[ST] [SA] Member Service report: Smoking Lounge (Peter Ferdinand)

[Lisa Hertel]

Name of Area?
Smoking Lounge, Peter Ferdinand (peter.ferdinand at verizon.net)

What you did?
Mostly fill what’s empty, empty what’s full, and watch stuff.

What went right?
* *I did a lot of recruiting in the room itself and had enough help this 
time around but I'd also like to note a volunteer I had, _Rebecca 
Morris_, was a godsend! I'd love to have her in the SL again.

* *This past con I did have the lounge open overnight but I had 2 staff 
members in there at the time: 1 security and 1 medical.

* *While the coffee machine didn’t get the workout I was expecting it 
to, I was glad to have it.

* *Someone made us a nice door sign.


  What went wrong?

* *Looking at it from the perspective of the '08 Arisia, I think the 
Smokers Lounge is, at it core, merely an extension of the con-suite. Our 
supply needs were a drop in the bucket of con-suite's resources. (Note 
that we did get soda & coffee from the consuite.) As such, I don’t 
perceive a need for a separate budget for the lounge. I should have 
placed the snacks and beverages in a more central and visible location, 
but that’s a minor point.

* *Though Raptor took the overnight hours, it was mostly two other 
people (as noted above) watching him sleep.

* *People were smoking in the stairwells; we need to police this better.

* *The hotel initially forgot our table, and we probably only need 6 chairs.

What should be done differently next year?
* *I've decided to take up the offer of the mailing list of the former 
SL staff member. She told me she'd be glad forward them to me.

* *I'd prefer to set up at least some coverage in advance.

* *The person running the lounge could be allowed to have a cot, if it’s 
not running all night.

* *The porch was really nice, but the corner room (1211?) would have had 
a better view.

* *Supplies: we are all set on ashtrays, air filters, fans, and the 
like. We will only need snacks, drinks, and some aluminum foil to cover 
the table. (Most of this can come from consuite.)


What sort of schedule/timeline did you use?
* *Fri 7-10, Sat/Sun 10-8 & 10-12, Mon 10-2

(Pete was only recruited in late December, which limited his input.)


Are the any changes you'd make to the schedule for next year?
* *If nothing else I think we should be open later on Saturday night to 
handle all the post-party smokers. It's been suggested to me by a few 
people that operating the lounge for the entire con without closing 
might be a doable thing. I don’t have many volunteers right */now /*that 
I'd be completely comfortable leaving in charge for the overnights, but 
I'm willing to look into it.

Vendors you used?
* *N/A; most stuff was gotten at supermarkets, Target, Dollar stores, 
personal stock, and Thrift shops; the rest from consuite.


  Experiments to try next year?
  Late hours, mailing list, advance scheduling (see above).

Any comments about the rest of the con (other divisions, hotel, ...)?
Pros: The Con-Suite was amazing! Lots of high quality food including 
meats both hot and cold, fruits and veggies, as well as bagels and even 
waffles for breakfast.

The lack of a Dealers Room did not detract from the con at all. Dealers 
Row was entirely adequate and the lack of the Dealers Room freed up much 
needed elevator space as well as providing a much bigger space for the 
Fast Track.

Cons: The 4th Day of the con: this struck me a poor idea. Many people 
work MLK day. Those that don’t could use a day off between the con 
itself and the return to normal life. We lost several of the shops from 
Dealers Row on Sunday; although I didn’t count them I'd guess we lost 
about a quarter of them. Also the extra night of renting a room cut into 
my con budget *substantially**. *I bought only $10 worth of stuff at the 
con itself. One night shorter and I could've had a much better time on 
the same amount of money.

The halls on the ground floor were also very loud. I went to only a 
couple panels and I didn’t stay at either. I couldn’t hear what was 
being said clearly enough. I have no idea how this could be helped in 
any way but it did detract from my enjoying the con experience. Although 
the Higgins Armory demonstration was one I stayed for the entire time.

In Summary:

I had a fun time at the con this year. And I feel most of the people I 
talked to also had fun. But the change to a longer con makes it somewhat 
cost prohibitive. Also a few of the vendors I spoke to had issue with 
the con-chairs attitude. They felt she was rude, even taking into 
account how much stress she may have been dealing with at the time.
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