Originally written by James Pinkerton

What you did?
Received submissions for folks who were interested in running table top games or LARPs at Arisia, sent in to either to the gaming address or submitted though the on line form. Pinged potential game-running folks to see if they were interested in running game events. Created game events in Zambia. Facilitated space needs for gaming, be that for reserved tables in the gaming room, or space in other hotel areas. Organized volunteers to assist in monitoring the game room. Monitored the game room myself. Checked in with LARP organizers at the con to make sure their space/other needs were met at the con. Posted the signup sheets for scheduled events.

What went right?
I was new to Arisia staff this year. I felt like I was treated well, despite being a noob. Thanks to everyone for that.

The gaming room ran well; we had more than 40 scheduled games, from a variety of gaming genres. The room was fully utilized due to lots of scheduled games and the many pick-up games at the con.

The LARPs all, ultimately, ended up having space to use.

Zambia, which was very confusing to me at first, soon became extremely helpful and empowering. Where once I was afraid, now I love Zambia.

Most of my volunteers did a bang-up job.

The gaming room had plenty of tables and chairs; when it got too hot, the windows could actually be opened. I'm sure that wasn't good for the hotel's heat bill, but it kept the air in the room cool and fresh.

The Ninjas vs Pirates guys showed up and did their demo four times, which was well attended.

Having Reserved signs on the tables kept them free for scheduled events.

Having gaming so close to the middle of the con was great for encouraging pick-up games. People also used the gaming room as a meet up location - that is, they would go to the gaming room and play a few rounds of whatever while waiting for their friends who were off in some other activity. The convenience was commented on many times.

What went wrong?
Many events didn't get their info back into me early enough to get spaces that would better suit their needs - LARPs in particular. We managed, thanks in large part to creative thinking on the part of the con staff that assisted me getting these things worked out.

Several game room volunteers didn't show up. It happens. Fortunately, I had some others show up at the con that helped to fill some of the holes.

Spaces weren't clearly tagged as in use in Zambia in all cases, which lead to some space scheduling problems. I occasionally had the sense that there was the schedule that was put in Zambia and there was the "understood" schedule, which anyone on staff should have known, and thus wasn't in Zambia. Several times I would schedule something, only to be told, moments or days later "Oh, you can put that there - that is always used for such and such event/activity". For me, it would be preferable if any scheduled or blocked out space usage was just in Zambia. It would make space scheduling much more efficient.

There were many children in the room that had to be handled in some fashion or other. In general, their parents were in the room, but were letting their children wander the room while they gamed. Given how crowded the space was, and how small the children often were, this seemed like a bad idea. People were generally helpful, but several times it was necessary to lead small children away from games in progress (by small children, I mean 3 or 4), or to warn someone that they were about to step on a child.

There were also a number of incidents with 11 to 14 year olds racing in and out of the room, sometimes shooting at each other with nerf guns. The room was just too tight for this kind of play, and the odds of them getting injured tripping over a chair leg were high. I asked a particular group of youths to cut this out three separate times, ultimately having to lead them out of the room on Monday morning when they just were clearly not listening. Several adults complained to me that they felt that the gaming room was being used as an alternate baby sitting area. This last issue - I wish I had some good ideas about how to deal with it; alas, I don't think I, as a director of gaming at a Sci-Fi/Fantasy con, have the power to fix this, as it more likely a society level issue than it has anything to do with our con.

Above, where I said there were enough tables, well, there were also too many tables. What I mean by that is that the space was difficult to navigate, especially when many games were in progress. Fortunately, the room had two doors, so some of this difficulty could be managed by using the hall to get to the other end of the gaming room. Even so, many people complained to me that the room was over crowded and should be in a bigger space.

What should be done differently next year?
I would like to say "All space needs will be submitted earlier" - but that really depends more on the planners getting back to gaming on time. A good proactive move would be to take the list of folks who ran games/LARPs this year and send them an e-mail around September, asking if they are thinking of running events at the next con. That would get the process started earlier.

This year, I used three easels and white boards to post the signup sheets for games. This seemed to work ok, but due to the configuration of tables in the hall, the boards had to be somewhat down the hall from the gaming room. Having them right at the door for the gaming room would be better; we'd just have to work out water table placement (and access flow issues) with the hotel.

There were several planning things that got snagged up in e-mail, ending up causing long delays. Next year, I will just call folks when I need to hear from them, rather than continuing to shoot off more and more e-mails.

What sort of schedule/timeline did you use?
I just used an excel sheet for my con schedule and the volunteer schedule. I used the gmail account for outstanding issues.

Are the any changes you'd make to the schedule for next year?
Nope; this was a goodly amount of gaming.

Vendors you used?
Staples. Sign-a-rama.

Experiments to try next year?
A few folks suggested to me an 18+ gaming area. Not to run games that were adult oriented, just so as to have a space that didn't feel like babysitting. I'm not too keen on this idea, but I heard this three times while at the con from unrelated folks, so I am taking it under advisement.

Any comments about the rest of the con (other divisions, hotel, ...)?
Ops was very helpful to me, and quick, several times over, when I needed them.
Over all, folks did a great job of checking in on me both pre-con and during the con. That was much appreciated.

Yes; good con, everybody.