<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML xmlns:o = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 11.00.9600.17631"></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial> <DIV>One other thing I need to tag onto this message.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We have become an established group of people who run the Strategicon conventions. As such attendees know all of us by sight and know we are representatives of the convention. During and after Orccon I heard of a few cases of "externalized anger" being exhibited in front of attendees, hotel staff, etc. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This is not acceptable. While the vast majority of us do not get paid for our contributions to the convention, we are all professionals at what we do at the convention and need to conduct ourselves as such. I understand getting mad/upset when things don't go right. We work as a unit and when someone fucks up and does not do the job they were assigned it affects multiple people. All I'm saying is keep it in check and don't externalize the anger.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In that light, I have noticed more and more tap dancing around problems people have with other people in this group. While we (as a whole) don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or be the "bad guy," there is a festering wound that is leading to the externalizing problem and others. If you have a problem with how someone does their job and it affects you or the convention as a whole, address it directly and without personalizing it. If you are involved in the problem that is being brought up, don't take it personally. We all have very creative minds....take the problem and work it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As an example, I will start with the problem that I hear everyone whisper about constantly, has been brought up occasionally, and still not fixed. We have the worst website of any convention in the country. It is hard to navigate, looks like it's from the 90's, has too many failing links, supervisors can't update information for their area of jurisdiction are just a few of the problems I have heard about constantly, both before and after the updating we have been doing. In this age, the website is THE face of the convention to the younger people we are trying to get to start coming to the convention and it MUST be attractive to them and make them say "I need to check this out." I was asked during Orccon if I knew how to do a couple of things on the website and I didn't even know you could. I couldn't find the links/dropdowns/etc. to do what I need to do in the future.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This is not an attack on Eric, Tonya, or anyone else. No one doubts their work and dedication to trying to get this problem solved. It is a fact that what has been done hasn't worked and MUST be dealt with now. Go to gameconventioncentral.com and look at some of the other convention websites, see how they look and interact. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Enough of the rant...the message is we need to stop letting these frustrations grow and address them professionally and purposefully. We CANNOT go into rages in public anymore...that needs to end NOW.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>John</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 2/17/2015 8:18:15 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, deptheads@strategicon.net writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>Message From: Tim Keennon tim@stugiii.com<BR><BR><BR> <META name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"> <STYLE></STYLE> <DIV class=WordSection1> <P class=MsoNormal>I want to thank each of you for the contributions you made that made Orccon 2015 a huge success. In case you haven’t heard we hit our mark of 2,000 attendees. We will have to wait for Eric to crunch the numbers for the final total, but 2k has been a goal for a while and we have made it.<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>A few things did come up during the con that I would like to remind everyone about.<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Bathing<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Convention staff, department heads and senior volunteers are placed in rooms. Those rooms have showers, please use them. We all know about “gamer funk” but the source shouldn’t be our people.<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Water Stations<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Another no brainer. No one should open the water containers for any reason. As it says in the con book, “Water coolers are not to be opened. Please do not reach inside to get ice as this is a health hazard. The hotel will prosecute anyone, regardless of age, to the furthest extent of the law!” Plain and simple, don’t do it. <o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Badges<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>You do not need a badge to walk through the con. You do not need a badge to enter or buy from the vendors. You do need a badge to play a game or participate in events. If you see people playing games without a badge, politely ask to see their badge. If they don’t have one, politely have them escorted to registration to purchase one. If they refuse, we will escort them from the convention. Make sure all your GMs know they can’t allow people to play without badges. A number of people said they were told that if they played in open gaming they didn’t need a badge. Obviously not correct, but the perception is out there.<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Thanks again, for all the hard work that made our success possible.<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Tim <o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P></DIV><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Deptheads mailing list<BR>Deptheads@strategicon.net<BR>https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>