[Deptheads] Meeting this Sunday?

Sun May 31 11:34:58 PDT 2020

Hi all,

Notes about the website that I hope we can make some changes to in the
future. This is a long list, and I don't expect everything to change
immediately, but these are my thoughts about how to make it a better
experience with everyone.

1) Being able to access the rest of the website, whether someone is logged
in or not. In other websites, people are free to explore and read the
content. When it comes to an area where they would need to be logged in,
they would be prompted to log in. This is more new user friendly instead of
rerouting to the initial front page without explanation, causing confusion.
I had to explain this multiple times to new attendees. It was also
something that confused me when I first made an account.

2) There are too many steps for someone to sign up for an event, and we
lose attendees along the way. With 850 badges there should have been more
people playing the games. We came up with some great guides to help with
this issue. However, because there was a guide necessary some people lost
interest. It would be helpful to have the events populate even before they
choose a badge. People would go to the pre-reg page and get confused
thinking they are in the wrong place because the events aren't listed there
initially (they have to click their name/badge, first).  It would also be
helpful to be able to filter events in the pre-reg page, just like you can
filter them when you look up the list of events. Players were also confused
and lost and did not even know where to find their event. Clear labeling of
the host department, written out, in addition to the color system would be
helpful. Currently, it abbreviates to the first three letters. Attendees
may not be familiar with acronyms and that will also make it hard for them
to even ask for help when they are lost because they don't know where their
game is.

3) There was also confusion with the verbiage pre-reg, and if we do end up
being virtual next con I think we should change it to sign-up.

4) I had virtual plans listed for every event, and still had people
confused about software needed. I think it would be helpful to include the
virtual plan in an automated message before the event starts. People
forgot/often don't check their emails when it comes to confirmation right
after they sign up for it, but they have a higher probability of checking
when it's the day of for information of how to access their games.

5) I consistently had emails I had to send out for a lot of my events
because I was the one who submitted them. I had changed the GM name and
email, but I think the system still recognized me as the GM, so I was
forced to send the emails out 5-10 minutes before for every event I
submitted.

6) Tabletopia links do not work in the email system, even if they are the
correct link. Copying the link from the email and pasting it into a tab (a
usual remedy) still did not work and would give a 404 error. If your games
are going to run via Tabletopia please only give the room code.

7) There is also a character limit to the emails, which is fine. However,
there was no warning to when the email would cut off and GMs who did send
their own information had their emails cut off, resulting in cut off
information and confused players. A character limit should be displayed.

8) Department information needs to be included in either the automated
email mentioned in point 4 or in the GM email (I'm more in favor of #4, we
cannot really do quality control of the information the GM is including.
Some GMs would include department information somet did not. I had already
asked them to include that in their emails.)

9) GM and Head should get email receipts for emails sent, just so we have
confirmation if it was sent properly. In some cases, players got
mangled emails that were just strings of code. I would have liked to know
about that before an attendee messaged me via Discord asking what that
email was about.

10) I know this point as been brought up before, but is there really no way
to automate player sign-up approvals?

11) Automation of the Facebook posts as brought up during the Feedback
Forum would also be nice. Heads like Tara and myself who share about their
games hourly can focus on other things rather than marketing.

Of course, there are other things I've noted for discord as well, but since
we are going to focus mainly on the website for this meeting, I'll keep my
notes to be just about that for now.

On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 3:50 PM Strategicon Department Heads <
deptheads at strategicon.net> wrote:

> Message From: Angelica Magno  angelicamagno.ing at gmail.com
> He would like to be added to the list :) Malakaiunland at gmail.com Thanks.
>
> On May 27, 2020, at 1:55 PM, Strategicon Department Heads <
> deptheads at strategicon.net> wrote:
>
> Message From: Victor Bugg  fhoenix88 at yahoo.com
> Agree with John to not promote or even hint at virtual gateway until it is
> 100% that we cannot do Gateway physical con.
> We want people excited for physical con in-person. And my LARP for tara
> and rob's wedding (bring gifts). :)
> As several other cons are saying now.....we have to get people excited to
> dodge the doom and gloom and look forwar to physical con.
>
>
> Victor
> On Wednesday, May 27, 2020, 01:02:53 PM MST, Strategicon Department Heads <
> deptheads at strategicon.net> wrote:
>
>
> This con (and MAYBE next) we had/have no choice but to have a virtual con.
>
> While you talk about future con plans remember it has been a struggle the
> past 20 years to get people to spend $300-$500, put on pants, and go to a
> convention instead of sitting at home playing Everquest.
>
> Dont promote future virtual cons, promote how exciting it will be to be
> back at a real con.
>
>
>
> The enemy cannot push a button if you disable his hand!
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Strategicon Department Heads <deptheads at strategicon.net>
> Date: 5/27/20 10:49 AM (GMT-08:00)
> To: deptheads at strategicon.net
> Subject: [Deptheads] Meeting this Sunday?
>
> I brought this up to Jim, Mike, and Eric A. during Gamex, that maybe we
> should do a post-con meeting while the convention is still fresh, but of
> course it would be best to get everyone's buy-in. Are you all down for a
> post-con meeting this Sunday at noon PST, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel?
> We should celebrate the successes of the weekend, talk about what we can do
> better, and discuss what we needed and found we didn't need, etc. Let us
> know if this works for you and if we can count you in, or if you'd prefer a
> different day. Whenever we do it, I will take entertaining notes. Someone
> should take good ones. ;)
>
> Excellent job taking a physical con online, everybody. It was good to hear
> our regular attendees' voices and see how they were doing. <3
>
> Best,
>
> Tara
> Message From: John Paiva  evil5757 at aol.com
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-- 
Angelica Magno

*Head of Indie New Games*
*Strategicon*
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