The photo workflow office is back in Orange County, and is still
working like mad to process the over 20,000 pictures that volunteers
shot and turned in. It’s going to take a few days for these to get
uploaded.

But don’t wait! There’s hope!

If you’re a Flickr member, and you shot photos at Costume-Con 26,
please consider adding your convention sets to the Costume-Con 26
group photo pool. We’ve already got two members who have added their
sets, but we would love to see more.

<http://www.flickr.com/groups/cc26/>

andy

There’s a lot of blog buzz coming back about CC26. A majority of posts
say “We had so much fun we’ve got to go back next year.”

You need to recruit a geek to get your online (LJ, email, etc…)
communities up and running, and catch these people into your
communities now and keep their interest up.

andy

If you haven’t heard from other sources, cc26.info is inaccessible at
the moment.

Dreamhost (where we will be hosting our photos) gave us bad instructions
on how to set up the subdomain which broke our site. (All the files are
there, but the Internet DNS doesn’t know where we are).

We backed out the changes, but it is taking a very long time to reappear.

Kevin

CC26: The Lost Diaries is up at

<http://bovil.livejournal.com/tag/conventions>

So here’s the caveats:

This is what I saw directly. This is the “public” version. This is the
“I don’t throw anybody under the train no matter how much they might
deserve it” version. This is the “I don’t slag attendees who created
problems for themselves and others” version.

The not-for-public-consumption version will be posted here at a later
date. It will include complaints that were relayed to me. It will
include stupid committee-member tricks. It will include stupid member
tricks.

andy

In a message dated 5/4/2008 1:14:39 PM Central Daylight Time,
attrembl@bovil.com writes:

> The not-for-public-consumption version will be posted here at a later
> date. It will include complaints that were relayed to me.

Can I start with “Who dresses you? Pul-eeze!” ;P

It will > include stupid committee-member tricks. It will include stupid

> member
> tricks.

Seriously, thanks for your help to me personally, especially Thursday!

Henry

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

PAIR support was able to fix the name server problem, and our site is
live again.

Now I can get started on posting those results. Tomorrow lunchtime at
the latest.

In addition, the special site for the Costume-Con 26 Media Repository
(pix.cc26.info) is properly linked in, so as Chaz and the rest of the
Photography department bring the images online you’ll be able to get to
them from our main website.

Formal announcement about that coming soon. I promised to get the
masquerade results posted for you all, we are still trying to unearth
the house, and I had to promise Andy that I would actually start getting
some sleep.

Kevin

If you want to know what’s being said (at least in public) about
Costume-Con (and your Costume-Con) set up a google alert.
<http://www.google.com/alerts/manage>

You will need a google or gmail ID to create an alert.

I set up alerts for “Costume-Con” (it will match variants without the
hyphen too) and “CC26” (which, unfortunately also finds items with
catalog numbers that match CC26).

Once a day, I get an email with new items on the web that include those
terms, including new public blog entries, web forum entries and updates
to public email list archives. It doesn’t catch everything, but it finds
a lot.

I generally only read the blog entries that popped up, but in a few
cases “I’m looking for some information…” or most recently “I hope the
Warg was OK!” I responded with information the poster was explicitly
asking for.

andy

Does anybody know if CC27 is going to run a video masquerade? What are
the deadlines?

I want to have an idea of when I can start promoting CC28’s VM without
stepping on anyone’s toes.

andy

I’m working my way through the lists. 🙂

The complete list of Historical Masquerade entries at Costume-Con 26 is
now posted on both the events page and the Historical Masquerade page
(the same place the awards were posted yesterday).

In addition, one award left off the list inadvertently has been restored.

Kevin

I’ll ask it here, just in case?

Anybody know the attendance figures for CCs 21 – 23? Henry? Trudy? Dave?

Bruce

Actually, I’d be interested in knowing the actual attendance and also
the total memberships (including supporting and no-shows) for each of
these cons. There’s generally a difference in the number.

Cheers,

-b

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 7:16 AM, Bruce & Nora Mai <casamai@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> I’ll ask it here, just in case?
>
> Anybody know the attendance figures for CCs 21 – 23? Henry? Trudy? Dave?
>
> Bruce

In a message dated 5/19/2008 6:16:44 AM Central Daylight Time,
casamai@sbcglobal.net writes:

> I’ll ask it here, just in case?
>
> Anybody know the attendance figures for CCs 21 – 23? Henry? Trudy? Dave?
>
>
>
>
>

I responded to your request on the D list. Do you want to know it here, also?

Henry

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

Sorry – haven’t had time to read my mail. I believe that we ended up with about 250 in attendence. We had some folks who couldn’t come, but we were able to help them find buyers for their memberships.

Trudy

To: runacc@yahoogroups.comFrom: casamai@sbcglobal.netDate: Mon, 19 May 2008 06:16:07 -0500Subject: [runacc] Convention stats?

I’ll ask it here, just in case?Anybody know the attendance figures for CCs 21 – 23? Henry? Trudy? Dave?Bruce

_________________________________________________________________
Give to a good cause with every e-mail. Join the i�m Initiative from Microsoft.
http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Join/Default.aspx?souce=EML_WL_ GoodCause

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

Finally got this done. This version has been tailored to the Runacc folks –
the D list will be differently organized, condensed a bit and will leave
out some things the casual reader won’t care about.

First of all, I will preface this by saying that this is not just my
opinion, but it reflects the opinions/observations from as many as a dozen
SLCG members who attended the con, plus a few random comments from other
people that were overheard. We tried to be as accurate as possible while
also expressing opinions. I should also mention that the age and
backgrounds of our folks were very diverse this time, yet there was a lot of
agreement on what went right and wrong. Because of the number of people who
contributed to the info for this report, this review is also the most
thorough we’ve done to date.

Every attempt has been made to report accurately, unless I specifically
mention something is a perception or my own personal opinion. I welcome any
corrections: they will be appended to the D list version. (BTW, it’s very
odd that there’s been none of the usual chatter about the con on the D list,
so hopefully, this’ll spark some conversation.)

Because of its extensiveness, I’ll break it down into sections, rather than
one letter. It’ll take some time – I’m still compiling quotes from some
people when I ran the rough draft past our members the first time.

Bruce

Generally speaking, almost all the contact people listed got good marks for
prompt responses to questions. There was one question posed to whoever was
in charge of the Mad Science Fair that went unanswered, which means they
missed an opportunity to have one more exhibit for their display. While the
online registration module seemed to work pretty well, the registration
requirement meant having to remember (and write down somewhere) another
account name and password. For the inattentive person (and let’s face it,
there are a lot of us out there), that probably meant having to have the
password reset. That having been said, one of our members posted,
“Registering for the SF&F masq on-line worked well enough for me. Of course,
I had purchased my membership a year ago and didn’t have a clue what my user
name or password were. A request to have that info sent to the e-mail
address they showed in their records had me up and going quickly. Points for
promptness there. I registered for the masq after the on-line deadline, but
they still managed to get my registration anyway. Nice flexibility on that
point.

One of our people had no success seeing the stage layout on the website. To
quote “The website for CC26 also purported to have a 3D representation of
the stage. I was never able to successfully open it. I didn’t have the
proper software on my computer and was at a loss when Windows asked me what
software to use. I tried several with no success. How do you block your masq
entry if you can’t even find out the stage dimensions?”

General communications: I know how annoying it can be when people keep
asking for the same information repeatedly, but there were also times on the
D list or where, rather than giving details of news, the committee response
was “Go to the website”. This was not the case for the Con Chair, however:
responses were generally very quick and accurate.

Site map navigation was not very comprehensive – the categories were too
general. It would have been more helpful to devote an actual page to each
event, rather than lumping them under “Events”. Site visitors are lazy. I
seem to recall that good website design rules state you should not have to
make the visitor have to click multiple links to find out what they want.
It took two jumps to get to a particular event..

There was no actual hotel info page. There probably should have been more
info like in the early PRs , rather just a link. If they want even more
detail, then they can follow the link.

The Yahoo Chat list was a good idea. It got questions answered in a timely
manner. It was good that the various department heads mostly kept good
communication on it. The list also proved useful for its members to arrange
a trip to the Winchester House on Thursday for those who couldn’t go on the
Monday tour.

Thumbs up for updating the site after the con so that people can see the
masquerade running lists and awards. Even we (CC25) didn’t do that.
(Perhaps we should, particularly in light of the Costume-Connections site
being behind on getting updated).

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

On May 30, 2008, at 4:12 PM, Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

> One of our people had no success seeing the stage layout on the
> website. To
> quote “The website for CC26 also purported to have a 3D representation of
> the stage. I was never able to successfully open it. I didn’t have the
> proper software on my computer and was at a loss when Windows asked me
> what
> software to use. I tried several with no success. How do you block
> your masq
> entry if you can’t even find out the stage dimensions?”

Masquerade stage dimensions were published in plan (overhead) view in
PR3, mailed and posted on the website in mid-January. This ensured that
regardless of computer ownership and net access, everyone who was
pre-registered before our last mailing deadline before the con (I think
2 weeks out) received a copy of the stage dimensions.

3D renderings of the stage were published on February 11. The section of
the website that provided the 3D stage explains that the 3D models were
created using Google Sketchup and had a link to where to download Google
Sketchup. It’s still there, unchanged, if you would like to take a look
(just go to the F&SF or Historical masq pages and search for “February
11” because it’s buried under the results now).

Entrants who reported difficulties getting stage dimensions to the MDs
were either assisted with downloading and installing Sketchup or were
referred to the online copy of PR3.

> Site map navigation was not very comprehensive – the categories were too
> general. It would have been more helpful to devote an actual page to each
> event, rather than lumping them under “Events”. Site visitors are
> lazy. I
> seem to recall that good website design rules state you should not have to
> make the visitor have to click multiple links to find out what they want.
> It took two jumps to get to a particular event.

Site architecture and structure was based upon “Information Architecture
for the World Wide Web” by Morville and Rosenfeld ISBN 10:
0-596-52734-9. It’s a non-technical guide to organizing large sites with
lots of information, written by a pair of librarians.

The different menu sub-sections were extensive enough that providing all
section submenus on every page would have resulted in several pages of
scrolling. Two clicks is less cumbersome than heavy scrolling according
to the usability researchers I read.

The choice was made to not use dhtml, flash or other browser-specific
dynamic technologies that would have allowed float-over to a sub-click.
Ensuring that everything worked in the first place in every browser was
difficult enough. It’s also very difficult to develop a website that
uses these dynamic technologies that degrades well for browsers that
don’t support them.

The site map did provide a link to every page, but it demonstrates how
long the menus would have been.

andy

Only 3 comments:

I have a personal pet peeve: the PDF files for the PRs were a major pain.
Not everyone can open them – not everyone has the latest version of the
reader. Everyone loves PDFs, but they’re a lot of trouble to look at.
Opening them was often hit or miss; every time we closed them we got a
Windows error that made the computer freeze and close the window. Hate
them. HATE THEM.

The article on tipping in PR #4 was unnecessary and vaguely insulting to
some. I know I don’t want to be “advised” as to how to tip. (As a side
note, I was rather surprised by the number of people who said they tipped
the maids.)

There should have been a map to the hotel printed in the last PR, rather
than rely on a map link.

Did I mention that I HATED the PR PDFs?

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

You only need latest version of Acrobat Reader to view PDFs if the PDF
was optimized to use that version. It is possible to create a PDF
that can be viewed in older versions, but it creates a slightly larger
file.

If a number of people had trouble opening the PDFs, then I would
venture a guess that they were not created using Adobe Acrobat, but
some other software which can create PDFs. I have had difficulty in
the past with PDFs created by third party software. I have also seen
PDFs corrupted for no apparent reason, that could not be opened.

That being said, PDF is still a great way to transmit documents that a
wide variety of people need to view without being able to edit.
Acrobat Reader is easy to get and install.

What would you suggest as an alternative to PDFs?

Bruno

Quoting Bruce & Nora Mai <casamai@sbcglobal.net>:

> Only 3 comments:
>
> I have a personal pet peeve: the PDF files for the PRs were a major pain.
> Not everyone can open them – not everyone has the latest version of the
> reader. Everyone loves PDFs, but they’re a lot of trouble to look at.
> Opening them was often hit or miss; every time we closed them we got a
> Windows error that made the computer freeze and close the window. Hate
> them. HATE THEM.
>
> The article on tipping in PR #4 was unnecessary and vaguely insulting to
> some. I know I don’t want to be “advised” as to how to tip. (As a side
> note, I was rather surprised by the number of people who said they tipped
> the maids.)
>
> There should have been a map to the hotel printed in the last PR, rather
> than rely on a map link.
>
> Did I mention that I HATED the PR PDFs?

Hotel

This was probably the best con hotel I, personally, have been in. For me,
it seriously rocked. (On the other hand, apparently a number of people said
it was pretty standard – they’ve been to more hotels than Nora and I’ve
been, I guess.) It was located in a business park, which is what we’ve
been advocating for years.

Things we liked about the Doubletree: Loved the warm cookies they gave you
when you arrived, the staff was friendly and helpful and the meeting rooms
were very spacious. LOVED the outdoor pool and hot tub. San Jose makes a
pretty backdrop, and it felt like a real vacation with the California-style
music playing in the background. We also liked the “overland” outside route
on the second floor from the elevators to the other side of the hotel.

There were a few people who had some problems with either the rooms
themselves (plumbing, doors, etc.), but I don’t think one can entirely avoid
that happening. The real key is how quickly the staff resolves them.

Speaking of not being able to avoid them, the hotel restaurant(s) got mixed
reviews. A number of us liked the café’s open architecture, where people
could see and be seen. The quality of the food, however, seemed to vary
according to who you talked to and when they were eating there. For Nora
and me, our two or three experiences were okay – the food tasted pretty good
and the portions were pretty decent. Another person’s experience at the
hotel restaurants was “uniformly awful”. They said the steakhouse signature
plate was substandard. And more than one person commented on the limited
fare at the café, prompting one reviewer to remark, “Given the lack of
off-site eateries this lead to some very boring meals. Deja food. “Didn’t
I just eat this?”

Unfortunately, this is one of the major drawbacks to locating your hotel in
an office park. The best compromise seems to be to find a hotel near or in
a suburban area where there are restaurant alternatives. The main trick is
whether those alternatives are open on Sunday. We were lucky that we didn’t
get (m)any complaints for our rather secluded location at CC16.

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

I could never find the info I needed on the CC26 web site unless I went to the site map. But the info was always available once I found out its location.

And I am definitely one of the Luddites that could never remember my personal log-in information to get into the “members only” sections of the site.

–Karen

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 7:12 PM
Subject: [runacc] CC26 – Prior to the con

Generally speaking, almost all the contact people listed got good marks for
prompt responses to questions. There was one question posed to whoever was
in charge of the Mad Science Fair that went unanswered, which means they
missed an opportunity to have one more exhibit for their display. While the
online registration module seemed to work pretty well, the registration
requirement meant having to remember (and write down somewhere) another
account name and password. For the inattentive person (and let’s face it,
there are a lot of us out there), that probably meant having to have the
password reset. That having been said, one of our members posted,
“Registering for the SF&F masq on-line worked well enough for me. Of course,
I had purchased my membership a year ago and didn’t have a clue what my user
name or password were. A request to have that info sent to the e-mail
address they showed in their records had me up and going quickly. Points for
promptness there. I registered for the masq after the on-line deadline, but
they still managed to get my registration anyway. Nice flexibility on that
point.

One of our people had no success seeing the stage layout on the website. To
quote “The website for CC26 also purported to have a 3D representation of
the stage. I was never able to successfully open it. I didn’t have the
proper software on my computer and was at a loss when Windows asked me what
software to use. I tried several with no success. How do you block your masq
entry if you can’t even find out the stage dimensions?”

General communications: I know how annoying it can be when people keep
asking for the same information repeatedly, but there were also times on the
D list or where, rather than giving details of news, the committee response
was “Go to the website”. This was not the case for the Con Chair, however:
responses were generally very quick and accurate.

Site map navigation was not very comprehensive – the categories were too
general. It would have been more helpful to devote an actual page to each
event, rather than lumping them under “Events”. Site visitors are lazy. I
seem to recall that good website design rules state you should not have to
make the visitor have to click multiple links to find out what they want.
It took two jumps to get to a particular event..

There was no actual hotel info page. There probably should have been more
info like in the early PRs , rather just a link. If they want even more
detail, then they can follow the link.

The Yahoo Chat list was a good idea. It got questions answered in a timely
manner. It was good that the various department heads mostly kept good
communication on it. The list also proved useful for its members to arrange
a trip to the Winchester House on Thursday for those who couldn’t go on the
Monday tour.

Thumbs up for updating the site after the con so that people can see the
masquerade running lists and awards. Even we (CC25) didn’t do that.
(Perhaps we should, particularly in light of the Costume-Connections site
being behind on getting updated).

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

——————————————————————————

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.4/1475 – Release Date: 5/30/2008 2:53 PM

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

We just visited next year’s hotel, and are very excited. They’ve done a HUGE remodel, and the space looks great! There are food and other amenities close by, too.

I am in the process of looking for a hotel for CC30 that is near the airport and food (and possibly near other amenities, like a fabric store or a Wal-Mart).

CC26’s Doubletree hotel is an old, familiar friend. Have been going to cons there since the first Baycon in 1982. I’ve always liked its layout, and the CC26 committee obviously made a good choice there.

Did any of the CC26 PR’s mention that there was going to be a charge for parking? Several local attendees complained that they were blindsided by the unexpected additional expense, especially if they were commuting to the con vs. staying at the hotel.

(Future con-runners–attendees want to know if there are additional expenses they neeed to budget for, like airport shuttles and parking.)

Re the CC25 hotel–it wasn’t *that* isolated. We ate a couple of times at the Steakn’n’Shake next door.

–Karen

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 8:27 AM
Subject: [runacc] CC26 – The Hotel

Hotel

This was probably the best con hotel I, personally, have been in. For me,
it seriously rocked. (On the other hand, apparently a number of people said
it was pretty standard – they’ve been to more hotels than Nora and I’ve
been, I guess.) It was located in a business park, which is what we’ve
been advocating for years.

Things we liked about the Doubletree: Loved the warm cookies they gave you
when you arrived, the staff was friendly and helpful and the meeting rooms
were very spacious. LOVED the outdoor pool and hot tub. San Jose makes a
pretty backdrop, and it felt like a real vacation with the California-style
music playing in the background. We also liked the “overland” outside route
on the second floor from the elevators to the other side of the hotel.

There were a few people who had some problems with either the rooms
themselves (plumbing, doors, etc.), but I don’t think one can entirely avoid
that happening. The real key is how quickly the staff resolves them.

Speaking of not being able to avoid them, the hotel restaurant(s) got mixed
reviews. A number of us liked the café’s open architecture, where people
could see and be seen. The quality of the food, however, seemed to vary
according to who you talked to and when they were eating there. For Nora
and me, our two or three experiences were okay – the food tasted pretty good
and the portions were pretty decent. Another person’s experience at the
hotel restaurants was “uniformly awful”. They said the steakhouse signature
plate was substandard. And more than one person commented on the limited
fare at the café, prompting one reviewer to remark, “Given the lack of
off-site eateries this lead to some very boring meals. Deja food. “Didn’t
I just eat this?”

Unfortunately, this is one of the major drawbacks to locating your hotel in
an office park. The best compromise seems to be to find a hotel near or in
a suburban area where there are restaurant alternatives. The main trick is
whether those alternatives are open on Sunday. We were lucky that we didn’t
get (m)any complaints for our rather secluded location at CC16.

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

——————————————————————————

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.4/1476 – Release Date: 5/31/2008 12:25 PM

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

I have a fairley spiffy new machine, so I can do all the graphics and some TV editing for our show.
the pdf’s crashed my stuff as well.

While I’m not sure it was actually stated in print, the attitude given off in the years pre-con was that this would be the first fully functional perfect IT costume-con.

it was very far from that.

and the article on tipping was at first I thought, a joke, then I realized it was just rude.

Gravely MacCabre
http://www.castleblood.com
http://www.midnightmonsterhop.com
http://www.myspace.com/thecastleblood
http://www.myspace.com/midnightmonsterhop
clip samples at
http://www.veoh.com/channels/castleblood

—– Original Message —-
From: Ricky & Karen Dick <castleb@atlanticbb.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 1, 2008 11:48:37 AM
Subject: Re: [runacc] CC26 – Prior to the con

I could never find the info I needed on the CC26 web site unless I went to the site map. But the info was always available once I found out its location.

And I am definitely one of the Luddites that could never remember my personal log-in information to get into the “members only” sections of the site.

–Karen

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai
To: runacc@yahoogroups. com
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 7:12 PM
Subject: [runacc] CC26 – Prior to the con

Generally speaking, almost all the contact people listed got good marks for
prompt responses to questions. There was one question posed to whoever was
in charge of the Mad Science Fair that went unanswered, which means they
missed an opportunity to have one more exhibit for their display. While the
online registration module seemed to work pretty well, the registration
requirement meant having to remember (and write down somewhere) another
account name and password. For the inattentive person (and let’s face it,
there are a lot of us out there), that probably meant having to have the
password reset. That having been said, one of our members posted,
“Registering for the SF&F masq on-line worked well enough for me. Of course,
I had purchased my membership a year ago and didn’t have a clue what my user
name or password were. A request to have that info sent to the e-mail
address they showed in their records had me up and going quickly. Points for
promptness there. I registered for the masq after the on-line deadline, but
they still managed to get my registration anyway. Nice flexibility on that
point.

One of our people had no success seeing the stage layout on the website. To
quote “The website for CC26 also purported to have a 3D representation of
the stage. I was never able to successfully open it. I didn’t have the
proper software on my computer and was at a loss when Windows asked me what
software to use. I tried several with no success. How do you block your masq
entry if you can’t even find out the stage dimensions?”

General communications: I know how annoying it can be when people keep
asking for the same information repeatedly, but there were also times on the
D list or where, rather than giving details of news, the committee response
was “Go to the website”. This was not the case for the Con Chair, however:
responses were generally very quick and accurate.

Site map navigation was not very comprehensive – the categories were too
general. It would have been more helpful to devote an actual page to each
event, rather than lumping them under “Events”. Site visitors are lazy. I
seem to recall that good website design rules state you should not have to
make the visitor have to click multiple links to find out what they want.
It took two jumps to get to a particular event..

There was no actual hotel info page. There probably should have been more
info like in the early PRs , rather just a link. If they want even more
detail, then they can follow the link.

The Yahoo Chat list was a good idea. It got questions answered in a timely
manner. It was good that the various department heads mostly kept good
communication on it. The list also proved useful for its members to arrange
a trip to the Winchester House on Thursday for those who couldn’t go on the
Monday tour.

Thumbs up for updating the site after the con so that people can see the
masquerade running lists and awards. Even we (CC25) didn’t do that.
(Perhaps we should, particularly in light of the Costume-Connections site
being behind on getting updated).

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

———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— –

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.4/1475 – Release Date: 5/30/2008 2:53 PM

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

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

If the con had actually been as full as 75Kworth of parties for 6 years would seem to warrant, then it would have pulled in 11-12 hundred folks and this hotel would have been a blessing.
as is it seemed too big and spread out.
but that is not really a problem, most of us could use a few extra steps in our count each day.

although I wonder if the main stage room would have held a con that big. so that’s an interesting question.
Hotels big enough to hold the worlds biggest CC( even tho it didn’t) but the ballrooms would have been too small.

weird to try and budget for when looking at hotels.

rooms were good, overall staff was good, and having the ups place in the hotel was great for us. They were waaaay more expensive than what I paid to have fed ex ship stuff out, but that’s life and certainley not the con coms fault. it was worth it in lack of hassle.

food. well overall I give it a C-. the food in the resturants was not the worst priced we’ve come across, but there were no easy alternatives for people. not even the quickie hotdog/hamburger/6 buck sandwich stands type things that we are used to at cons in the east if they are isolated business park things.

but the service for us was fairley horrible.
waited 2 hours for a burger sunday afternoon

Gravely MacCabre
http://www.castleblood.com
http://www.midnightmonsterhop.com
http://www.myspace.com/thecastleblood
http://www.myspace.com/midnightmonsterhop
clip samples at
http://www.veoh.com/channels/castleblood

—– Original Message —-
From: Ricky & Karen Dick <castleb@atlanticbb.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 1, 2008 11:57:45 AM
Subject: Re: [runacc] CC26 – The Hotel

We just visited next year’s hotel, and are very excited. They’ve done a HUGE remodel, and the space looks great! There are food and other amenities close by, too.

I am in the process of looking for a hotel for CC30 that is near the airport and food (and possibly near other amenities, like a fabric store or a Wal-Mart).

CC26’s Doubletree hotel is an old, familiar friend. Have been going to cons there since the first Baycon in 1982. I’ve always liked its layout, and the CC26 committee obviously made a good choice there.

Did any of the CC26 PR’s mention that there was going to be a charge for parking? Several local attendees complained that they were blindsided by the unexpected additional expense, especially if they were commuting to the con vs. staying at the hotel.

(Future con-runners- -attendees want to know if there are additional expenses they neeed to budget for, like airport shuttles and parking.)

Re the CC25 hotel–it wasn’t *that* isolated. We ate a couple of times at the Steakn’n’Shake next door.

–Karen

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai
To: runacc@yahoogroups. com
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 8:27 AM
Subject: [runacc] CC26 – The Hotel

Hotel

This was probably the best con hotel I, personally, have been in. For me,
it seriously rocked. (On the other hand, apparently a number of people said
it was pretty standard – they’ve been to more hotels than Nora and I’ve
been, I guess.) It was located in a business park, which is what we’ve
been advocating for years.

Things we liked about the Doubletree: Loved the warm cookies they gave you
when you arrived, the staff was friendly and helpful and the meeting rooms
were very spacious. LOVED the outdoor pool and hot tub. San Jose makes a
pretty backdrop, and it felt like a real vacation with the California-style
music playing in the background. We also liked the “overland” outside route
on the second floor from the elevators to the other side of the hotel.

There were a few people who had some problems with either the rooms
themselves (plumbing, doors, etc.), but I don’t think one can entirely avoid
that happening. The real key is how quickly the staff resolves them.

Speaking of not being able to avoid them, the hotel restaurant(s) got mixed
reviews. A number of us liked the café’s open architecture, where people
could see and be seen. The quality of the food, however, seemed to vary
according to who you talked to and when they were eating there. For Nora
and me, our two or three experiences were okay – the food tasted pretty good
and the portions were pretty decent. Another person’s experience at the
hotel restaurants was “uniformly awful”. They said the steakhouse signature
plate was substandard. And more than one person commented on the limited
fare at the café, prompting one reviewer to remark, “Given the lack of
off-site eateries this lead to some very boring meals. Deja food. “Didn’t
I just eat this?”

Unfortunately, this is one of the major drawbacks to locating your hotel in
an office park. The best compromise seems to be to find a hotel near or in
a suburban area where there are restaurant alternatives. The main trick is
whether those alternatives are open on Sunday. We were lucky that we didn’t
get (m)any complaints for our rather secluded location at CC16.

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

———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— –

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.4/1476 – Release Date: 5/31/2008 12:25 PM

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

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

My feeling was that after one got the lay of the land, it was easy to
navigate from one end to the other quickly. I found the staff very friendly and
helpful. I thought the slightly larger rooms were nice, especially with windows
that open up.

The usual hotel restaurant was ok, especially after you got used to
“California Sticker Shock,” as I called it. The Sushi place was good.

It would have been nice to know more about the restaurants in the area
easily. I knew that there was a Domino’s in the area that delivered to your room
because I saw the guy coming off the elevator one day.

Re: CC16, that was my first CC, but not my first con. Driving for eats was
normal for me.

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]

In a message dated 6/1/2008 10:58:26 AM Central Daylight Time,
castleb@atlanticbb.net writes:

> (Future con-runners–attendees want to know if there are additional
> expenses they neeed to budget for, like airport shuttles and parking.)
>

Yes, and yes.

> Re the CC25 hotel–it wasn’t *that* isolated. We ate a couple of times at
> the Steakn’n’Shake next door.

CC25 was last years. they said CC16, which was isolated. But that Chinese
place we went to for dinner one night was great!
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]

The sushi place was good, but the one day we decided to eat there, ther servce was ABYSMALLY slow (as in an hour and a half to get our food), and I missed the Pettingers’ Retrospective as a result, which was one of only two things I really wanted to see at the con. 🙁

–Karen

—– Original Message —–
From: osierhenry@cs.com
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 3:31 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] CC26 – The Hotel

My feeling was that after one got the lay of the land, it was easy to
navigate from one end to the other quickly. I found the staff very friendly and
helpful. I thought the slightly larger rooms were nice, especially with windows
that open up.

The usual hotel restaurant was ok, especially after you got used to
“California Sticker Shock,” as I called it. The Sushi place was good.

It would have been nice to know more about the restaurants in the area
easily. I knew that there was a Domino’s in the area that delivered to your room
because I saw the guy coming off the elevator one day.

Re: CC16, that was my first CC, but not my first con. Driving for eats was
normal for me.

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]

——————————————————————————

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.4/1476 – Release Date: 5/31/2008 12:25 PM

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

Re CC16 vs. CC25. Sorry. Must’ve misread it. We planned on going to CC16, and then had to bail at the last minute. CC16 became the first of a string of 5 CC’s in a row we missed. 🙁

–Karen

—– Original Message —–
From: osierhenry@cs.com
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 3:39 PM
Subject: Re: [runacc] CC26 – The Hotel

In a message dated 6/1/2008 10:58:26 AM Central Daylight Time,
castleb@atlanticbb.net writes:
> (Future con-runners–attendees want to know if there are additional
> expenses they neeed to budget for, like airport shuttles and parking.)
>

Yes, and yes.

> Re the CC25 hotel–it wasn’t *that* isolated. We ate a couple of times at
> the Steakn’n’Shake next door.

CC25 was last years. they said CC16, which was isolated. But that Chinese
place we went to for dinner one night was great!
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]

——————————————————————————

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.4/1476 – Release Date: 5/31/2008 12:25 PM

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

Just to make sure everyone knows: Our hotel has FREE PARKING!. and FREE
Wireless Internet access in the sleeping rooms and the lobby. Also
there are at least a dozen restaurants (in all price categories) within
3 miles of the hotel, including a very good 24 hour diner slightly over
1/2 mile away. We’ll make sure to put this in the PR’s.

Marty

In a message dated 6/1/2008 4:41:44 PM Central Daylight Time,
MartinGear@comcast.net writes:

> Also
> there are at least a dozen restaurants (in all price categories) within
> 3 miles of the hotel, including a very good 24 hour diner slightly over
> 1/2 mile away.

Do any deliver?

Henry

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

The CC 25 hotel wasn’t isolated at all, especially if you had a car (as we did). There was good info on availability of food and shopping, too. The absence of a restaurant guide was a weakness for CC 26; while we had a car, we had no knowledge of what was available nearby. As one who strongly disliked both the steakhouse and the café, I certainly would have looked elsewhere for food if a guide had been provided.

Byron

—– Original Message —–
From: Ricky & Karen Dick<mailto:castleb@atlanticbb.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: [runacc] CC26 – The Hotel

We just visited next year’s hotel, and are very excited. They’ve done a HUGE remodel, and the space looks great! There are food and other amenities close by, too.

I am in the process of looking for a hotel for CC30 that is near the airport and food (and possibly near other amenities, like a fabric store or a Wal-Mart).

CC26’s Doubletree hotel is an old, familiar friend. Have been going to cons there since the first Baycon in 1982. I’ve always liked its layout, and the CC26 committee obviously made a good choice there.

Did any of the CC26 PR’s mention that there was going to be a charge for parking? Several local attendees complained that they were blindsided by the unexpected additional expense, especially if they were commuting to the con vs. staying at the hotel.

(Future con-runners–attendees want to know if there are additional expenses they neeed to budget for, like airport shuttles and parking.)

Re the CC25 hotel–it wasn’t *that* isolated. We ate a couple of times at the Steakn’n’Shake next door.

–Karen

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com<mailto:runacc%40yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 8:27 AM
Subject: [runacc] CC26 – The Hotel

Hotel

This was probably the best con hotel I, personally, have been in. For me,
it seriously rocked. (On the other hand, apparently a number of people said
it was pretty standard – they’ve been to more hotels than Nora and I’ve
been, I guess.) It was located in a business park, which is what we’ve
been advocating for years.

Things we liked about the Doubletree: Loved the warm cookies they gave you
when you arrived, the staff was friendly and helpful and the meeting rooms
were very spacious. LOVED the outdoor pool and hot tub. San Jose makes a
pretty backdrop, and it felt like a real vacation with the California-style
music playing in the background. We also liked the “overland” outside route
on the second floor from the elevators to the other side of the hotel.

There were a few people who had some problems with either the rooms
themselves (plumbing, doors, etc.), but I don’t think one can entirely avoid
that happening. The real key is how quickly the staff resolves them.

Speaking of not being able to avoid them, the hotel restaurant(s) got mixed
reviews. A number of us liked the café’s open architecture, where people
could see and be seen. The quality of the food, however, seemed to vary
according to who you talked to and when they were eating there. For Nora
and me, our two or three experiences were okay – the food tasted pretty good
and the portions were pretty decent. Another person’s experience at the
hotel restaurants was “uniformly awful”. They said the steakhouse signature
plate was substandard. And more than one person commented on the limited
fare at the café, prompting one reviewer to remark, “Given the lack of
off-site eateries this lead to some very boring meals. Deja food. “Didn’t
I just eat this?”

Unfortunately, this is one of the major drawbacks to locating your hotel in
an office park. The best compromise seems to be to find a hotel near or in
a suburban area where there are restaurant alternatives. The main trick is
whether those alternatives are open on Sunday. We were lucky that we didn’t
get (m)any complaints for our rather secluded location at CC16.

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

———————————————————-

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.4/1476 – Release Date: 5/31/2008 12:25 PM

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

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

Yes, some do deliver, and we’ll have a restaurant guide as a part of our
packets.

Marty

osierhenry@cs.com wrote:

>
> In a message dated 6/1/2008 4:41:44 PM Central Daylight Time,
> MartinGear@comcast.net <mailto:MartinGear%40comcast.net> writes:
> > Also
> > there are at least a dozen restaurants (in all price categories) within
> > 3 miles of the hotel, including a very good 24 hour diner slightly over
> > 1/2 mile away.
> Do any deliver?
>
> Henry
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
> ————————————————————————
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 269.24.4/1477 – Release Date: 6/1/2008 5:28 PM
>

Yeah, see – that’s the point. In my opinion, one can’t rely on people to
keep up with changes. Everyone has different levels of comfort
ability/competency with technology. As long as they get what they need out
of stuff, they don’t care what needs updating. It’s the old adage, “If it
ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

Nora raised another good point after I read your letter to her – there are a
lot of people who surf at work and some of them may not have computers
equipped with the latest Adobe reader – or even at all. Also, we have two
computers – one is a Win98, and we can’t upgrade to a higher one.

I didn’t know I needed the update. Maybe we’d have figured it out, but I
don’t think our computer gave us a pop up that said, “Hey, you need to
update”. Anyone with less computer savvy, say, like my parents, would have
just shaken their heads and never have written to the webmaster, con chair,
etc. and asked for help. Granted, they’re a little older than most of our
community yet, but many of our folks know just enough computer stuff to get
by.

As for an alternative, I don’t have one. Paper is still the best way to go,
despite its expense. Unless the con wants to have “exclusive” content only
for the PRs, the same info is going to be available on their website, PDF or
not. Who cares if some people won’t get to see them online?

Bruce

> —–Original Message—–
> From: runacc@yahoogroups.com [mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
> Bruno
> Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 11:34 PM
> To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [runacc] CC26 – Progress Reports
>
> You only need latest version of Acrobat Reader to view PDFs if the PDF
> was optimized to use that version. It is possible to create a PDF
> that can be viewed in older versions, but it creates a slightly larger
> file.
>
> If a number of people had trouble opening the PDFs, then I would
> venture a guess that they were not created using Adobe Acrobat, but
> some other software which can create PDFs. I have had difficulty in
> the past with PDFs created by third party software. I have also seen
> PDFs corrupted for no apparent reason, that could not be opened.
>
> That being said, PDF is still a great way to transmit documents that a
> wide variety of people need to view without being able to edit.
> Acrobat Reader is easy to get and install.
>
> What would you suggest as an alternative to PDFs?
>
> Bruno
>
>
> Quoting Bruce & Nora Mai <casamai@sbcglobal.net>:
>
> > Only 3 comments:
> >
> > I have a personal pet peeve: the PDF files for the PRs were a major

pain.

> > Not everyone can open them – not everyone has the latest version of the
> > reader. Everyone loves PDFs, but they’re a lot of trouble to look at.
> > Opening them was often hit or miss; every time we closed them we got a
> > Windows error that made the computer freeze and close the window. Hate
> > them. HATE THEM.
> >
> > The article on tipping in PR #4 was unnecessary and vaguely insulting to
> > some. I know I don’t want to be “advised” as to how to tip. (As a side
> > note, I was rather surprised by the number of people who said they

tipped

> > the maids.)
> >
> > There should have been a map to the hotel printed in the last PR, rather
> > than rely on a map link.
> >
> > Did I mention that I HATED the PR PDFs?
>
>
>
> ————————————
>
> View the Document: http://www.Costume-Con.org/procedure/runacc/Yahoo!

Groups

> Links
>
>
>

The Offsite Activities

The selection of scheduled offsite activities was pretty good, although if
you wanted any information about that, finding them on the website was
impossible. I double-checked this again just recently – still can’t find
them in a casual search. It was more reliable in the Progress Reports (the
paper ones). However, if you weren’t on the CC26 chat list, you were pretty
much in the dark for any updates.

Reports are most trips were very successful and enjoyed by all, although
apparently there was supposedly a tech/junk shop trip scheduled for Monday
that did not happen because no transportation was arranged ahead of time.

That was my first CC as well 🙂

I carpooled with someone so I had no transportation of my own. I
don’t have a clue what I ate all weekend while confined to the hotel.

Bruno

Quoting osierhenry@cs.com:

>
> Re: CC16, that was my first CC, but not my first con. Driving for eats was
> normal for me.
>
> Henry Osier

I thought there was one, but I don’t think I got it until after I’d
gone exploring. I’d just pick a direction and drive for a while
looking for food. The best direction at CC25 was I believe North past
the Steak & Shake.

Bruno

Quoting Byron Connell <bpconnell@verizon.net>:

> The CC 25 hotel wasn’t isolated at all, especially if you had a car
> (as we did). There was good info on availability of food and
> shopping, too. The absence of a restaurant guide was a weakness for
> CC 26; while we had a car, we had no knowledge of what was
> available nearby. As one who strongly disliked both the steakhouse
> and the café, I certainly would have looked elsewhere for food if a
> guide had been provided.
>
> Byron

We’ve had to accept that at a con, we usually are stuck with eating
at the hotel for most of our meals. For a weekend, that’s generally
do-able. For a 4, 5 or 6 day stay, it gets OLD really fast!

Food quality at the atrium restaurant was adequate. It was the
service which was dreadful. And the menu was very limited, especially
for people who had strong dislikes for, or allergies of, certain
foods. Deja food indeed!

The steak house I would give mixed reviews. On the day we arrived we
were dog-tired and really wanted protein, so we made the mistake of
eating there. My steak (which I ordered without any saucing) was
good, though not so VERY good as to justify the price they were
charging (I’ve had better supermarket steak). Byron’s steak might
have been good, except that their sauce chef clearly had no idea how
to create a proper sauce, which rendered the steak itself rather
unpalatable. What capped it for us were the onion “rings”, which were
chopped up into pieces, mostly with the breading falling off as a
result, and served sitting in a large pool of grease. Yuck!

The sushi bar was my personal treat (I love sashimi; Byron doesn’t).
I had no service problems, because I patronized it when it wasn’t
very busy. Service was prompt and the food was good and attractively
served.

As for restaurants in the neighborhood, I do vaguely recall some
mention of what was around as a chat topic, but since we didn’t print
that out and bring it with us, and did not have the time to explore,
it wasn’t any help. We only found the Trader Joe’s because I had gone
on line before leaving and printed out a map of its location.

At CC16, food opportunities were limited. We found a nice Italian
restaurant a moderate distance’s walk down the hill. But we also had
the dis-pleasure of discovering “St. Louis style” pizza – inferior
sauce on a cardboard (and perforated, so that it fell apart in one’s
hands!!) crust. Won’t ever do that again!

Tina

— In runacc@yahoogroups.com, “Bruce & Nora Mai” <casamai@…> wrote:
>
> Hotel
>
> Speaking of not being able to avoid them, the hotel restaurant(s)
got mixed
> reviews. A number of us liked the café’s open architecture, where
people
> could see and be seen. The quality of the food, however, seemed to
vary
> according to who you talked to and when they were eating there.
For Nora
> and me, our two or three experiences were okay – the food tasted
pretty good
> and the portions were pretty decent. Another person’s experience
at the
> hotel restaurants was “uniformly awful”. They said the steakhouse
signature
> plate was substandard. And more than one person commented on the
limited
> fare at the café, prompting one reviewer to remark, “Given the lack
of
> off-site eateries this lead to some very boring meals. Deja
food. “Didn’t
> I just eat this?”
>
> Unfortunately, this is one of the major drawbacks to locating your
hotel in
> an office park. The best compromise seems to be to find a hotel
near or in
> a suburban area where there are restaurant alternatives. The main
trick is
> whether those alternatives are open on Sunday. We were lucky that
we didn’t
> get (m)any complaints for our rather secluded location at CC16.
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Confirmed. It appears all the folks planning on going on the trip
(including the leader) were riders in need of a driver. Coordination
on this particular trip was…lacking… I ate lunch and fiddled
around with my computer when it became clear the trip wasn’t
materializing.

Too bad, too, because I was way interested in checking out the tech
stuff myself. (The EL wire panel was great inspiration.)

Then again, I suppose if the trip had happened, we wouldn’t have had
so many last-minute entries in the Mousekerade…

-B

On Sun, Jun 1, 2008 at 11:36 PM, Bruce & Nora Mai <casamai@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> The Offsite Activities

[snip]
>
> Reports are most trips were very successful and enjoyed by all, although
> apparently there was supposedly a tech/junk shop trip scheduled for Monday
> that did not happen because no transportation was arranged ahead of time.

The following is my own personal opinion. Your mileage may vary…

Regarding PDFs and web sites in general:

I hate to say this but speaking as a former web professional, I still
tell clients who ask that PDFs should not be relied on as the sole
source of conveying information. I’ll agree that they’re a great
timesaver, and the ability to retain formatting across platform is a
boon, but the very first sentence below presents a possible major
problem to folks who aren’t tech savvy. It doesn’t matter how pretty
the formatting is if the end user can’t open the file.

I still encounter people who have no idea how to install software
(even as simple as Reader) on their computers, and there are still
computers in operation (as Bruce pointed out) running much older
versions of operating systems than most technicians would consider
appropriate.

I can also understand Andy’s take on the navigation issues, but there
ought to have been a better way to address the architecture so that
the navigation made sense to the average user. We’re really talking
about lowest common denominator here, in both cases. Until we’re
certain all of our users have enough of a technical clue, we need to
remember that if the information is buried too far down, it won’t be
found.

(Witness: A few weeks ago, Kevin mentioned that it was too bad the
Costume-Con history wasn’t on the web site anymore. It *is* there,
buried one layer down in a submenu and not on the main page. He just
needed to know that I put it there because I considered it to be a
part of the procedures. It’s also on the top of the main Costume-Con
gallery page.)

If you really want to be sure everyone can get to the data you’ve put
up online, find one of your tech-challenged friends and ask him/her to
navigate the site for different things. If you encounter frustration,
you know you’ve got a navigation problem.

And one more thing. More than once, when I couldn’t find something I
really REALLY wanted a search function. I’ve been totally spoiled by
Google – if I need info, I type it in, hit enter and viola! I can find
a link to the info I need.

The Costume-Con.org site is way out of date at this point, but as I
upload the files to the new server I’m attempting to correct some of
the worst problems. The search function on the site doesn’t work well,
but it does work…

See disclaimer above.

-b

On Sun, Jun 1, 2008 at 12:34 AM, Bruno <bruno@soulmasque.com> wrote:
> You only need latest version of Acrobat Reader to view PDFs if the PDF
> was optimized to use that version. It is possible to create a PDF
> that can be viewed in older versions, but it creates a slightly larger
> file.
[snip]

In a message dated 6/1/2008 10:43:48 PM Central Daylight Time,
bruno@soulmasque.com writes:

> I carpooled with someone so I had no transportation of my own. I
> don’t have a clue what I ate all weekend while confined to the hotel.

That would have been Purina Kostumer Kibble! Now with more Organ Meats!

Henry

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

RRegarding the limited menu- running a limited menu for the weekend was
the trade-off to get them to extend the restaurant hours.
We did make a point of warning them about the mid-evening die-off
that would be followed by a post-event rush for food and they actually
*listened*. I can recall a few CCs where the restaurant manager decided
everyone had left and closed shop, so there was no food available after
a masquerade.

Regarding the service problems —
We became aware of the problem and did our best to push on it during
the weekend (to little avail, I’m afraid), but this was a major
complaint we lodged with the management in our post-con followup. The
most egregious instance appeared to be Sunday afternoon, when the
manager in charge of the sushi/sake bar in the lobby kept it open, as
specified in our contract, but didn’t schedule anyone to actually work
there other than the sushi chef. Major unhappiness, and we’re sorry it
happened. Sunday was also a day when Gurdeep, our Doubletree liaison,
was off site. The general manager was very unhappy when he heard the
service complaints.

Kevin
r

Yeah, nobody said St. Louis was known for pizza. And even here, you either
love it or hate Imo’s, which is the most well-known producer of that type.

Bruce

> —–Original Message—–
> From: runacc@yahoogroups.com [mailto:runacc@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
> tinathebookworm
> Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 6:36 AM
> To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [runacc] Re: CC26 – The Hotel
>
>
>But we also had
> the dis-pleasure of discovering “St. Louis style” pizza – inferior
> sauce on a cardboard (and perforated, so that it fell apart in one’s
> hands!!) crust. Won’t ever do that again!
>

Registration is an important contact point for first impressions.
Unfortunately, this was where some problems were encountered. “Thursday
night pre-registration badge pick up was ill prepared. The badges were not
even laminated and the laminating job was poorly done to boot. (You’re not
supposed to place the item you want to laminate up against the fold of the
card holder and if you do that by mistake then you supposed to flip the item
over and run it through again.) The entire top half of my badge was not
sealed and the staffer who was laminating also forgot to remind people that
the badge would be hot from going through the laminator.” A number of
people had wondered why the badges had not been laminated ahead of time.

There was one particular person at the Reg table who put people off for a
number of reasons. At times, they were rude and inconsistent with checking
identification. For instance, they requested ID from one person in a couple
or family, then didn’t require it from the other people in their group. The
same person shouted at one woman who had a well-behaved service dog,
demanding that the dog had to “be under control at all times”. Wow. The
dog had a grey muzzle – it’s not like it was bouncing around.

At least there wasn’t a traffic problem where Registration was located, nor
was the wait overly long, or this would have added insult to injury.

(Sidenote from Nora – the guy dressed as “The Matrix’s” Mr. Smith at the
table amused her.)

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

We were part of the line that quickly developed Thursday night waiting for badge lamination. Fortunately, the concom realized it was going to be a problem (especially when the bulk of the attendees showed up to Registration the following day–we had visions of the whole lobby being clogged with lines of waiting people), and assigned somebody to laminate the rest of the badges overnight.

I assume the badges were not laminated ahead of time because the concom didn’t want to laminate badges for attendees that didn’t show up to the con, and then reversed the decision when it proved penny wise and pound foolish.

–Karen

—– Original Message —–
From: Bruce & Nora Mai
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 8:18 AM
Subject: [runacc] CC26 – Registration

Registration is an important contact point for first impressions.
Unfortunately, this was where some problems were encountered. “Thursday
night pre-registration badge pick up was ill prepared. The badges were not
even laminated and the laminating job was poorly done to boot. (You’re not
supposed to place the item you want to laminate up against the fold of the
card holder and if you do that by mistake then you supposed to flip the item
over and run it through again.) The entire top half of my badge was not
sealed and the staffer who was laminating also forgot to remind people that
the badge would be hot from going through the laminator.” A number of
people had wondered why the badges had not been laminated ahead of time.

There was one particular person at the Reg table who put people off for a
number of reasons. At times, they were rude and inconsistent with checking
identification. For instance, they requested ID from one person in a couple
or family, then didn’t require it from the other people in their group. The
same person shouted at one woman who had a well-behaved service dog,
demanding that the dog had to “be under control at all times”. Wow. The
dog had a grey muzzle – it’s not like it was bouncing around.

At least there wasn’t a traffic problem where Registration was located, nor
was the wait overly long, or this would have added insult to injury.

(Sidenote from Nora – the guy dressed as “The Matrix’s” Mr. Smith at the
table amused her.)

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

——————————————————————————

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.6/1480 – Release Date: 6/3/2008 7:00 AM

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

Actually, it was both simpler and more complicated than that.

The printer for the pre-reg labels failed, so badge assembly was delayed.
In addition, part of the Thursday initial backup was due to the chief
lamination volunteer not spotting the box of additional carriers (the
cardboard you put the unlaminated parts in to run them through the
laminator). Once those were found they could take advantage of the
wide-bed laminators and do multiple badges at a time.

We *did* make a conscious decision to not pre-laminate youth or
kid-in-tow badges (because at-con guardian contact info had to be added
to the back of those); we also held off on many badges with fan names to
make sure we had them right before laminating. The plastic lamination
pouches were the critical (and most expensive) component of our badges;
I know from past experience that finding them on short notice in
quantity on a weekend can be next to impossible, so we were trying to
avoid having to laminate badges more than once. We were less worried
about the no-show factor, because those pouches were already figured
into our purchase.

(By way of example, one attendee simply wanted the letter “E” on her
badge. That was one we opted not to laminate until we confirmed she
didn’t want anything else.)

As to the problems with requesting ID and a staff member shouting, I’m
sorry to hear that and you have my apologies.
Our at-con reg staff was almost entirely composed of folks on loan from
BayCon (so they could test-run their new badging procedures and
processes on a smaller convention before having to handle BayCon
itself), and it sounds like they were definitely some glitches in their
workflow. It still doesn’t excuse rudeness.

Kevin

Ricky & Karen Dick wrote:

>
> We were part of the line that quickly developed Thursday night waiting
> for badge lamination. Fortunately, the concom realized it was going to
> be a problem (especially when the bulk of the attendees showed up to
> Registration the following day–we had visions of the whole lobby
> being clogged with lines of waiting people), and assigned somebody to
> laminate the rest of the badges overnight.
>
> I assume the badges were not laminated ahead of time because the
> concom didn’t want to laminate badges for attendees that didn’t show
> up to the con, and then reversed the decision when it proved penny
> wise and pound foolish.
>

The Program book: The book was adequate, but the most glaring item was the
reprint of the PR article on tipping. A number of people found these
suggestions unnecessary at least, and insulting at worst. And the weapons
policy, while necessary to have, seemed excessively long, given it was a
whole 2 pages worth.

The Pocket Program was adequate and readable, but emphasized an impression
of sparseness of programming (see the following Programming review).

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect was the lack of a convention packet
loaded up with “goodies”. Said one, “The “packet” that came with the badge
contained almost nothing. There was the con program, a pocket program, and
a post card. WTF. Where are all the goodies I have come to expect in a con
swag bag. With all the “staff” this con boasted, surely someone could have
hit up the local businesses for free shtuff. Being as we were in Silicon
Valley, you would think they could have hit up the on-line businesses for
discounts and freebies if we order things via internet. Nada, Zilch,
Bupkis.”

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

In a message dated 6/3/2008 7:19:23 AM Central Daylight Time,
casamai@sbcglobal.net writes:

> (Sidenote from Nora – the guy dressed as “The Matrix’s” Mr. Smith at the
> table amused her.)

Note to self: Grow hair longer. Get contacts. I have been wanting to do that
for years! Henry

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

On Jun 3, 2008, at 5:29 PM, Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

> The Program book: The book was adequate, but the most glaring item
> was the
> reprint of the PR article on tipping. A number of people found these
> suggestions unnecessary at least, and insulting at worst.

Feel free to be insulted. You could choose to look at the article with
fresh eyes, though.

This sort of article isn’t uncommon in program books and convention
newsletters across the country (remember, I haven’t always lived in
California), and is a regular in Worldcon program books and
newsletters. Why?

Not everybody has been going to conventions and staying in hotels for
over a decade. This is particularly an issue with traveling
conventions that draw from outside the normal local and regional
convention circuits. At one of the pre-convention GBACG salons we
talked with some folks who were coming, but had never in their lives
stayed in hotels. Not even a Motel 6. Some people just don’t know
these things.

There’s also the issue of international travelers. Tipping customs may
be standard across the US, but I would never travel outside the US
without reviewing local tipping standards. We knew we had attendees
from the UK (where a 10% gratuity is often included in your restaurant
bill) and Japan (where offering any sort of gratuity is an insult). I
believe all of them are well-traveled enough to think about these
things, but it’s still something to remember.

Please consider that this article may not have been written for you.
It was written for the folks for who never stayed in a hotel before.
It was written for the kids who started staying at convention hotels
as soon as one of their friends was old enough to make a reservation
and check in, who never learned about hotel tipping from their
parents. It was written for the folks who don’t understand the reality
of income tax for hospitality-industry employees.

Because, you know, we had attendees who fit in all those categories.

andy

One of the biggest and diverse we’ve seen in a number of years. One of our
people stated a preference for not grouping all the same types of dealers
together. Personally, I could be persuaded either way on that one, but
cons usually don’t even have the luxury of organizing in that fashion.
Another questioned having ready-made costumes, but not everyone sews.
Ready-made costumes can really help one’s hall-costume repertoire, I think.
The room was good sized and the aisles were wide enough for traffic and
lighting was sufficient.

The only puzzling thing was there were people checking badges at the door.
It would seem that it would be beneficial to the dealers to be open to
anyone in the hotel who might want to discover the costuming supplies,
rather than keeping it only available to the convention attendees.

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

We checked badges for two reasons:

1) If the dealer’s room is not marked as badged we lose the right to
control access at all.

2) I didn’t want motivation for the local cosplayers (who are notorious
for wanting to spend no money except on shopping) to cruise in, hit the
dealer’s room, and never bother joining the convention at all. That
may sound cynical, but it is a very real situation. We did have the
dealer’s room open to the public on Monday.

Badging the dealer’s room is normal practice for Bay Area conventions,
by the way.

Kevin

Bruce & Nora Mai wrote:

>
>
> The only puzzling thing was there were people checking badges at the door.
> It would seem that it would be beneficial to the dealers to be open to
> anyone in the hotel who might want to discover the costuming supplies,
> rather than keeping it only available to the convention attendees.
>

I too wondered about the many dealers of ready made costumes.
We chalked it up to life styles of the californian costume world.
many many people out there WEAR costumes all the time, to anime cons, regency dances, renfaires, etc… and it seems like a larger majority aren’t concerned with making it, as much as just having it, enjoying it, and enjoying their events
this would go along with the fact that as a percentage of attendees goes, californian CC’s ALWAYS have small masquerades in relation to the size of the con.

not good, not bad, don’t even have an opinion, just trying to analyze the data so future cons know what to plan for.

I’m also not surprised that it seemed like more than half of the ready to wear was for men.

Gravely MacCabre
http://www.castleblood.com
http://www.midnightmonsterhop.com
http://www.myspace.com/thecastleblood
http://www.myspace.com/midnightmonsterhop
clip samples at
http://www.veoh.com/channels/castleblood

—– Original Message —-
From: Bruce & Nora Mai <casamai@sbcglobal.net>
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 3, 2008 11:31:46 PM
Subject: [runacc] CC26 – Dealers Room

One of the biggest and diverse we’ve seen in a number of years. One of our
people stated a preference for not grouping all the same types of dealers
together. Personally, I could be persuaded either way on that one, but
cons usually don’t even have the luxury of organizing in that fashion.
Another questioned having ready-made costumes, but not everyone sews.
Ready-made costumes can really help one’s hall-costume repertoire, I think.
The room was good sized and the aisles were wide enough for traffic and
lighting was sufficient.

The only puzzling thing was there were people checking badges at the door.
It would seem that it would be beneficial to the dealers to be open to
anyone in the hotel who might want to discover the costuming supplies,
rather than keeping it only available to the convention attendees.

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

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