So how was the convention?

[wombat_socho]

I think this says it all.

Total attendance: 2,542
Warm body count: 2,464

Staff morale after closing ceremonies: Outstanding.

I think our training wheels came off somewhere on American Boulevard; whoever wants 'em can have 'em.

Comments

[433.livejournal.com]

Wow, congrats! Sorry I missed it!

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

We missed you, man!

[stuckintraffik.livejournal.com]

Yeah! Who's gonna give me a cooler of dry ice now?

[basilpsyche.livejournal.com]

Awesome! So this means it's going to be even bigger next year, right? ^^

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

It'll be bigger, but we're not going to add almost a thousand people like we did between 2005 and this year's convention. Nobody on staff (that I'm aware of, anyway) wants us to get to the size of ACen, much less Katsucon or Otakon. Least of all the new chairman - he was thinking out loud about a staff orientation field trip to ACen this year so that anyone thinking running a 7000+ convention would be cool would be properly traumatized. I believe his line was "There are lines to get in the lines."

Anyway, thanks for your help this year! You're coming back next year, right?

[tokenfanboy.livejournal.com]

Personally I think we need to keep to the 2500 attendance cap until we can move to a bigger hotel. The Thunderbird actually handled this year's attendance fairly well. The hallways by the video rooms moved pretty smoothly.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

Yeah, removing the couches from the halls and being aggressive about keeping the halls clear worked wonders. I'm sure the attendance cap will be a hot topic at the staff post-mortem.

[tokenfanboy.livejournal.com]

I think more people are against splitting function space into 2 hotels then are against a registration cap. I know I am definitely against 2 hotels. If the Thunderbird says it's okay with the fire-codes, I'd rather just increase the cap by 200-300, which would be modest growth, and stay in one location. Quickly finding a larger hotel for 2008 is a must if we do decide we want to grow.

[tokenfanboy.livejournal.com]

Clarification: I mean that more Staff, specifically, are against 2 hotels. I don't know what the membership at large would think.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

For better or worse, we depend on the staff and volunteers to reflect the opinions of the membership at large; doing it any other way would turn this into a complete democracy, and that would keep us from getting anything done in a timely manner.

The problem of moving some of the programming (and I include Artists' Alley and the Art Show in this, even though they're a separate department) into the Marriott is a fairly complicated one. I don't know if the staff is against the idea of two hotels so much as they're concerned about the additional work and the possible "orphan" status of whoever/whatever gets moved over there. It would certainly make things a lot more complicated, but I think we need to at least thrash out the question with all the pros and cons discussed rather than just rejecting it out of hand. I'm not the chairman next year, so it's really stuckintraffik's decision.

[stuckintraffik.livejournal.com]

I think we need some room for growth, and I think the T-Bitd still has a little bit of it, but Tokenfanboy's right that we don't have much of it left. It's going to be a debate issue, but right now I just want to ride the wave a little longer. We have plenty to do yet, but plenty of time to do it in. And, after all, we rock.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

We have plenty to do yet, but plenty of time to do it in. And, after all, we rock.

We do indeed.

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

he was thinking out loud about a staff orientation field trip to ACen this year so that anyone thinking running a 7000+ convention would be cool would be properly traumatized.

ACen is about the biggest con that I would care to casually attend.

I might someday go to Otakon again with friends, but if I do, I'd rather be volunteering/otherwise helping the staff, just hanging around in that large a crowd is a bit much.

So in other words, the bigger/worse it is, the more enthusiastic I get about staffing it. I work better when there's more work for me to do...

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

So you want to work Registration next year? I'm not sure danae is staying on next year, and pkat wants to move on to a more active position in another department.

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

Eh, maybe. I was thinking of asking around some of the departments and see if anyone required someone to basically run around all weekend, since I know from Sogen I *do* have the stamina to do that sort of thing...

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

I think there are a number of departments that can use a runner. I'll ask around.

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

Yeah. While I realize having someone sitting and generally manning something like ops, it sometimes seemd to me I wasn't doing anything useful sitting around there most the day. Especially since as I said, I do have just the sheer stamina that I can be running around for the better part of the weekend...

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

They also serve who only sit around waiting for trouble, but I understand how you feel about it. Something will turn up; there's always a need for gofers.

[willow-one.livejournal.com]

I was pleased that despite the upped attendance numbers, the maturity level also seemed to have gone up. I only had to stop stupidity in the programming rooms once this year, woot!

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

With the exception of a handful of fuckwits, we did seem to have much less trouble this year. Here's hoping it stays that way next year.

[thaadd.livejournal.com]

Congrats for surviving. I swear I'd go and help, if I actually could name more than 3 anime movies that I'd seen (and liked).

[danae.livejournal.com]

you don't need to have seen any anime to be part of an anime con, just ask Anton. And really when you're on staff you don't get to see anything anyways, you just work

[thaadd.livejournal.com]

Yah, but it comes down to - paying for a con, to which I can not get even sideways benefit from. If I could go, and just work, I might just do that. But then the border of paying your volunteers/comping staff becomes thoroughly crossed. Slippery slope, and all that.

As it is, I have my 'working Con' Convergence, and my 'attending Con' Minicon - but as I work Sat and Sunday DAYS (holding down the fort at the Comicbook store) I can even only ten go after 6pm.
Sigh.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

And really when you're on staff you don't get to see anything anyways, you just work

That really shouldn't be true for anyone except maybe the Chairman, and he deserves slack too. I suspect since the new Chairman has someone onsite to keep him from working himself to death, he'll do better at that than I did. Or you, for that matter, but you work too hard anyway. I think it's wired in. ;)

Way to go!

[zippychik.livejournal.com]

Congrats, Wombat!!! See all your hard work did pay off in the end! Maybe some of that will rub off on our festival (not anime though) next week.
www.syrfilmfest.com

Re: Way to go!

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I had a LOT of help from my staff and volunteers, and the hotel staff were just fantastic. Next year should be even better, but I can wait a while to start working on that one.

[willow-one.livejournal.com]

I STILL Can't deal with the fact that we just blew past CONvergence's attendance numbers... it like... seems WRONG.

Not that I'm trying to say we're competing or anything, I just can't handle the idea of them not being bigger than us because our size is SCARY. *hides*

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

What's really scary is the thought that for a lot of these kids, this has been their first and only con. I mentioned Convergence last year at closing ceremonies and their attendance jumped - coincidence or scary correlation? What's going to happen if even a third of our kids decide they want to check out the science fiction convention? I gotta help feed and hydrate all those people!