This was put together by Nora, myself and Karen Heim on our way back home
from CC. I usually wind up writing more than one version of it to fit the
space. Here, I’m going to break it up so the letter(s) are not so long.Keep in mind, these are our personal opinions. We are merely expressing
what WE believe were the strengths and weaknesses of the convention. And I’
m sure that there will be explanations for some things we had questions
about.
Having attended several CCs (and run one ourselves), we became concerned by
statements from some CC21 committee members to the effect that running a CC
would be no different than general SF cons they had organized locally.
While there are similarities, Costume-Con has some very different demands.
Given that CC committees often have members who cannot attend local
meetings, communication becomes paramount for things to run smoothly.
If there is one thing that seemed to stand out about this Costume-Con, it
was the communication gaps during the planning stages. There was both a
lack of communication between staff (or at least certain ones) and between
some staffers and people who bought memberships to CC21. The reasons for
delays often seemed to be a result of procrastination: either someone didn’t
have the answers, or the questions were forwarded to someone else who did
not respond in a timely manner. While I understand Life happens, there
should have been better
follow-up to make sure the questions were answered. Occasionally, inquiries
were directed to the website for answers, rather than just providing the
answer outrigtht. There were also gaps in communicating decisions made by
the committee in-town to the those who were out of town. More than once, we
only found out about some decisions months after the fact – or at the con.
Another major point of frustration was the inconsistancy of the Progress
Reports that were supposed to be sent to people who bought memberships.
Several SLCG members who pre-registered waited for up to a year to recelve
their PR #1, despite my inquiring 3 times on their behalf. The most
irritating response (after promises to look into the delays) was, “they can
download it from the CC21 website”. Where PRs are frequently the only
acknowledgement of receipt of payment, this was/is not acceptable. Most of
our people eventually got all their PRs, but only after several inquiries
over a year and a half.
The progress reports themselves were mostly redundant from one issue to the
next, merely repeating info from the previous issue. The last one should
have had an actual map showing the location of the hotel, with approaches
from several directions. Written directions were not adequate, in our view.
Stage size information was repeatedly asked for by many people, yet somehow
this couldn’t seem to be found out from the hotel until 2 weeks or so before
the con — after PR #3(?). And then, when the info was published on the
CC21 website, it turned out when we got there that the stage was smaller.
It was not clear to me whether this was the hotel’s fault or someone
neglected to actually investigate what kinds and sizes of stage risers the
hotel actually had.
Speaking of the website, while the info posted was mostly adequate,
navigation was difficult because some links were not clearly defined. For
instance, there was no direct link to the hotel info off the splash page.
The Venue
There apparently were still serious hotel negotiation problems less than a
year out from the con, evidenced by the Reservations department saying they
knew of no “Costume Con 21”, and thus would not quote a con block rate.
Combined with the problems with PR #1, the SLCG got so fed up at one point
that we reserved a block of rooms through a travel agency to get close to
the promised con rate. (I was personally in favor of it to deny the
convention some room nights.) We eventually cancelled them once the
blocking issue was resolved.
Arrival
Fortunately, actually being at CC21 proved to be considerably more pleasant
and less frustrating. The Doubletree was well-located, with plenty of food
and shopping within easy walking distance. Free parking was another plus.
The free chocolate chip cookie at check-in (delicious!) was a nice touch.
Housekeeping was very prompt and attentive. Check-out procedure was a
breeze. Closet space was decent, but the bathrooms were small. They had
decent showers, though.
Function space was adequate for the programming that was offered. We noted
that there were no water set-ups for the Friday Night Social, nor for the
panels throughout the weekend, however.
Thursday notes:
When we arrived, there was a large group of people (most of them SLUTs, as
it turned out) waiting in the lobby, who were under the impression they
should meet there for a field trip at 3:00 p.m. They waited for
approximately 90 minutes before someone called to find out where the guide
was. (At the very least, there appears to have been a miscommunication
about the time for meeting).
There was no indication of any accommodation for early arrivals to pick up
their membership packets. The Con Suite was not open, but apparently some
people got their packets late that evening. That was news to us.
Friday notes:
There was no start time for programming in the last PR. That would have
been useful to know what was to occur. Since registration didn’t open till
Noon (not in the PR either), it would have been helpful to set up a
large-size version of the pocket program on an easel to refer to until
people had a chance to pick up their membership packets. (Registration
should open before programming starts, by the way.)
Programming notes:
Though some people may disagree, 10:00 a.m. seems to be a good time to start
the days’ panels. It gives people time to get up, get dressed and have a
relatively leisurely breakfast. The panels themselves appeared to be well
thought-out and had knowledgeable speakers. It was good to see different
names, rather than the usual people tapped to speak. The panels were listed
in alphabetical order (it made finding them easier) but not all of them had
the speakers’ names associated with them. This became a problem in the
situations where there was a no-show – no one knew who was supposed to lead
the panel. But at least the cancellations were followed up to inform
attendees. It just had the appearance that there were an unusually high
number of cancellations on some of the more interesting-sounding topics.
Friday Night Social:
The Chicago Mob theme seemed to work pretty well. The party room on the top
of the hotel had a nice view, the big dance floor and the live band playing
era music was a nice touch.
The choice of hors d’oeuvres was slightly strange, with a lot of meats and
less than normal vegetable matter (carrots, celery — that sort of stuff).
Costume-Con 21 hall awards didn’t seem to get handed out until sometime
later in the evening, and we’re not sure that they were distributed any
other time during the weekend (that we could see).
Everyone appeared to have a pretty good time. The only minor complaints
were that there weren’t enough chairs for people to sit down.
Bruce