Here's where we discuss how to make Alleycon 2014 even better with the help of this year's participants. Please leave a comment below telling us what you enjoyed, what you think needed improvement, and what you absolutely hated. Bear in mind this was a first time thing for everyone involved.
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1) More time in between sessions- 5-10 minutes
ReplyDelete2) Just sign up for video games at the con, unless running a tournament.
3) More cowbell
It was the first event and think popularity of the con was under estimated, but far better than not enough interest. Also it's a volunteer event. People are offering to run events and help organize things, as such, real life can intervene and you can get people dropping out at the last minute. This adds to the difficulty running events like this. So everyone did a great job as a first effort. So, onto some feedback:
ReplyDeleteGet off facebook - Having a web presence like this blog is far better for distilling critical information to people. You can break off different pages for more detailed information. The only crappy thing is you can't get a general chatter among attendees. However having a clear, concise web presence like a wordpress site or such makes it far easier to present vital information on the event compared to Facebook groups.
Plan out event space - Get an idea of the seating and practical space needed for games and such. You now know that 2 tables are needed for most RPGs. Getting a set number of tables and chairs, you've got an idea how much space for gaming and other groups events are needed. Cordon off tables and space with unique identifiers for scheduling.
Part 2:
ReplyDeletePromote to people willing to run events earlier and do it BEFORE registration - Break up time slots generally as morning, noon, late afternoon listing them as 2 hour time slots (if sticking with 10AM to 5PM). Ask if people are willing to run events. Find out how much space they would need (players), and how many blocks of time. Get priority list of times for each event, and relay that not all desired slots may be available. For RPGs particularly, 4 hours seems a typical time for sessions (which is pretty much a standard for most cons). Example, I'm willing to run a D&D game for 5 people. I'll need 2 large tables for event space. My priority is Noon through Late Afternoon, second priority would be Morning through Noon.
Even with all the event planning, push for having 2-3 open tables that are not assigned for events so that some people can do their own thing.
Compile planned events into a time table - Get information from all running events. What are they running? Just saying something like '4E D&D game' isn't enough. Try to get at least a paragraph blurb describing each event. And have them clearly detail what is expected for participants (Do they need game experience? Should they bring dice?) Give each convention event a unique label/number. Have a convention document listing times and events. This was done somewhat this year. However time and event space (table A, B, C, etc.) needs to be listed.
Part 3:
ReplyDeleteBegin registration - Advertise the event and start registration about a month ahead of time. Have pre-registered folks list off 4 events (by label/numbers) in order of preference. Three events of the four can be confirmed, with first registered, first on the list. This is going to take a ton of time and organization. It'd be great to split this task off to a few event organizers, but can be done using a simple spreadsheet.
Confirm events and participants - Week before the con, send off/post a confirmed schedule of events so participants know what they signed up for. People running events know who is interested and know their scheduled time/space. Lastly, people running events need to step forward and take their names off the list if they can't attend. An absolute final schedule (with any last minute changes) can go out 3 days before the event.
Hand out a schedule of events - Knowing where and when events will happen will allow event participants to get a better feel for what is going on. Even better, folks know what tables are open for any on-the-spot games they want to run, or just a place to sit and chat.
Enforce time and space for events - This gets tricky. Hopefully if running an event, if I'm over my scheduled time, I'll be packing things up so the person running their event after me can start on time. To be honest, I really struggled with this for my miniature game and went about an hour over longer than what I planned. Having a few convention organizers on my ass to wrap things up so others could use the space would have helped.