[SA] Notes from the Arisia 2008 Debrief

[John Francini]

[Here are the notes from the Arisia Debrief.  The overwhelming  
majority of this came from my own notes; I checked Conor's notes and  
filled in a couple of pieces where he caught something I had missed.]


Arisia Debrief, 27 Jan 2008

Convened at 14:00

Jill – Welcome to the debrief.  Rules [as published in E-mail] will  
be upheld.

Tem – Thanks to everyone; 2nd highest attendance aArisia ever, behind  
Arisia'06 at the Boston Park Plaza. A great year, thus ends two years  
of reign for me.

Jill – Still looking for a secretary to attend all concom meetings  
and publish notes within 24 hours.
Amy Sue will be timekeeper.  Pat is taking action itmes as the occur;  
Steph is taking subjects on the board that don't get fully discussed;  
Conor is timeline person.

Krista – GOH – GOHs really enjoyed their time at the show; staff bent  
over backwards to help make the GOHs experience a great one. Example  
– Conor asked to make a wall, with little notice, and he did. Guests  
are now where they need to be; GOH binder of doom to be passed on.  
She will be monitoring arisia.goh at gmail.com for questions.


Souvenir Book ad sales – Helen – we managed to get some ad sales  --  
rest of report will come under Publications--Ad Sales Mage.

Restaurant guide ad sales – Helen - none sold; Crystal should have  
eliminated that line.

Ops – RKOV – Everything's in the published report; comments?
	Buzz -> Liked location, people were competent.

Ops Desk – Susan – ditto. [Everything's in the published report.] I  
didn't run ops desk; someone should have run ops desk; comments? [none]

Access — Buzz – good for blind people, low vision, elderly, others  
not so great; no signed interpretation this year. What do you call a  
tripod in a 3rd floor hallway? A lobster pot for blind people! Same  
with large robots in the hallway.  Other issues will wait for next year.
	Rachel –> dodgy getting around on crutches.
	-> dittoed by another
	Jan Dumas –> question – is there a person to contact if something is  
in the way?
	Buzz -> no one this year; next year it should be in writing to  
people like dealers

Info desk – Buzz – went pretty well; next year – if you're a [major  
Arisia function] that people will come to – art show, dealer, masq –  
tell us what the registration procedures are for these events so we  
have good information to give people!

Logisitics – Steve Huff – we moved things. Several departments didn’t  
tag stuff in storage – if we follwed the no tag no move rule, lots of  
stuff wouldn’t have gotten to the hotel – PLEASE TAG YOUR STUFF.
	Dale farmer -> wants his coffee pots back.
	RKOV -> commented on how buying cheap labels is a foolish economy.   
Deferred to later.

Massage Den – not here; comment? –
	Jerome -> comment – thank you!  Susan m – delivery of linens should  
be more obvious and scheduled.  Signup sheets were misleading in  
their layout.

Ribbons – rkov – confusion of numbers in ribbons – don't do large  
cuts and pastes – ribbon orders should be mailed to staff/div heads  
before con to verify orders .  Mary  -- short of ribbins for Climb  
Mount Arisia. Skip – some ribbons had a07 instad of a08; ben – only  
divhead, conchair, hotel usually had bloack ribbons; but there were  
more this time. Krista – orders were messed up.

Security – jeff – (not here) report on line – comments:
	Walter -> one of best years for security in terms of being invisible;
	Dr.K –> no complaints of security in masq wait line;
	Dr. Pam –> dealers were happy with security presence.

Parties – Joel – Tem didn't call his marker, so he put together a  
group of people who did parties; 5 different events were held which  
were largely successful; 45-50 people in the suite for the football  
games; more generically, the suite was a good place to put on  
parties; family hours were good too.
	Bridget -> okay to host meet & greet or two?
	Joel-> yes.

Sign shop – RKOV – Report sent out; one person should be doing it pre  
and at-con; expenses need to come under control; too many 24x36 signs  
where 11x17 would be fine; anything larger should require divhead  
apperoval.
	Crystal –> sign shop too close to newsletter;
	Jerome –> [comment on repairing printers];
	Pat –> sign inventory wasn't carefully gone through to know whether  
or not [a given sign] was existent already or not; Ed –> can vendors  
order signs ad-hoc for cash?
	RKOV –> up to sign shop person;
	Samantha –> acknowledgements for sign shop orders would be nice

Volunteers — Mary Dumas – lot of good people this year volunteered;  
many senior people voluntarily went from head honcho to 'gopher'.
	Tem –> Lots of people volunteered for the shirt;
	Walter –> Crash space at overflow hotel rather than con hotel – good  
idea for getting away from it all.
	Buzz -> Info desk wanted people 6-9 sat/sun but couldn't;
	Mary -> advanced notice would be nice of needs.
	RKOV -> elevators – for later.
	Pat –> didn't get lots of volunteers.
	Ellen -> [Re-think] shifts so they don't match prime dinner hours.

Treasury - Don Eastlake III – Money came in; not as much went out;  
gross income 90k including artists and next-year money; we could do a  
better job of getting tip money to areas/div heads rather than go to  
the top of the tree. Better to  get someone who won't be 13 time  
zones away at the start of the con.
	Crystal -> spent more on tips than supplied - – fill out an expense  
form for reimbursement.  Hobbit – expense report form is confusing.  
D3->agreed.

Assistant Con Chair – Jasra – oversaw reg, tshirts, pubs, member  
services, walked around con; reg was wonderful except for freezing  
our butts off.
	Crystal -> agreed Jasra was a good Vice-Con Chair.

Registration – Jasra – Lots of people got registered. Too cold.   
Action items – communication problems need to be dealt with.
	Jan -> People MUST have a photo id; some didn't have it.

Badge Art work – it rocked!  She'd do it again if asked!  Mouse was  
thrilled!

T-shirts – (no report)
	mary -> ordering more shirts; only 1 dozen Large left.

Web – Jasra – we had a site; dept and div heads didn't send info in  
until late; gotta try to get people to get info in earlier.
	Jude -> site was confusing; too many links to 2007 site.
	Tom -> scheduling info was not available early enough; as soon as  
things are looked in they should go up on site.
	Buzz -> Prior years – did a preliminary sched on web.
	Krista -> Get active links for GOH up early.

Pubs – Crystal – 1st time being a divhead – did a four page report on  
staff list; thinks she remembered everything.  Questions?
	Buzz-> pocket program: add space on reg form for Braille pocket  
program or large print to get those numbers early

Ad sales mage – Helen – considering the late start; we did very well;  
generated nice revenue; has lots of ides for improving revenue and  
process for next year; cant stress enough thanks to Crystal, Paul,  
Tem, Ben Levy for their help. 	
	Crystal -> pubs was $2000 under budget because of this.

Flyer ad design - Ben - job should be done by marketing next year;  
done as a hack by Ben this year.

NCOA checking - Phi says yes it's still necessary and it should be  
done; various address lists should be integrated.

Souvenir book -- looks great this year.

	Buzz -> Has icons for handicapped stuff for mktg.
	Corp logo (the Lens) should be in the souvenir Book and the program  
guide.
	Ben -> put Code of conduct towards the front of the book.
	Buzz->1 person shouldn't be doing editing of both souv book and  
pocket program, unless it's Paul.
	Paul->Perhaps he shouldn't be either.
	Walter -> books weren't available when staff checked in on thrusday.

Pocket program - Paul -> usability feedback and small tweesks received;
	Krista -> It was easy to use.
	Walter -> Front desk didn't get any and probably should;
	Tem -> Hotel should be discouraged from making signs because they're  
pulling the time from the resume (room turn time) rather than  
published start time.
	ben -> In resume hotel should be told what we want them to post and  
what we don’t.

Hotel maps - Ben - Party Czar disappeared; Need to improve dealer reg  
process; fridge requests need to be kept better; working on gift  
baskets for hotel people; next year overflow hotel won't be Le  
Meridian – they're going upscale near $300/night. See <http:// 
conrunner.net/wiki/index.php?title=Hotel_Liaison> for more hotel  
liason thoughts from Phi.

Data coordination - Paul - pulled data out of zambia and dumping it  
into the book (through a filter) was good.

Restaurant guide - Crystal - Extra rest. guides at the door; report  
sent to staff list. We have lots of extra copies.
	Steph -> saved us lots of $.
	Pat -> Thank you for having a guide!  Hotel food is too expensive.
	Buzz -> We have leftovers, does any upcoming Con want them?
	Mary -> says yes, for United FanCon in November
	RKOV -> suggests holding on to a few for archival/example purposes.
	

Newsletter - Crystal- Rebecca did a report, which will go to the  
list; my comments are in my general pubs report.
	Dr.K -> Masq issue?
	RKOV -> They're here.

Special needs pubs -> Braille, large print – already discussed

Freebie stands, etc. - Erwin- [not here] no voodoo message board this  
year.
	Tem -> party boards – make sure that there's a Sunday/Monday slot  
for parties.
	Walter -> party czar should get info to newsletter on parties.

Palm schedule – Ben – schedule was on web site but not publicized  
well enough;
	Walter -> need a reader to allow the schedule to be beamed to one's  
palm
	Skip -> Has one; wasn't asked for it

Pubs office - Crystal - Sheeri did a great job as pubs sysadmin; set  
up things, kept them running, generally very helpful.
	Rkov -> Arisia has no usable routers/hubs in storage; corporate IT  
standards need to be dealt  with.
	[Rathole detected – referred to computer committee.]


Assistant Con Chair - Jill Eastlake – lots of new people running  
things in entertainment this year – things were shaky in the fall,  
winter, and now – but the con-goers didn't see any of this. No  
general comments.

Fast track - Persis – 100 or so kids in FT; kids and parents loved  
the space; 5 page report filed; she expects to do this once more next  
year with Lisa Hertel under her; then she [Lisa] can do it after  
that; Communication with Masquerade director needs to be better next  
year.
	Walter -> most people loved it, including parents – didn't know what  
the different colored ribbons meant.
	Noel -> logistics – 27 totes for Fast Track – grows every year –  
time for a cull? Put a cap on # totes that go to con? Jan -> way to  
bring kids like Janice who are 13-14 into volunteering;
	Persis -> security was fantastic

Filk – Ellen – filed report; comments? -> none

Gaming – James - Everything went well, no catastrophes; most things  
in my report.  Comments>>
	Rachel -> space needs for LARPs need to be thought through better;  
Gabriel spent his weekend in gaming room-kids weren't disruptive from  
his point of view;
	Lisa -> Way too crowded-
	jerome -> Room seemed constantly filled; kudos!

Anime – mike – [Jill reported] Limited amount of anime throughout  
weekend, not as much as I would like, but there it is.  	
	Buzz -> Anime schedule should be in the PP.
	Edward -> info from boston anime con post (passed up to Jill).

Video - Lance – not here – his stuff was in zambia; feedback? [none]

Arisia TV->z! [Jill covering] - had trouble hooking system up to  
hotel; transmissions were grainy; schedule wasn't in zambia; schedule  
wasn't published.
	Dr Pam -> great to see costumes.
	Jan -> more info about Arisia tv should be publicized more often –  
in the first 2 pages of the program.
	Crystal -> ATV should send info to pubs to [get it] into the  
newsletter;
	Ellen -> name "Arisia TV" doesn’t explain what it does.

Zambia - Tracey [left early; covered by Jill] - If you want to make  
zambia more usable for future conventions, send mail to  
zambia at arisia.org.
	Bridget->Tracey would like to have a meeting to get Zambia cleaned  
up before it is put to use for A09 in June.

Events – Samantha – We had some great events – even the Sunday night  
ones – 477 for Buffy; Sunday night ball was full; communications were  
less than optimal, but fires were put out.
	Jerome -> more seats for Buffy!
	Crystal -> great job sending info to pubs to get into newsletter.
	Tem -> two four-hour sections of realms LARPs – and that took  
several of the teenage boys out of gaming; Sith Charity
		ball raised $800; Tribble Bash raised $700; 60 blood donors.
	Hobbit-> Sam was at nearly every room turnover wrangling hotel  
people to ensure turnovers were done.
	Ben -> Hotel liason should be doing the wrangling job, according to  
Phi.

Blood drive -> blood people want to do a 2-bus blood drive next year.
	Buzz -> keep giving feedback to Red Cross on the fact that they  
won't let men who have had sex with men since 1977 give blood.
	Jude -> MGH seems to run a tighter drive than the Red Cross.
	Skip -> doesn't give blood to MGH, because they don't count towards  
Red Cross frequent donors' records.

Club dance - Noel- Johnny Zed and tech did fantastic job; Johnny is  
still flying after last weekend's dance – most energy he's felt in  
years.
	Conor -> Johnny had a tech problem where his laptop rebooted but  
about 30 people started singing and dancing while this happened.
	Tem -> special kudos – Johnny Zed came to worldcon [LAcon IV] to DJ  
for the Arisia party. Looking for volunteers for Montreal worldcon  
[2009].

Drum circle - Walter - Only ran 1 night – why?
	Bridget -> drum circle 101 person didn't get [formally] asked to do  
it this year – assumed he was doing it regardless.  Crystal –> could  
we do it Monday as well, as it's low tech?

LARPs - James - space problems because of slow feedback and changes  
of needs; good turnout. Masq LARP people weren't too happy with  
space, but made it work nevertheless.

Masquerade – Dr. Karen – most comments on my report. TF is  
overworked. Withdrawing from any activities for 2009 Arisia. Wants  
removal from all staff lists. Has stuff to add to big purple bin of  
holding.
	Jerome -> Gave out a lot of hall costume awards.
	Samantha -> Glad to be able to give Masq ballroom D all day Saturday.
	Walter -> thanks for bringing the belly dancers back.
	Bridget -> Someone needs to design awards cert for Masq for 09

Goblin Ball - Samantha – was very busy; one attendee wanted the  
airwall moved "Right Now" to relieve overcrowding.
	Ben -> Need more dance floor, more water, more time

Summit Mt Arisia – Several hundred people did it; need way more  
ribbons next year; people begging to volunteer;
	Susan -> lots of good feedback on the signs on the way up.
	Skip -> worked well with art show.
	Jerome -> thanks for doing it both days.
	Noel -> List a location that actually exists on maps or somewhere  
obvious rather than "Patriots Hall".
	Walter -> outside of room X;
	Crystal -> Do stickers instead of ribbons – they can printed at con

Tech – feedback?  [Report published by Spence via E-mail.]
	Sam -> They need to get on Zambia early and often;
	Buzz -> Tech U idea should be mated with something else Arisia is  
doing rather than independent.
	Noel -> Followup – Huge piece of tech bringing in new blood is  
people coming to the ballroom and offering to help rather than just  
turning them away.
	Hobbit -> Elitism is droppiong off.

Labyrinth – Elizabelth – ran it four times; turned into a nice quiet  
space; maybe should make the staff come by to walk it.
	Crystal -> another low tech event for late Sunday/Monday that could  
be added with ease.

Programming – Michael – report filed on the 25th.  [Rachel Silber  
reporting] – tough year in programming; problems kept from attendees.  
Programming has 2 audiences – con attendees & prog participants.  
Biggest problem with PPs was communication; Bridget is aware of most  
of this; Rachel spent much time firefighting but managed to pull it out.
	Tem -> You cannot be Con Chair and Assistant Programming Divhead at  
the same time. Or other divhead positions.
	Buzz -> hard to be Programming Divhead if you've never done it  
before. Should be an assistant divhead first.
	Bridget -> cards given out at Arisia for Brainstorming list. 50  
people joined in the past 5 days.
	Rachel -> be aware that the BR list is really the outside world, and  
deal accordingly.



Assistant Conchair Ben Levy – Art Show and Dealers; Hotel; Food – all  
did a good job; no major crises.  General applause.

Art show – dda not here. Comments?
	Walter -> Thanks for the staff only hours!
	RKOV -> Merv should be complemented on putting the art show together;
	Mike -> extend art show to Monday?
	Jasra -> 2nd set of staff hours?
	Jill -> painting by Arisia '09 GOH won Best in Show; she's amused.

Student Art Contest – Skip – had to deal with 75 teenagers; SAS and  
art show are really two different jobs and should be run separately.   
Theme was very useful this year.  One jury member was a graduate form  
SAS of A00.
	Buzz -> Thanks Skip; should leave SAS to con rather than corporate.
	Tem -> rules need cleaniup; rules about how many can be judged, etc.  
should be judged.
	Noel -> Were SAS pieces up for sale?

Dealers – Dr Pam -> Dealers were very very happy; Jasra, Amy, Phi,  
Mike all were very helpful; Larry Smith was  very happy aside from  
room issues; his sales were indicative of how good the guest of  
honor's writing was.
	Buzz -> limit the number of beds in rooms for accessibility reasons?  
If they want people with disabilities to buy things, they need to  
make room for them.
	PatV -> Range of dealers was very satisfactory; could dealers get a  
second room for their stuff so they didn't have more room for their  
stuff?
	[someone] Problems with dealer load-in/load-out.

Tamidon – Food - $2k under budget. Program Green room – went well;  
everyone wants longer hours – what do we really want to do there? Con  
suite – opened late because of a traffic accident; lots of people  
stayed on Sunday. Even so, it went well – no body does food the way  
we do; enough room, etc.
	Steve -> Green room signage confused people who thought they could  
eat there even they weren't PPs.
	
Consuite comments:
	Crystal -> conchair shouldn't be doing consuite cleanup.
	Jan -> props to whomever put signs up with ingredients.
	Bridget -> Consuite kept running out of water.
	Rkov -> Get staff den  hours in newsletter.
	
Staff den – kids in staff den was a problem – should have a kids room.
	Buzz -> thanks first to the staff; 2pcs feedback: Breakfast on  
Friday would be nice; and there were not a lot of non-soup veggie  
options.
	Tem -> Staff Den – take all of the equipment out of the rooms when  
you clean  out.
	Ed -> Thursday night comment.
	Noel -> No breakfast on Friday was big problem.
	Dr. Pam -> Sign in lobby indicated Friday morning opening.
	Rkov -> Label new things so that they go into storage.
	
Wrapup – good space, good food, healthy food.

Lunch trucks – Ben – Only one truck of the several responded; police  
harassed the one truck;
	rkov -> why did it work the year before?
	Ben -> Lunch truck spaces should be so marked.

Hotel - tem [for Phi] - if info could come into hotel sooner it would  
be useful, not simply moving last years info into this year.
	Walter -> Innkeeper desk worked well; important to have an innkeeper  
at-con to help with issues. Will send hotel report tonight.
	Buzz -> Note for next year – Party Czar is a good thing – should  
have one for A09.
	Pat -> Phi had enough staff to cover so he could relax.
	Mary -> Thanks for [volunteer] crash space.

Member services- Lisa- Most of my stuff is on line – questions?
	Bridget -> babysitting should be open perhaps to 18 month olds  
instead of 2 yr olds.
	Lisa -> Babysitting needs a larger space as we had to turn people away.

Babysitting - Ocean - Posted a long report. Jill has been in touch.

Coat check - Rachel S – Hampshire kids helped out – had a team of 25  
people to keep it open.
	Jude -> Thanks to the school for covering their costs. Space was too  
small.
	Buzz -> Info desk got good feedback about coat check.
	Tem -> 2 youngest volunteers ever – 7 yrs old – in coat check.
	Jill -> My kid was younger when he first volunteered.

Fan tables - Lisa H -  didn't get used as much as would have been liked.

Freebies – watchman movie posters were hot.
	Buzz -> rack broke under weight of freebies; got fixed though.

Smoking lounge- run by a non-smoker, who got out of hospital for  
heart surgery just in time to run the lounge.

Transportation – Tem – Costs for buses picked up by hotel. Confusion  
over which department this fell under.
	Noel -> better signage would have been helpful – more info to Info  
Desk would be better.
	Walter -> let overflow hotel know where the buststop at the overflow  
hotel is.
	Buzz -> Should be a blown-up picture of where the shuttle bus stops  
are at the hotels.

Parking – Tom – Mostly ok save the West Lot; locations on the web  
site beforehand might get info across better. MIT Parking & Transport  
office didn't inform the police, and the police and MITP&T don't  
communicate well.
	RKOV -> more info to dealers on where to park their vehicles and  
trailers would be useful.
	Walter -> more info on when lots were open.
	Crystal -> wanted to give the mit police a gift basket, etc.
	Tem -> [shot this down – could be construed as a bribe.]
	Mike -> parking person should see if there will be construction  
projects underway during convention.
	Jan -> Would park in the overflow lot if it were available earlier  
than Friday.



Tem – Wrapup – thanks to everyone  -- we pulled off a fasntastic  
unbelieveable convention; fen didn't see the inner stresses. I am not  
running away! I'm working for Jill next year. Everyone has been awesome!

Jill – Conchair for Arisia 2010 nominations are now open. RKOV has  
his name in.
	RKOV -> Possible closing date – 15 march.

Announcements – Hobbit had a request that, in E-mail, people don't  
(a) top-edit, and (b) turn off HTML-formatting. John objected,  
strenuously, much to his chagrin.   Skip announced that he had  
tickets to the Somerville Theater's 33rd Annual Science-Fiction  Film  
Festival. Contact Skip directly for information.


Meeting adjourned at 16:36.