmon is still on the list as well. Things are a little complicated right now, but more on that later.

Glad to have the three of you here!

I still need to add some of Neil's board game assistants.

Hopefully we'll have final numbers from Gamex soon. They're looking pretty good.

Eric
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