Inclusion

I have recently been made aware of a Facebook post [a certain guest] had made regarding women who show up at cons dressed in provocative, but genre appropriate, costuming.  The issue seems to be that [guest] believes these women are not really fans, but merely desperate women looking to increase their self-esteem by attracting the attention of “drooling fan boys.”

I’m not writing this post to complain, or single out anyone.  Instead, I’d like to call on all conventions to establish inclusion policies.  I realize that some folks take offense to “non-fans” attending cons, but I have to ask… why?  In the early 80’s, I was only dipping my proverbial toes in the water of fandom when I attended my first con.  If the fans back then had treated me like an outsider, I probably would not be sitting here writing this blog today.

As fans we should welcome everyone who attends and try to be inclusive.  That “non-fan” must have SOME interest in the genre, or she/he would not have created the costume in the first place.  I admit I have no hard evidence on this next point, but I have a hunch that if we collectively befriend this “non-fan,” instead of berating them, there is a significantly greater chance that person will become a life-long fan (assuming he/she isn’t already).  And really, what’s the harm in trying?

So, what can cons do to help?  Well, how about each con writes  up an inclusion policy? It doesn’t have to be a long policy, just state that the con openly promotes inclusion and/or openly discourages exclusion.  Many of us in fandom have experienced exclusion at some point in our lives, and we know it doesn’t feel very good to be excluded.  

Now, if you’re not a con organizer, you can still help.  Practice your own inclusion policy by walking up to the person and saying “Hi.”  Please note, though, this is not an excuse to become a “drooling fan boy.”   In other words, this is not a suggestion for you to try to pick-up said “non-fan girl.”  My guess is if you try to make her your friend, she’ll let you know if she’s interested in a date.  And if she doesn’t, well, you’re no worse off than you were before you said “hello.”

So, in conclusion, as fans, I say let’s all try to make sure inclusion is a very real thing at conventions.  And con organizers; let’s try to ensure that folks know it’s not okay to exclude people, just because someone doesn’t think they’re a “real fan.”

Auctions - Guest blog

Everette Beach has graciously consented to write a guest blog on Auctions for me.

As a quick introduction, let me begin by saying, I realize that it's possible you don't know Everette.  You should, but it's possible you don't.  Everette was, quite literally, the only person I wanted to have write this post.  For those who don't know him, Everette has managed auctions for cons as small as StellarCon and RavenCon to cons as large as, well, DragonCon.  As a matter of fact, he recently completed his first stint as Director of Charity Events for DragonCon, where he managed a number of events that tallied around $45,000 in money raised for their charities.  So, yeah, I guess you could say he knows what he's doing.

Thanks Everette!  I truly appreciate you taking the time to write this!

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My name is Everette Beach, and I am probably best known as “the guy who does the charity auctions” at cons.  20 years since my first auction, but I’m not a professional auctioneer, nor do I recommend you have one do your auction. 

Many things contribute to holding a successful auction, but they can be summed up in 3 words: planning, planning, planning.  I won’t go into much detail here, but will hit the highlights of the major areas that need to be planned for such as:  what charity will the auction be supporting, where to get donations, room size and layout, when to hold the auction, how long the auction will take, how many staff members will be needed, how to track the bids, what payment methods will be accepted, etc… Let’s my thoughts on these:

First decide why you are having a charity auction.  If the answer is “other cons have one”, then you may not even need to have one, lots of conventions don’t.  If you do decide to have one, you need to pick the charity your auction will be in support of.  I recommend asking your staff for recommendations of local charities or local chapters of national organizations. Picking a charity that means something to your staff helps keep people more involved. Picking a local charity makes it much easier to ask for donations from local companies.  And local companies will donate items for a charity auction if you ask them. Hotels, restaurants, even Walmarts have donated to auctions I have run in the past.  But, because of the nature of our audience, the items that will do best, will be “genre” items; sci-fi or fantasy related items, and especially one of a kind and signed items.  Your staff and your guests can be great sources of donations from the contacts they have, and be sure and ask your dealers for donations.

The number of items you expect to sell, and the number of people you expect to attend will be one of the main factors used to determine the room size you need and how long the auction will take. When setting up the room, you want to allow space on the stage area to display the items for sale.  The person or people who are tracking the bids and taking payments will need a table set up near the stage.  Also allow space for the items that have been sold to be stored securely until they are paid for. 

One of the most common mistakes I see is not allowing enough time before the auction to set up the room, and after the auction for checking out the buyers. It takes time to setup the tables, unbox the stored items, get the areas set up for managing the bids and payments, etc.  I recommend you also allow a few minutes for the audience get a close look at the items before starting the auction.  Most people want to wait until all the items have been sold before they pay for and pick up their items, so you need to allow enough time for this.  The amount of time will depend on the size of the auction and number of people attending.

When you schedule the auction will probably depend on the availability of space and what other events are scheduled more than anything else. I have seen auctions held anywhere from Friday night to Sunday morning, it really depends on the convention.

How many people do you need to run the auction?  I have run auctions with as few as 3 people (but I don’t recommend it!)  Here’s the general way that I like to staff an auction.  First you need an auctioneer. Like I said before, this doesn’t need to be a professional auctioneer. Personally, I recommend it NOT be a professional auctioneer.  I have seen an auction where most of the audience left because they could not understand what the auctioneer was saying.  I think someone who has good stage presence, has knowledge of sci-fi and fantasy items (because frankly, that’s what the crowd is at the con for), and can keep the audience entertained will do the best job for you.  On that note, I also want to say that you can go too far in the other direction.  Make sure that the auctioneer understands that this is an auction, not a variety show, and that the main focus is to sell the items as the best price you can.  For these reasons I don’t usually like to use celebrities on stage. Most of them, with a few exceptions, want to entertain the audience more than sell the items, and that cuts into your time dramatically. 

Other than the auctioneer, you will need a floor manager, who will keep track of the items that have been sold, until they are paid for.  You will need “runners”, who will carry the current item being sold out into the audience to be seen closer by the bidders. The clerk will be the person who tracks the final bid and bidder for each item.  The cashier is who will collect money and prints receipts for the buyers.  I recommend that even at a small auction, you have a minimum of 5 people assigned to the auction.

Decide on the methods of payment. The only thing I have to say about this is that you WILL raise more money at the auction if you take credit cards.

Last item: how to track the bids.  This varies greatly. I have seen auctions where bids were recorded on index cards, in spreadsheets, in purchased auction software, and in custom written programs.  They can all work so long as you plan it out beforehand and make sure that what you choose fits the size of the auction.

I’ve run a little longer than I meant to, but wanted to make sure to hit all the main points I thought should be made.  If you are planning to run an auction and would like to talk in deeper detail about your auction planning, I’d be glad to.  Just contact James and he will give you my contact info.  Good luck and I hope you make lots of money for whatever charity you choose to support.

-Everette Beach

Accommodating Your Guests… The Late Request

I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to cons I’ve been involved with.  You have your guest list mostly developed.  You’ve got folks from various genres scheduled to attend the con.  Much of your budget is allocated... then it happens… one of your guests writes with a “special request.”

Never mind that your guest policy is clearly spelled out on your website.  Forget the fact that you have exchanged a number of emails, and even had the guest sign a contract that specially defines what the each party’s responsibilities are for the con.  The guest has blind-sided you with something that had not previously been discussed.

Many times, these requests are things like the guest needs 4 passes for some friends that are in area.  The friends aren’t fans, so the guest didn’t expect them to attend, and as such didn’t ask for comps before now.  Another example would be, (this one really happened) the guest just noticed the hotel is pet friendly and has severe pet allergies. Can you put them up in the hotel down the street?

So, what do you?

Many con-runners first inclination is to either to say “no” without any real thought process other than, “It’s against our policy,” or to immediately say “yes” for fear of losing the guest. 

My suggestion is that the best course of action is somewhere in the middle.

So, how do you get to the middle ground?

First, try to avoid “group think” on the ConCom.  This is usually where hasty decisions originate. 

Second, slow down your process.  I can’t stress this part enough.  Slow down.  Breathe.

The next thing you should do is to contact the guest for more information.  A phone call works best for this (avoid using email if at all possible).  Try to find out where this request is coming from and exactly what it means to the guest.  Also, how does it affect them being a guest?

Once you are armed with as much information as possible, tell the guest you will see what you can do about accommodating them and let them know you will get back with them after you’ve had some time to discuss it with the committee.

Again, don’t get in a rush to answer this request.

There are several things you should consider, including:

1.    Does this request destroy your budget completely?

2.    What are the long-term PR ramifications of a negative response? (Keep in mind, guests use social media too.)

3.    How reasonable is the guest’s request?

4.    If the guest doesn’t attend, will it affect your paid attendance?

5.    Do you ever want to have the guest back at the convention in the future?

6.    Is there an alternative solution that will work just as well for the guest?

There are other things to consider of course, but the main point here is to try to look at the request from the guest’s perspective and balance that with the need to maintain the con’s long-term health.

Once you’ve made your decision, contact the guest to let them what you’ve decided.  Again, this is best done by phone, but I’d also follow it up with an email, just so it’s in writing. 

If the answer is not positive for the guest, try to be as sympathetic as you can.  Let them know you have looked at it from every angle you could come up with, but you just can’t work it out in your budget.  This may not prevent the guest from trashing your con all over the internet, but it will certainly lessen the chance that they do.  If the convention has made an honest attempt to help out the guest, that’s really all you can do.

Okay, that’s it.  As usual, feel free to comment/ask questions.

Oh, and keep an eye out for a future guest blog. Everette Beach informed me that he is close to finishing a post on Auctions.

The Care and Feeding of Special Events

What are special events?  Well, most traditional cons consider things like concerts, auctions, dances, and even the costume contest (or masquerade) to fall into the category of “special events.”  Granted, special may be a bit of an overstatement, but these events are different than, say, panel discussions, which comprise the vast majority of many conventions’ programming. 

The problem I have seen at a lot of cons recently is that their Programming Heads (Directors, Coordinators, etc.) are very skilled at scheduling panels, but not so skilled at scheduling special events.  If you have ever run an event at a con, chances are you found yourself to be short on time.  That’s because Programming Heads frequently fail to allow for an adequate amount of set up and tear down time.  And, I guarantee the Programming Head didn’t do that to you on purpose.  They simply didn’t know to ask you how much time you needed before and after your event.

So, in an effort to help out the area cons, I’ve decided to present some known logistical issues for each type of special event.  With this information in mind, Programming Heads can approach scheduling with some questions in mind that may allow for a smoother running convention. 

I am going to provide some recommended times to handle some the logistics, but don’t take my word as “gospel.”  Contact the person who will be running the event and get their input as well.

Dance

Dances typically need time to have the room reset (move chairs), as well as set up any lights and sound that will be used.  It’s best to give the DJ no less than 30 minutes to prep the room before the dance.  After the dance, the room will have to be set back to the way it was, which will require another 30 minutes (at least). 

Costume Contest

The time needed for the costume contest can vary greatly with your facility and the number of entrants you have.  You will have to consider how long to allocate for each entrant (30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes?) and multiple that by the maximum number you expect and then add time for the MC to talk.  This last part is almost always longer than you think. 

If the entrants have to move through the audience, you will want to make sure to remove some chairs to give them adequate walking space, which will add to the set up time.

You have to provide time for the judges to deliberate, and then the MC has to present the awards.  This will be followed by folks wanting to take pictures.  Once pictures are done, you will need to reset the room after the event.

My best recommendation is to find someone who has run a costume contest before and work with them very closely.

Auctions

I’ve seen well established cons mess this first part up.   As a rule of thumb, you need to allow no less than 30 minutes on either side of the event.  You need time to set up and to tear down.  You also need time to collect everyone’s money after the auction.

As for the run time on the auction itself?  Well, it depends on how much stuff you have to sell.  Do not make this judgment based on what you have collected before the con.  A good Auction Coordinator can double the amount of merchandise available for sale by hitting up the dealers prior to the auction.

If you have a verbose auctioneer, you need to allow time for that person to talk as well.

For a typical regional con that has less than 1000 people, I suggestion allowing 90 minutes for the actual auction.  If you’re keeping score at home, this means you need allocate the room to the auction for 2.5 hours.

Concerts

This is the most difficult event to try to schedule because there is no good way to anticipate how much equipment the band will bring.  I highly recommend you talk to the band and find out how long they plan to play, and then ask if they have a technical director.  If they do, ask that person how long they need for load in and load out (use those words, trust me on this).  The Tech Director usually has a pretty solid idea how long this will take. Also, while you a talking to them, you need to find out what their technical requirements are.  They might be expecting you to provide some equipment, which may, or may not, need to be set up prior to the load in.

Additional Notes

Don’t rush your time.  If something runs late, you can’t plan to cut your costume contest by 30 minutes to try to get back on schedule.  Make sure that you continue to allow the time you have scheduled for your special events, even if that means everything starts a little later than planned.

If you are doing an event for the first time, add extra time.  As you do the event more often, your times will become more accurate.

Lastly, make sure you have enough operations staff scheduled to help around these events.   Moving 100 chairs takes 1-2 people much longer than it takes 4-5.  This also allows you to dedicate staff to watching the doors if you need to keep attendees out of the room for a few minutes.

*  *  *

Okay, so that’s it for this blog.  I hope it helps.   And speaking of help, I hope to have a guest blog up soon on running Auctions (Hint to Everette!!!)

Special thanks to Tera Fulbright for her highly experienced help with the post

Harassment at Conventions – ConComs Need to Work to Stop It

Wow, fandom has had a quite a bit to talk about recently.  Between the harassment situation at ReaderCon and some key members of ConCarolinas dropping off of the ConCom suddenly, it hasn’t exactly been a quiet summer.

I’m going to cover the issue of ConCom dynamics in a later post, but I want to cover the harassment thing in this post. 

Let me start by saying that I don’t know anyone involved in the situation at ReaderCon, so I’m not going to speak too much on what happened there, specifically.  I do want to discuss harassment in general though, as it needs to be addressed at more conventions.

No person, male, female or otherwise (it’s a big universe, anything is possible) should ever be made to feel uncomfortable by their fellow convention attendees.  I would encourage all conventions to adopt an anti-harassment policy.  The most important reason is that it’s the right thing to do.  And, if that’s not a good enough reason for you, consider that it’s also good PR.  With what happened at ReaderCon still fresh in people minds (it was all over the internet), cons really need to step up their awareness and concentrate on the prevention and education of this topic.

Where to start?  Well, there’s Nerdiquette 101 (check out the FB page).  Nerdiquette 101 provides a handout you can either print or place in your con’s program book.  They also conduct panel discussions on dealing with harassment.  And yes, I have been a participant on more than one panel, so if this sounds like an advertisement, it kind of is, but not really.  Honestly, I didn’t come up this idea.  It is the brain child of Laura Haywood-Cory, Allegra Torres, and Cheralyn Lambeth.  They deserve the majority of the credit for this project.   If you are really not  sure where to start, I would suggest inviting members of that group to speak on the topic at your next con.

As for an anti-harassment policy, I’ve recently had discussions with some business savvy individuals who recommend that you avoid getting too specific with the policy.  One of the things that I took away from all of the discussions on the ReaderCon situation was their zero tolerance, “you are banned for life if you break this rule,” policy was broken.  I agree that cons need to be decisive and firm on their anti-harassment policy, but they also have to allow for the fact that some folks are just too socially clueless for words.  Those folks need to be pulled aside, educated and warned not to do it again.  If they repeat their behavior, well, okay, ban them.  At the same time, some occurrences are simply unforgivable, and those folks deserve to get bounced from the con without a warning.  I guess my point is that each case is somewhat different, and your policy should allow you to treat each case differently.  Just be sure that you treat similar cases equally.  Nobody should get a pass just because they are a guest or because of their status in fandom.   Be fair, but firm.

For more information on harassment at cons, just do a quick Google search.  There are blogs and articles all over the place that can you can pull information from, I assure you.  This is a hot topic right now.

Okay, that’s it for this post.  Take care of each other, and have a great next con!

ConTemporal

Laura Haywood-Cory has posted a review of ConTemporal.  Since I was only there for about 6 hours, I'll point you to her review for an inside look this first year con.

http://laurahcory1.livejournal.com/85509.html

Post Con

You’ve just spent a whole year putting together a convention.  You’re tired, relieved, and ready for a break.  That’s just about when folks start telling you everything that was great about your convention, and… what needs more work.

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.