From: fafhrd@lunacity.com (David Medinnus)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime
Subject: Re: AA'93, AX'93, and Flame Wars
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 92 13:34:17 PST
Organization: LunaCity BBS - (Clan Zen Relay Network) Mountain View, CA

dhiga@aludra.usc.edu (Darold Higa) writes:

> In article <40c0VB1w165w@lunacity.com> fafhrd@lunacity.com (David Medinnus) w
> 
> >While I agree with you that staff, and not just department heads, count 
> >as staff, there is also the factor of experience to consider. For 
> >example, who is doing your hotel/facility contracts? Not Chris Knight; he 
> >would never have signed a contract like the one MT did with the Oakland 
> >Parc. Who is running volunteers? Not Bob Lau. Who is running Operations 
> >(either the entire division, or the Ops office)? Not Charlie Prael or Jo 
> >Goldberg. Who is running Guest Relations? Not Andy Kim. Who is running 
> >the Art Show? Dealers Room? And when you insert names to these positions, 
> >could you please indicate as to whether or not any of these people have 
> >done the job before? Or anything similar? On the other hand, y'all having 
> >Terry Yuong (sp?) as Registration is VERY good; he was very professional 
> >and efficient last year.
> 
> Is this kind of posting necessary?  Can we infer from this post that these ar
> the only individuals in the world which can run a good con?  There seems to b
> an implication that there is only one way, only one set of people, only one
> solution.  By this argument, nothing can ever be done unless it's been done
> before.  That is utter nonsense.  A combination of experience (people other
> than those in charge gain experience too!) and enthusiastic newcomers are wha
> MAKES effective organizations that do not unravel with the departure of a 
> single figure.  Organizations work BECAUSE they diffuse power and experience
> among their members.  I don't appreciate the implication that only AC 91 and
> AX 92 staff are the only people able to run the next convention.
> 
> I really think that these cheap attacks against AX 93 staff do not reflect we
> on American anime fandom.  Mudslinging dragged the politics of the late 80s
> down into the sewer.  Must we do the same to anime?
> 
> Darold Higa
> MA student, School of International Relations, USC

Darold, while I agree that it is not necessary to have experience in a 
con department to run it well, it would be nice if some of AX's 
department heads had experience.

Albert's post implied that they had an experienced staff. This is not, 
IMO, the case, and I could not let that assetion go unchallenged. 

And, yes, for a con to run smoothly, the concom needs to be experienced, 
at least to the degree that they understand what it is that they need to 
accomplish. Am I claiming that AX is going to be an unmitigated disaster 
because it doesn't have an experienced staff. No, I am not. But there 
will be problems which arise from the staff inexperience, and if AX's 
senior concom refuses to admit that it'll be a problem, then it has the 
potential to be a BIG problem. 

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David Medinnus -> (fafhrd@lunacity.com)
                                LunaCity BBS - Mountain View, CA 415 968 8140
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime