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Home again
We're home from Arisia. The ride home was smooth; the roads had been cleared. Once we got home we had to park on the street, because the driveway had been totally blocked by snow. But the new snowblower was able to clear everything out in about ten minutes.
The con went really well, I'd say. Teri didn't have as much fun as I did, unfortunately. While I was doing some of my panels, she was stuck over in Fast Track, keeping an eye on Sebastian (he was a kid-in-tow). She was bored. Next year Sebastian will be a full Fast Track participant, and she'll be able to leave him there on his own; that should be better for her (and him, for that matter!).
The panels all went quite well, although I was worried about the next-to-last. For a while it looked as if it would die without a whimper, but we got enough people to make it worthwhile. The RuneQuest panel was the biggest disappointment. The audience was very small (although they did have a lot of interest in the subject). I'm afraid I won't be suggesting a RuneQuest panel ever again.
Two of my panels were actually videotaped by Malden Cable Access! They're going to be putting the videos up on their site as well as broadcasting them, and I'll certainly post links to them as soon as I can. I took copious notes at almost all my panels, and will look them over with an eye to posting them. I promised to make a post on the Arisia community for each of the panels I moderated, and made the same suggestion to the moderators of the panels that I didn't moderate.
I got several business cards and email addresses from people I need to write to. One person told me about a cohousing place out in Berlin (MA) that has a fair number of roleplayers and an actual gaming room as part of the facilities; I suppose we can't afford it. But I can dream, can't I?
We all did Kamikaze Kids Costuming again. Sebastian insisted on making a Spongebob Squarepants costume; I was dubious, but it came out looking pretty good. He got a very good reception at the Masquerade.
Some of the hall costumes were great. Here's a video I took in the main hotel lobby on Saturday afternoon:
The Masquerade entries were good, but there weren't any that really took my breath away.
Speaking of the Masquerade, I was stunned to see that only half of the ballroom was used for the show; we got seats because we were Kamikaze parents, but as far as I could tell virtually all of the seats were reserved (and used) by people who were involved with the Masquerade in one way or another. I heard that over 100 people were turned away at the doors, and inside the place people were desperate for seats. It was broadcast in-house, of course, but that's never the same. We tried to watch the rebroadcast of the Masquerade in our room, but there was no picture at all! Just sound.
The Green Room (not the Masquerade one) was once again a disappointment for me. They rarely had hot food when I came by, and when they did, it wasn't anything I was interested in. It was also...well, the old group that ran the Green Room until the year before last set it up as a lovely, relaxing oasis for program participants. It was a little isolated and quiet. Seats were spotted here and there; you could chat with other participants or not, as suited you. But the current team have the room set up as a vast dining hall, with a long table down the middle and everyone sitting face-to-face. It's like summer camp, or a cafeteria. They also printed the location in the pocket program, and then stationed people to make sure that no one without a program participant badge could come in. I didn't try to see if I could bring in Teri or Sebastian...but I do wonder if I could have.
We did get a shot at the swimming pool. It's over the parking garage, and some of the passageway there is unheated! It was horribly cold, in fact. But once we got in to the pool area it was warm enough. The floor of the pool was very strange, sort of rubbery. We swam for a while. In the locker room after, we couldn't resist trying the two steam rooms there: one was full of steam, so much so that you couldn't see, and the other was filled with dry heat. It had rocks under a metal mesh, though, I and think I could have poured water on the rocks to make steam - but I didn't.
Whew! What a great long weekend. more later, I think.
The con went really well, I'd say. Teri didn't have as much fun as I did, unfortunately. While I was doing some of my panels, she was stuck over in Fast Track, keeping an eye on Sebastian (he was a kid-in-tow). She was bored. Next year Sebastian will be a full Fast Track participant, and she'll be able to leave him there on his own; that should be better for her (and him, for that matter!).
The panels all went quite well, although I was worried about the next-to-last. For a while it looked as if it would die without a whimper, but we got enough people to make it worthwhile. The RuneQuest panel was the biggest disappointment. The audience was very small (although they did have a lot of interest in the subject). I'm afraid I won't be suggesting a RuneQuest panel ever again.
Two of my panels were actually videotaped by Malden Cable Access! They're going to be putting the videos up on their site as well as broadcasting them, and I'll certainly post links to them as soon as I can. I took copious notes at almost all my panels, and will look them over with an eye to posting them. I promised to make a post on the Arisia community for each of the panels I moderated, and made the same suggestion to the moderators of the panels that I didn't moderate.
I got several business cards and email addresses from people I need to write to. One person told me about a cohousing place out in Berlin (MA) that has a fair number of roleplayers and an actual gaming room as part of the facilities; I suppose we can't afford it. But I can dream, can't I?
We all did Kamikaze Kids Costuming again. Sebastian insisted on making a Spongebob Squarepants costume; I was dubious, but it came out looking pretty good. He got a very good reception at the Masquerade.
Some of the hall costumes were great. Here's a video I took in the main hotel lobby on Saturday afternoon:
The Masquerade entries were good, but there weren't any that really took my breath away.
Speaking of the Masquerade, I was stunned to see that only half of the ballroom was used for the show; we got seats because we were Kamikaze parents, but as far as I could tell virtually all of the seats were reserved (and used) by people who were involved with the Masquerade in one way or another. I heard that over 100 people were turned away at the doors, and inside the place people were desperate for seats. It was broadcast in-house, of course, but that's never the same. We tried to watch the rebroadcast of the Masquerade in our room, but there was no picture at all! Just sound.
The Green Room (not the Masquerade one) was once again a disappointment for me. They rarely had hot food when I came by, and when they did, it wasn't anything I was interested in. It was also...well, the old group that ran the Green Room until the year before last set it up as a lovely, relaxing oasis for program participants. It was a little isolated and quiet. Seats were spotted here and there; you could chat with other participants or not, as suited you. But the current team have the room set up as a vast dining hall, with a long table down the middle and everyone sitting face-to-face. It's like summer camp, or a cafeteria. They also printed the location in the pocket program, and then stationed people to make sure that no one without a program participant badge could come in. I didn't try to see if I could bring in Teri or Sebastian...but I do wonder if I could have.
We did get a shot at the swimming pool. It's over the parking garage, and some of the passageway there is unheated! It was horribly cold, in fact. But once we got in to the pool area it was warm enough. The floor of the pool was very strange, sort of rubbery. We swam for a while. In the locker room after, we couldn't resist trying the two steam rooms there: one was full of steam, so much so that you couldn't see, and the other was filled with dry heat. It had rocks under a metal mesh, though, I and think I could have poured water on the rocks to make steam - but I didn't.
Whew! What a great long weekend. more later, I think.
no subject
Also they assume that participants would only be grabbing a meal a day... and assumed that they would otherwise be eating in hotel facilities or outside the hotel. The storm prevented much of that, so more folks eating more meals that weren't properly planned.
Having done convention food for Vericon I know how hard it is to do, but these folks need to understand that folks at a convention are burning more calories and need more than varley stew to get them through a day.
I'm glad I wasn't there... and that I'm not doing green room/con suite management stuff any more for Vericon at present. It's Highly stressful.
no subject
Everyone is more than welcome to complain to arisia gripe boards about whatever they want, I just wanted to clear up this misinformation
no subject
Also, a suggestion: you seem to be taking this personally. That's not uncommon. It's also quite understandable, since as I recall you're connected to the current Green Room management. But negative feedback is valuable, and should be encouraged rather than regarded as an attack. Knowing what didn't work for some people is vital to improving the experience for everyone next time.
I realize that I'm probably wasting my virtual breath in saying so. Typically this sort of situation ends up in flames, in which case I'll just convert this to a friends-only post. But I have tried to offer feedback on what didn't work for me, and for at least a few others as well. This is not an attack on you. I don't WANT to attack you. What do I want? I want food that I can enjoy at the Green Room, and a place to catch a breath and relax for a few minutes at the con.
As it stands, I am resigned to the likelihood that these will not be available to me at Arisia from now on. So be it; I'll live with that. But I think it's a mistake to treat negative feedback as an attack, as you seem to be doing.
I apologized over on the Arisia board, and deleted the comments that offended you. Now you're in my journal. I'd be happy to have a productive discussion with you, but if that's not possible, please try to be polite.
no subject
Green room has exploded over the past 2 years with the new site and new folks running it. many oldtimers have been grumpy about it, but that's their perogative to be sure. The one big complaint had been that PP's didn't know where,about or able to get into previous green rooms. It's now much more accessible, but more crowded. Different prferences in food are just that, preferences. Sorry if it bothered you that i came over her to comment, and that it offended you that i didn't want my praise of my hardworking staff to get tarnished .
Last year Arisia had a forum on the website, i havn't seen if it's been uyp and running yet this year
no subject
See that's the inability to take criticism, and the automatic 'old fen/new fen' split that seems to being thrown at people in recent years when they state there are problems.
You're confirming what
no subject
As a person who has run a convention green room/con Suite I know it can be rough and budgets can be slim. (No, I didn't do it for Arisia, nor would I. My health isn't up to it and it can't be done without a vehicle like I had to do).
As for attendence level, the raging snow storm probably had something to do with that, and the ridiculous times to get served in the hotels eateries (at least according to one of the panelist & staff folks I know who posted about it in her own journal.
Again, I wasn't in attendance. I stopped being involved in Arisia years ago, though my wife was in attendance. Generally a lot of people have a feel that griping/complaining doesn't work on anything with Arisia as they don't take criticism well. I learned that years ago with programming problems never mind logistics problems. They aren't really open to criticism on anything. Critics are villains, trolls or complainers as far as they are concerned.