.....
The document that spawned CP 101. Note: While Lynati has interjected a few comments [mostly inside brackets], most of this "introduction" comes straight from:
Aaron Wheeler’s post-2003 con advice
"Okay, before we go any further, I'd like to say that neither this
or I am the be-all and end-all of Gathering advice. There have been seven
Gatherings now, and unless you've actually been on staff and behind the
scenes, I don't think anyone can truly appreciate the amount of hard work
that goes into one of these. I have the greatest and most profound respect
for everyone who's worked on one of these, (Well, except Thomas Revor)
and especially for the suc- I mean, hearty souls who sign up for more
than one of these. I don’t know how you do it, and I have no intention
of finding out. [and then, he went and allowed himself to be talked
into joining staff for the 2005 Gathering...] But, since I know there
are a couple of people interested in bidding for 2005, I thought I'd put
up something they might find helpful.
Staff burnout hurts future cons, because about the time you get the knowledge
and experience you need, you're so brainfried you don't want to ever do
anything like it again. This leaves every successive staff to essentially
reinvent the wheel. Eventually, I think it would be really nice if a bunch
of former constaffs could get together and write a kind of how-to pamphlet
for future bids. [Which is rather the purpose of this project.]
I know the thing I said more than any other during the last month before the con was “If I’d known then what I do now…” (Well, the complete thought was “If I’d known then what I do now, I wouldn’t have signed up for this.”) Anyway if anybody's interested in this project, feel free to drop us a line here or via email. [Lynati_1@hotmail.com ] I’m sure I’ll have overlooked something important, and that there will be snippets to add for years to come.
Now, without further ado, Aaron's
long-winded and somewhat depressing con advice-ramble-thingy. (With help
from Mara)
Know what you're getting into. The Gathering is a metric buttload of work.
Depending on how high you are in the staff chain, it's going to eat most
to all of your free time for up to eighteen months. If you can't make
that commitment, you're better off not signing up. (From one who shouldn't
have) At the beginning you’ll have all sorts of grand visions and plans,
things you’re going to do to make your con the coolest Gathering ever.
Ninety percent of these won’t happen. Whether it’s a question of time,
money, or other logistics, it just won’t work. You’re going to end up
doing mostly the same stuff that all the previous cons have done. This
is not a terrible thing. That stuff gets reused for a reason. Just concentrate
your efforts on that ten percent of your vision you can actually bring
off, and work as hard as possible on it. That’s your legacy. It’s what
people will remember about your con. If the next con decides to run with
your legacy, that’s cool. And if your pride and joy is mysteriously absent
from the next con, don’t take it the wrong way.
Example: I’m told a lot of people enjoyed The Clan Olympics at Virginia
in 2002.
A. We didn’t think there was a snowball’s chance in Hell that the Pennsylvania, who’d almost vetoed the convention if it wasn’t all pre-reg, (i.e., no walk-ins), would let us run around having CE-type events, and B., we were already all psyched about The Clan Wars, our own brand of physical activity, which involves trenchcoats and Nerf mayhem. Our group was just not team sports people.
This is not intended to be a shot at Abe, who I don't really know but seemed like a nice guy, but a reminder to all current and future former-constaffers, including our own: Unless you're attached to the next bid, you don't have any control over what happens next year. Put your feet up and enjoy being a civilian again. (And yes, for the record, I'd love to see OtherCon and Clan Wars become a regular event at future Gatherings, but that's not my call.)"
Location:
Pick a place that is of interest, with various local distractions. It
is a Really Big Help (tm) if at least two of your staff are living in
the city of your location—or at least exceedingly familiar with
it. Before you plan your con there, you should know what the place is
like.
Actually, if you are reading
this with designs to be a convention head, you should really live there
yourself. Usually bids are put together over the attraction of one’s
locale, not the other way around. The hotel that is picked should be a
fairly nice one, preferably within easy reach of ground transportation
(trains, buses) and close to an airport. Close, reasonably priced, decent
eating establishments within walking distance are also a nice bonus, like
an all-night pizza eatery or a subway right across the street. Or a Friday’s
down the block. (The locations of these places and how to get there should
be included in the Con Booklet, or at least several printouts should be
posted in the Consuite if you do not make Con Booklets for your attendees.
If anyone wants a fancier repast, the hotel should have a book of nice
restaurants in the area. Most of the time your attendees will just want
something cheap and fast so they can get back to the festivities, and
still afford to get home after the con.)
Your Staff:
These should be people you know, and people you trust. You do not all
have to be bestest buddies...in fact, as con strain increases, it is probably
for the best that your group is not.
Running a con is not an easy thing, and having staff members who are suffering
severe depression because their co-staff member once-best friends now
flat-out refuse to speak to them outside of supplying needed con information
can be avoided this way.
Plus, you want people you can bitch freely to about the shitty performance,
bad attitude, lack of intelligence, poor of personal hygiene, and supposed
forbidden biological actions of their parents that must have occurred
in order to produce your fellow staffers when you have having a really,
really, really bad day. Over the course of the year-plus of working on
this thing, you will make some new friendships. You may also strain some
old ones, sometimes to the breaking point. You might all be heartily sick
of each other by the end of it. Be prepared.
However, these meeting do *not* need to be held on the same night every week for the whole frikkin’ year-plus you’ll be doing this. The night that worked for everybody at the beginning may start to suck as the year goes on as outside factors, (work schedules, basketball playoffs, or the new season of American Idol) come into play.
Ask pertinent questions. [Like preferences or problems your other staff members have that may affect their functioning at the con. Like the fact that I have been working for years to get over a deep phobia of public speaking, and still have not mastered it. At 2003 I had a microphone thrust into my hands with orders to set up some kind of line for the T-shirt give-out. I froze, and my attempts to announce were mostly sub-vocal.]
Never assume anything. You know what they say about assumptions. For
instance, yokel that I am, I assumed that Greg Bishansky knew how to get
around in New York, because, to me, he is from New York. As in, New York
City. (Of course, Greg B. is from *Westchester*, which might as well be
another universe) So, needless to say when he says, as we pull up to the
Pennsylvania on Thursday, “You know, I’ve never driven in
the city before.” I’m a little surprised. Whoops.
On that note, just get the guests a cab, okay. It isn’t that much
money, and it saves you from being ridiculed in Ask Greg later.
Staff must be dedicated, hard working, and not organizationally challenged. “Organized people who like getting shit done” to borrow a phrase. Staff Positions also need to have clearly defined responsibilities. This insures less chance of two people unnecessarily doing the same things, or worse “But I thought *you* were doing that!”
Budget:
Have one. Try to find out how much everything, every little detail, is likely to cost at the time you put your con bid together. If your budget isn't balancing, consider dropping something off of it rather than assuming that enough attendees will show up to cover your costs.
You may be tempted to spend some of your own money on the con. Do not do this unless you absolutely have to, and even then, don’t spend more than you can afford to lose, just like gambling. Example: We put together the 2003 bid with no clear understanding of just how little money the Gathering takes in. By the time we found out, we’d already signed a contract with the Pennsylvania. So we ended up financing something like 70% of the con on my credit cards, and we didn’t nearly recoup. We are so broke right now. Some others, like Winterwolf and Batya, also made personal expenditures. So, if you enjoyed G2K3, and would like to help out, Mara has a Paypal donate button on her site now. Thank you. [Mara has since taken down her website to overhaul it, sorry, but her Livejournal can be found here if you want to get in touch.]
