From: JOHN_DONAT@cs-lp1.prime.COM (John Donat CSE 312-641-3450)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: conventions
Date: 18 Aug 92 22:08:52 GMT

As far as what makes a good con:

Programming -this sounds simple, but if there isn't programming that a
good proportion of the con would like to see at least once, perhaps, you
have not put together a good program.  Also, a varied choice of
programming is great -as long as the TWO things that you really wanted to
see weren't at the same time!

Concom -it really helps if the people that run a con go to other cons -I
have been to cons where the concom only goes to, and runs that con -there
is no way to see if other concoms have ideas for handling stuff that may
be better than what you are doing!!
It also helps (most of the time) if the concom (is/are) friends, or can at
least enjoy their company for a weekend -inter-concom sniping at con is
not fun to watch, nor is the effects of this.

Hotel -it helps to have a hotel where the staff is not on a revolving door
-the hotel that Windycon has been using in the Chicago area has had very
little staff turnover, and the new ones on the staff are QUICKLY educated
about sf cons.

This is a true story -a couple of years ago, the hotel that Windycon uses
got a new food and beverage manager -this is the poor soul that the con
suite (among others has to bug to get ice, garbage cans, et al).  This
poor soul listened to the description of what was going to happen at his
hotel that weekend, and piped up with "I was working in a hotel in
Seattle, and there was something called Westercon that sounded a lot like
this". At this point, the entire concom was on the floor, (and quite
relieved that he knew what was going to happen).

Con Suite -this is my baliwick -I have been crazy enough to run the
Windycon con suite for 12 years, and also help on Chicon IV, and run
Chicon V's con suite, so I think I can talk from experience about such
things.

There is no such place as a big enough room for a con suite in any hotel
in the world! IMHO. I wish we could find a suite like the one in the late
lamented Radisson Minneapolis downtown -man, that was a huge place.
Ventilation in a con suite is a problem, and I am not sure that there is a
real solution, as we at cons are stuffing many more people in a suite that
the HVAC is equipped to handle.

Booze... A qualified yes.  Because of the increased awareness of alcohol
problems, many cons have gone dry. At the cons that I have helped to run,
we have someone from the con suite staff monitor the bheer at all times
that the bheer is available. The badges are coded for age, sos we dont
have to card.  The total cost of the bheer is usually less than $1.00/per
attendee, so's i really dont think that is too much for the non drinkers
to support (there is much disagreement on this).

And finally, radios, etc...

I have found, at least in the hotel that I am very familiar with, that
other than the regular room phones, the house phones are in only the
elevator lobbies, which are a far piece from most everything at the con.

I agree, strongly, that the people carrying the radios must not take
themselves too seriously, or else the attendes will not take them
seriously at all.  I have my own beeper from work that I wear when I am
working a con, just to make it easier for someone to find me (I probably
don't need one, but it is  already available.)  In big hotels (like the
Hyatt for Chicon V, radios were a necessity to communicate between
different parts of the same dept (the loading dock was on the 2nd
basement, and the con suite was 3 levels up from that)

As far as hotel security, it really helps if you can have a long term
relationship with the security forces in the hotel -it makes things much
smoother when the security forces know you, and you know them.
Unfortunately, this doesn't happen very often.