drwex: (VNV)
[personal profile] drwex
We survived, but just barely. This got long, so a-cutting I shall go.

The bed in our original room was awful so despite being a good doobie and trying to get to sleep around 1 AM (not that late for me) I did not sleep well Friday or Saturday nights. Child waking me up multiple times early Sat AM did not help. We were not on a quiet floor so moved to one for Sunday night since the room next door was scheduled to have a DJed party. The bed up there was better, but I still slept fitfully.

My panels were "meh". The early-Friday one was 5 panelists and 3-4 people in the audience, which is always a bad sign. Bad timing and a limited interest topic. The Saturday gaming panel was the best; props to dkap for excellent moderation. That panel was five old farts who've been GMing forever (I counted over a century of gaming on the panel) giving tips and advice to a decent audience with good questions and interests. Sadly no one was able to give me a real answer to my own personal GMing dilemma. I credit woodwardio for encouraging me to sign up for gaming panels - that was a good idea. The Sunday panel was more or less ruined for me by a moderator who was WAY TOO LOUD AND RUDELY INTERRUPTING OF EVERYONE. The discussion was good and I only had to tell Stallman he was nuts twice. He has mellowed a lot with age.

Panels I attended were also "meh". The panel on using photography in art was sparsely attended and turned into "here are 17 wonderful things about Photoshop". Which was OK in itself, but not what I'd come to hear. The GoH events were good but severely disorganized. As loose Q&As they were only as good as the questions. I would rather have heard something like a real presentation or interview. I deliberately avoided attending poly panels so as not to provoke extra bile, and the one panel of Pygment's that I wanted to see was opposite one of my own so I couldn't go to that.

The attendee experience was also "meh". We didn't get the con crud but we had a variety of low-level health issues, not least of which is that Pygment did something to her arm for which I'm taking a day off since she can't drive and we're going to her doc in about 20 minutes. I bitched at the current con chair about some of the issues (bless his heart for standing still and listening) all of which I attribute to "Arisia has outgrown its volunteer staff and is being hosed by its hotel." There are related problems, such as many areas not having trained up replacements to fill in for people who burn out or nerdrage out or whatever. All of these are long-term and systemic and not easy to fix. They certainly can't be fixed intra-con and it's not clear they can be fixed by next year. I did volunteer to next year's con chair that I will do any job she needs done; I owe her more favors than I can count. But after next year I may be through with Arisia unless the attendee experience changes dramatically.

I thought the attempt to expand the dealer's room was a mild success. There were certainly lots of new and interesting vendors, but the forced close at 7PM was a real bummer. I talked to several vendors who wanted control over their own hours and I hope the con+hotel can figure a way to make that happen. The revamped Con Suite and Green Rooms were also meh, with just no place for a nice sit-and-chat plus too much stuff hidden. I talked to several other panelists who only discovered the "back half" of the Green Room on Monday morning. The masquerade seemed to be a great success with a full list of presenters, awarding two Best in Shows, and generally getting good reviews from everyone I listened to. I also heard good reports all around about the imported new Con security crew; Pygment had several positive interactions with them. My sole complaint is that both they and hotel security showed up in Fast Track asking a lot of questions and not explaining why, which led to a number of worried parents. In the end all was good, particularly given they were a new crew.

Date: 2012-01-25 10:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vvalkyri.livejournal.com
I never staffed the table, but instead wandered about with a clipboard. OTOH one could always find me at the table - I was September in the calendar.

Date: 2012-01-25 10:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vvalkyri.livejournal.com
scroll back a couple posts in my journal; I added you to the filter :)

(I have many better pics but they're still on the camera)

Date: 2012-01-26 04:51 am (UTC)

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