Hospitality notes:

Henry, bless his heart, sponsored the Suite luncheon, which was nice, but he overbought the brats by a huge margin. Not sure where he got an estimated figure of 275 attendees, but he bought one for every person he thought would be there. First of all, we thought we’d be lucky to have 235 actual on-site members over the entire weekend. But we only had maybe 1/3 of that number on Friday. I would recommend on any given night with real food, 50% of the estimated total for one day is still probably too many, but that’s just me. My philosophy is that it’s better to run out, rather than be stuck with a lot of wasted food.

Our Hostess, Genie Hillen, had these notes:

She was more careful not to overbuy on supplies – at CC16, we had a lot of soda leftover, among other things. Fortunately, she was able to take some of it back to where she bought it, that time.

People appreciated having bottled water in the Suite, even though the hotel had water stations set up in the Concourse. Having real protein instead of just sugar and salty snacks was a hit (toasted ravioli). We served them a lot over the weekend, and we apparently still had too many.

Large plastic glasses for drinks were unnecessary – everyone just drank from their cans.

Although we’re certainly not advocating feeding the entire con, there’s something to be said with providing at least some breakfast-y kinds of things for staffers to run in and eat. It saved a lot of time not having to go somewhere outside the hotel.

We wound up donating a bunch of leftover food to a local convention’s Hospitality Suite a couple of weeks after CC. Good thing, too – they apparently didn’t have much. It probably bought the Guild some good PR, and they acknowledged the donation during their opening ceremonies.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

ICG meeting

Once again, having the ICG meeting on Friday is much better than on Monday. We heartily recommend that future concoms continue to schedule it on that day.

=================

Friday Night Social Notes:

There was some disagreement, but an interesting observation was made by someone on the D list about the abundance of tables and chairs in the ballroom. Having so many of them may’ve contributed to newbie “wallflowers”: not knowing anyone, they sort of sat in one place didn’t mix as much. People who are sitting down may seem less approachable.

Perhaps a few less tables and/or chairs might have been a good idea. At least that way, more people would have had to share a table.

Everybody always has this thing about having to have chocolate, but it was cheesecake people made for first. “Buy about 20 – 30 more desserts than you think you need”.

It goes without saying that music adds to the atmosphere of the FNS. I tried to appeal to the different generations of costumers present. A dance can work if the music is right, without much “dead air” in between. The music I mixed seemed to work, but since it was just playing off a CD, there were 2-3 seconds of nothing between cuts.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

In a message dated 5/25/2007 10:48:35 PM Central Daylight Time,
casamai@sbcglobal.net writes:

> Henry, bless his heart, sponsored the Suite luncheon, which was nice, but
> he overbought the brats by a huge margin. Not sure where he got an estimated
> figure of 275 attendees,

Actually, I figured 250. With one brat per person, that would have worked out
perfect.

Henry

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

It would have been easier on your pocket book if you’d checked with us for what our current count was before the con – I don’t think we’d even broken 200 when you were about to make your buy.

As for one brat per attendee – unless yoou’d plannned to server those all weekend, (not something you mentioned), not all 200+ attendees were going to be there on Friday. They never are.

Bruce

Bruce

—– Original Message —–
From: osierhenry@cs.com
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 8:53 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] CC25 Brain Dump: Hospitality

In a message dated 5/25/2007 10:48:35 PM Central Daylight Time,
casamai@sbcglobal.net writes:
> Henry, bless his heart, sponsored the Suite luncheon, which was nice, but
> he overbought the brats by a huge margin. Not sure where he got an estimated
> figure of 275 attendees,
Actually, I figured 250. With one brat per person, that would have worked out
perfect.

Henry

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/
Yahoo! Groups Links

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Promotion

We had a number of giveaways as tools for con promotion: Wooden coins with the con logo and the website – redeemable for a prize at the con was the first idea. The hand fans and hall awards for other conventions were some others. I even produced a promotional VCD to hand out to interested parties. How effective any of them actually were at bringing in people, I can’t say. I think they were pretty cool, and they certainly made impressions as far as good will is concerned, but given how small the con was, I have my doubts about any actual impact they made. Oh, and we did have flyers distributed at other cons.

(Note: The VCD featured a music video of past CC performances, plus some clips of some representative presentations, followed by contact info about CC25. I would be happy to produce a more generic VCD that concoms can copy and give to anyone who might be interested. They play on most DVD players, but they were intended to be viewed on a computer.)

Giving away free memberships at cons with a hotbed of costuming activity is, on the whole, a good promotional tool. We found it helped by bringing in more room nights, because some winners had to bring their family along. So, I don’t know that giving away large numbers of memberships is necessarily advantageous – other than maybe pumping up your on-site numbers. You also should keep in mind that if you’re giving away memberships, you’re supposedly giving them Progress Reports, Program Books, goodie bag schwag, etc. And if your freebies don’t show up for the con, you’re on the hook for the postage to mail all that stuff to them – unless you choose not to, but that would seem sort of poopy.

Our best promotional tool would undoubtedly be the CC25 website. I don’t think anyone can argue that it was the most thorough website to date. Nora tried to anticipate every question people might ask and had a page for just about every topic – and created new ones within a week or so if necessary. She provided a site map so that people could find info by topic. Of coure, there were still people too lazy to actually look for some things and asked anyway. They were then directed to that page. And then there were some who people asked for answers not pertaining to the con that could be found by spending less than 2 minutes doing a Google search. Seriously.

Obviously, the D list is still the prime venue for getting news out there. I would say, though, that, despite putting your info on your website and the D list and everywhere else, expect people to still ask questions because somehow, they managed not to pay attention. Some people are so clueless that they practically need a verbal mallet between the eyes.

I’m very proud of the fact that we had at least a tentative schedule of panels posted well in advance of the con. This not only gave an idea to people of what to expect, but built anticipation of the event. Buzz is good. If you can get that info out there, it might bring in initially casual browsers. So get your programmer to work with your website person, if you can.

Nora actively sought out content from Staff, sometimes providing it herself (or having me write it) when certain people couldn’t seem to provide anything on a timely basis. A few staff didn’t seem to understand that it is good to come up with something new and/or different from the Progress Reports and vice versa, even if you’re just re-writing the same info.

As we’ve acknowledged on the list, we need to reach out to the anime community and get them interested in coming to the con. A number of us did just that, by joining one of the biggest cosplay sites, www.cosplay.com. I think it’s worth it for some representative of each con (and bids, for that matter), to be on the forums, to communicate with these people. I can’t say for certain that it benefited us to any great degree – traffic on the CC25 forum topics was fairly light. But that could just be in our case. I would think CC26 might actually have a bigger audience, since they’re bound to have more cosplayers in their market, anyway. The same is potentially true for the East Coast cons. With those people being younger, and probably fewer sources, this slice of the CC demographic will be even less likely to travel beyond their own region. Of course, I say this while recognizing that we had the potential of bringing down people from the Chicago/Anime Central area, but that didn’t happen. So, your mileage may vary.

We made a good first impression on all our visiting cosplayers, and several of them are fairly influential in their own circles. They’d already been spreading the word about the ICG, and now they’ll spread the word on CC. If we (the costuming community) want to be able to tap into this large market, future concoms need to make sure they have someone on staff who’s willing to do the legwork to communicate via the cosplay forums. >This is vital.< And CC26, if it manages to bring in more cosplayers than we did, will be ground zero for making the best impression on the most cosplayers in the near future. Everyone will need to be as “in your face” friendly as possible. That’s what we did, and it paid off.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Do not wait for inquiries to come to you – seek dealers out. Keep in touch with prospects if you’ve done this before. By repeatedly contacting potential dealers who were interested (but not yet buying tables) and iff-ish (interested, but non-committal), she finally got commitments from most of the ones she wanted. And she got a firm “No” for others, so she could stop pursuing them. Ramona said, “Even though it’s tempting to blow off dealer prospects who don’t say ‘Yes” or ‘No’ right away, keep following up with them. They’re more inclined to sign with someone who takes the time to communicate with them than someone who doesn’t.”

Be prepared for not having many dealers signing up until maybe 6 months or less before the con. And expect a number of literally last minute inquiries.

We were hurt some when Janet could not come, and Poison Press had to back out, but the dealers room seemed to be of interest, if a bit small. We would have liked to have had more variety, but the quality of a dealers room is always at the mercy of the economy and who’s willing to come.

Have at least one “”to die for” dealer. Apparently the trim guy, who happens to be local for us, was a hit.

Ramona said, “Ensure that dealers get food and drink regularly, if available” (I don’t think that means the con should feed them, though).

Having coffee setups for the dealers was apparently appreciated.

The dealers liked the fact that the room opened and closed on time. Apparently, this is rare, much to our surprise.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

A lot of notes here. Take away from it what you will.

Overall, our attendees seemed pleased with what we offered, considering that Pierre and I had to scramble when our original Programming person had to back out due to projected finances at the time (however, that person came to the con, after all).

Either I’m getting jaded or I’ve just not been as interested in a significant percentage of panels that have been scheduled in the last decade or so of CCs. Granted, some of the problem probably came from cons having to use whatever people are willing to volunteer to do. If my experience is the norm, then don’t rely on volunteering – go out and find the people, come up with your own ideas. And – get started a lot sooner than Pierre and I were able to do.

So, since I had the opportunity, we tried to schedule topics I know that I’d want to see, suggestions off the D list, and mixed in the old standards that folks always shows up for (wings, armor, embroidery, etc), as well as panels volunteered. In an attempt to draw the anime costumers again (like at CC24), we set aside an entire track dedicated to that group that would also have crossover appeal to others. This was a pretty successful endeavor – all of our panels of this type were very well attended, and not just by the anime crowd. However, I do have a few notes I want to pass on to the list that folks should be aware of.

The most important recommendation I have is to make sure you have someone in the cosplay community, or knows it well enough, to set up or make panels those people would like. I know this won’t be a problem for CC26, but I don’t know about the others. Neither Pierre nor I had the contacts necessary, so we enlisted Aurora Celeste to program our anime track. What she did get for us was very good – however, we had a few issues, and I don’t know if this is representative or not – you be the judge.

First – possibly not her fault – the speaker list for those various panels kept changing. She probably got a lot of interest in coming to the con, but we noticed that many of the names she submitted for panelists either never registered or waited until they arrived at the con. This was frustrating for us from a scheduling standpoint. More concerning to was that she suddenly disappeared off the radar closer to the con and did not answer emails. This left Pierre and me at loose ends, not knowing how much anime programming we were going to have. Not sure what happened there and I didn’t question her about it at the con. Not having a full track turned out to be a boon, though, as we were tight on space for some panels that had to be scheduled according to some speaker availability. So, our satisfaction with Ms. Celeste is a mixed bag. Should you enlist her help, keep this in mind.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I should note first that it was not an effort just by Pierre and me – Nora and Sherril and Sandy were big helps in getting most of the schedule conflicts resolved by working with a spreadsheet. Having a team do Programming made the work a lot easier.

Panels that worked:

Sheila Lenkman’s garment construction panels were practically SRO, and people would have liked to have seen even more. Marvin Moehle’s panels on Folk costume were found to be very interesting to a small sub-set of costumers.

Many people in Robin Netherton’s panels on Saturday said they loved the info they got from them. Robin had proposed a financial deal to us that made it affordable for her to come to the con and speak, based on her projected draw for her lectures and how it might benefit CC25. To her credit she got out there and promote the convention in her circles. I will tell you, though, that Robin did not draw as many people as she believed she would. So, I cannot in good faith say she was entirely worth the deal we made for her services. Nora will give you the numbers soon.

Other panels that worked very well: Embroidery, Wings (duh), the anime-related panels, Pierre’s judging panel.

The after-masquerade Show and Tell panels were hits as well. We stole this directly from Sheila at Archon. The main thing there is that they have to be tightly moderated so people don’t drone on and on about their costumes.

If anyone’s interested, I can probably find out what panels were only moderately successful.

Panels that didn’t work for whatever reason: “Meet Our Free Membership Winners”, the NASFic info panel, the “Costuming as Performance Art” panel, and the Archives panel. I think these were just too specific and didn’t have enough appeal to a wide audience.

Our cancellations were few, and pretty much before the con even started, so we could adjust accrodingly.

Since one of the main points of the convention is to share knowledge, I tried to follow up on suggestions that more handouts should be available. Pierre can probably speak more on this, as to how successful we were in this endeavor – he was collecting any printed matter panelists were giving out. We had a few inquiries (and one demand) about printing up those handouts. Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t think the con should have to pay for them. Maybe I’m being cheap – I dunno.

We had a few requests for a digital projector and a laptop in order for panelists to do their presentation. I thought this was ridiculous to expect a con to pay these rentals – printed matter would work just as well. As it happened, Pierre happened to have a digital projector, and I think Aurora or a friend came up with a laptop. But I expect future concoms will get similar requests for accomodation. We also got a request to provide dye buckets and tarps for the fabric dying workshop, by the way.

To avoid unrealistic expectations of what a con will provide, perhaps the Programming Staff needs to set a policy up front, so they don’t get surprised after panels have been scheduled.

One thing we’ve heard from younger con-goers is that they’d like to see more demos and workshops. They’re not as interested in “talking head” lectures – that’s why they also want handouts. I can see their point – you can forget a lot, but if you have handouts, or can actually see a technique, it’s going to stay in memory. Looking back, past cons are usually heavy on lectures, mainly because demos and workshops can be time and convenience problems.

Taking a note from the anime cons, we experimented with encouraging free-form “meetups” of special interest groups. The few we had were reasonably successful, but heavily dependent on the interest. We just had a white board where people could write messages to organize a meet-up and let them sort it out themselves.

I took it as a compliment that we had too many good panels for people to see them all. That having been said, though, I think reprising some very popular panels during the weekend might be worth exploring, if you can talk the panelists into it. This would allow attendees to catch what they missed, and you have one less idea you may have to come up with for a panel.

I, for one, am not in favor of lunch breaks, necessarily, except maybe on Sunday.

There was some discussion on the D list about keeping people on time with their panels. My assumption has been that most people have been considerate, but if this is changing somehow, then maybe the Programmer does need to give each panel a 5 minute warning to wrap up. I don’t think that making panels 45 minutes long is the answer, nor weird time lengths like an hour and 15 minutes. Maybe the key is just to make sure there is a strong moderator for each panel, but you can’t always rely on that. Just my opinion.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

And, may I add, not everyone likes brats…

A safer bet might have been half that number at least, with a promise to
run out to the store if needed for more.

I know I never got one. Neither (to my knowledge) did Dan or the girls.

Sorry!

Betsy

Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

> It would have been easier on your pocket book if you’d checked with us for what our current count was before the con – I don’t think we’d even broken 200 when you were about to make your buy.
>
> As for one brat per attendee – unless yoou’d plannned to server those all weekend, (not something you mentioned), not all 200+ attendees were going to be there on Friday. They never are.
>
> Bruce
>
>
> Bruce
> —– Original Message —–
> From: osierhenry@cs.com
> To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 8:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [runacc] CC25 Brain Dump: Hospitality
>
>
> In a message dated 5/25/2007 10:48:35 PM Central Daylight Time,
> casamai@sbcglobal.net writes:
> > Henry, bless his heart, sponsored the Suite luncheon, which was nice, but
> > he overbought the brats by a huge margin. Not sure where he got an estimated
> > figure of 275 attendees,
> Actually, I figured 250. With one brat per person, that would have worked out
> perfect.
>
> Henry
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

—
—
Betsy Delaney

*************************************************************************
See my resume at: http://www.hawkeswood.com/betsywork.shtml
*************************************************************************

In a message dated 5/27/2007 4:18:57 PM Central Daylight Time,
bdelaney@hawkeswood.com writes:

> And, may I add, not everyone likes brats…
>

Bratwurst are VERY Milwaukee, though. Thanks to our large German population.

> A safer bet might have been half that number at least, with a promise to
> run out to the store if needed for more.
>

Those were not your run of the mill average grocery store brats. Those were
made by a small butcher shop here in town, were precooked and nitrate free.
They cost me a dollar each, by the way.

> I know I never got one. Neither (to my knowledge) did Dan or the girls.
>

I’m sorry to here that! Are you coming in for Archon/NASFIC by chance?

Henry

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[The following is my own personal opinion, subject to change with good,
reasoned conversation. Your mileage may vary. Taxes, tags and licensing
extra. Et cetera and so forth…]

I’m taking most of the points in this message as presented, but the one
below, I think, may deserve a little more exploration.

First, I’ve always been told I was responsible for making my own
handouts. That sort of information should be included in the invitation
from the con to the program participant. Invitations should be in
writing (email or snail), so that everything is spelled out clearly.

It makes sense to me that the program head should be responsible for
identifying panels, populating the panels, ensuring those participants
are notified and confirmed, collecting bios, and then making sure the
panels are going on as expected during the con. It’s a very intense job,
especially with coordinating all the schedules, materials needed, and
last minute issues.

Unfortunately, there are panelists who don’t pay attention to time, even
under the best of circumstances. I think it’s a good idea to have a
timekeeper who’s available to give the high sign that wrap up is
necessary because time’s almost up.

I think that no matter how good the moderator is (if, indeed, he/she has
a watch at all), when a panel gets going and intense, it’s very hard to
remember to check the time all the time. I’m easily distracted and I
sometimes wander all over the map in conversation. I’m not the only one.

What I noted in re the only panel I was on: not one of us on the panel
knew who the moderator was. As a result, it was hard for us to know
precisely what our topic meant or how we should approach it. One of us
ran off into technical specs so detailed she made the group as a whole
glaze over. Without a moderator, we had no way of getting back on
whatever track we thought we might be on.

As a panelist, I like to have a clear understanding of what I’m
presenting. Cool titles may make the panel sound interesting to the
listener, but if the giver isn’t sure what’s supposed to happen, chaos
might ensue, which may not give anyone either a clear understanding of
the topic or any sense of confidence in the information being shared.

I know (now) that there were issues with the programming. Not having a
continuity between each con com sometimes serves to keep the possible
pitfalls from being passed on. I’m glad this list exists for the purpose
of dumping data post-con, so that others might learn and take heed if
necessary.

And one more thing, not related to the above: I think Show and Tell
panels ought to be mandatory. I *ALWAYS* learn stuff I didn’t know about
when I attend them, and you never know what will show up.

Post masquerade wrap-ups also ought to be mandatory, and they should
include the tech crew as well as the MD and judges.

Cheers,

Betsy

Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

> There was some discussion on the D list about keeping people on time with their panels. My assumption has been that most people have been considerate, but if this is changing somehow, then maybe the Programmer does need to give each panel a 5 minute warning to wrap up. I don’t think that making panels 45 minutes long is the answer, nor weird time lengths like an hour and 15 minutes. Maybe the key is just to make sure there is a strong moderator for each panel, but you can’t always rely on that. Just my opinion.

—
—
Betsy Delaney

*************************************************************************
See my resume at: http://www.hawkeswood.com/betsywork.shtml
*************************************************************************

Unfortunately, Henry, brats are not to everyone’s taste (not to mention the heartburn afterwards!). I had one, and I can vouch for the heartburn.

Tina

—– Original Message —–
From: osierhenry@cs.com<mailto:osierhenry@cs.com>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 9:53 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] CC25 Brain Dump: Hospitality

In a message dated 5/25/2007 10:48:35 PM Central Daylight Time,
casamai@sbcglobal.net<mailto:casamai@sbcglobal.net> writes:
> Henry, bless his heart, sponsored the Suite luncheon, which was nice, but
> he overbought the brats by a huge margin. Not sure where he got an estimated
> figure of 275 attendees,
Actually, I figured 250. With one brat per person, that would have worked out
perfect.

Henry

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Giving the panel a five-minute warning is a good thing, not a bad thing. When I have been a panel moderator, I have greatly appreciated a five-minute working, both because I may have lost track of the time and because I could use it to cut off further questions or discussion.

Byron

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai<mailto:casamai@sbcglobal.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 12:56 PM
Subject: [runacc] Brain dump – Programming part II

I should note first that it was not an effort just by Pierre and me – Nora and Sherril and Sandy were big helps in getting most of the schedule conflicts resolved by working with a spreadsheet. Having a team do Programming made the work a lot easier.

Panels that worked:

Sheila Lenkman’s garment construction panels were practically SRO, and people would have liked to have seen even more. Marvin Moehle’s panels on Folk costume were found to be very interesting to a small sub-set of costumers.

Many people in Robin Netherton’s panels on Saturday said they loved the info they got from them. Robin had proposed a financial deal to us that made it affordable for her to come to the con and speak, based on her projected draw for her lectures and how it might benefit CC25. To her credit she got out there and promote the convention in her circles. I will tell you, though, that Robin did not draw as many people as she believed she would. So, I cannot in good faith say she was entirely worth the deal we made for her services. Nora will give you the numbers soon.

Other panels that worked very well: Embroidery, Wings (duh), the anime-related panels, Pierre’s judging panel.

The after-masquerade Show and Tell panels were hits as well. We stole this directly from Sheila at Archon. The main thing there is that they have to be tightly moderated so people don’t drone on and on about their costumes.

If anyone’s interested, I can probably find out what panels were only moderately successful.

Panels that didn’t work for whatever reason: “Meet Our Free Membership Winners”, the NASFic info panel, the “Costuming as Performance Art” panel, and the Archives panel. I think these were just too specific and didn’t have enough appeal to a wide audience.

Our cancellations were few, and pretty much before the con even started, so we could adjust accrodingly.

Since one of the main points of the convention is to share knowledge, I tried to follow up on suggestions that more handouts should be available. Pierre can probably speak more on this, as to how successful we were in this endeavor – he was collecting any printed matter panelists were giving out. We had a few inquiries (and one demand) about printing up those handouts. Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t think the con should have to pay for them. Maybe I’m being cheap – I dunno.

We had a few requests for a digital projector and a laptop in order for panelists to do their presentation. I thought this was ridiculous to expect a con to pay these rentals – printed matter would work just as well. As it happened, Pierre happened to have a digital projector, and I think Aurora or a friend came up with a laptop. But I expect future concoms will get similar requests for accomodation. We also got a request to provide dye buckets and tarps for the fabric dying workshop, by the way.

To avoid unrealistic expectations of what a con will provide, perhaps the Programming Staff needs to set a policy up front, so they don’t get surprised after panels have been scheduled.

One thing we’ve heard from younger con-goers is that they’d like to see more demos and workshops. They’re not as interested in “talking head” lectures – that’s why they also want handouts. I can see their point – you can forget a lot, but if you have handouts, or can actually see a technique, it’s going to stay in memory. Looking back, past cons are usually heavy on lectures, mainly because demos and workshops can be time and convenience problems.

Taking a note from the anime cons, we experimented with encouraging free-form “meetups” of special interest groups. The few we had were reasonably successful, but heavily dependent on the interest. We just had a white board where people could write messages to organize a meet-up and let them sort it out themselves.

I took it as a compliment that we had too many good panels for people to see them all. That having been said, though, I think reprising some very popular panels during the weekend might be worth exploring, if you can talk the panelists into it. This would allow attendees to catch what they missed, and you have one less idea you may have to come up with for a panel.

I, for one, am not in favor of lunch breaks, necessarily, except maybe on Sunday.

There was some discussion on the D list about keeping people on time with their panels. My assumption has been that most people have been considerate, but if this is changing somehow, then maybe the Programmer does need to give each panel a 5 minute warning to wrap up. I don’t think that making panels 45 minutes long is the answer, nor weird time lengths like an hour and 15 minutes. Maybe the key is just to make sure there is a strong moderator for each panel, but you can’t always rely on that. Just my opinion.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On the other d/i/g/e/s/t/i/v/e track, I had two and enjoyed them both! However, I liked the ravs best of all!

Byron

—– Original Message —–
From: Tina<mailto:connell-t1@verizon.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 7:38 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] CC25 Brats

Unfortunately, Henry, brats are not to everyone’s taste (not to mention the heartburn afterwards!). I had one, and I can vouch for the heartburn.

Tina

—– Original Message —–
From: osierhenry@cs.com<mailto:osierhenry@cs.com><mailto:osierhenry@cs.com<mailto:osierhenry@cs.com>>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com><mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com>>
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 9:53 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] CC25 Brain Dump: Hospitality

In a message dated 5/25/2007 10:48:35 PM Central Daylight Time,
casamai@sbcglobal.net<mailto:casamai%40sbcglobal.net><mailto:casamai@sbcglobal.net<mailto:casamai%40sbcglobal.net>> writes:
> Henry, bless his heart, sponsored the Suite luncheon, which was nice, but
> he overbought the brats by a huge margin. Not sure where he got an estimated
> figure of 275 attendees,
Actually, I figured 250. With one brat per person, that would have worked out
perfect.

Henry

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I’ll agree, Pierre and I probably didn’t give much thought to the whole moderator issue. We’re used to a more free-form panel, but maybe that doesn’t work so well in a CC environment.

Re: your comments on handouts – I thought Pierre was asking panelists to bring them along, since he was the point-man on contacts. HOpefully, he can confirm this was done. I also left descriptions of said what we wanted from panels up to him as well. I’ll let him comment on that.

Another good thing about the show ‘n’ tells is that they’re an opportunity for feedback in a relaxed atmosphere. Having one’s peers gushing over something they liked is sometimes more satisfying than the audience reaction.

Bruce

—– Original Message —–
From: Betsy Delaney
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 5:01 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] Brain dump – Programming part II

[The following is my own personal opinion, subject to change with good,
reasoned conversation. Your mileage may vary. Taxes, tags and licensing
extra. Et cetera and so forth…]

I’m taking most of the points in this message as presented, but the one
below, I think, may deserve a little more exploration.

First, I’ve always been told I was responsible for making my own
handouts. That sort of information should be included in the invitation
from the con to the program participant. Invitations should be in
writing (email or snail), so that everything is spelled out clearly.

It makes sense to me that the program head should be responsible for
identifying panels, populating the panels, ensuring those participants
are notified and confirmed, collecting bios, and then making sure the
panels are going on as expected during the con. It’s a very intense job,
especially with coordinating all the schedules, materials needed, and
last minute issues.

Unfortunately, there are panelists who don’t pay attention to time, even
under the best of circumstances. I think it’s a good idea to have a
timekeeper who’s available to give the high sign that wrap up is
necessary because time’s almost up.

I think that no matter how good the moderator is (if, indeed, he/she has
a watch at all), when a panel gets going and intense, it’s very hard to
remember to check the time all the time. I’m easily distracted and I
sometimes wander all over the map in conversation. I’m not the only one.

What I noted in re the only panel I was on: not one of us on the panel
knew who the moderator was. As a result, it was hard for us to know
precisely what our topic meant or how we should approach it. One of us
ran off into technical specs so detailed she made the group as a whole
glaze over. Without a moderator, we had no way of getting back on
whatever track we thought we might be on.

As a panelist, I like to have a clear understanding of what I’m
presenting. Cool titles may make the panel sound interesting to the
listener, but if the giver isn’t sure what’s supposed to happen, chaos
might ensue, which may not give anyone either a clear understanding of
the topic or any sense of confidence in the information being shared.

I know (now) that there were issues with the programming. Not having a
continuity between each con com sometimes serves to keep the possible
pitfalls from being passed on. I’m glad this list exists for the purpose
of dumping data post-con, so that others might learn and take heed if
necessary.

And one more thing, not related to the above: I think Show and Tell
panels ought to be mandatory. I *ALWAYS* learn stuff I didn’t know about
when I attend them, and you never know what will show up.

Post masquerade wrap-ups also ought to be mandatory, and they should
include the tech crew as well as the MD and judges.

Cheers,

Betsy

Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

> There was some discussion on the D list about keeping people on time with their panels. My assumption has been that most people have been considerate, but if this is changing somehow, then maybe the Programmer does need to give each panel a 5 minute warning to wrap up. I don’t think that making panels 45 minutes long is the answer, nor weird time lengths like an hour and 15 minutes. Maybe the key is just to make sure there is a strong moderator for each panel, but you can’t always rely on that. Just my opinion.

—
—
Betsy Delaney

*************************************************************************
See my resume at: http://www.hawkeswood.com/betsywork.shtml
*************************************************************************

View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/
Yahoo! Groups Links

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

At 10:40 PM 5/27/2007, you wrote:

>I’ll agree, Pierre and I probably didn’t give much thought to the
>whole moderator issue. We’re used to a more free-form panel, but
>maybe that doesn’t work so well in a CC environment.
>
>Re: your comments on handouts – I thought Pierre was asking
>panelists to bring them along, since he was the point-man on
>contacts. HOpefully, he can confirm this was done. I also left
>descriptions of said what we wanted from panels up to him as well.
>I’ll let him comment on that.

I did, though I didn’t explicitly say each panelist was responsible
for making their own handouts. I think I got most of the ones
available, though I haven’t had time to sort through them.

Pierre

>Another good thing about the show ‘n’ tells is that they’re an
>opportunity for feedback in a relaxed atmosphere. Having one’s peers
>gushing over something they liked is sometimes more satisfying than
>the audience reaction.
>
>Bruce
>
>—– Original Message —–
>From: Betsy Delaney
>To: <mailto:runacc%40yahoogroups.com>runacc@yahoogroups.com
>Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 5:01 PM
>Subject: Re: [runacc] Brain dump – Programming part II
>
>[The following is my own personal opinion, subject to change with good,
>reasoned conversation. Your mileage may vary. Taxes, tags and licensing
>extra. Et cetera and so forth…]
>
>I’m taking most of the points in this message as presented, but the one
>below, I think, may deserve a little more exploration.
>
>First, I’ve always been told I was responsible for making my own
>handouts. That sort of information should be included in the invitation
>from the con to the program participant. Invitations should be in
>writing (email or snail), so that everything is spelled out clearly.
>
>It makes sense to me that the program head should be responsible for
>identifying panels, populating the panels, ensuring those participants
>are notified and confirmed, collecting bios, and then making sure the
>panels are going on as expected during the con. It’s a very intense job,
>especially with coordinating all the schedules, materials needed, and
>last minute issues.
>
>Unfortunately, there are panelists who don’t pay attention to time, even
>under the best of circumstances. I think it’s a good idea to have a
>timekeeper who’s available to give the high sign that wrap up is
>necessary because time’s almost up.
>
>I think that no matter how good the moderator is (if, indeed, he/she has
>a watch at all), when a panel gets going and intense, it’s very hard to
>remember to check the time all the time. I’m easily distracted and I
>sometimes wander all over the map in conversation. I’m not the only one.
>
>What I noted in re the only panel I was on: not one of us on the panel
>knew who the moderator was. As a result, it was hard for us to know
>precisely what our topic meant or how we should approach it. One of us
>ran off into technical specs so detailed she made the group as a whole
>glaze over. Without a moderator, we had no way of getting back on
>whatever track we thought we might be on.
>
>As a panelist, I like to have a clear understanding of what I’m
>presenting. Cool titles may make the panel sound interesting to the
>listener, but if the giver isn’t sure what’s supposed to happen, chaos
>might ensue, which may not give anyone either a clear understanding of
>the topic or any sense of confidence in the information being shared.
>
>I know (now) that there were issues with the programming. Not having a
>continuity between each con com sometimes serves to keep the possible
>pitfalls from being passed on. I’m glad this list exists for the purpose
>of dumping data post-con, so that others might learn and take heed if
>necessary.
>
>And one more thing, not related to the above: I think Show and Tell
>panels ought to be mandatory. I *ALWAYS* learn stuff I didn’t know about
>when I attend them, and you never know what will show up.
>
>Post masquerade wrap-ups also ought to be mandatory, and they should
>include the tech crew as well as the MD and judges.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Betsy
>
>Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:
>
> > There was some discussion on the D list about keeping people on
> time with their panels. My assumption has been that most people
> have been considerate, but if this is changing somehow, then maybe
> the Programmer does need to give each panel a 5 minute warning to
> wrap up. I don’t think that making panels 45 minutes long is the
> answer, nor weird time lengths like an hour and 15 minutes. Maybe
> the key is just to make sure there is a strong moderator for each
> panel, but you can’t always rely on that. Just my opinion.
>
>–
>–
>Betsy Delaney

“Those Who Fail To Learn History
Are Doomed to Repeat It;
Those Who Fail To Learn History Correctly —
Why They Are Simply Doomed.

Achemdro’hm
“The Illusion of Historical Fact”
— C.Y. 4971

Andromeda

We wanted a lot of Hall Costumes at CC 25 & we got them!
In addition to the general awards throughout the weekend we promoted
two special themed hall award competitions which apparently got
peoples’ attention. All special costumes were also eligible for the
general awards which I think surprised people.
I sponsored the Saturday Pirate Hall Costume contest and we had dozens
of pirates of every kind! It was very successful.
The Sunday “Orange” competition was sponsored by Larry & Ramona and
was also very well received. Honestly I wasn’t sure how people would
react to that one but there were a number of participants; it was
pretty amusing.

Conclusion: I think people enjoyed having a theme to aim at. I’m sure
it made for more hall costumes than we might have had.

Nora

Heck – my pirate hall costume was the *only* costume I presented that
weekend that was anywhere near finished, besides Katie’s SF/F entry.

Erin found an orange top at Once Upon a Child that fit her – she decided
not to wear her orange dress as a result!

I did get a group shot of about a dozen orange hall costume entries, but
I haven’t had the time to upload any of the photos I took. If I get a
bit of time in the next several weeks, I’ll get them up and send a pointer.

Cheers,

Betsy

Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

> I sponsored the Saturday Pirate Hall Costume contest and we had dozens
> of pirates of every kind! It was very successful.

> The Sunday “Orange” competition was sponsored by Larry & Ramona and
> was also very well received. Honestly I wasn’t sure how people would
> react to that one but there were a number of participants; it was
> pretty amusing.

> Nora

—
—
Betsy Delaney

*************************************************************************
See my resume at: http://www.hawkeswood.com/betsywork.shtml
*************************************************************************

Or maybe load them to the new galleries for the ICG? They’re getting close to ready & it’d be great to have something besides our stuff when it goes live.

Nora

—– Original Message —–
From: Betsy Delaney
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] CC25 Commentary – themed hall awards

Heck – my pirate hall costume was the *only* costume I presented that
weekend that was anywhere near finished, besides Katie’s SF/F entry.

Erin found an orange top at Once Upon a Child that fit her – she decided
not to wear her orange dress as a result!

I did get a group shot of about a dozen orange hall costume entries, but
I haven’t had the time to upload any of the photos I took. If I get a
bit of time in the next several weeks, I’ll get them up and send a pointer.

Cheers,

Betsy

Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

> I sponsored the Saturday Pirate Hall Costume contest and we had dozens
> of pirates of every kind! It was very successful.

> The Sunday “Orange” competition was sponsored by Larry & Ramona and
> was also very well received. Honestly I wasn’t sure how people would
> react to that one but there were a number of participants; it was
> pretty amusing.

> Nora

—
—
Betsy Delaney

*************************************************************************
See my resume at: http://www.hawkeswood.com/betsywork.shtml
*************************************************************************

View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/
Yahoo! Groups Links

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Entirely possible. It’s a good thought!

I mentioned to Karen that she might consider making a “fan” space for CC
photos, but it was in passing without any real details.

I mean to finish the last of the work this weekend. If I’m really lucky,
I’ll get it all done this afternoon. After that? Dunno.

Cheers,

Betsy

Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

> Or maybe load them to the new galleries for the ICG? They’re getting close to ready & it’d be great to have something besides our stuff when it goes live.
>
> Nora

—
—
Betsy Delaney

*************************************************************************
See my resume at: http://www.hawkeswood.com/betsywork.shtml
*************************************************************************

Promotion – ICG

I think the Guild could benefit from a strong promotion presence at CC. I’m not sure what form that should take – having a traveling road show of the Archives might be one idea. On a local level, at CC16, our “Jeff Table”, which was the SLCG merchandise, welcome wagon and other function table, worked quite well – this time, it was not successful. No memberships were sold, nor was there very much merchandise sold. Either things have changed, or we failed in getting people’s attention.

In any case, the problem always is you have to have people willing to do the work.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Both went smoothly, from what our Masq Directors report. Our tech folks suggest that more time be scheduled for masquerade rehearsals – at least for the SF & F. Having only 10 minutes per entry was not quite enough time when there is only a 4-hour block scheduled. That’s only 6 rehearsals per hour, presuming no problems or time-hogs. Scheduling 15 minutes for each entry is better. Also, factor in breaks for the crew during the this block and before the shows.

Concoms: it’s a nice gesture to feed the crew on Saturday – they might not have time to get out to dinner. Some tasty pizzas make them very happy and remembered.

Question: Who’s responsible for where the Workmanship judges are set up? This was apparently a detail that fell between the cracks between the SF & F director and the Green Room co-ordinator, and led to a bit of initial consternation.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Back when I used to promote the local guild at local cons, I used to put out two different flyers. One with the local chapter info and artwork and another with general ICG info and the Glitiziana logo. I’d put out the same of each flyer and count how many were left. The Glitziana flyers always disappeared faster than the local guild flyers.

Michael

> ——-Original Message——-
> From: Bruce & Nora Mai <casamai@sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: [runacc] More Brain Dump – ICG Promotion
> Sent: 06 Jun ’07 17:57
>
> Promotion – ICG
>
> I think the Guild could benefit from a strong promotion presence at CC.
> I’m not sure what form that should take – having a traveling road show of
> the Archives might be one idea. On a local level, at CC16, our “Jeff
> Table”, which was the SLCG merchandise, welcome wagon and other function
> table, worked quite well – this time, it was not successful. No
> memberships were sold, nor was there very much merchandise sold. Either
> things have changed, or we failed in getting people’s attention.
>
> In any case, the problem always is you have to have people willing to do
> the work.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

bruno wrote:

> Back when I used to promote the local guild at local cons, I used to put out two different flyers. One with the local chapter info and artwork and another with general ICG info and the Glitiziana logo. I’d put out the same of each flyer and count how many were left. The Glitziana flyers always disappeared faster than the local guild flyers.
>

Karen Heim and I were talking a little (but not enough, probably) about
tri-folds. Our CC26 tri-folds have a nearly-blank panel with Acrobat
form fields on it so we can print coupon codes without redoing the whole
tri-fold. My suggestion was to do an ICG tri-fold with “fill in the
blank” spaces for chapter name, address, website, and a few lines of
description.

No reason we couldn’t do the same thing with chapter fliers or use the
blank space in other ways…

andy

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.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I heartily agree with Byron’s comments. I entered the information into the
computer myself,, except in 2 instances – one of those was my daughter, who
can’t spell to save her life (much like her father). She covered for me so
I could take a much needed potty break.

The running order was ready as quickly as I could manage it, and tech
required multiple copies first, to do the rehearsals. I apologize for the
inconvenience.

Since the repair table, etc were in a separate room, an announcement to the
contestants should be enough to let them know their location. On the other
hand, perhaps CC entrants are more prepared to handle their own repairs than
SF con entrants. Just a thought.

Elaine

Nil significat nisi oscillat!

>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
>

>
> 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.
>

_________________________________________________________________
Make every IM count. Download Messenger and join the i�m Initiative now.
It�s free. http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGHM_June07

I support the use of 15-minute blocks for tech rehearsals. That’s what I used for the Historical at both 24 and 25. We never ran late. In fact, we ran early both times. At 25, at one point we were 30 minutes ahead of schedule and had to wait for entrants to arrive at their appointed times. Does this suggest that the blocks should be 12 1/2 minutes long?! (I don’t think so.)

Food. At Philcon, the cost of food for the tech crew is included in the masquerade budget.

The Historical doesn’t have separate workmanship judging. However, at CC’s, Worldcons, and regional masquerades, as a green room manager I have assumed that workmanship judging would be either in or immediately adjacent to the green room, since it has to be proximate to where the entrants are located before they go on stage. My preference would be to have the workmanship judge(s) and clerk at a station adjacent to the green room rather than in it. Either way, workmanship judging needs very good lighting as well as a place to take notes.

Byron

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai<mailto:casamai@sbcglobal.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 9:03 PM
Subject: [runacc] Brain dump – masquerades

Both went smoothly, from what our Masq Directors report. Our tech folks suggest that more time be scheduled for masquerade rehearsals – at least for the SF & F. Having only 10 minutes per entry was not quite enough time when there is only a 4-hour block scheduled. That’s only 6 rehearsals per hour, presuming no problems or time-hogs. Scheduling 15 minutes for each entry is better. Also, factor in breaks for the crew during the this block and before the shows.

Concoms: it’s a nice gesture to feed the crew on Saturday – they might not have time to get out to dinner. Some tasty pizzas make them very happy and remembered.

Question: Who’s responsible for where the Workmanship judges are set up? This was apparently a detail that fell between the cracks between the SF & F director and the Green Room co-ordinator, and led to a bit of initial consternation.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

15 minute rehearsal slots would be ideal! However, with a four hour
schedule, we would have to limit the show to 16 entries. OTHH, we could use
all of Saturday for rehearsals, cutting off registration on Friday night.
Since we had very few people register on Sat., that does not seem like much
of a problem. And we did have a break for showers and food before the show.
I insist upon this.

Lunacon sends out for Pizza or Chinese for the tech crew for dinner before
the show.

I favor a spot out of the green room but nearby for workmanship judging, but
that often depends on the available space. At this past Lunacon, the concom
put the green room in a very unfavorable location, and we had to scramble
for a nook to have workmanship judging in. The location of the nook was
determined by myself and the green room director, Byron, who had an enormous
challenge with the whole space. He had a green room, hall and stairs!! My
point is, we have to make the best of what we are given.

Elaine

Nil significat nisi oscillat!

> Both went smoothly, from what our Masq Directors report. Our tech folks
>suggest that more time be scheduled for masquerade rehearsals – at least
>for the SF & F. Having only 10 minutes per entry was not quite enough time
>when there is only a 4-hour block scheduled. That’s only 6 rehearsals per
>hour, presuming no problems or time-hogs. Scheduling 15 minutes for each
>entry is better. Also, factor in breaks for the crew during the this block
>and before the shows.
>
> Concoms: it’s a nice gesture to feed the crew on Saturday – they might
>not have time to get out to dinner. Some tasty pizzas make them very happy
>and remembered.
>
> Question: Who’s responsible for where the Workmanship judges are set up?
>This was apparently a detail that fell between the cracks between the SF &
>F director and the Green Room co-ordinator, and led to a bit of initial
>consternation.

_________________________________________________________________
Don�t miss your chance to WIN $10,000 and other great prizes from Microsoft
Office Live http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/aub0540003042mrt/direct/01/

Elaine Mami wrote:

> 15 minute rehearsal slots would be ideal! However, with a four hour
> schedule, we would have to limit the show to 16 entries. OTHH, we could use
> all of Saturday for rehearsals, cutting off registration on Friday night.
> Since we had very few people register on Sat., that does not seem like much
> of a problem. And we did have a break for showers and food before the show.
> I insist upon this.
>
> Lunacon sends out for Pizza or Chinese for the tech crew for dinner before
> the show.
>
> I favor a spot out of the green room but nearby for workmanship judging, but
> that often depends on the available space. At this past Lunacon, the concom
> put the green room in a very unfavorable location, and we had to scramble
> for a nook to have workmanship judging in. The location of the nook was
> determined by myself and the green room director, Byron, who had an enormous
> challenge with the whole space. He had a green room, hall and stairs!! My
> point is, we have to make the best of what we are given.
>
> Elaine
>
> Nil significat nisi oscillat!
>
>
>
>
>> Both went smoothly, from what our Masq Directors report. Our tech folks
>> suggest that more time be scheduled for masquerade rehearsals – at least
>> for the SF & F. Having only 10 minutes per entry was not quite enough time
>> when there is only a 4-hour block scheduled. That’s only 6 rehearsals per
>> hour, presuming no problems or time-hogs. Scheduling 15 minutes for each
>> entry is better. Also, factor in breaks for the crew during the this block
>> and before the shows.
>>

In Chicago we did 5 10 minute slots per hour, with a 10 minute “catch
up” empty slot at the end of each hour. Had the stage been ready on
time, we would have had plenty of rehearsal slots; as it was the crew
did a great job of running rehearsals quickly to make up for lost time.

We repeated that schedule at Anime Los Angeles for “early judging/photo”
sessions (i.e. get your workmanship judging in the afternoon instead of
in the green room, and with the size of the show, having a third of the
folks take an afternoon slot made everything work beautifully). The
schedule never slid more than 10 minutes, and at the beginning of each
hour it was back on schedule.

andy

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!

Bruce

—– 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.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/
Yahoo! Groups Links

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Concom notes

Dana Hinterleitner and DJ Mestel’s work on con signage was a quantum leap beyond anything we’ve seen a conventions. They definitely raised the bar to a height that will be hard to match. Other cons, including our regional (and this year’s NASFic) were taking notes and photos. Maybe if I think of it, I’ll post them somewhere so those who were unable to attend can see them – they’re really top notch.

In addition to the banners, there was the very cool kiosk (with a big, movable “Today” sign on top) with panel programming printed in nice big type, which our attendees really liked. The only complaints about signage was that it wasn’t always clear what room had what programming, even though there was a schedule posted outside each function room. It could be the room names were somewhat covered by the posted schedules.

We really lucked out here: Dana is a graphic artist by profession, and DJ had some nifty tools to produce the banners that hung from the concourse skylights. They got a lot of their materials and access to tools for free, keeping expenditures down in the low $300 range. If we hadn’t had these two folks, the signage would have cost probably three times that much. But, let’s be honest – we wouldn’t have paid that much, in any case.

Dana was in Ops at her computer quite a bit of the time Friday, making last minute signage updates, and additional ones we hadn’t thought of. Never having worked as a con staffer before, she was a real trouper.

We had fairly few staff issues. Most of the SLCG have been friends for a long time, so we know each other fairly well. There was still a bit of a problem with one person who apparently didn’t think through a lot of logistics for the Shoe competition. She couldn’t tell me how many awards she might need, she didn’t stick around to make sure the display was put away at night, etc. She was depending on someone else (me, mostly, I guess), to take care of these details. She didn’t ask about them. I realize I should have followed up on this, but it bugged the heck out of me that I should have to. Because she’s a friend, though, I didn’t think I could come down too hard on her.

She doesn’t have email access. The fact that she doesn’t answer her phone in a timely manner when a message was left didn’t help, either. I recommend that it should be required that all con staffers have some sort of email access, these days.

As Co-chair, I accepted that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy much of the con as I would have liked. Obviously, one should be available to answer questions.

Pierre and I both wound up filling in where there were details overlooked – helping in the green room, getting food for the tech crew when they didn’t have time to do it themselves, making sure the staff had everything they needed, etc. I spent a lot of time walking around – no time for relaxing.

Kudos have to be given to Kerry Gilley. I can’t remember if he had originally volunteered to be Fan Photographer ( which looking back now, we didn’t need), but he stepped up when our original Official Photographer had to back out. He was very polite, he actively sought out people in the halls to get their pictures, and was very conciencious. He’s apparently been trying to get more important photography positions at cons, and this was his first big break. As a result, he has produced the largest folio of photos for a CC to date: 1300 pictures.

A lot of us are used to having to wait weeks or several months to get official con photos. The Web is making it a lot easier, faster – and even more importantly cheaper — to get them now, with services like Flickr and others. While his 5 CD package is a really good deal, we urged him to investigate these services as an alternative delivery system, which should make get him more work. Almost everyone was pleaed with the photos. Granted, maybe some of the shots were off center slighlty, but they coudl be corrected with a little cropping. This was his first major gig. He’ll learn. We would recommend him as a con photographer, so long as he learns a bit more about Windows Vista in the meantime. He ahd some problems with it as he was storing and accessing the photos that the shot because he’d just bought the laptop he was using.

While Carl was our official videographer, people appreciated having Sue and Eric there selling the DVDs on site the next day, and at reasonable prices. The precedent was set at CC24 for a quicker turn around for both photos and DVDs, and people will begin expect this to be the norm at future CCs soon, I suspect.

Nora served as both our Treasurer and Membership Co-ordinator. We recommend strongly that this combination of responsibilities be assigned to the same person in future. It made for tight records keeping before and at the con. She can cite a number of anecdotes where her memory of who was pre-registered came in handy.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I’m going to start posting a “picture-a-day” from the CC archives on
<http://community.livejournal.com/costume_con/>. I’ve set up a little
spreadsheet that helps me randomly select a picture from F&SF,
Historical, Future Fashion and, if they exist, Doll and Single
Pattern competition.

Each picture-a-day will include:
•a link to the visual archives page
•the entry information
•any awards won
•the photographer’s information (if available)

No, I haven’t included the other competitions, it took about 45
minutes to build the spreadsheet with just the three required and two
relatively regular competitions.

No, there may not be a picture every day, at least on days that I
don’t have internet access or am swamped. If you want to help with
the posting, though, talk to me.

Yes, if you would like to post the “picture-a-day” on other Ccostume-
Con related online services (like, say, the Costume-Con mySpace) I
can put you on a mailing list to get the information in advance.

andy

1. Dana’s signs were awesome!

2. The con chair is there to work, not to have fun. (So there!)

3. Kerry did an excellent job as official photographer. He deserves greater recognition and employment.

Byron

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai<mailto:casamai@sbcglobal.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 11:09 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] Brain dump – Concom notes

Concom notes

Dana Hinterleitner and DJ Mestel’s work on con signage was a quantum leap beyond anything we’ve seen a conventions. They definitely raised the bar to a height that will be hard to match. Other cons, including our regional (and this year’s NASFic) were taking notes and photos. Maybe if I think of it, I’ll post them somewhere so those who were unable to attend can see them – they’re really top notch.

In addition to the banners, there was the very cool kiosk (with a big, movable “Today” sign on top) with panel programming printed in nice big type, which our attendees really liked. The only complaints about signage was that it wasn’t always clear what room had what programming, even though there was a schedule posted outside each function room. It could be the room names were somewhat covered by the posted schedules.

We really lucked out here: Dana is a graphic artist by profession, and DJ had some nifty tools to produce the banners that hung from the concourse skylights. They got a lot of their materials and access to tools for free, keeping expenditures down in the low $300 range. If we hadn’t had these two folks, the signage would have cost probably three times that much. But, let’s be honest – we wouldn’t have paid that much, in any case.

Dana was in Ops at her computer quite a bit of the time Friday, making last minute signage updates, and additional ones we hadn’t thought of. Never having worked as a con staffer before, she was a real trouper.

We had fairly few staff issues. Most of the SLCG have been friends for a long time, so we know each other fairly well. There was still a bit of a problem with one person who apparently didn’t think through a lot of logistics for the Shoe competition. She couldn’t tell me how many awards she might need, she didn’t stick around to make sure the display was put away at night, etc. She was depending on someone else (me, mostly, I guess), to take care of these details. She didn’t ask about them. I realize I should have followed up on this, but it bugged the heck out of me that I should have to. Because she’s a friend, though, I didn’t think I could come down too hard on her.

She doesn’t have email access. The fact that she doesn’t answer her phone in a timely manner when a message was left didn’t help, either. I recommend that it should be required that all con staffers have some sort of email access, these days.

As Co-chair, I accepted that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy much of the con as I would have liked. Obviously, one should be available to answer questions.

Pierre and I both wound up filling in where there were details overlooked – helping in the green room, getting food for the tech crew when they didn’t have time to do it themselves, making sure the staff had everything they needed, etc. I spent a lot of time walking around – no time for relaxing.

Kudos have to be given to Kerry Gilley. I can’t remember if he had originally volunteered to be Fan Photographer ( which looking back now, we didn’t need), but he stepped up when our original Official Photographer had to back out. He was very polite, he actively sought out people in the halls to get their pictures, and was very conciencious. He’s apparently been trying to get more important photography positions at cons, and this was his first big break. As a result, he has produced the largest folio of photos for a CC to date: 1300 pictures.

A lot of us are used to having to wait weeks or several months to get official con photos. The Web is making it a lot easier, faster – and even more importantly cheaper — to get them now, with services like Flickr and others. While his 5 CD package is a really good deal, we urged him to investigate these services as an alternative delivery system, which should make get him more work. Almost everyone was pleaed with the photos. Granted, maybe some of the shots were off center slighlty, but they coudl be corrected with a little cropping. This was his first major gig. He’ll learn. We would recommend him as a con photographer, so long as he learns a bit more about Windows Vista in the meantime. He ahd some problems with it as he was storing and accessing the photos that the shot because he’d just bought the laptop he was using.

While Carl was our official videographer, people appreciated having Sue and Eric there selling the DVDs on site the next day, and at reasonable prices. The precedent was set at CC24 for a quicker turn around for both photos and DVDs, and people will begin expect this to be the norm at future CCs soon, I suspect.

Nora served as both our Treasurer and Membership Co-ordinator. We recommend strongly that this combination of responsibilities be assigned to the same person in future. It made for tight records keeping before and at the con. She can cite a number of anecdotes where her memory of who was pre-registered came in handy.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Noticed it – very cool!

Thanks!

Betsy

Andrew T Trembley wrote:

> I’m going to start posting a “picture-a-day” from the CC archives on
> <http://community.livejournal.com/costume_con/>. I’ve set up a little
> spreadsheet that helps me randomly select a picture from F&SF,
> Historical, Future Fashion and, if they exist, Doll and Single
> Pattern competition.
>
> Each picture-a-day will include:
> •a link to the visual archives page
> •the entry information
> •any awards won
> •the photographer’s information (if available)
>
> No, I haven’t included the other competitions, it took about 45
> minutes to build the spreadsheet with just the three required and two
> relatively regular competitions.
>
> No, there may not be a picture every day, at least on days that I
> don’t have internet access or am swamped. If you want to help with
> the posting, though, talk to me.
>
> Yes, if you would like to post the “picture-a-day” on other Ccostume-
> Con related online services (like, say, the Costume-Con mySpace) I
> can put you on a mailing list to get the information in advance.
>
> andy
>
> View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

—
—
Betsy Delaney

*************************************************************************
See my resume at: http://www.hawkeswood.com/betsywork.shtml
*************************************************************************

In a message dated 6/12/2007 6:51:35 PM Central Daylight Time,
bpconnell@verizon.net writes:

> 1. Dana’s signs were awesome!
>

Ditto!

> 2. The con chair is there to work, not to have fun. (So there!)

Double ditto!

>
> 3. Kerry did an excellent job as official photographer. He deserves greater
> recognition and employment.
>
>

Hmmm. I have been giving him serious consideration.

Henry Osier
Chief Spy
Costume-Con 28 in Milwaukee in 2010
www.CC28.org
View the latest Intell: http://agent-milw.livejournal.com/
Questions?: http://community.livejournal.com/costume_con_28/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Even though the subject is about Archon, this could easily filter down to CC.

Just got off the phone with Sheila, and apparently AASCAP is going after cons other than Dragon Con. Now, maybe it’s only because Archon is hosting NASFic, but maybe not. The fees being charged aren’t awful – apparently around $200, but if the bastards are going after the masquerades, it may be only a matter of time before CCs appear on their radar. One hopes that if they’re going to do this, they charge according to the size of the con. So you may want to start figuring in some allowance.

Bruce

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

We already have a line item in our budget for an AASCAP performance
license (which is what is required for our type of use).

And, I’m somewhat proud to say, it’s been there since day one, long
before the Dragon Con fiasco happened.

Kevin

Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

>
> Even though the subject is about Archon, this could easily filter down
> to CC.
>
> Just got off the phone with Sheila, and apparently AASCAP is going
> after cons other than Dragon Con. Now, maybe it’s only because Archon
> is hosting NASFic, but maybe not. The fees being charged aren’t awful
> – apparently around $200, but if the bastards are going after the
> masquerades, it may be only a matter of time before CCs appear on
> their radar. One hopes that if they’re going to do this, they charge
> according to the size of the con. So you may want to start figuring in
> some allowance.
>
> Bruce
>

Kevin Roche, Costume-con 26 Convention Chair wrote:

> We already have a line item in our budget for an AASCAP performance
> license (which is what is required for our type of use).
>
> And, I’m somewhat proud to say, it’s been there since day one, long
> before the Dragon Con fiasco happened.
>

We learned this from the L.A.con folks; Craig Miller works in the biz
and the LA conventions (and all Worldcons) have had licenses for years.

andy

Kevin Roche, Costume-con 26 Convention Chair wrote:

> We already have a line item in our budget for an AASCAP performance
> license (which is what is required for our type of use).
>
> And, I’m somewhat proud to say, it’s been there since day one, long
> before the Dragon Con fiasco happened.
>

We learned this from the L.A.con folks; Craig Miller works in the biz
and the LA conventions (and all Worldcons) have had licenses for years.

andy

I was under the impression that concoms were paying licensing fees. I understand that Lunacon and Arisia do, and I believe that the Worldcon normally does. With the Worldcon out of the country, that may be why ASCAP has focused on Tuckercon (formerly Archon). A one-time use license is not expensive and a CC concom ought to budget for it.

Byron

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai<mailto:casamai@sbcglobal.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2007 4:39 PM
Subject: [runacc] Archon NASFic newflash

Even though the subject is about Archon, this could easily filter down to CC.

Just got off the phone with Sheila, and apparently AASCAP is going after cons other than Dragon Con. Now, maybe it’s only because Archon is hosting NASFic, but maybe not. The fees being charged aren’t awful – apparently around $200, but if the bastards are going after the masquerades, it may be only a matter of time before CCs appear on their radar. One hopes that if they’re going to do this, they charge according to the size of the con. So you may want to start figuring in some allowance.

Bruce

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Balticon has been getting the license for some time too, and while
CostumeCons are probably small enough to stay under the radar (what
AASCP could collect wouldn’t pay for a lawyer’s fee to write a demand
letter – damages are based upon the size of the audience) given AASCAP’s
current attitude CC-27 will get a license just to avoid the annoyance.

Marty

Byron Connell wrote:

>
> I was under the impression that concoms were paying licensing fees. I
> understand that Lunacon and Arisia do, and I believe that the Worldcon
> normally does. With the Worldcon out of the country, that may be why
> ASCAP has focused on Tuckercon (formerly Archon). A one-time use
> license is not expensive and a CC concom ought to budget for it.
>
> Byron
>
> —– Original Message —–
> From: Bruce & Nora Mai<mailto:casamai@sbcglobal.net
> <mailto:casamai%40sbcglobal.net>>
> To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:runacc%40yahoogroups.com><mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:runacc%40yahoogroups.com>>
> Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2007 4:39 PM
> Subject: [runacc] Archon NASFic newflash
>
> Even though the subject is about Archon, this could easily filter down
> to CC.
>
> Just got off the phone with Sheila, and apparently AASCAP is going
> after cons other than Dragon Con. Now, maybe it’s only because Archon
> is hosting NASFic, but maybe not. The fees being charged aren’t awful
> – apparently around $200, but if the bastards are going after the
> masquerades, it may be only a matter of time before CCs appear on
> their radar. One hopes that if they’re going to do this, they charge
> according to the size of the con. So you may want to start figuring in
> some allowance.
>
> Bruce
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

I guess that doesn’t surprise me that California would have that in place long before now. Nonetheless, future CCs this side of the Rockies will need to be aware….

Bruce

—– Original Message —–
From: Kevin Roche, Costume-con 26 Convention Chair
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2007 3:43 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] Archon NASFic newflash

We already have a line item in our budget for an AASCAP performance
license (which is what is required for our type of use).

And, I’m somewhat proud to say, it’s been there since day one, long
before the Dragon Con fiasco happened.

Kevin

Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:
>
> Even though the subject is about Archon, this could easily filter down
> to CC.
>
> Just got off the phone with Sheila, and apparently AASCAP is going
> after cons other than Dragon Con. Now, maybe it’s only because Archon
> is hosting NASFic, but maybe not. The fees being charged aren’t awful
> – apparently around $200, but if the bastards are going after the
> masquerades, it may be only a matter of time before CCs appear on
> their radar. One hopes that if they’re going to do this, they charge
> according to the size of the con. So you may want to start figuring in
> some allowance.
>
> Bruce
>

View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/
Yahoo! Groups Links

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

CC-23 (Utah) had considered getting a license, but I think it just didn’t
get done (lost in the noise).

One concern I had, was the additional factor of video sales of the CC
masquerade, since I thought that may be as much, or more of a concern to the
ASCAP folks.

Charles Galway

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Then it sounds like it’s definitely a case of they zeroed in on NASFic.

Bruce

—– Original Message —–
From: Byron Connell
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2007 6:55 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] Archon NASFic newflash

I was under the impression that concoms were paying licensing fees. I understand that Lunacon and Arisia do, and I believe that the Worldcon normally does. With the Worldcon out of the country, that may be why ASCAP has focused on Tuckercon (formerly Archon). A one-time use license is not expensive and a CC concom ought to budget for it.

Byron

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai<mailto:casamai@sbcglobal.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2007 4:39 PM
Subject: [runacc] Archon NASFic newflash

Even though the subject is about Archon, this could easily filter down to CC.

Just got off the phone with Sheila, and apparently AASCAP is going after cons other than Dragon Con. Now, maybe it’s only because Archon is hosting NASFic, but maybe not. The fees being charged aren’t awful – apparently around $200, but if the bastards are going after the masquerades, it may be only a matter of time before CCs appear on their radar. One hopes that if they’re going to do this, they charge according to the size of the con. So you may want to start figuring in some allowance.

Bruce

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/
Yahoo! Groups Links

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

From what I have been able to learn, there are a couple of factors. If
each music selection is less than 60 seconds, then it is “fair use” and
no license is needed. (That’s one way to get presentations to speed up
😛 ). If the number of DVDs produced is less than 500 then AASCAP
probably won’t do anything more than write a cease & desist letter from
their in-house counsel as the damages than they could collect (the
profit on the number of DVDs sold) is insufficient for them to pursue
further. Also, the “Performance license” fee is based upon the
anticipated number of people in the audience and since that is typically
less than 500 at a Costume Con it would be minimal if you had to buy one
after the fact. More than anything else it would be an annoyance factor
for most regional cons. Dragon Con with 20K people is a different
animal and WorldCons with 5 or 6K might be enough to get their
attention. These are the idiots who have threatened teenagers and
grandmothers for downloading copyrighted music because they really
haven’t caught up to today’s technology and who don’t realize that the
reduced sales of CD’s is because they are charging too much for “poc”
CD’s that contain only one or two worthwhile numbers in 90% of the cases.

It is up to the com-com to decide how much lack of annoyance is worth
and what their potential exposure is, but please don’t lose any sleep
over this silliness.

Marty

Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

>
> Then it sounds like it’s definitely a case of they zeroed in on NASFic.
>
> Bruce
>
> –
>
> ___

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

At 01:47 PM 6/19/2007, you wrote:

> From what I have been able to learn, there are a couple of factors. If
>each music selection is less than 60 seconds, then it is “fair use” and
>no license is needed. (That’s one way to get presentations to speed up
>:-P ). If the number of DVDs produced is less than 500 then AASCAP
>probably won’t do anything more than write a cease & desist letter from
>their in-house counsel as the damages than they could collect (the
>profit on the number of DVDs sold) is insufficient for them to pursue
>further. Also, the “Performance license” fee is based upon the
>anticipated number of people in the audience and since that is typically
>less than 500 at a Costume Con it would be minimal if you had to buy one
>after the fact. More than anything else it would be an annoyance factor
>for most regional cons. Dragon Con with 20K people is a different
>animal and WorldCons with 5 or 6K might be enough to get their
>attention. These are the idiots who have threatened teenagers and
>grandmothers for downloading copyrighted music because they really
>haven’t caught up to today’s technology and who don’t realize that the
>reduced sales of CD’s is because they are charging too much for “poc”
>CD’s that contain only one or two worthwhile numbers in 90% of the cases.

I know. They’re hitting the University of Nebraska hard on this. I
think they’ve threatened about 50 kids. So far they’ve all settled.

Pierre

>It is up to the com-com to decide how much lack of annoyance is worth
>and what their potential exposure is, but please don’t lose any sleep
>over this silliness.
>
>Marty
>
>Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:
> >
> > Then it sounds like it’s definitely a case of they zeroed in on NASFic.
> >
> > Bruce

“Those Who Fail To Learn History
Are Doomed to Repeat It;
Those Who Fail To Learn History Correctly —
Why They Are Simply Doomed.

Achemdro’hm
“The Illusion of Historical Fact”
— C.Y. 4971

Andromeda

Don’t confuse the ASCAP licensing situation with the RIAA bootleg
copying lawsuits.

They are actually different beasties.

Frankly, DragonCon was being just plain stupid, with a 20,000+
conference with a huge online presence, to ignore the fact that they
needed licenses for their performances.

Kevin

Pierre & Sandy Pettinger wrote:

>
> s.
>
> I know. They’re hitting the University of Nebraska hard on this. I
> think they’ve threatened about 50 kids. So far they’ve all settled.
>
> Pierre
>
> >
>

http://www.dragoncon.net/costuming/

Well, beside that it’s ugly…

andy

Ummm… The CC26 logo lurking to the right?

Nora

> —–Original Message—–
> From: runacc@yahoogroups.com [mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
> Andrew Trembley
> Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 1:26 AM
> To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [runacc] What’s wrong with this webpage?
>
> http://www.dragoncon.net/costuming/
>
> Well, beside that it’s ugly…
>
> andy
>
>
>
> View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>