Our attendance was right around 900, just under CC8’s record. They were the two largest Costume-Cons until Costume-Con 32 in Toronto (2014).

Sharon,

If you’re working with Aurora, IIRC, I sent her all the information for
CC31.

Michael

On 2016-03-23 13:29, Sharon Sbarsky sbarsky@gmail.com [runacc] wrote:
> I started my post giving the long list of Worldcons and Smofcons as
> examples. Those are kept is pseudo spreadsheets as html table pages.
> I’ll be willing to setup a Google doc that can be shared (or embeded
> in the costume-con.org [2] site.
>
> Yes, the last 10 years are most relevant to budgeting and planning,
> but the ~25 years before is also useful for historical reasons. 😀
>
> Can someone post the last 10 here? Or as many of them that are known?
> I didn’t search the entire archive of this group.
>
> Sharon
>
> On Wed, Mar 23, 2016 at 4:01 PM, Betsy Marks Delaney
> aramintamd@gmail.com [runacc] <runacc@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> It’s an interesting set of statistics, but would be better
>> maintained in a spreadsheet. Do we have data for the last 10? I
>> wouldn’t go further back than that.
>>
>> -Betsy
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 23, 2016 at 3:45 PM, Sharon Sbarsky sbarsky@gmail.com
>> [runacc] <runacc@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>>
>> I’d also be interested in attendance numbers.
>> http://www.costume-con.org/gallery2/main.php [1] has information for
>> dates, locations, etc. but not attendance.
>>
>> Can those numbers be posted here, or sent to me? Mostly interested
>> for budgeting purposes, including room nights and function space
>> sizes needed/used, F&B spent, etc.
>>
>> Any budgets (especially with final numbers)  that can be shared
>> would be useful as well.
>>
>> Sharon

IMHO, WorldCons & SMOFCons, while interesting, bear little resemblance to CostumeCons – especially relating to size and budget.  CC30, for example, was considered to be a great size, and our attendance was 365!

Aurora and Sharon,

CC31 was also underbilled by the hotel. I blame many changes in their
staff and not keeping up with the details of a 3 year old contract. I
only pointed out specifics of the contract when it was to my advantage.

Michael

On 2016-04-10 09:25, osierhenry@cs.com [runacc] wrote:
> All my exact numbers are on a CD ROM that is in a file box in storage.
> I do remember that CC28 only had about 275 people. I have no memory of
> how many CC21 had, but I know we were extremely luckily with the hotel
> bill. We are very certain they underbilled us.
>
> Henry Osier
>

At CC32 our main ballroom was 7140sq ft,

CC31 Registration numbers by year. The majority of years 1 & 2 are CC
regulars and ConCom and a few very eager locals. Most locals who had
never been to CC didn’t register until < 1 year out. Most locals are
not accustomed to registering for a convention more than a year out and
were unwilling to commit.

Membership numbers.

First year after voting (5/10 – 4/11): 78
Second year (5/11 – 4/11): 15
Third year (5/12 – 4/13): 265
At the Door (4/13 – 5/13): 121

Michael

On 2016-04-10 15:24, Sarah A Bloy berzerker.prime@gmail.com [runacc]
wrote:

> Actually, in the information can be tracked down, having numbers of
> preregistrations would be helpful. There have been a number of times
> during this process that CC34 has wondered about prereg vs at the door
> memberships.
>

So, talked to a woman about a hotel for 2018. She told me that their asking $189 and upwards per night for cons. She says they’re asking $169 this year. Most of the bids that I got back from the hotels were $179 and up.  Of course, this one hotel wanted $279.  They’re on Mission Bay.

The single pattern on a friday was only done since CC-27, and I’m not sure it has been done every time since then., so, less than 20% of cc’s have done that.
tho I do recomend it, just from the point that it doesn’t make people choose between it and the fashion show, for the two more mild competitions at the con, which is why I put it on friday to begin with.

but there’s no constitutional claim on when it is. or, at least there wasn’t back when I lived in the same house as the constitution lol

Ricky

Gravely MacCabre http://www.castleblood.com http://facebook.com/gravelymaccabre http://www.etsy.com/shop/gravelymaccabre tv show clip samples at http://www.veoh.com/channels/castleblood

——————————————–

On Fri, 4/15/16, Sarah A Bloy berzerker.prime@gmail.com [runacc] <runacc@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Subject: Re: [runacc] Hotel room rates and why
To: “runacc@yahoogroups.com” <runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Friday, April 15, 2016, 10:04 AM

Actually, Single Pattern is usually done during
the Friday Night Social.

On April 13, 2016, at
10:27 PM, “Betsy Marks Delaney aramintamd@gmail.com
[runacc]” <runacc@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

The answer is that traditionally
(for certain levels of “traditionally”) CCs were
held on four-day weekends and the Historical was generally
Sunday night. Packing out Sunday means the masquerades are
moved to different days, which throws the traditional
structure out of whack.
The general format (subject to
change over time) has been:
Friday morning ICG
meeting
Friday Night Social
Saturday SF/F Masquerade
Sunday Afternoon Single Pattern/Future
Fashion Show
Sunday Historical
Masquerade
Monday pack-out/dead
dog/Mouse-kerade

Packing all those competitions into
a weekend that starts on Thursday night seldom works for
folks, regardless of tradition.
Your mileage may vary, but
that’s generally what’s specified in the
ConStitution.
-b

On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at
9:41 PM, beckieboo817@yahoo.com
[runacc] <runacc@yahoogroups.com>
wrote:

So, talked to a woman about a hotel for 2018. She told me
that their asking $189 and upwards per night for cons. She
says they’re asking $169 this year. Most of the bids
that I got back from the hotels were $179 and up.  Of
course, this one hotel wanted $279.  They’re on Mission
Bay.
Also, why is it we go
Thursday night through Monday? Could we make it Wednesday
night through Sunday? She also “complained” about
that saying they usually get blocks that way;…..

—
Betsy Marks Delaney

http://www.hawkeswood.com/

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I prefer the Single Pattern on Friday, (which is why we did it at CC32), it’s nice to not have to choose between participating

——– Original message ——–
From: “‘Kaijugal .’ kaijugal@hotmail.com [runacc]” <runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Date: 04/16/2016 10:37 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [runacc] Single pattern on a Friday (Was: Hotel room rates and why)

I prefer the Single Pattern on Friday, (which is why we did it at CC32), it’s nice to not have to choose between participatingin the Fashion Folio and the Single Pattern and enables us to support both shows.

Dawn McKechnie –  Director – Cosplay Events – Anime NorthAnime North – Canada’s Premiere Fan-Run Anime Convention!www.animenorth.com

To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
From: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2016 14:21:36 +0000
Subject: Re: [runacc] Hotel room rates and why

The single pattern on a friday was only done since CC-27, and I’m not sure it has been done every time since then., so, less than 20% of cc’s have done that.

tho I do recomend it, just from the point that it doesn’t make people choose between it and the fashion show, for the two more mild competitions at the con, which is why I put it on friday to begin with.

but there’s no constitutional claim on when it is. or, at least there wasn’t back when I lived in the same house as the constitution lol

Ricky

Gravely MacCabre http://www.castleblood.com http://facebook.com/gravelymaccabre http://www.etsy.com/shop/gravelymaccabre tv show clip samples at http://www.veoh.com/channels/castleblood

——————————————–

On Fri, 4/15/16, Sarah A Bloy berzerker.prime@gmail.com [runacc] <runacc@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Subject: Re: [runacc] Hotel room rates and why

To: “runacc@yahoogroups.com” <runacc@yahoogroups.com>

Date: Friday, April 15, 2016, 10:04 AM

Actually, Single Pattern is usually done during

the Friday Night Social.

On April 13, 2016, at

10:27 PM, “Betsy Marks Delaney aramintamd@gmail.com

[runacc]” <runacc@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

The answer is that traditionally

(for certain levels of “traditionally”) CCs were

held on four-day weekends and the Historical was generally

Sunday night. Packing out Sunday means the masquerades are

moved to different days, which throws the traditional

structure out of whack.

The general format (subject to

change over time) has been:

Friday morning ICG

meeting

Friday Night Social

Saturday SF/F Masquerade

Sunday Afternoon Single Pattern/Future

Fashion Show

Sunday Historical

Masquerade

Monday pack-out/dead

dog/Mouse-kerade

Packing all those competitions into

a weekend that starts on Thursday night seldom works for

folks, regardless of tradition.

Your mileage may vary, but

that’s generally what’s specified in the

ConStitution.

-b

On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at

9:41 PM, beckieboo817@yahoo.com

[runacc] <runacc@yahoogroups.com>

wrote:

I can see where you might try to skew the con dates Thur-Sun to get a better rate, but it may cost you some room nights for people (mostly locals) who can’t get time off). I know the San Diego market is an expensive one when it comes to hotel rates, because it’s a tourist town and the weather is good year-round. Hotels don’t need convention business to fill rooms, so they can charge what they please. This was an issue for the two I ran in the 1980’s, and it’s probably more of an issue now.

I would assume if the con ran Thur-Sun vs. Fri-Mon, you would shift all the events back 24 hours from their usual days. So the Social would be Thur, the F&S/F would be Fri, and the Fashion Show/Historical Masq. would be Sat. Then a half day of programming and pack-out on Sunday.

The Single-Pattern is NOT a mandatory competition, but people really like it. Drafting a pattern can be difficult, so the competition removes that factor and lets people get creative with fabric choice, embellishment, and design changes. If possible, I would prefer that the Single Pattern competition not be held the same day as the Fashion Show, as it inevitably leads to less entries in the Fashion Show. The Single Pattern seems to work well in combination with the Social, because attendees who participate in the Single Pattern competition then don’t have to dither about what they’re going to wear to the Social, which is a win-win.

–Karen

Don’t know if anyone from the Montreal proto-bid for CC38 in 2020 is in this group, but I suspect someone from this group will know how to get word to them.

I need someone from the Montreal proto-bid to contact me with basic information about their bid, and committee, so I can update the Costume-Con.org web site. Please use email address janusaries55@gmail.com for me, as it is checked daily, vs. infrequently.

I believe they contacted me before through IM on FaceBook, which is notorious for being poorly scrollable, and unsearchable.

Thanks,

–Karen
CC Founder

Connected off list.

On Tuesday, April 19, 2016, janusaries55@gmail.com [runacc] <runacc@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Don’t know if anyone from the Montreal proto-bid for CC38 in 2020 is in this group, but I suspect someone from this group will know how to get word to them.

I need someone from the Montreal proto-bid to contact me with basic information about their bid, and committee, so I can update the Costume-Con.org web site. Please use email address janusaries55@gmail.com for me, as it is checked daily, vs. infrequently.

I believe they contacted me before through IM on FaceBook, which is notorious for being poorly scrollable, and unsearchable.

Thanks,

–Karen
CC Founder

 

 

 

It’s an excellent topic, Betsy, and I’m glad you’re bringing it up before it becomes an issue (and will be for the D list and BOD too).

Information can be wiki-archived, yes, and wikia seems to be an easy enough platform to migrate info to and keep updated, since most fandoms have their wiki pages on wikia. But for continued discussion, I would suggest a forum.

Forums can be as public or private as the group needs, and I believe even wikis can have their own forums attached so hosting might not be an issue. It allows for topical discussion and creation of new topics all the time, and easy searching for a discussion that might have ended. The only “issue” as I can see it is that people can be lazy and not physically click the link in their bookmarks to go to the site and log in to view and respond on the forums, but I think it telling that mailing lists have long since fallen out of fashion and use while forums are still widely used.

Everyone interested in the topic of running Costume-Cons would simply have to bookmark a new site and dedicate themselves to checking it once in a while. Hell, most forums have options to email you when someone has responded to your comment, so you wouldn’t miss it. Which reminds me that while livejournal has fallen out of use because of its complete lack of functionality, there is also Dreamwidth, which is formatted the way livejournal used to be pre-2007 and works extremely well, though it would be a little more cumbersome to form a community there, because everyone who wanted to post and respond would need to make (free) journal accounts for it.

The one thing no group can do is simply rely on social media platforms that either are likewise falling out of use or are mechanically inconducive to discussion. For example, I would never attempt to hold a discussion on tumblr, its mechanics don’t allow for anything but one person’s opinion being reblogged a thousand times.

Stace

I was just informed although I asked 6 weeks ago that I need to create the ballot.  When I looked on Costume-Con.org, it says that it’s a write in vote.  So, do I make it with just blank lines because I did find the ballot template on the website?

I want to apologize to CC34 because I think my first email came over snarky…..I’m truly sorry.

So – it’s time
once again for the much anticipated SLCG review of Costume-Con.    For
anyone who hasn’t seen one yet, we started doing these years ago to pass the
time while driving back from the con.   Over the years, it became a way to give feedback
to future concoms, with the hope they might avoid some of the usual pitfalls
that seem to happen when organizing and running a Costume-Con.   

A caveat:
these are merely opinions expressed by our members.  They are not the only opinions, but
they usually represent a good cross-section of experiences.   So of course, it’s all subjective.   But we like to think we are giving useful, constructive
criticisms.  

So – stuff
that happened before the con.

The CC34
committee is to be commended for recognizing the importance of communications.   They
get high marks for prompt replies to questions and resolved any issues with the
hotel, updates to the con website, etc. quickly.    We
hope that future concoms will follow their example.

Their promotion
efforts were exemplary as well.   They made
good use of social media, with 2 different Facebook pages – one for official
announcements and one for attendees to talk about their plans, ask Staff questions,
etc.  There was also the YouTube channel.  That’s a first – very forward-looking.   It should be noted that Social Media is
supplanting forums – Cosplay.com used to be pretty important for reaching out
to the younger demographic, but no longer.
(Don’t leave out those who are still subscribed to the ICG-D Yahoo Group.)   They also did a lot of travelling to regional cons – mostly anime – to
try to drum up interest.  

Note to future
concoms:  Using web page forms to have
people submit panel programming ideas is probably the wave of the future.  However, do not rely on them exclusively.  This could lead to a shortfall of programming
if not enough people submit.  Not
everyone, especially of the older generation, are used to them.     Also,
the programming person should make an attempt to vet panel submissions: people
can claim all sorts of expertise that actually falls short of the mark in actuality.

Costume-Con
34’s Future Fashion Folio was the first to be produced using PowerPoint and
then exported as a document.   It was
also the first to be published in a horizontal format.   Feedback by recipients was positive.   As for content, there were more designers,
more NEW designers, and the designs accepted were, on the whole, more easily
made up.

Again, a caveat:  These are opinions, based on our personal experiences.   If there are any corrections, I’m sure the CC34 concom will speak up.

We
appreciated being able to pick up pre-reg packets on Thursday evening.   It was also nice to receive a “swag bag” of
various freebies, including the catalogs and spray hair coloring samples.  

The program
book looked good.   The one complaint was
the lack of a printed pocket program.

Aware of
this before the con, a few of us printed out the online version from the
website.   The alternative was to rip it
out of your program book, but we saw people schlepping the whole book around at
the con, so maybe this was not as much an issue as we thought?

In lieu of
the printed version, there was a schedule app for smartphone. The  app worked well enough, but the drawback a few
of us saw was that after you marked what panels you wanted to see, it was
difficult to see the whole schedule –  if
someone asked you about some other panel you weren’t interested in, it was more
difficult to pull up, or if you were looking for a friend who might be in a
different panel.  The app also didn’t
allow for two people with the same email address with two different
schedules.   It was nice that it did send
you an email to notify you about what your schedule was each day.   We did hear positive feedback from some
attendees who could schedule not just their panels, but also their tech times,
etc.  The
app’s website  updated your
schedule throughout the day, with the past events no longer shown.  This meant for less scrolling.  

We’ll admit
it’s probably a generational thing, but there are a lot of “old-timers” who do
not exclusively rely on phones or may not be comfortable or willing to learn
the application.  Therefore, we hope
future concoms will continue to print pocket programs.    At
least there was a large-size schedule poster taped up in the hall of the
convention center to refer to.

Quotes from
some of our members:

“Can’t say I agree with the
decision to not print a pocket program.  I ended up ripping out the center
pages of my program book.  As for the schedule app, I didn’t know there
was such a thing until I (heard about it in our initial review on our Yahoo group).
(This person disagreed with the “great communication” on that point.)  When
I got home, and could again check e-mails, I noticed I got 4 e-mails saying
that I had not scheduled anything that day.  Wow, that was
effective.  The problem with making blanket pronouncements about apps and
such, is it assumes we all have the same tech available to us.  We
don’t.   Anyone can carry a pocket program with them.  They didn’t
need to print out one for everyone.  A few dozen, available at
Registration would have sufficed.  They could have been in a pile under a
sign that said, “Ask us about the CC34 schedule app.”  So far this
e-mail sounds like I was really unsatisfied with Registration.  Couldn’t
be further from the truth.  (…I) had a problem at Registration and it was
cleared up quickly and neatly.  Couldn’t be happier.  Just don’t
agree that schedule app and pocket program has to be an either/or thing.”

 From another member:

“I only knew
about the ap because (we) got the email with the link. Once I had
the con send me my own email the ap worked well. I admit ( I did get some
help to) show me how to get an icon to
appear on my home screen.  Other than that I liked it.”

And from this one:

“I don’t have a smartphone
and I don’t rip pages out of books, so I was one of the members carrying the
full program book around. Fortunately, it wasn’t very thick so that that wasn’t
very burdensome. I very much liked the web site feature that let you identify
specific program items — which was not limited only to a smartphone app — and
was pleasantly surprised to get daily e-mails reminding me of the schedule I
had chosen for that day. Unfortunately, I don’t check e-mail until the evening
and so received each reminder at the end of the day rather than the beginning
(or the previous evening)!

 The program book at least
included (1) a map, (2) a schedule grid, and (3) program descriptions that
included the program title, a description of the topic, and the program
participants’ names. While this may seem pretty basic, it is surprising how
many cons (SF as well as CCs) fail to provide all three elements. One problem
for me was that the times the green room opened to entrants was different in
some competition information from that on the grid (see the FFS for an
example).

The large map and especially
the lavish posting of direction signs helped me a lot to get around the con.  I suggest that other CC’s follow suit”

The Madison
Marriott West was familiar to a few of us – it’s the same one used for
Teslacon.   It was sorta weird being
there for CC – it wasn’t real cold outside.
The rooms were nice, and hotel food seemed to be a little better than we
remembered.  One nice thing we noticed
was there lots of electrical outlets, thanks to some of them being in the table
lamps.   There was free wifi in the
convention center that’s attached to the hotel, but you had to pay if you
wanted it in your room (boo!).    Free parking – always appreciated.   The convention didn’t use all the function
space, so having enough was not a problem.
There were a couple of complaints about Housekeeping, but overall, they
were okay.  At least they were thorough
about cleaning rooms.   It was odd that
they didn’t have much in the way of towel racks in the bathroom.  The clothing racks were kind of low –
possibly to make them handicapped accessible?
It would be great if hotels would have extra hooks on the walls of the
room for more hanging space.  And there
was a hot tub and pool, but the hot tub was a bit hot, and the pool was rather
warm – but hey they had a hot tub.

Opinions
about the rest of the hotel staff (mainly the front desk) were mixed.    Some of us had good experiences, but others
did not.

“I would not
return there as a guest. I tended to feel rushed in the dining room, although
that was perhaps a result of overly eager staff trying to meet my needs. I
wanted to tell them that, when I wanted something I’d ask for it,.and that I
wouldn’t know whether I wanted anything more until I finished what I was
eating. I found the front desk staff bureaucratic and procedurally rigid. One
day, we had to call housekeeping after 4:30 to ask if our room would be
serviced. When the housekeeper showed up, she claimed we had a do-not-disturb
sign on our door, which we had removed by 9:45 that morning.”

“Similarly,
the staff did not seem to treat the con as a big function for the hotel, and
perhaps it wasn’t, compared with the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin
Broadcasters Association. (We certainly did not fill the bar the same way the
broadcasters did.)

By  contrast, one
staffer offered to pick
people up from the restaurant across the street with the shuttle, if it was
raining.

Speaking of the restaurant across the street, It
was very handy to have a really good restaurant that close – Sprecher’s has
lots of good choices.  Every year, those
of us who go up for Teslacon find  more
and more choices popping up around the area..

——– Original message ——–
From: “casamai@sbcglobal.net [runacc]” <runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Date: 06/01/2016 9:42 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: runacc@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [runacc] SLCG Costume-Con Review: The Hotel

---

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we had the same problems with getting our room cleaned and getting new/fresh supplies

but at least there weren’t too many pillows on the beds

Ricky

Gravely MacCabre http://www.castleblood.com http://facebook.com/gravelymaccabre http://www.etsy.com/shop/gravelymaccabre tv show clip samples at http://www.veoh.com/channels/castleblood

——————————————–

On Wed, 6/1/16, Trudy Leonard georgialei@hotmail.com [runacc] <runacc@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Subject: RE: [runacc] SLCG Costume-Con Review: The Hotel
To: “costumecon committee” <runacc@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2016, 11:10 PM

We had good experiences with front desk
staff, but our room was not cleaned the entire time we were
there. I had signed up for their Green program, which I
understood to mean that linens would not be changed out for
the first three days, but they
were not changed at all. Trash was not emptied, toilet
paper and tissues not replaced. We had to call down to the
desk for towels, tp , etc which were delivered promptly, but
we did have to ask. We never had a “Do no disturb”
sign out. Did anyone else have
this problem?
Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Smartphone

—- casamai@sbcglobal.net [runacc] wrote —-

The Madison
Marriott West was familiar to a few of us – it’s the
same one used for Teslacon.
It was sorta weird being there for CC – it wasn’t
real cold outside.
The rooms were nice, and hotel food seemed to be a
little better than we remembered.
One nice thing we noticed was there lots of
electrical outlets, thanks to some of them being in the
table lamps.
There was free wifi in the convention center that’s
attached to the hotel, but you had to pay if you wanted it
in your room (boo!).
Free parking – always
appreciated.   The convention didn’t use
all the function space, so having enough was not a
problem.
There were a couple of complaints about Housekeeping,
but overall, they were okay.
At least they were thorough about cleaning
rooms.   It was odd that they didn’t have
much in the way of towel racks in the bathroom.
The clothing racks were kind of low – possibly to
make them handicapped accessible?
It would be great if hotels would have extra hooks on
the walls of the room for more hanging space.
And there was a hot tub and pool, but the hot tub was
a bit hot, and the pool was rather warm – but hey they had
a hot tub.

Opinions about
the rest of the hotel staff (mainly the front desk) were
mixed.
Some of us had good experiences, but others did
not.

“I would not return there as a guest. I tended to
feel rushed in the dining room, although that was perhaps a
result of overly eager staff
trying to meet my needs. I wanted to tell them that, when I
wanted something I’d ask for it,.and that I wouldn’t
know whether I wanted anything more until I finished what I
was eating. I found the front desk staff bureaucratic and
procedurally rigid. One day,
we had to call housekeeping after 4:30 to ask if our room
would be serviced. When the housekeeper showed up, she
claimed we had a do-not-disturb sign on our door, which we
had removed by 9:45 that
morning.”

“Similarly, the staff did
not seem to treat the con as a big function for the hotel,
and perhaps it wasn’t, compared with the University of
Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.
(We certainly did not fill the bar the same way the
broadcasters did.)

By
contrast, one staffer offered to pick people up from the
restaurant across the street with the shuttle, if it was
raining.

Speaking of the restaurant across
the street, It was very handy to have a really good
restaurant that close – Sprecher’s has lots of good
choices.
Every year, those of us who go up for Teslacon find
more and more choices popping up around the
area..

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It appeared
to be stocked well all the time, though a bit light on meat protein, as the
“locusts” kept eating the lunch meat as rapidly as it was put out, which left
some out in the cold with only cheese and peanut butter for sandwiches.  At least there were hard boiled eggs
available.  The room was staffed at all
times and they restocked as needed.   An
interesting couple of other choices we don’t’ see often were rice and ramen
noodles.  There was also mac and cheese
bowls.   We noted that there was always milk for
cereal.   So there can be no complaints
that there wasn’t SOMEthing to eat.

The Suite
was always clean and the staff was pleasant.
We noticed that the morning people were working the mornings and the
late night people didn’t conk out in the early evening.   Smart!

Suite
sponsorships – Toronto had Poutine, Maple cookies and Canadian-made candies for
their party after the SF masq.    Instead of Sunday night,  CC36  sponsored Saturday morning, but we didn’t see
anything different, food-wise.    The
SLCG spent a little more money for the Sunday morning breakfast so that there were breakfast
sandwiches with meat protein.  We also brought
up St. Louis favorite gooey gutter cake for a local treat.

While there
were some name brand sodas in the coolers, there was at least one complaint.

“I found the selections very
limited in general; in particular, they had no Dr. Pepper.  When I asked about it, I was told they would
have someone pick some up on the next soda run (or perhaps it was “next
time”, referring to potential future events; it wasn’t quite clear).  In any event, no Dr. Pepper appeared”.

Also this:

“Should probably mention the con
suite being a ‘dry county’.  Can’t say I agree with that decision.  I
can understand not serving us alcohol, but we should be free to bring our own,
especially with a microbrewery and World of Beer just across the street where
we can buy some really good beers to share with others.”

“Also
the fact that some people had made a special effort to bring  local or
homemade alcoholic beverages with them.”

The Suite closed
just after Green Room opened, thus giving the staff a little bit of a
break.   That’s probably a good
idea.    It reinforces the idea of getting people to go
to the main events.  And keeping it
closed until after the masq is over (including the awards) is good, so that
people don’t snipe the food in the meantime.
This was a problem at CC26.  

Some new
people still didn’t know about the Suite.
Not sure how much more can be done about that, but  everyone In the “My First Costume-Con” panel
was told about it..

Future Con
Suite Coordinators, take note:  In the
CC34 Suite, when the meat plates were put out, the Roast Beef disappeared
first, followed by the Turkey, and the Ham was last.  Also, check with the hotel about electrical
loads when having hot pots, coffee pots, microwaves and toasters all running in
the same room, because it might blow a fuse.

No signs
were put out to indicate who sponsored what night – nothing in the Program Book
either.   There should have been some acknowledgement,
even if it was just hand-written signs in the Suite.

I have my people who are helping me to run CC36 requesting Actual Budgets for previous cons. The only one I have is for CC30 thanks to Elaine Mami and Marg Grady. But they say that’s too old (even though it’s only 4 years old). CC31 lost theirs on a hard drive crash. Same for CC32 and CC33 lost theirs with a Windows 10 install. My question is, can we have a central area where we put this stuff so that future cons have references? I mean, it would be nice to see the trends of various cons of membership buying, how much they charged for their dealer’s tables/booths, and just basic expenditures. I have 31’s numbers for when he sold what. I have his room night numbers (but again they say that’s too old). Oh and forget Toronto because that’s Canada. (their words, not mine)

I remember there was some talk of moving this off Yahoo and in to another format. What info I have gathered is on my Google Drive in folders and am willing to share but it would be nice to have more info.  Because the more info you have, the better you can make your con and give your attendees a better experience.

So, if anyone has actual budgets for previous costume cons, please let me know.

The people that are requesting this kind of info have run Westercons, Worldcons, World Fantasy Cons so they’re different from a Costume Con but it is still the same kind of info which should make the con a better experience.