We’re all pretty much used to the Archon model for doing things here. I suspect Cathy made leaps of assumption that she ought to know better about, given she’s been going to these as long as we have.
As I htink I implied, I didn’t necessarily agree with her on some of her choices of green room foods for the grease factor. Potato chips certainly qualify as greasy!
—– Original Message —–
From: Byron Connell
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 8:00 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] Brain Dump – Green Room notes
I appreciate Cathy’s comments, concerns, and frustration.
There are relatively non-greasy sources of protein that can generally be regarded as safe for consumption in the green room, just as there are very messy veggies and sources of sugar to eschew.
“If you have to use multiple green rooms, do not use dens.” In effect, each room is a den. It would need a den mom and one or more mother’s helpers to assist.
In my experience, giving the official photographer a dedicated space outside the green room has many advantages. It is my preference.
I agree that entrants should not enter their own information in the data base. for the Historical, I used paper forms (based on CC 24) and a staff member entered the information into the data base.
Information flow: As a masquerade director, I had no idea that the green room manager wanted an opportunity for an all-entrants meeting. I would have been happy to require one of the Historical’s entrants (in addition to tech rehearsal and pre-judging). Once committed to participating, entrants pretty much have to be where the MD wants them at the time the MD wants them there.
Byron
—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai<mailto:casamai@sbcglobal.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 9:00 PM
Subject: [runacc] Brain Dump – Green Room notes
Surprisingly, people seemed to like the fact that we had three separate green rooms. Our GR chief had thought it was a bad idea, until we gave her the feedback. Two different perspectives: from a logistics standpoint, it might have made it harder for her, but contestants loved it.
She chose not to have any protein among the backstage snacks, on her own assertions that she would not want “greasy foods” near her costumes. While I understand her thinking, I don’t agree with that decision, as we had some people wanting something other than sugar (I can’t remember, but I think we were light on vegetable matter, due to the hotel catering costs).
No one seemed to mind that there was not backstage feed.
Having the photographer in his own room, rather than sharing with one of the Green Rooms, worked very well.
The notes below came directly from our head of the Green Room in her own words.
More than a year before the convention, when no one else would
volunteer for the job, I decided that I could probably handle it, and
used CC24 and Archon to work backstage and observe Green room details.
From this and my own use of them, I observed that every other green
room arrangement uses a single large space, with a single controllable
entrance, and a single logical spot for a repair table and makeup
station. Snack and water set-ups, strong coat racks, and full length
mirrors are important, especially at a CC. I conferred with Sheila about
Archon’s methods and borrowed some equipment.
Most of these preparations were completely wasted. Our hotel layout
required us to use three small rooms, each with 2 doors, for green
rooms, and a fourth for photography. Access through narrow hallways was
difficult for people in large costumes or on scooters. Each room already
had a large coat rack and a sink and counter- this was a plus. It was
necessary to plan for three snack set-ups, three mirrors and three times
the signage. When we needed only 2 of the rooms, I placed the third
mirror by the entrance to backstage, to give contestants one last look
at themselves- I saw several people take advantage of this.
Since they could only be in one room, the extensive makeup and repair
kits were very little used. Multiple rooms required more time than
allotted to set up, and contestants arrived too early. They had to be
lined up in order, and could not be allowed to settle in the wrong room,
so the full preparation of the multiple rooms simply never happened. As
it turns out, 2 volunteers at 4 would have been more useful than 10
volunteers at 6.
The most important technical item needed by a green room person is an
accurate running list of entries, their titles, and the number of people
in the entry. This is critical. If you are going to use a den system,
you must be able to divide people into roughly equal dens in their
running order ASAP in the day. NOTE: If you have to use multiple rooms
for your green room **DO NOT USE DENS** Divide your entrants into equal
groups between your rooms, and assign helpers to each room. I ended up
doing this for the Fashion show and Historical. Much simpler- just be
sure everyone knows their order number.Oddly enough, many comments were
made that our contestants seemed to LIKE the small green rooms- said
they were more “intimate”. Go Figure.
Our biggest problem in the green room area was information flow. The
opening time for the area was not in the programs, and was not told to
contestants when they registered, so they arrived too early, and through
the wrong doors, making it hard to find people and check them in. I
would ideally have liked to have had an Archon-style all contestant
meeting to make announcements and give a tour of the layout. I could at
that time have checked the names on my running lists. Lacking that, a
FAQ sheet and map, with complete instructions that our many newcomers
seriously needed, would have been extremely useful– to them and us.
I spent large amounts of time on Saturday tracking down a complete
running list to assist our preparation of the awards. The list I was
given had blanks for 4 entries, missing or incomplete casts, and large
numbers of misspelled words. I believe this was due to allowing the
contestants to make entries into a laptop, and accepting their entries
as accurate. A newcomer does not necessarily know what is important to
record, or what organizers need- they must be told. The information
should be entered for them, and then checked for spelling.
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