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Episode 41- Convention Advice
Alright. It's not time to start telling convention stories just yet. Although I don't think I can stop anyone from doing so, myself included. But let's at least try to give convention advice here first.
One piece of advice I left out of the show was knowing when to commit and when not to. It is important to commit to certain things like giant events you know will be fun, awesome dinner reservations and hotel reservations. It is important not to commit to anything else. Things which are going to provide guaranteed awesome in a big way require you to ante up, and it's well worth it. But if you start promising to go to tons of panels and other things you could end up screwing yourself when you miss out on ad hoc fun.
One piece of advice I left out of the show was knowing when to commit and when not to. It is important to commit to certain things like giant events you know will be fun, awesome dinner reservations and hotel reservations. It is important not to commit to anything else. Things which are going to provide guaranteed awesome in a big way require you to ante up, and it's well worth it. But if you start promising to go to tons of panels and other things you could end up screwing yourself when you miss out on ad hoc fun.
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Also, gaming cons are notorious for having events go long, so back-to-back scheduling is pretty-much doomed from the start.
We just remembered that old story when we were trying to come up with a way to introduce all of our points concerning how -not- to organize a con trip. It was the only convention we've ever had issues with, so the mistakes we made were definitely a learning experience. (Just wait until part 2. The trip and the hotel reservations weren't the only problems we had ^_~).
The main thing we learned was that having a plan is only half of the battle. You also need to stick to that plan and hold everyone accountable for their part in it. If someone doesn't meet their obligation, you have to write them off IMMEDIATELY and enact the backup plan.
We'd planned everything out. What we failed to do was enforce our plan promptly. The proper solution would have been to have left from their house on our own the moment it was discovered that they were unprepared to depart. By waiting, we compromised the integrity of the rest of the trip and almost ended up arriving late to the con. (Luckily, we averaged about 90mph for the rest of the journey and thus still made it in time to meet the rest of our group as planned).
If the person who's supposed to reserve your room hasn't done it by your deadline, do it for them. If someone hasn't paid yet despite agreeing to pre-pay, but wants into your room, don't let them in until they pay. If you can't trust your friends 100% to do their jobs, then don't give them jobs to do.
Conversely, if you take responsibility for something, you're on the line to do it. Organizing a trip for 10-20 of your friends is not for the faint-hearted. Don't expect it to be easy, and NEVER assume that everything will work out on its own.
Cosplayers make sure you have your cosplay done a week before the con. This is so that you can plan out trunk space and fix any last minute stuff.
I will not spend another con sewing.