I had promised several folks that I'd blog the details of the meeting. It rambles badly, since I typed as things were said.
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Day Riverside Library 06/11/2011 10:00am
Open 10:14: Chair announces upcoming meetings.
18 June 2011 Hunter Library (10:00am) SFCon Business Meeting
25 June 2011 Cheryl Powell (4201 S. Normandie (535 E.) Fandom Party!
09 July 2011 WVC Library (10:00am) July CONcom meeting
Laundry list of upcoming conventions. (I will build a link to a con list.)
Meeting Idea 10:24: Brad Hawks proposed having a side room for kids, to allow more people to attend.
Finance 10:25: Can't discuss numbers of attendance since the registrar had "real life" issues. Estimate of more than 600 attendees. Totals are unknown since not all receipts are in, but CONduit looks to be in the black and a little ahead of last year. 59 pre-reg (15 GM/Staff, 44 Full Weekend) for CONduit 22 which is comparable to last year's pre-reg. Debate over a use of PayPal pre-reg. Committee resistance based on the complexity of building the complex grid of payments based on all the membership types. Decided on a webhosting meeting to resolve the problems, to allow for web based membership payment.
Leftover CONduit 21 Business 10:35: Hotel contracts will be re-written and hotel will be giving a discount to CONduit in the future for prior difficulties. CONduit has contract with Radisson for 2012 and 2013. The convention can get out of the 2012 contract up to the end of this month. The hotel can get out of the 2013 contract up to the end of June 2013. CONduit had the CVB run a general request for bids and all hotels were at least $1000 higher than the Radisson. Members of the audience offered to make use of their own contacts to look for other options. 72 gamers turned in game store discount coupons. Zombie Podcast has hit 2500 downloads.
Message from the Chair 10:47: A lot of this were very clear to me from this last CONduit. One is that I am very burned out. I would like to step down for awhile. The second things is that I saw really clearly that we need to make fundamental changes in the way we do things. We need a better training program for people. Our fundamental structure has things that I just don't agree with. What we are doing isn't neccissarily wrong, but our focus has gotten completely off kilter. Please respect your fellow CONcom, yourself, the fans and the guests. Please understand that everything we do we do for a reason. Please before you go knocking down walls, check to see which ones are load bearing. Right now we are "riding the dragon" of enthusiasm and we need to ride it, not tether it.
Mike's Message 10:52: Con this year had fewer of the usual gripes. More things got props and there were no real big complaints.
Praise 10:53: Charlie for dealing with room mix up, issued panelist schedules on time, knowing what panelists showed up. Toad for great job under stress. Mike Tanner for getting a lot of media stuff. Tom for getting the publicity and podcast. Alita for the program book and CONsuite. Adam for a lot of work at registration. Janelle for registration. Joe of gaming praised everyone for working together. Joe for getting a big tv for gaming and driving gaming publicity. Julia for getting really good radios for really cheap and tv for the media room. Debbie for maintaining good humor. Richard for wrangling the hotel. Kathy for the freebie table. Chris for helping gaming and setting up the open board games. Toni for stepping up to fill in. Kami for art show, anime and chocoholics. Pam for printing program book for cheaper than ever. Joe Monson for art show. Kudos to Jaimee for giving us our newest con member. Erin (Me) and Carl for getting post-CONduit discussion rolling. Lori for publicity. Martin for the swap meet. Julie for the media room. Brad for great behind the scenes stuff. Tamora for hard work. Kirsten for hard work and contests. Andrew for the tv in the media room. Mike for the hard work he did. Ruth Roper for working despite coming out of surgery. Wes for the miniature case. George for micro-shorts. Helge and other judges for hall costumes. Cheryl for the ice cream social and getting the jesters. A lot of random commentary about baseball hats and gold coins followed.
Needs Improvement 11:16: Badges need to be better printed. Need to get the media started earlier. More sponsorship needed. (Does CONduit want to grow or stay small? The asking of the question turned into a debate on what is gripes vs brainstorming.) Need a better pre-con walk through. Hotel media person told CONduit's media person to effectively drop dead. Gaming needs to build on sponsors and diversity. Needs to diversify the guest list. The poets weren't findable. Art show needs more volunteers and organization, which results in the art show opens 4-5 hours late. There was extreme lack of communication with the hotel. Need a better way to organize volunteers. If you want to fix things, you need to be at all the meetings. Programming has become very narrow; lack of tv and movie related programming needed. People hurt the con by back talking in public; need to be very careful. Not getting the progress report out. The con itself needs to be more visually stunning. Need to add a media waiver to website.
CONduit 21 ends 11:39
CONDuit 22 brainstorming 11:40: Allow people to opt out of progress report online and post it online. Big billboard on I-15. Revitalize and re-build CONduit from top to bottom with nothing off the table. Artists alley, author alley, podcast alley, club alley, etc. Get galleries and frameries interested in our art show. Advertising in organic food stores. Get Dead Gentlemen Productions for gamers and independent film making. Paper downtown with CONduit ads; menu specials, posters, etc. Need more dealers and dealer space. Ask media people to come it never hurts. Absolutely need a strong media track. Get the libraries involved in CONduit. Need a bigger hotel with gather space. Need room parties. Need to re-think the concept of the media and anime rooms. Need to come up with guidelines for sponsorship of guests. Discount for people who show up in a costume. $1000 prize for best costume. Iron GM contest. Pass out coupons to people in awesome costumes for the next year's con. Give clubs time in programming to do with whatever they want. Cool nerd car car show at the con. Model show at the con. Coupons for the fan clubs if they present their club IDs. Star Trek simulator provided by the clubs. Con BINGO for visiting sites at the con. Quest giver games. Green Lantern comic artist lives in Clearfield. Add fan fiction category to writing contests. Video contests. Baen books wants to do an event with CONduit. Pre-paid, pre-ordered box lunches through the hotel, so that con goers can wander about con space with their food. Need more hall costume activities. Re-work the Masquerade to draw back in the more casual costumers. Fashion parade in addition to the Masquerade for people to show off their costumes, not necessarily compete. Use Skype for virtual guests. Get the clubs more involved in the programming. Interactive programming, more like BOFFs and games instead of an expert panel. Anything visual the con does will bring another tv station. Have the con ready on time on Friday. Stage alien invasions, zombie walks, 501st marches, car shows, etc. as advertising. Get PC Laptops to sponsor video game tournies. Need to improve web presence. Have a CONduit bookstore in the Dealer's Room to centralize where con-goers can get the books of all the authors at the con. Switch to an Exhibitor's Hall and eliminate the Dealer's Room as we know it. Sponsors for rooms and consignment shop for the sponsors. Activities are more important than guests. Have a communal pot for hall costume prize money. Amateur fiction reading gong show. Website with the ability for anyone to register activities and what you want to do with text alerts; also allows live blogging. Ebay and Overstock involvement in the swapmeet. Build a "fan" track where the clubs and activities can be gathered. Sign up for a chance to meet with the published authors and editors for a chance to speak with them about the signee's work. Need the literary panels to be directed at the readers as well as writers. Don't neglect literary in the search for more media involvement. Bring back "what's new in literature, film, gaming, tv, etc." Add shared world (Firefly, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.) book panels. Improve and use the announce list. Publish the winners of the contests in the program book of the following year. Invest in a new art show structure that is lighter and easier to set up. Need to eliminate the "us vs them" language and get to a "we." Change the name from CONduit to something else. Add a mass autograph signing to eliminate all the little signings. Use the iPhone app Conventioner. Hotel restaurant have a sample hour in the CONsuite to advertise the restaurant. Move away from Memorial Day weekend. More people need to be at the ConCom meetings. Have ConCom meeting, then department meetings, then re-gather the ConCom all on the same day. Add a fan guest of honor. Filk is out growing the Masquerade. Need a social dance.
Lunch 12:55: Chinese Buffet
If you want a say in structural changes to CONduit or the SFCON organization, show up to the business meeting on the 18th that I have listed above.
ReplyDeleteIf you stay with Memorial day weekend, please make it Sat, Sun, Monday, (instead of Fri-Sun) so that those of us that work can attend without taking time off of work.
ReplyDeleteI was kind of thinking starting a little later on Friday and running later on Sunday might be a good option too.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see a "round robin" of scopes of the Guest(s) of Honor. As long as one GOH must be a writer and one must be an author and the other areas only get a GOH as a third consideration, if there is money, those who are in the other areas will always feel like step children.
ReplyDeleteI took a stupid pill. For GOH, I meant if one must be a writer (literature) and one an artist ...
ReplyDeleteI like Anonymous's comment about all three GoH slots rotating. I think our local community--and local artist community, for that matter--have grown in numbers and professional endeavors such that we can sustain really solid writing and art tracks, even if there's not a "national" (read: outside Utah) author or artist guest for a year. And Anonymous has a point: other aspects of fandom do kind of feel neglected when two of the three GoH slots are by default filled with a certain flavor of guest. I will try (with my voice and my one vote) to move things in that direction.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I must add with a very rueful face that it might take until 2013 to make that particular change happen. We already have an author guest for 2012 (Tamora Pierce, who really wanted to come, but had a schedule conflict for 2011), and at the meeting we had two fantastic suggestions for potential artist GoHs (the fellow in Clearfield who draws Green Lantern comics, and someone--I'll have to wait for official minutes to see who--has some sort of in with the fellow who draws Garfield and a Star Trek comic). But, then again, we also had some fantastic suggestions for gaming guests and (thanks Carl!) media guests. Maybe we could aim for having two of the three slots open this year, then aim for all three slots open in 2013?
Hmm. One potential difficulty with that: many "big" guests are booked more than one year in advance. How would people feel about the notion of deciding which types of GoHs will be pursued for a particular year more than that year in advance? I know that idea has issues of its own, but basically, the sooner invitations are sent, the better the odds that the guests we invite won't be otherwise committed.
Heather
Oops. That second sentence should read "I think our local *author* community..."
ReplyDelete... And apparently there's some sort of limit on how often one can post. I posted my correction, and it deleted my initial post. I'll try again in a moment...
ReplyDeleteOkay, trying again on my original comment...
ReplyDeleteI like Anonymous's suggestion that all three GoH slots be open for rotation. I think our local author and artist populations are such that they can run mighty darn solid writing and art tracks, whether or not they have a "national" (read: outside Utah) guest for one year. And making all three slots open would allow us to include more aspects of fandom, more frequently, in guest rotation.
That said, I must add with a very rueful grin that such change might need to be added gradually, over the next couple of years, because we already have an author GoH for 2012 (Tamora Pierce really wanted to come, but had a schedule conflict in 2011). Maybe aim to have two GoH slots open to be decided upon in 2012, and aim for having all three open to be decided upon for 2013?
One question about that, though. How would people feel about deciding which types of guests to pursue for a year, more than just-that-year in advance? I know, that's a question with plenty of issues of its own, but speaking as one who spent a few years as a guest liaison for different events, I can attest that a lot of potential guests set their schedules more than one year in advance. Deciding what types of guests to pursue more than one year in advance would give us more options in terms of people who might be able to accept invitations.
Anyway...just thoughts so far. Thanks again, Erin, for getting this discussion going!
Heather
This is a great start on the issues at the Con this year. Keep the chat up!!! Cheryl
ReplyDeleteI noticed that The Dead Gentlemen were mentioned. For what its worth, SpoCon (in Spokane, WA... in August) is DG's "offical" convention home. If you need contact, I can certainly help facilitate that :-)
ReplyDeleteRandy
Erin, from Pam's agenda:
ReplyDelete*June 11, 2011 10:00 a.m. ConCom Day-Riverside Library- 1575 W 1000 N
*June 18, 2011 10:00 a.m. Business Hunter Library - 4740 W 4100 S
*June 25, 2011 1:00-5:00 p.m Party!!!! 4201 S Normandie (535 E 4200 S)
*July 9, 2011 10:00 a.m. ConCom West Valley City Library - 2880 W 3650 S
*July 1-4, 2011 Westercon 64 San Jose, CA westercon64.org
*Aug 17-21, 2011 Renovation - Worldcon 69 Reno, NV renovationsf.org
*Aug 26,27, 2011 ConClave of Horror Neumont Univ (Sandy) conclaveofhorror.com
*Oct 14-15, 2011 GEEX geexshow.com
*Oct 21-23, 2011 Anime Banzai Davis Conference Center ?
*Feb, 2012 Life, The Universe & Everything BYU Conference Center ltue.org
*Feb 17-18, 2012 SaltCON Royal Garden Inn saltcom.com
*Mar 29-Apr 1, 2012 World Horror Radisson Hotel whc2012.org
*May, 2012 Utah Renfest & Fantasy Faire Marriott-Slaterville utahrenfest.com
*May 25-27, 2012 CONduit 22: Timelords of CONduit Radisson Hotel conduit.sfcon.org
Debbie L.
PART 1
ReplyDeleteI broke the ugly text block that was the brainstorming up to be easier to read:
Allow people to opt out of progress report online and post it online.
Big billboard on I-15.
Revitalize and re-build CONduit from top to bottom with nothing off the table.
Artists alley, author alley, podcast alley, club alley, etc.
Get galleries and frameries interested in our art show.
Advertising in organic food stores.
Get Dead Gentlemen Productions for gamers and independent film making.
Paper downtown with CONduit ads; menu specials, posters, etc.
Need more dealers and dealer space.
Ask media people to come it never hurts.
Absolutely need a strong media track.
Get the libraries involved in CONduit.
Need a bigger hotel with gather space.
Need room parties.
Need to re-think the concept of the media and anime rooms.
Need to come up with guidelines for sponsorship of guests.
Discount for people who show up in a costume.
$1000 prize for best costume.
Iron GM contest.
Pass out coupons to people in awesome costumes for the next year's con.
Give clubs time in programming to do with whatever they want.
Cool nerd car car show at the con.
Model show at the con.
Coupons for the fan clubs if they present their club IDs.
Star Trek simulator provided by the clubs.
Con BINGO for visiting sites at the con.
Quest giver games.
Green Lantern comic artist lives in Clearfield.
Add fan fiction category to writing contests.
Video contests.
Baen books wants to do an event with CONduit.
Pre-paid, pre-ordered box lunches through the hotel, so that con goers can wander about con space with their food.
Need more hall costume activities.
Re-work the Masquerade to draw back in the more casual costumers.
Fashion parade in addition to the Masquerade for people to show off their costumes, not necessarily compete.
Use Skype for virtual guests.
Get the clubs more involved in the programming.
Interactive programming, more like BOFFs and games instead of an expert panel.
Anything visual the con does will bring another tv station.
Have the con ready on time on Friday.
Stage alien invasions, zombie walks, 501st marches, car shows, etc. as advertising.
Get PC Laptops to sponsor video game tournies.
Need to improve web presence.
Have a CONduit bookstore in the Dealer's Room to centralize where con-goers can get the books of all the authors at the con.
Switch to an Exhibitor's Hall and eliminate the Dealer's Room as we know it.
Sponsors for rooms and consignment shop for the sponsors.
Activities are more important than guests.
Have a communal pot for hall costume prize money.
Amateur fiction reading gong show.
Website with the ability for anyone to register activities and what you want to do with text alerts; also allows live blogging.
Ebay and Overstock involvement in the swapmeet.
Build a "fan" track where the clubs and activities can be gathered.
PART 2
ReplyDeleteSign up for a chance to meet with the published authors and editors for a chance to speak with them about the signee's work.
Need the literary panels to be directed at the readers as well as writers.
Don't neglect literary in the search for more media involvement.
Bring back "what's new in literature, film, gaming, tv, etc."
Add shared world (Firefly, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.) book panels.
Improve and use the announce list.
Publish the winners of the contests in the program book of the following year.
Invest in a new art show structure that is lighter and easier to set up.
Need to eliminate the "us vs them" language and get to a "we."
Change the name from CONduit to something else.
Add a mass autograph signing to eliminate all the little signings.
Use the iPhone app Conventioner.
Hotel restaurant have a sample hour in the CONsuite to advertise the restaurant.
Move away from Memorial Day weekend.
More people need to be at the ConCom meetings.
Have ConCom meeting, then department meetings, then re-gather the ConCom all on the same day.
Add a fan guest of honor.
Filk is out growing the Masquerade.
Need a social dance.
I have had the added suggestion that CONduit breaks programming up into a track system; literary track, kids track, media track, gaming track, filk track, etc.
ReplyDeleteErin, are you planning on attending the meeting on Saturday the 18th and doing the same thing? I can't make the meeting, and it would be nice to hear what comes out of it.
ReplyDeleteJulie Henderson
Yes, I am planning on setting up and blogging the meeting on the 18th.
ReplyDelete