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A note on the division of duty given for staff positions in Con Planning 101...

Not every con will, nor does it need, to have the division of labor divided exactly how it is suggested on the previous page; it is just that- a suggestion. There is no reason why the Con Chair can't be Merchandise Coordinator instead of Hotel Liaison, and Vice versa. Advertising and Dealer's Room head are often split into two separate jobs. Your head of the Art Room can run the contests if they feel so inclined. Also, I've experienced a position I've come to refer to as Master of the Files - a hybrid job of handling all registration, arranging all scheduling, coordinating volunteers and panelists, and the budgeting (but not paying for things) side of being treasurer. Also, I handled / had handed off to me most of the 2005 merchandise and supply coordination. (Give me a name and I could tell you when they registered, what they bought and how much they paid- and any freebies they might be owed for participating in merchandise-producing contests, how much it cost to put together the individual items in their registration packet, when they were hosting a panel/who with/what their panel was about, and probably where their website and LiveJournals were located if they had one or the other and submitted a panelist bio. ...but only for 2003 and 2005. And I wouldn't suggest most people take on that full role unless they are a) obsessive, and b) don't have a day job. Being a Master of Files is practically a full-time job, especially in the last three months leading up to the con.)

So why have I divied up the workload the way I have?

For one, you have to start somewhere. I needed to show the responsibilities that must be handled, and having all the jobs separated from the start indicates you need separate people for each- which you do not. Larger conventions, where they may have a LOT more people to deal with (for example, A-kon attendance last year in 2005 was about 9,800 people) need to have everything as a separate category and vice-reps for many for the sheer amount of information they have to handle...but the Gathering averages less than 200 people a year, including attendees, staff, guests, and dealers- less things to handle equals less people needed for the job, and less people who might wind up feeling like they are dead weight on your staff.

The cons I have helped staff- and some that I've heard from others who staffed them- "who-does-what" has often been a bit of a jumble. So, I thought I'd attempt to sort that out with this layout of positions. It was arranged with an eye towards duties that needed to be handled in the year leading up to the con, and duties that need to be handled on site during the con. (Also, the more people you have on staff means the more people who you have to wait on for responses in discussions that a quorum of the staff is needed for when timing is key; combining duties lessens the people needed to be involved and cuts down on the hard feelings that can be engendered when a staff member's opinion is "ignored" because they didn't respond fast enough.)

As it states in the individual descriptions, the main job of the Con Chair and the Vice Con chair is to choose location, then put together a staff, and then motivate those staff to do their duties and help work out any issues that come up, to make sure everything runs smoothly, and all details are seen to.

But if your staff happens to consist of people who are well-organized and highly self-motivated, then your job as Chair or Vice becomes rather boring for the year leading up to the con. Also, it makes sense that at least one of you takes the positions of hotel liaison; you'll be needing to talk to your hotel a lot as the year goes on, and on site, and before you get the rest of your staff together you are the only two who have had any contact with your intended hotel; it's easier for you as head of your con to remain the hotel contact point than to hand the job off to a third candidate later in the project- especially as the hotel may do so itself. It lessens the chances of their being miscommunications.

And the merchandise and mementos that your con offers will be where a great deal of your money comes from, so you want to make sure you work out just what you want to offer well in advance, giving you a year-round thing to track and handle all the details of, thus relieving you of any spare time you might have as Vice Con Chair. ^_^

Treasurer and Reg go hand in hand because Registration Coordinator is already handling the bulk of the incoming money, both depositing mailed-in checks and sending out & receiving paypal money requests. Treating both jobs as part of the same saves a lot of pestering between the two roles for who has actually paid up and who still owes, who has showed up in the mail, and typing up & forwarding mailed in registration info to the Reg Coordinator. It simplifies things a lot to have the person in charge of the money be the person who receives the money, without the extra hassle of throwing registrant info back and forth. Once again, it slims down the chances for miscommunication and errors in filing.

Scheduling is all about arranging things with the panelists, both directly with your fan panelists and through your Guest Coordinator for the Special Guest Presenters, and then working things out with your volunteers and staff to make sure you have the proper number of people arranged in shifts to watch over the registration desk, the consuite, the dealer's room, the art show, and any other places that might need to have a hand lent. It makes sense for the person in charge of arranging the layout of the schedule to be one and the same as the person coordinating it with all these people.

Con(suite) Host/ess is a job that only really kicks in on site. And most of the contests are over before then, or have their final rounds at the Con. Both jobs require an outgoing attitude to get people involved and feeling comfy participating. Plus, most of the contests that carry over into the Con can have their finals handled in the consuite. (Music video contest, filksing, short story readings, etc.)

Dealer's Room and Advertising - well, both jobs require going out and promoting the Convention; it makes it easier to have someone hitting up people both as a potential dealer and then offering advertising options with the con if the Dealer is interested but unable to attend. Advertising is over by the con weekend- at least, everything should have already been prepped and done by then- whereas the Head of the Dealer's Room needs to be present on site to help the Dealer's with anything they need.

Once again, the above duties work well when combined as they are, but they don't *need* to be. You may have a lot of staff who don't have time to handle everything that these "dual roles" combine, but can handle the duties of one part or the other. (Though, if their time is really that limited, you may want to rethink having them on your staff. "I didn't have enough time" is an excuse that can cause a lot of problems- if you as a member of a Convention Staff don't have the time to handle one or any of the duties you said you would take on, it is then *your* duty to arrange with someone else, on staff or off, to take over for you and see that it gets done, instead of pretending you are going to handle it until it is too late for anyone else to step in.) Your staff has to work out amongst itself just where you draw the lines between jobs, who has the strengths and interest and time to do one thing vs. another, and if any of you need more help along the way: ask for it. Hopefully, you will find the following to be a good reference and starting point for the overall work required, and personalize it as your own staff calls for.