Originally written by Lisa "Jasra" Holsberg

What you did?
Oversaw Registration, T-Shirts, Web, Publications. General problem solver.

What went right?
Registration: We (I played a big role in the pre-con work) had the online reg up and running in a reasonable amount of time. We had a good pre-con staff who kept on top of the incoming registrations as well as questions and issues. We had a good at-con staff who dealt with the lines efficiently and helped keep things flowing smoothly. We had gorgeous full color badges for the first time in a couple of years. We had shiny new printers which were faster than the old ones. The setup was such that we didn't have to have Dave there all the time.

T-shirts: Once we figured out what art to use for the AGoH shirt, everything went smoothly. The woman (Mouse) who did the badge art also did the T-shirt art (she did the t-shirts first and then I pinged her about the badges). The staff shirts were so wonderful that people wanted to volunteer so they could get one. ;) My evil plan worked.

Web: My cohorts and I kept up with the site updates. The site is informative and helpful.

Pubs: Crystal and her group did a fabulous job here so I didn't have to stick my nose in much at all!

General problem solver: I spent a lot of the con floating around and being visible. As such (and since it was my 5th con and I have recognizable hair), I feel like I was very effective as an assistant con chair. I didn't make it to many of the evening/night events but since my day started around 8, I was OK with that.

What went wrong?
Reg: It was stupid cold where Registration was set up. Borrowed space heaters helped, but we have to come up with a better plan for dealing with this next year. There was more confusion over missing comps - way more than prior years - so we need to make sure that this doesn't happen again. Confusion by panelists who didn't earn a comp and didn't realize it. Confusion over events people looking for badges. There should be a big sign at Reg to tell Dealers where to get their badges as well.

T-shirts: Marrus' art isn't really family-friendly so that made it challenging for the t-shirt vendor to pick a design that they thought would sell.

Web: It would have been nice to have art from the AGoH on the site, but Marrus' schedule didn't allow for that.

Pubs: Knowing which places would deliver to the hotel would have been helpful, otherwise I think everything was great.

What should be done differently next year?
Reg: Do not freeze the Reg staff. See reg report for more details.

T-shirts: See t-shirt report for more details.

Web: Try to figure out how to motivate department/area heads to contribute content to the site more often during Nov-Jan.

Pubs: See pubs and various publication reports for more details.

What sort of schedule/timeline did you use?
Are the any changes you'd make to the schedule for next year?
Vendors you used?
Experiments to try next year?
This will be in the individual area reports.

Any comments about the rest of the con (other divisions, hotel, ...)?
I think everyone did a great job and we pulled things together. Events is a tough job, but Samantha got us the info as soon as she could. Programming was slow to get started, but having the report in Zambia meant that we could just run it and see who needed to be comped.* Gaming had the usual trouble of people signing up for games late. That said, James always sent over complete info (and had access to Congo so he could add people to Zambia as needed). I think it's fabulous that we managed to sell so many ads even starting that process late. Ops was a great place to stop by - they even made a passing lane for me since I zipped through so many times. I did miss having a phone list though. The Art Show staff hours were a great idea! Thank you to the Green Room staff who made sure I had coffee and food when I needed it. :) Phi and his Hotel helpers were fantastic any time I had a question. Ben was a HUGE help in getting info on the site once Reg got busier and was taking up more of my pre-con time.

Pubs - Crystal and Paul were amazing.
Reg - Amy and her crew of merry badgers were fantastic. They had to put up with grumpy people and an arctic wind, but stayed professional even so.
Mouse as our special guest artist was incredible. I am so glad that Tember wasn't able to get someone so I could ping Mouse. Her shirt design and badge art were wonderful.

BTW, just in case you were wondering, being assistant con chair has only confirmed in my mind that I was NEVER be con chair. I might ever be willing to be assistant con chair again, but it's back to Registration for me!

*Zambia idea for next year - it would be helpful to have a way to flag who we've mailed the "you already paid but have also earned a comp membership" so we could make sure that we haven't missed anyone once they get that third panel. I can explain this better some other time.