Intercon I Con Com Minutes - 30 November 2008 Dec 1, 2008

Hey hey party people!  It's minutes time again.

Concom Minutes
30 November 2008

 

  • NEIL business
    • NEIL annual meeting January 11, at Brandeis
    • Nominations for J con chair
    • The membership cap - review
  • Registrar
    • Our chart is scary looking compared to other Intercons
    • Since last meeting we have about doubled our attendance!
    • Projection: 320 (except that we have a cap, so we won't get there)
    • Perfect storm:
      • We are reaching out to new places that haven't been tapped before
      • Boffer LARPs, campaigns, new recruiting at colleges
      • Modest uptick from IMA as well
    • Discussion about considerations for looking at other hotels for next year:
      • At least 20 function spaces would be good
      • Spaces in Boston are generally too expensive
      • This may impact our current con suite (which is a mixed blessing, and means that we should consider nearby food for other hotels)
  • Hotel Liason
    • Asked him to find out balcony capacity given our numbers this year.  He said he didn't think it would be a problem but will contact Jennifer from the Radisson about it.
    • Question: are 2 salons enough for the Sunday breakfast?
  • Bid Chair
    • We have added a bunch of games since last we talked - flyer has been updated
    • Numerous GMs have contacted Anna asking if their game should be made bigger etc, but we are actually OK for now
    • We have 7(ish) games that are not yet at minimum
      • ...but if people drop off waiting lists, those games all should reach minimum
  • Information
    • Not here, sent a report:
    • Information:
      - General promotion and mailing list nudging has been halted because of the bulging attendance. (Also, not that I'm implying anything, but I prefer safe places to sleep.)
      - Targeted nudges have been sent per Nat's suggestion. Also, a Con Suite volunteer nudge has been sent out.
      - Would like to send a message out if more about the Thursday Thing is ready. Haven't seen any new information on it at all. 
      - Next general message goes out by 12/10 mentioning bios for program book deadline, NEIL meeting and elections, Intercon I shirt pimping, hotel room reservation prodding, and vol-un-teer begging! (Will probably skip swimming swans, pregnant geese and partridges.)
      Questions (general):
      - Do we have any information on the balcony capacity? Is this pretty much a non issue.
    • See above.
      - Have all GMs signed up for their games? 
    • Josh is going to send a reminder about that.
      - Who else needs information or a nudge sent out? Sooner than 12/10?
    • Explaining the fact that Galactic Emperor is a con-wide game that plays at the same time would be good.
    • Shirt orders will close Mid-January (talk to Andrew for exact details)
      - How many teams do we have so far for Iron GM?
    • 4, we are full.
      - How are we doing on player capacity? (I assume that hotel capacity for games is effectively full. If not, where are we short?)
      • See above.
  • Con Suite
    • Not here, sent a report:
    • Greetings all!  Sorry I won't be seeing you all today, but frankly giving a written report will probably be better than I'd do in person, anyway!
       
      Okay, now for the report:
       
      First, Barry, thank you for adding the Con Suite column to the schedule grid.  Not only are people using it, but just looking at certain slots and seeing a number of people signed up already is incredibly reassuring!
       
      Second, Nat, thank you for making requests for Con Suite volunteers in all recent announcements.  I don't know what the actual cause of the sign-ups is, but there are a number of volunteers who are new to me!  I'm attributing that to your -- and other folks' -- requests for help.  Thank you all!
       
      Third, we still need more cooks.  I'll be putting out a request soon -- most likely next week -- but please ask around for folks willing to make 5 gallons of hot entrees.  I actually have recipes for some potential Saturday night entrees (both veg and meat), so lack of ideas isn't an issue.  ;)  Given our numbers, we're going to need at least one additional Saturday night entree.  So we really need more cooks!
       
      Fourth, even though staffing is looking better than it has in past years, there's still room for more helpers -- especially Friday late evening and Saturday afternoon.  Con Suite needs you!
       
      Fifth, I'll be sending out the first formal email to Con Suite volunteers this coming week.
       
      Sixth, logistics.  We are going to have to rearrange the serving table setup for Saturday dinner, and possibly also for Saturday lunch.  The only place to reasonably create a double-sided serving line is along the long wall, so we'll need to move those tables away from the wall after Saturday breakfast.
       
      To accomplish this, we'll need the following from the hotel:
        * Tables along the long wall will need to be individually, fully draped before being pushed together.  This is to make pulling them away from the wall (to allow for a double-sided serving line) easier.
        * I'd like enough extra tablecloths to fold them and put them over the table tops for Friday evening; Saturday breakfast/lunch; Saturday dinner; Sunday morning.  (They will keep things cleaner -- I expect more mess from more people -- and also make the break between individually-draped tables less obvious.)
       * We may need even more extension cords than usual
       * We will definitely need to tape the cords to the floor to prevent tripping, since all cords (even the ones plugged in right next to the table) will be in a line of traffic.  Cords will need to be taped around 2pm on Saturday.
       * Does the hotel have any post-and-rope or Tensabarrier systems?  That would be useful, during lunch and dinner, for separating the food line from the general Con Suite eating area.  We'd put them away in the back hallway during other times.
       
    •  
      We will ask Alex about this stuff.
       
       
       
      I'll also need the following from Ops/somewhere:
       * Approximately 2-4 strong, sturdy types to move the tables away from the wall around 10am, and then to move them back towards the wall around 10pm.
       
      • Andrew will ensure that there are enough people to do that.
    • Email reminders will be going out prior to the con
    • Con suite will absolutely not be responsible for allergens, and will not provide ingredient lists for all dishes.  It's simply not logistically feasible, and we can't be 100% sure that they are correct during the chaos of con.  The one exception is that we try to be pretty strict about the dishes we claim are vegetarian.
    • Watch for soda sales!
  • GM Coordinator
    • Followup: Furniture requests - when should they go out?
      • This coming week.  Bio reminder will be thrown in as well, along with reminders to sign up for your own games.
    • Con suite question: will there be bag lunches this year (as was discussed awhile back)?
      • Kerri will check with Renee and find out.
  • Treasurer
    • Followup: State paperwork went out?
      • Not yet, it will be this week.
    • Numbers are looking pretty good for us :)
    • Intercon I: $6816.02
    • Intercon J: $73.68 (because of rollovers)
    • NEIL: $5460.60
    • We have not yet paid the hotel.
  • Ops
    • Welcome minion Dave Kapell
    • Followup: Volunteers?
      • Looking good so far
    • Followup: Pencils
      • Ordered!
    • Nat will take the buttons from Josh after the meeting (and send 3 to Anita)
    • Ops is Ops
    • Ops is fine
    • Shirt orders are closing mid-January
    • Raffle coordination
      • Adina will coordinate, Nat will send her the info
  • Pubs / Art
    • Art isn't here, didn't send a report
    • No news from Pubs
    • Pub deadline is December 25
  • Vendor
    • Not here, sent a report:
    • Given the info on weather.com. I'll not be coming out. Nothing exciting to report. We have a couple of people, none of whom have given me registration info yet, hence nothing going to the registrar. I'll start calling people I know are interested to remind them this week.
  • Web
    • Barry did a lot of dev work this month, thanks Barry!
    • Followup: Hosting renewal - expense report?
      • Not yet, but it looks like the hosting has been renewed.
    • Followup: Vendors page - did Jen and Barry talk?
      • No.
  • Con chair
    • Followup: Taking Terilee's stuff up to Intercon
      • Sam H. can't do it; he's flying there
      • Anna will talk to Jim Husband about that.
    • Followup: GNEGA meeting?
      • No.
    • Followup: Arisia
      • Anna action items from last time:
        • Is everything ok with the party room?
          • Emailed, no response back, will escalate.
        • Fan table?
          • Emailed, got a request confirmation, but no fan table confirmation yet.
      • Andrew - did VistaPrint like our business cards this time?
        • Yes, waiting for them in the mail.
      • Shaved ice order
        • Strawberry
        • Lemon
        • Blue Raspberry
        • Non-blue Raspberry
        • Lime
        • Grape
        • NOT COKE
        • NOT COCONUT
        • NOT ORANGE
  • Thursday Thing
    • Followup: Sheena health, King Lear?
      • Sheena no longer has bronchitis
      • King Lear was all right
    • Recap informal IMA meeting
      • NPCs/NPC Theory
      • Costuming
      • Problem Players
      • Taboo subjects in LARP
      • Q&A with experienced writers
      • Questionnaires: writing and filling
      • Software/tech in LARP
      • Community-based LARP
      • ARGs and LARP
      • Language
      • SFX
      • Adult themes
      • Horror stories
    • Email went out - who's responded?
      • Janet Brennan, Sharone, Chris Amherst, Mike Young (perhaps), Adina, Don (sorta), Laura, Josh R., Chad
      • Also should email Mike McAfee and Mark Waks and Charlie Sumner
    • Official publicity - maybe once we have confirmed panels?
    • Followup: Flyers?
      • We can haz flyers!
  • Iron GM
    • We have 4 teams!
    • Barry is setting up a specialized page for Iron GM events
    • Themes are selected
    • We will set up chat rooms during the weekend before con
      • Staffers: Sheena, Anna, perhaps Phoebe
    • Sheena will take care of printing
  • Schedule
    • NEIL meeting is on January 11
    • Con com meeting will be directly following (around 3:00 PM)
  • One more thing...
    • Happy birthday to Laura!