[Deptheads] Events and GMs

[Strategicon Department Heads]

It all comes down to one word, communication. Some departments need more help than others. I thought more departments would want it, but something is still needed.
Every department that hasn’t asked to be in the mass GM email is now opted out, see other email for details.

Not sure how sending a GM a list of their events is broad? Ok, it might be a little broad when multiple GMs are using the same account, but in order to list a different GM, the department head has to change it, so that person should know who these rare cases are. It is also why I list the GM(s) for each event in the email, to limit confusion in those cases. But I digress. This list, sent at this time, is for GMs who a) submit events by the deadline, b) want to confirm when they are running things, c) likely pre-regging for events, and for us to hopefully correct any events needing it before people pre-reg for them. Also, if an event hasn’t been approved by the email time and there is a problem, the GM has advance notice to let us know.

This discussion as become more about handling event submissions and less about the mass email.
Setting the discussion aside for the moment, I’d like to remind everyone of a few important points.

1. Unless you entered a badge before a GM submitted an event, that GM has paid for a badge and therefore has the right to pre-reg for events.
2. GMs are volunteering their time, which helps make our cons better and more diverse. We are trying to be considerate of their time and effort.
3. Not scheduling events that are submitted by the deadline decreases the selection available to all paying customers at pre-reg time. In particular, those who may only check pre-reg opening weekend and can’t pre-reg for an event because it’s still in the pending queue and therefore don’t even know it might happen.

Back to the discussion.

In a way, a submitted event is a contract waiting for approval from both sides. Both sides need to approve changes that are made. A GM who submits their events by the deadline should have a reasonable idea (meaning an event or two can still be pending with good reason) of their schedule by the time pre-reg is turned on. This is particularly important to GMs that wish to attend heavily impacted events like RPGs.

The intent is to approve events as soon as possible. I have actually had GMs email me if an event is not approved for several weeks. Once a GM gets the submission email they have no clue about their event until it is approved or denied. Also, the sooner we put events on the schedule in all departments the better things look on the Event Schedule. This may not work for all departments, but we would like 1 event or 10% of typical final volume by two months from the con, that’s about a month after the previous con for Gamex and Gateway. Orccon doesn’t really fit that plan easily with the holidays, but if you have events in the queue, please try.

Events submitted by the event submission deadline should be handled, if at all possible, before pre-reg is turned on. This is one reason why Board Games had to make their deadline earlier. And why Eric A. keeps saying a day or two before pre-reg is turned on “Clear your queues”.

We are not expecting everything to be scheduled by pre-reg, particularly in departments with notoriously late entries. However, many GMs submit their events before the deadline for one or two obvious reasons, 1. to help ensure their event is scheduled and at a preferred time, 2. to pre-reg for events knowing when they can actually play.

Events can be accepted at the department’s discretion after the deadline and even after pre-reg is turned on. This just means the GM has to hope they can get scheduled and at a time that works for them, after accommodating the events that met the deadline. They do have the right to decline your changes as much as you have the right to deny the event. And, you should get GM approval of time changes in particular before approving because removing pre-regged players is just bad form.

Forwarding emails isn’t going to help, because I hear a thing or two during the con, and have had a couple of requests in the past for this kind of clarification, so, what would I forward. As for departments who have a lot of events, one of the reasons for this mass email is to help said departments, so they don’t have to email each GM individually.


Tara, as for Valkyrie, going back 2 yrs, it has always started at 2pm on Saturday or Sunday and only once ran 5 instead of 4 hrs. What is the reason not to accept a Friday event or maybe an 8pm Saturday event. Just one event to put LARPs on the schedule sooner. All we are asking for is a presence as soon as possible. So, for Gamex, please approve an event at a less contested time and/or day as soon as possible.


Mike, I’m willing to address the 'bring a copy of the game’ issue in a separate email telling me where I need to clarify / fix. It could very well be a quick fix, depending on where it is.

Tanya

> On Jan 23, 2019, at 6:34 PM, Strategicon Department Heads <deptheads at strategicon.net> wrote:
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> Message From: Mike James  minis.tyrant at gmail.com
> Scheduling a lot of events after pre-reg is turned on may not be recommended, but as far I know, has never been a policy we actually have spoken about in any context.

> While we want things on the schedule so the attendees want to come play games, expecting us to have them all on the schedule 3 weeks out is frankly a ludicrous request. I think

> the actual solution is not to try to send out some pre-form email that will have to put everything in such a broad context as to be a hindrance to anyone it doesn't apply to. I get enough of that with the 'bring a copy of the game' stuff when my department (and i suspect others) doesn't have that requirement.

> 
> In short, there is no reason you shouldn't forward any such email to the department head in question since they are the one who made any edits and have them handle it. I am also curious as to how many of these emails you received to have it be such a issue all of a sudden 

> 
> If there is to be an email to the GMs, i request that Miniatures be exempt from it. I am very communicative with my GMs and already send out a primer to them reminding them to check their events and inform me of any discrepancies. 

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> Mike
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> On Wed, Jan 23, 2019 at 6:03 PM Strategicon Department Heads <deptheads at strategicon.net <mailto:deptheads at strategicon.net>> wrote:
> Message From: Tara Leederman  taleederman at gmail.com <mailto:taleederman at gmail.com>
> I think you misunderstand me. I have never accepted an event after pre-reg was turned on, but I do generally wait until the last day of submissions because I have a limited number of spaces apportioned to me and different LARPs have wildly different but all intensive space needs—I have to know my slate in order to get everything on the schedule, and I get a lot of my best games last minute. For instance, Valkyrie just submitted today, and I really cannot accept anything until I know Valkyrie’s scheduling availability and needs. It’s a game that can and does run with 25 people, and it needs the ballroom—everything sort of has to be arranged around it.  I have only ever changed the time of an event once after pre-reg turned on, and that in conversation with the GMs and due to a GM miscommunication. 
> 
> I also see an inherent contradiction in what you’re asking us to do. You’re behaving as though event acceptance before pre-reg is on is some kind of contract with the GMs, and once we accept an event in a time slot, we should not change it without giving the GM notice and 24 hours warning before pre-reg. That really adds a lot of work, especially in the departments where supervisors get a lot of events, and in some cases it’s impossible—GMs can submit events until midnight on the last day, then pre-reg comes on at noon  the next day, and stuff might have to move around to make room for those last-minute events. It also frankly encourages me not to accept pending events until the last minute, because doing so prevents me from entering into said contract with a GM. That’s something I can do because I have so few events, but there are supervisors who have to chip away at this over days and weeks. It’s a lot of work for them especially, and I feel like you’re asking them to do more, without a great deal of justification. 
> 

> If there are a lot of GMs clamoring about this issue, by all means bring it up at a planning meeting and we can all discuss a solution and what we want the policy to be. If there are a few GMs upset about this, please refer them to the supervisors in question, and I’m sure they will handle it. A lot of us know most of our GMs—a lot of mine are dear friends—and I would never want to put them in a difficult spot. Judging from other departments and the sheer number of events that manage to run, the other supervisors seem to have really good systems for scheduling their events and making sure everything can fit, and they no doubt need flexibility in order to do it. I don’t think we should be telling GMs that any change to their approved games before pre-reg turns on will come with 24 hour notice, because that’s a promise I don’t think everyone will be able to keep. 
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> Tara
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> From: Tanya Aldrich <mailto:taldrich at strategicon.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 1:54 PM
> To: Tara Leederman <mailto:taleederman at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Deptheads] Events and GMs
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> Tara,
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> Scheduling a lot of events after pre-reg is turned it is not recommended for any department. In fact, the complete absence of approved events in a department this close to the con is completely counter to what we want. Remember, no participant can see pending events, so currently, it looks like LARPs are not available this con.
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> Your department’s logistics are very different from most other departments. But, the system is the way it is to balance GM and department needs across the whole con.
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> Tanya
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> On Jan 23, 2019, at 1:53 PM, Strategicon Department Heads <deptheads at strategicon.net <mailto:deptheads at strategicon.net>> wrote:
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> We can discuss things until Thursday evening, at which point an email has to go out.
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> Just to remind everyone:  Once general submission is turned off, only adding events is safe. Once pre-reg is turned on, approved events should not be changed, especially if there are pre-regs listed, even in the pre-reg queue. GMs have the right to assume their approved schedule is final, once pre-reg is on. Departments have retained the edit ability for emergencies only (and text typos). After pre-reg is turned on, the GM must be notified of any changes to their event (except typos).
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> The intent of this planned broadcast email is a curtesy to our GMs, to help ensure everyone knows what their schedule is or is likely to be before pre-reg starts. Denied events are not included in this email. This is ONE email per account, no matter how many GMs or events have been submitted for that account. 
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> Here’s the overall situation.
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> 1. Pending events are not set in stone, but by the week before pre-reg is turned on, there should be very few in the queue.
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> 2. Pending events are only visible to GMs when pre-reg is turned on, and then does not have all details.
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> 3. After initial approval, approved events should not change in any way without informing the GM at some point before pre-reg is on (exception being obvious typos); approval goes both ways. GMs should be notified of changes at least 24 hrs before pre-reg is turned on to allow time for any issues to be resolved.
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> 4. Once pre-reg is turned on, some departments are essentially locked into the approved times. Any event with a pre-reg even in the queue is a problem to move.
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> 5. Some GMs run events in multiple departments and may not have realized that they have conflicts.
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> 6. We have GMs not checking their approved schedule until it is too late to fix.
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> 7. There have been times when a bug has set the time wrong and no one notices.
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> The end result is GMs should to be notified at least 24 hrs before pre-reg is turned on in order to effectively cover both GM and department scheduling needs.
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> If there is a good reason why a department doesn’t want this email sent out, I need to know and why. However, those GMs running events outside that department will have to be included and will be sent all their events.
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> I’m open to suggestions on better alternatives, but if it involves changes to any web page it will have to be for Gamex.
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> Tanya
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> On Jan 23, 2019, at 6:15 AM, Strategicon Department Heads <deptheads at strategicon.net <mailto:deptheads at strategicon.net>> wrote:
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> Message From: Tara Leederman  taleederman at gmail.com <mailto:taleederman at gmail.com>
> I think the best way to handle it is to remind people of the information on the site, if there really is a big problem that demands addressing. GMs may need to be reminded that we are usually moving stuff around on the schedule up until things go live, and they shouldn’t expect the first slot they get to be some kind of contract; if they gave us alternative times, those are there to give us some flexibility, and GMs are responsible for checking the schedule before con. Their most important responsibility, which they perform in exchange for a badge, is to run their game, and they are responsible for checking close to con for when it’s scheduled. If they have an issue, they should be directed to the supervisor of the department to which they submitted. 
> 
> Both Pending and Accepted events can still change. An event being pending has nothing to do with alternative times being scheduled, and up until pre-reg goes live, GMs should not expect to know which of their preferred times was selected, as we need to make changes as games are submitted, based on space constraints and time requirements, etc. 
> 
> A way to handle the issue would be to delay any acceptance emails until after reg goes live, so we can move stuff around even after it’s in the system, and so the GMs don’t get too attached to the first time slot we give them. Alternatively, they could receive an email notifying them that their event has been accepted, but not the time or room of the event until pre-reg goes live (which gives us time to organize with each other and iron out the master schedule a bit). That latter email could also remind them that times are subject to change at the discretion of the Supervisor and con staff, and GMs are responsible for checking the schedule closer to con.
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> Tara
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> From: Strategicon Department Heads <mailto:deptheads at strategicon.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2019 8:32 PM
> To: deptheads at strategicon.net <mailto:deptheads at strategicon.net>
> Subject: Re: [Deptheads] Events and GMs
> 
>  
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> This is not that specific. In the past, we have had GMs that don’t realize that they got one of their alternate times scheduled and then have time conflicts, or there is a glitch in the system that sets the wrong time. And occasionally descriptions get changed in a way they don’t like. All this is usually heard about at the con.
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> We are trying to give everybody a heads up ahead of time. So, if anything looks wrong the GM can contact the department in advance. The problem is Pending events can still change, so, the fewer Pending events that go out, the better. I will add the department email to the end of each event to help ensure that questions go to the correct people.
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> At the moment, this is the best solution I could come up with. Suggestions on how to better handle this problem can be discussed after the con.
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> If there is anything you would like me to add to this email, please let me know.
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> Tanya
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> On Jan 22, 2019, at 11:59 AM, Strategicon Department Heads <deptheads at strategicon.net <mailto:deptheads at strategicon.net>> wrote:
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> Message From: Jim Sandoval  plustentoawesome at gmail.com <mailto:plustentoawesome at gmail.com>
> Please forward me the names of the GM's affected and I will contact them to resolve the issue. That way we aren't playing telephone via a middle man.
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> Thank you,
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> Jim
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> On Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 11:00 AM Strategicon Department Heads <deptheads at strategicon.net <mailto:deptheads at strategicon.net> wrote:
> 
> Message From: Tanya Aldrich  taldrich at strategicon.net <mailto:taldrich at strategicon.net>
> Hi All,
> 
> We’ve had some concerns from some GMs about changes in their events without them being informed. To this end, I’m going to try to setup for tomorrow, Wednesday, a broadcast email to all GMs with events scheduled or in the queue for Orccon 2019. The idea being that any issues can be resolved before pre-reg starts. I would like to have as few Pending events as possible.
> 
> Tanya
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