Let’s face it. One of the hardest things in the world for
convention organizers to hear is criticism about their con. There seems to be an almost universal
reaction to hearing your con isn’t perfect.
Specifically, we con runners immediately jump to the defense of our
event. Our initial reaction is to
explain why things were the way they were.
We want folks to understand that we really did think it through ahead of
time. The fact is however, the person
asking you to fix something doesn’t really care why it’s broken. They want you to take what they say and try
to find a way to make it work better.
It’s not that they hated the convention (okay, well, it’s possible they
did), it’s just that they didn’t like that one little aspect of it. Keep in mind, that person cared enough about
your event to offer a suggestion.
As you are probably
already aware, a lot of your attendees will want a say in the next convention. It’s probably best if you go ahead and ask for
their input online and/or at a “Con in Review” panel during the
convention. By providing a venue for
them to give their views, you can get a lot of those concerns dealt with early,
instead of having to deal with fielding comments for several months after the
con.
Now that you have been a
dutiful con organizer, you will need to address all of the feedback you have
received. What’s my recommendation for
how best to handle critiques? That’s easy. Write them down, make a note of any
recommendations you receive, and let everyone know you will address their
concerns with the committee.
Then I want to you to
promptly set it aside for at least a week.
The one week portion of
this process is important, because that’s about the minimum amount of time that
the entire ConCom should get away from each other. After a week or so, reconvene the committee
and hold a “post mortem,” so that the staff can review the convention. This is best done using classic brainstorming
methods.
If you are not familiar
with how brainstorming works, here’s the one I like to use:
[You will need paper and
pens (try to make these identical) and some way to display the suggestions
where everyone can read them -- chalkboard, dry-erase board, flip chart, LCD
projector… something.]
·
Begin
by stressing to everyone that there are no right and no wrong suggestions; and
that all issues submitted are to be considered as areas that need attention,
even if the majority of committee doesn’t believe there is a problem.
·
Ask
everyone to submit the problems that they saw in writing, and add in the ones
you have collected from any outside comments.
·
Randomly
pick an issue to be read aloud, and then ask folks to write down a suggestion
for alleviating the problem.
·
The
solutions are collected and written up on the board (or whatever you are using)
so everyone can see them.
·
A
vote is taken and the top 2-3 suggestions are left on the board (erase the
rest) and then, and only then, are they discussed. At this point, it’s best to
remind everyone of the ground rules (there are no bad ideas).
· Once
everyone is finished discussing the solutions, a final vote is taken. Write down the solution for the next year’s
convention, and move one to the next issue.
Using this method helps
to take some of the emotion out of dealing with the problem. It also might allow for some problems to be
brought forward where the person might otherwise be too intimidated to bring it
up.
The final step in the
process is for someone to hit the website, email lists, and various social
media sites and let the world know what issues were discussed and what you
decided.
Now, take another week
off. Or two. Or three.
