San Fran, CA WONDERCON 2008 - Feb. 22 - 24

I bet the rain had something to do with it. I know a few years ago when it was raining I had the same feeling. The rain is a big reason I didn't dress up on Sunday. Didn't want my costume trashed.

 

Ummm... no offense but have you lost your mind? Recall all the changes due to seeing what panels where on and how people wanted to switch shifts? We have no idea what's happening NEXT year or if some of us will be going...

Okay, I know there were issues with this years table shift stuff so let's discuss alternatives other than... mass early booking...

I suggest:
1) Minimum 1 person (2 person optional) per table and during highly popular panels 1 person per both tables (cos let's face it some of us REALLY wanted to see certain things and would break ranks to do so) if the tables are together again.

2) This is a volunteer thing not a career. Our lives are not dedicated to sucking in new members and selling raffle tickets. That's great and all but I hate selling things and am normally hostile if am forced to do so, so I didn't, unless someone approached and asked directly. By adding a "job" to sitting at the table and telling people at the club it feels like we're obligated to "sell" something which put me off volunteering a little. I'm all for charity and getting rid of our more unwanted SW stuff to a loving home but it got way too complicated with Sideshow cards, stickers, and random things every $10 as incentives. Just do something basic otherwise you'll have chaos to deal with and annoyed volunteers. I don't do costumer service.

3) Oh... and along the lines of #2, may I suggest a internal contest for who ever sells the most raffle tickets gets something COOL... I mean yeah great, other people win stuff but make it a little fun for us too will ya? I won't paticipate still, lol, but it'd be easy to have an internal contest to encourage selling if people want to do that. Like they'd put tic marks next to their name on the schedule sheet for every ticket the sell. Obviously it' be on the honor system but I think we can trust our people and usually there's other people at the table watching anyway, it'll be like a panopticon. Anyway, something cool for us volunteers to shoot for! Also maybe a contest for the volunteer who takes the most hours (although that would make it automatically Matt and Kathy for SFFF and RL respectively but that's fine with me.

4) If you know that someone wants to see a particullar panel then they shouldn't be assigned to a time slot in which that panel is happening. That's just asking for drama... It'd be like Matty having to take a time slot when Ms. Portman is making an appearance. You know that's NOT going to happen and I think in a particular case certain people were miffed that this was intentionally placed that way. I know I'd be and I'd rather not volunteer either. Once again... this is a volunteer thing.

5) I know I took an extra shift and so did others during our latest WonderCon crusade which made it a little annoying but it wasn't that bad. Although we then found out were were dependent on someone who was not going to be there nor did we know them directly. Stuff happens I know, but it'd be nice to have some kind of warning concerning this... Instead of coming on here to check the volunteer schedule, the final schedule along with the phone list should have been e-mailed to all volunteers. Thus phone warnings could have been issued concerning late or absences. At least call Matt or someone who has everyone elses contact info to get word to the people currently at the table.


Other than that I'd say make 1 hour mandatory but once again it's volunteer. Ah well, anyway I think we should all thank Matt, Dale, and Kathy for taking on so many shifts. SO THANK YOU GUYS! I know it's a thankless job sometimes. I should know... I use to have that job. muhahaha...

 

Relax Ming, Matt is totally kidding! (he better be, LOL!)

As for the raffle, I guess I just didn't see handing out a sideshow gift card with every ticket purchased as too complicated. We got those stickers at the last minute, and I was just trying to quickly figure out a way to give them out. If I'd had time to count them and think it over clearly, I bet we had enough to either a) give one for every $5.00 in tickets b) give one sticker for every purchase - even if it was just one ticket they purchased that day. Decisions were made on the fly because we didn't know what those prizes would be until we got them on Friday afternoon. And my brain was turning to mush that afternoon.

All in all, doing a raffle helps create a lot of fun promotion for our group, and makes things fun for people attending the convention. People wanted to interview us because we were doing something for charity - and at least once a year we can stand by our statement on our web site home page saying that we do charity work. I think we should be proud that we tripled our earnings for Autism Speaks this year. Plus, just about EVERY prize was claimed this year because we took down phone numbers. (only one dude left the convention without picking up his gift basket on Sunday). Can we please focus on some more of the positive here? I stayed up late every night when I got home from the con remaking signs to reflect the flood of new prizes we got so it would be very clear exactly what was raffled off and who the prizes went to. Even making the collection jars took time, but it all helped keep the raffle much more organized and helped motivate people to buy multiple tickets. A lot of work was put into this with Matt contacting people for all kinds of prize donations. We earned more for charity than the GGG/SCG 501st ever has with their raffle. It's a good thing!

 

Um, it's called sarcasm, Ming. As Han Solo said, "Hey, it's me."

Thanks for the input, though. It'll be brought up at the next meeting. Everyone, please don't hesitate to bring up both positive and negative things (plus ideas) about WonderCon to the meeting. Oh, and don't forget - pictures!


Here are mine (updated from previous post):

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e385/JedHead1/WonderCon%202008%202-22-24/

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e385/JedHead1/WonderCon%202008%20Part%202/

 

lol... hilarious... You seem to think I'm being negative. I'm neutral about this cos honestly it doesn't matter to me either way but when I do mention something that doesn't invovle the internal security of SF Fan Force, it's usually worth noting. Furthermore, considering the near panic/stress I was sensing I would say making things easier for everyone would be in the best interest of the club(s) and their respective representatives.

As I said... I have no problem with charity and such it should of just been made simple rather than adding gimmicks and such. Stickers should have just been free with sign up/donation or just a friendly chat, the sideshow cards given with any amount of charitable donation for raffle tix, one limit per day. As for manning the tables we just have to accept that sometimes we don't have the man power for a proper rotation, especially during popular panels so if we have even just one person per table it'll be enough. Also what I said about rewarding our own people holds true, instead of making it a job it makes it more of a friendly competition which isn't bad at all. The very moment it became a chore and someone rather be somewhere else, then volunteering becomes less of a priority. I called in when I was gonna be late, I did my duty for both clubs and an extra hour when things fell through. I'm not complaining or being negative, I'm suggesting a course of action that would make things easier. AIIIIIIIIIGHT?

 

Don't mind me, I think I was being overly sensitive because it was an exhausting weekend. Yeah, things can always be improved and I admit my rushed not 100% fantastic decision on the stickers... but right now I need to be in the 'I think we did a pretty darn good job' zone No hard feelings.

 

Pics from Bonnie Burton (LFL):

http://flickr.com/photos/starwarsblog/sets/72157603956630964/

 

The overall set up and the look of everything was excellent. Everyone did a great job at the tables and overall it was successful and a great job with the charity stuff making more $ than last year. Everything else I said previously was perfectly valid as well however... Good to focus on the positive but important to be mindful of the negative as well.

 

I will just second Ming in saying that when there are big programs that everyone wants to see, we know someone is going to have to compromise. I want to give a shout to Allison for being willing to man the table during the Sara Conner panel and for Anne M for being willing to back her up. I hope Rob got you the pics you wanted Allison. I do also think that if needed, it is possible with that table set up to do it by yourself if necessary. I was there for almost an hour and a half by myself on Saturday, which is the busiest day, during the RL photo shoot and it went smoothly. We are always going to have some people that are willing to step up more than others while there are others who will be unable to help due to extranous circumstances (aka Charles with the kids). Overall I felt things went smoothly and I'm sure we will continue to get better. As for the raffel, there are people that are more comfortable selling things than others. I have done it for three years as part of one of my jobs and I am still not always comfortable with it. I think with all the signs we had, it was ok if not everyone was as forward about selling it as others. We have to remember this is a volunteer position and we need to make it comfortable for people, especially when we are asking them to give up time they might want to give to something else. Just something to keep in mind. Kathy we all appreciate the tremendous amount of work you put into the signs and everything else that helped make the tables look so good.

 

I think you kinda have to just roll the dice on what shift you take. It's a con and I know people want to see a gang of panels, but gotta work the tabIe too. As for myself, I do not go to panels unless it's something big or Star Wars related. I did not go to Spiderman last year nor did I go to Iron Man this year or Get Smart. Don't even know If I would go if Marvin Gay himself was there( from beyond the dead). I don't mind sitting at the table. I was there a lot, even when It was not my shift. I don't mind a 2 shift banger in a row. Not a biggie. I think , for a lack of a better turn, we did a kick @$$ job. I mean we had cool prizes, a clean and attractive set up and the people's favorite, Yoder (Yoda). We just have to one up ore selves next time and the year after that and so On. lets just hope that Uncle George gives us still reasons to function as a collective fan club.

Again, great job Fan Force.

 

It was AWESOME! May is gonna be a SWEEEEEEEEET month.

 

Yeah, I had to sacrifice seeing the Iron Man panel too. No biggie. I guess it'll be nice to finally see a movie spoiler-free!

 

FYI - If you scroll to pics of either Me in the Leia Buns or Lou's Thumbs-up pics, Bonnie actually pasted a link to the SF Fan Force on this official LFL blog. If you click on our name, it will link the user straight to our web-site.

More free publicity.

Btw - I do have more things to say about this Con...but for another time...

 

BTW, Kathy, I do have a couple of wondercon pics that weren't on the disc I gave you yesterday, One of which is the "how many SFFF members does it take to pack a TV?" shot. They're still on my camera; I'm trying to download to a different computer but having trouble getting the system to do it.

 

Look what I finally did:

SFFF WonderCon Photo Album