More talking about Arisia
Jan. 28th, 2013 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexI wrote a short form and thus I'm going to cut-tag this for people who don't care about details.
I did send a long thing to feedback@arisia. If you were an attendee and you have something to say about your con experience I urge you to email there or use the feedback form on the site. The input is read by people who worked this past year's con and by people who will be working on next year. Because Arisia is so big and so diverse it's hard to get a view of all the pieces without getting a lot of input from many people.
This was the first Arisia I worked in many years and I enjoyed it. I found the concom this year to be a good group and I'd be happy working with or for them again. That said, I think the Con fell down in a big important way, related to how we communicate with our attendees. This formed the bulk of my feedback and it has colored my experience of the con a good bit.
This year for the first time we focused on the con itself, and dropped our annual outside socialization. That was a sad decision for me - I particularly missed the contingent of people I see only once a year. But given the kids' ages and the structure of Arisia it was the right thing to do.
At one point I was taking Thing 2 back to the room or dinner or something and crossed the lobby, stopping briefly to say hi, hug, or wave at people I knew. As we got to the elevators he remarked "Wow, you know a lot of people." That's true, I suppose - I've been to every Arisia since the second one, but at the same time I probably only know 1/10th of the 3700+ people who were there. This year I missed a lot of the socializing that I enjoyed in years past. Objectively I spent a good deal of social time with some wonderful people, but I felt like I didn't have the many casual and surprise encounters that have been part of past cons.
This year we let Thing 1 have a "free night" at the con. No curfew. He did us one proud turn (story on request) but worried his mother by staying up 'till 4AM. He would've been up later if she hadn't called and made him come to bed. Lesson learned: he'll have some kind of curfew next time, mostly so he doesn't keep her (and thus me) up.
We've also got to move to a double-double room set-up next year. The kids are getting too big for floor-sleeping. They don't like cosleeping, and Pygment and I prefer a larger bed, but practically it's not going to work otherwise, given how this hotel's bedrooms are laid out.
This year's Art GOH, Roger Dean, was a major highlight for me. I remember being in Roozle's kitchen and seeing the flyer. I sort of skimmed it then did a double-take. "Wait... THE Roger Dean??!?" She laughed and said that when people saw that there were two reactions: "THE Roger Dean" and "Roger Dean who?" Dean was a delight as a GOH - friendly, personable, tolerant, and very giving. And my odds of seeing him again are small. His work is fantastic despite having been in the business for 45 years, and he's got 45 years worth of great stories to draw on.
I did five panels and had to drop a sixth due to a schedule conflict. All five panels went reasonably well, I thought, though I can think of ways to improve on all of what I did. I think next year I may step back from the parenting-related things and try to do more literary and gaming panels, which I enjoyed a great deal. Don't hold me to that, though.
The con parties were also quite good, though Sunday night still needs work. We hit the Lefton-Silber younger generation event all three nights and had fun. We also tried the convention-sponsored dance a couple times but I didn't like the DJ's style (dude, you have a cross-fade control for a reason) so we didn't stay as long as planned. I thought the con and the hotel did an excellent job of handling "private" parties (with alcohol) considering the total disaster that was last year. The hotel liaison and her division and the party czar and his crew put in a lot of effort here and hit a home run.
Finally, photos. A friend did a couple of great hall costumes, but it turns out I'm the only one who got good pix of her, which she needs to show her mom (yes, really). So I'm going to try processing at least some of these photos out of order, and using my shiny new Lightroom installation. That has caused me to examine my con shooting earlier than usual and to realize that I did a piss-poor job with the photography this year. I did less of it than I should have, shot fewer people, and I'm not pleased with the shot quality on initial view. I'm not sure what the right lesson is to draw here. I had the camera to hand for most of the con, but maybe that's not good enough. I need to push myself to shoot more, and shoot better and I'm not sure how.
I did send a long thing to feedback@arisia. If you were an attendee and you have something to say about your con experience I urge you to email there or use the feedback form on the site. The input is read by people who worked this past year's con and by people who will be working on next year. Because Arisia is so big and so diverse it's hard to get a view of all the pieces without getting a lot of input from many people.
This was the first Arisia I worked in many years and I enjoyed it. I found the concom this year to be a good group and I'd be happy working with or for them again. That said, I think the Con fell down in a big important way, related to how we communicate with our attendees. This formed the bulk of my feedback and it has colored my experience of the con a good bit.
This year for the first time we focused on the con itself, and dropped our annual outside socialization. That was a sad decision for me - I particularly missed the contingent of people I see only once a year. But given the kids' ages and the structure of Arisia it was the right thing to do.
At one point I was taking Thing 2 back to the room or dinner or something and crossed the lobby, stopping briefly to say hi, hug, or wave at people I knew. As we got to the elevators he remarked "Wow, you know a lot of people." That's true, I suppose - I've been to every Arisia since the second one, but at the same time I probably only know 1/10th of the 3700+ people who were there. This year I missed a lot of the socializing that I enjoyed in years past. Objectively I spent a good deal of social time with some wonderful people, but I felt like I didn't have the many casual and surprise encounters that have been part of past cons.
This year we let Thing 1 have a "free night" at the con. No curfew. He did us one proud turn (story on request) but worried his mother by staying up 'till 4AM. He would've been up later if she hadn't called and made him come to bed. Lesson learned: he'll have some kind of curfew next time, mostly so he doesn't keep her (and thus me) up.
We've also got to move to a double-double room set-up next year. The kids are getting too big for floor-sleeping. They don't like cosleeping, and Pygment and I prefer a larger bed, but practically it's not going to work otherwise, given how this hotel's bedrooms are laid out.
This year's Art GOH, Roger Dean, was a major highlight for me. I remember being in Roozle's kitchen and seeing the flyer. I sort of skimmed it then did a double-take. "Wait... THE Roger Dean??!?" She laughed and said that when people saw that there were two reactions: "THE Roger Dean" and "Roger Dean who?" Dean was a delight as a GOH - friendly, personable, tolerant, and very giving. And my odds of seeing him again are small. His work is fantastic despite having been in the business for 45 years, and he's got 45 years worth of great stories to draw on.
I did five panels and had to drop a sixth due to a schedule conflict. All five panels went reasonably well, I thought, though I can think of ways to improve on all of what I did. I think next year I may step back from the parenting-related things and try to do more literary and gaming panels, which I enjoyed a great deal. Don't hold me to that, though.
The con parties were also quite good, though Sunday night still needs work. We hit the Lefton-Silber younger generation event all three nights and had fun. We also tried the convention-sponsored dance a couple times but I didn't like the DJ's style (dude, you have a cross-fade control for a reason) so we didn't stay as long as planned. I thought the con and the hotel did an excellent job of handling "private" parties (with alcohol) considering the total disaster that was last year. The hotel liaison and her division and the party czar and his crew put in a lot of effort here and hit a home run.
Finally, photos. A friend did a couple of great hall costumes, but it turns out I'm the only one who got good pix of her, which she needs to show her mom (yes, really). So I'm going to try processing at least some of these photos out of order, and using my shiny new Lightroom installation. That has caused me to examine my con shooting earlier than usual and to realize that I did a piss-poor job with the photography this year. I did less of it than I should have, shot fewer people, and I'm not pleased with the shot quality on initial view. I'm not sure what the right lesson is to draw here. I had the camera to hand for most of the con, but maybe that's not good enough. I need to push myself to shoot more, and shoot better and I'm not sure how.
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no subject
Date: 2013-01-28 08:55 pm (UTC)When I took my husband to Arisia -- something like ten years ago now -- he didn't have a very good time. He said that the con looked as if it would be fun for people who knew lots of folks but not much fun for newcomers. Is there any sort of ice-breaker activity for new attendees, so they can get to know some of the regulars? And if not, it might be a good idea...
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Date: 2013-01-28 09:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-28 09:11 pm (UTC)When I was a bit older than Thing 1 and could drive, my mom and I came to an agreement that I would call her if I'd be out past my "loose" midnight curfew, and check in every hour or two after that. This was the policy even when I was much older and came home to visit friends, just to keep her from worrying. I did drop the ball a few times over the years. No cell phones back then, which meant I had to be careful to end up in places where a phone was available.
I wasn't that aware of Roger Dean until there were various issues regarding his artwork -- shipping, insurance, etc. -- and
no subject
Date: 2013-01-28 09:28 pm (UTC)Check out this giant bag of I So Don't Know Crap About Photography that I have. Isn't it lovely? :)
So with that caveat: maybe block out an hour (similar to a panel?) where you are in Photography Mode, as opposed to Socializing Mode or Go Get Food Now Mode, etc. Especially if your family is scattered doing other things, that seems like a good cue for a variant of Me time.
I'm also wondering if a buddy who knows your photography style would be helpful: while you're focusing on the near distance (maybe you're asking someone if you can take their photo, or are busy taking their photo), your wingman can be looking for people/situations you'd like to take a photo of. Or they just play gopher for you if you have a lot of equipment. Or just poke you every 30 seconds: "hey, take more photos", although there's probably a smartphone app for that. :)
no subject
Date: 2013-01-28 11:45 pm (UTC)