San Fran, CA WONDERCON 2009 - Feb. 27 - Mar. 1

PM sent, Lou.

 

Based on the sign-ups from the meeting today and the info sent to me by those who couldn't make the meeting, here are the SFFF table shifts so far:

FRIDAY:

12-1 Matt/Dale
1-2 Anne W.
2-3 Kathy
3-4 Thomas
4-5 Robert
5-6 Dale (the con closes at 7 on Friday, but we are closing early some of us can make the RL/501st Dinner at 6:30)


SATURDAY:

10-11 Dale
11-12 Lou (Rebel Legion Photo Shoot)
12-1 (available)
1-2 Ming
2-3 Rachel (501st Photo Shoot)
3-4 Anne W.
4-5 (available)
5-6 (available) (we'll be doing the raffle drawing during this shift)
6-7 Matt


SUNDAY:

11-12 Matt
12-1 Kathy
1-2 Lou
2-3 (available)
3-4 Alison
4-5 Dale


I'm not sure if the people who didn't show at the meeting are actually going to WC or not, and we haven't heard from some members that are either MIA or haven't posted, or both, so I will keep this schedule as the final schedule until Wednesday at midnight. If those slots aren't filled by then, I guess I'll have to be the one to fill them. *sigh*

Mirtha, Mark, Anne B., Leah, Brent - why'd you all have to go?!

Dan, Anne M., Gale, Sharon Rose, Donna, Ashley, Even, Cicero, Kevin (along with new members who've posted but we haven't met yet) - are any of you even coming to WC?

We just need four shifts filled, and I don't want the Rebel Legion next door taking up our slack!

 

Yeah, that 12-1 opening is a little bit of a problem... I don't see us really being done with the RL shoot until some time after 12:00pm and we wouldn't want all the raffle stuff left out unattended.

 

Matt- I think you forgot to add the Sunday booth tear down to your list of shifts. The more people who can potentially help carry stuff out to your car will make it go faster and you won't need to wait over an hour in line at the loading dock (remember, last year I was done an hour - hour and a half before you were?)

So if anyone can stay after the convention closes at 5:00pm to help walk stuff out to our cars that would be fantastic! I'm pretty sure Alison and I were done by about 6:30 at the latest once we packed it all up and took a few trips back and forth to my car in Moscone garage.

 

TABLE SHIFT

Thomas C says to put him down for the Sunday 2-3 shift

 

Got it.

Lou, if no one signs up for the Sat. 12-1 shift, can you stay until maybe 12:30 at the latest until we finish the RL shoot? I know you'e planning to be at a panel at 12:30. One of us will then replace you for 12:30-1.

There seemed to be some resentment of sorts at the meeting for Steve Sansweet's presentation covering the 10th year or TPM at 5:30 on Saturday. Any of you want to take the 5-6 shift then?

 

I thought the Sat raffle drawing was at 4pm, with the idea that a little earlier would be easier? Did it get moved later again?

 

I think I e-mailed Matt - he didn't understand why I made the raffle so early on Saturday. I didn't change the time and I don't believe we should have it at 5:00pm. The reason was because I knew that just about everyone would be attending the Star Wars panel and possibly the Terminator panel (hence there is a serious lack of people signed up for those later shifts). We have so many prizes for Saturday I wanted there to be plenty of time and people on hand at the booth to call winners and have the prizes picked up before the end of the Con. Lots of people only come for Saturday and then drive home.

So I figured doing the drawing at 4:00pm would be safer Saturday. That gives the people manning the table from 4:00-5:00 an hour to call all of the winners so they have enough time to pick up their prizes before people clear out and go to dinner.

By the way, we have some nice donations form Mary Franklin at Lucasfilm again this year! Two limited edition Star Wars bicycles that are apparently quite rare. One to raffle off on Saturday, one for Sunday.

So it's REALLY important we tell everyone entering the raffle they need to pick up their prizes before Closing on Sunday. Because we can't afford to be shipping a bicycle (or anything) to people.

 

Ahhh HA! Another huge reason we need to have the raffle on the early side. We just got word from Karen who is coordinating volunteer involvement with Official Pix that they will be donating some free autograph passes for Mark and Carrie to our raffle! So we'd need to do the drawing early enough so people have time to line up and get their autograph. So yes, I think we absolutely need to stick with a 4:00pm Saturday raffle time.

 

I'll take the Sunday 2pm slot.

 

Already taken (see above):

We still need someone for Sat. 12-1, 4-5 (for raffle drawing), and 5-6.

 

Did anyone catch the WonderCon commercial before tonight's episode of Chuck? Saw some familiar TK's in there.

 

Ok then I'll take the 4-5pm slot on Sunday then I gotta drop off both my bros to the East Bay!!!

 

You mean Saturday, right?

 

I'm not going on Saturday. Only on Sunday this year. I will not be in SF at all on Satuday.

 

Well, all the shifts are spoken for on Sunday. We still need someone on Saturday from 12-1 and 4-5 (for the raffle drawing). Hopefully, those who haven't chimed in yet can take those. Otherwise, I hope the RL can cover them (again!). I'll be printing the final table shift list and phone list tomorrow morning.

 

OK, I've tried hinting in my posts that some people could probably take the remaining shifts. I sent text messages to people who haven't posted at all to see if they are even coming. I'm not getting any straight answers either way. Some never answered back. I even considered having SVRF take some unclaimed shifts (which we had to do one year). After only requiring one person per shift instead of two, we still can't fill all the shifts. Dale and I are going through really tough things personally right now, and we're still doing our part, and we were considering not going! People kept telling us "not to worry, and to take care of your family issues - we'll take care of it". Really?

I don't know about doing it next year, guys. I really don't. Hopefully, something this year will change my mind. I get really frustrated when things happen last minute, having to scramble trying to find a solution. It makes it a whole lot easier and less stressful when things are settled at least a week before so everyone can feel assured that everything is taken care of and people can feel confident that they can do what they planned to at the con and have a good time. But this happens every year.

 

Here's a heads up on the raffle rules. These will be posted at the table too.

If you have any questions ask Kathy or my brother today.


SFFF & REBEL LEGION RAFFLE INSTRUCTIONS ? WONDERCON 2009


1) 1 ticket = $2.00.

2) 3 GIFTS WITH TICKET PURCHASE ? one of each is to be given to each person regardless of how many tickets they buy:

- Force Unleashed patch
- Clone Wars poster
- Star Wars sticker

2) CHECKS ARE ACCEPTED: payable to "Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco"

3) NAME AND CELL PHONE NUMBER ON TICKET: Please ask people to put their name and cell phone number on the back of the ticket half they put in the jar. They don't have to be present at the time of the drawing to win. We can call them and let them know they won, or they can stop by the table any time to see if their ticket number was drawn. We will post the winning ticket numbers on both tables Saturday and Sunday.

4) CHOOSE YOUR RAFFLE CATEGORY They can buy multiple tickets and enter for a chance to win multiple prizes. There is no limit on the number of tickets a person can buy. We'll have a raffle jar for each category of prizes ? bicycles, autographs, standees, toys and collectibles.

5) DRAWING TIMES: We will be drawing and posting winner numbers on Saturday at 4 pm and on Sunday at 3 pm.

6) Tickets sold on Friday are for the Saturday drawing.


7) PRIZES MUST BE PICKED UP AT THE CONVENTION: The prizes must be picked up at the convention by closing on SATURDAY AT 7:00pm or SUNDAY 5:00pm. They have all weekend to come get their prize, but we are NOT mailing things out to people. Prizes not picked up by Sunday closing are forfeit.


8 ) We will have BRAND NEW raffles Saturday and Sunday. That means, once we have drawn Saturday's raffle winners we don't keep those tickets in the collection jars (Please put them in a plastic bag so we can count tickets sold at the end of the con). We start a brand new Raffle collection on Sunday.


9) Unclaimed prizes will be saved for future fundraising raffles. They are not to be distributed to club members or friends simply because they were not claimed.

10) PEOPLE ASSIGNED TO CASHIER DUTY: Although we are all responsible for helping to promote the raffle and inform people visiting our table about the rules, we will assign one person per shift a key to the cash box who will sell the tickets. (A star will be by this person's name on the table schedule sheet).

11) Club members are eligible to enter the raffle! Good luck!

 

I'll do Saturday 12-1 also.

 

Sorry Matt, delete this if you want but I think we all need a good hard look at this situation and why it's happening...

From an e-mail exchange earlier today:

"Not to make a comparison again to Rebel Legion, but over there we've had so many new members in the last year, let alone the last month, where we had two people (sometimes 3) already signed up for a shift a week or two ago - and that's not including all of our members!"

Mmmmm... I wasn't gonna say anything but now... but... I don't think I can hold back....

That's the thing Matty... I think RL and 501st are part of the problem. Technically when ever we do something it's no longer a SF Fan Force event on it's own. It's not something we push for to get recognition that we do something important. That glory always goes to the 501st or RL and it becomes there event because they get more attention and they get recognized. Why? Because they're in costumes, and of course people would perfer the glory and admiration of "fans" that would normally not even give a damn about us personally. That makes them feel like they're closer to the SW universe when all it really is fabric and plastic.

Furthermore Kathy, Dale, and yourself are big players now in those organizations... It makes it difficult to be apart of SFFF when not everyone wants to costume, otherwise they feel like they're not apart of the group when it's leadership pushes the costuming ideal, maybe inadvertantly but the message is there. To be in SFFF it almost feels like you automatically have to join RL and the 501st and in all honesty with their insanity due to their "command structure" and stringent criteria... it's a turn off for the average fan who'd just like to hang out. It's great that RL has gotten huge but you know what? I joined RL cos Chanel said they didn't care about standards and just wanted to have fun and be around fans. It's gotten so serious that they need to be perfect replicas to get the table scraps from Mr. Lucas's table... It's awesome you get to Skywalker Ranch and I'll even admit I'm jealous... However... I rather not even costume if I have to compromise my fun with my friends and have to be that exclusive to get there... The whole idea of I get to go and you don't makes me sick cos I'd love to have as many friends/fellow fans with me when I did go. That's why I quit RL and that's why I'll NEVER be 501st... I rather just be recognized by my fellow fans cos I my special abilities to master anything in EU, lightsaber combat, and my overall bad assness when it comes to Star Wars and I don't need a costume to do it.

I was gonna come in my complete Jedi gear on Saturday, but now that I think about it... it would just perpetuate this ideal. In fact other than my lightsaber(s)... I am refusing to suit up. I honestl

 

We'll definitely talk about this at the next meeting.

But to get back on topic - can someone get a big bag of M & M's for the gumball machine for the table? I totally forgot about that.

I might also need a large black (the bigger the better) trash bag to cover the Yoda statue.

 

You're right Matty, we should table the issue till WonderCon is done. I'll cya guys on saturday.

 

Sorry, I've been very busy. I can do the 4:00 shift on Sat.

Anne M.

 

Thanks, Anne!

 

FINAL TABLE SCHEDULE (if you are going to be late, please call the person you're replacing. There will be a phone list at the table).


FRI ? FEBRUARY 27

12:00 - 1:00 MATT
1:00 - 2:00 ANNE W.
2:00 - 3:00 KATHY
3:00 - 4:00 THOMAS R.
4:00 - 5:00 ROBERT
5:00 - 6:00 DALE

(closing one hour early in order for some to make the RL/501st Dinner ? NO RAFFLE DRAWING ? JUST TICKET SALES)


SAT ? FEBRUARY 28

10:00 - 11:00 DALE or MATT
11:00 - 12:00 LOU (Rebel Legion Photo Shoot)
12:00 - 1:00 LOU
1:00 - 2:00 MING
2:00 - 3:00 RACHEL (501st Photo Shoot)
3:00 - 4:00 ANNE W.
4:00 - 5:00 ANNE M. (raffle drawing ? 4pm)
5:00 - 6:00 ALISON
6:00 - 7:00 DALE


SUN ? MARCH 1

11:00 - 12:00 MATT
12:00 - 1:00 KATHY
1:00 - 2:00 LOU
2:00 - 3:00 THOMAS C.
3:00 - 4:00 ALISON (raffle drawing ? 3pm)
4:00 - 5:00 MATT / DALE