Originally written by Dr. Pamela Koretsky, possibly with some help from Ed Trachtenberg

What went right?
The vendors reported that they liked the general mix of vendors, and placement.
There was increased traffic flow into rooms. Most vendors that transferred from the Dealers Room reported a Dealers Row experience positive enough that they would like to vend on Dealers Row again. Others just prefer the Dealers Room, but stated that Dealers Row was an over-all good experience.

Many vendors complimented Dealers, Hotel, and Registration on helping them sort out problems. The first time vendors for Arisia and Dealers Row were especially appreciative of the help.

I spent a lot of time after through the convention checking in on the vendors who reported that they like the extra attention.

House keeping and the bell-hops were great as usual. As were Phil, who went around doing room inspections with me, and the hotel front desk manager (whose name I wrote down and now can't find!)

The vendors really liked that they didn't end up having to pay to hang their banners.

Angel Wear said this was the best Dealer Row ever at an Arisia.

The effort to convince Dealers Room vendors to try Dealers Row paid off.

What went wrong?
We had 4 vendors cancel due to illness.

The hotel was a little behind on furniture removal requests and room cleaning. Carpets should have been thoroughly vacuumed, and general cleaning done before we arrived, it is difficult to take care of once the average vendor has things loaded into the room. Also, there was over exuberance on the part of hotel staff removing furniture which resulted in item that should have remained in the rooms being removed. These items included things like telephones, waste baskets, coffee makers/coffee fixins, and sometimes furniture that should have stayed. It took a long time to get tables delivered and they were the wrong size (this turned out O.K. because Phi requested that they double the tables, and the vendors were forced to try something new and they mostly liked it. They just want to know ahead what they will be getting, because it changes what they drag along with them to the convention as far as display supplies.)

The hotel told some vendors they could park on the street across from the hotel. The vendors were unhappy when they were told they had to move or they faced a fine.

The valet service had one valet in particular who was shouting at vendors and rude. Maybe not the best person to work the area while vendors are moving in and out.

Furniture that was removed from the rooms for vendors was piled in the service area and blocked one service elevator the entire convention. This meant that vendors could not use the service elevator for quick load in and out without interfering with house-keeping's work schedule.

Eric In The Elevator: Vendors complained about the 2:00 AM filming on an elevator stopped on the 3rd floor. Folks were finally closed down and trying to sleep, they thought that messing with the obviously delicate elevators was foolish, and when one vendor called security about the disturbance they were told that it was "the GOH" so it was O.K..

We need a sign and Dealer Row map in front of the 3rd floor elevator where folks will see it as they exit, and one at the top of The Crow's Nest.

What should be done differently next year?
The hotel needs to be better prepared for vendor arrival and check out. If we don't have access to a service elevator for vendor check in and check out, then we need to have a regular elevator during this critical period. It could pick up and drop off other folks between vendors. The vendors would just like to know that getting them in and out is treated as a priority during these two critical periods. (The hotel has expressed that furniture was stored in the wrong place, and that once it became apparent that there was a problem it was too late, because they no longer had the staff on hand to move it somewhere else.)

The Wait List form on line needs to state that Arisia has a juried process that starts in March and continues till (fill in date.)

The deadline for initial invitations should be a week before the first internal Arisia deadline that Dealers' face. After that it should just be replacement hunting for those who need to cancel last minute, with that ending before the first hotel drop-deadline. Dealers should be finished except for last minute requests from registered vendors 1 month before Arisia.

Ed and I are toying with a new Dealers Reg form that can be broken up and info shared more easily between Arisia departments as needed.

Dealers needs to be able to process credit card charges as they come to us with fewer changes of hand for CC, amount, and info to avoid error and duplication.

Other staff members were allowed to pick up their T-shirts on Thursday. The Dealers Staff would like to be able to do so as well. It helps new vendors find us on the 3rd floor, and would go far in helping us feel part of the Arisia team.

The Dealers Staff needs to be on the Staff email list!

What sort of schedule/time line did you use?
Our intended schedule was rearranged by the wait for a definitive answer on if there was going to be a Dealers Room as well as a Dealers Row. So we just tried to meet internal deadlines as I became aware of them.

Are the any changes you'd make to the schedule for next year?
Just a firmer drop-deadline for vendor registration.

Vendors you used? We used all the vendors present as did Arisia attendees, and they all said it was a pleasure and they'd like to be used by us again! ;)

Experiments to try next year?
Mini work shops by some of the vendors as an active draw to Dealers Row. The adult type vendors asked if we could try out a more or less adult area. Even if it sprawled a bit. There were some marketing things they wanted to try but couldn't due to proximity to non-adult vendors.

Any comments about the rest of the con (other divisions, hotel, ...)?
Thank you to Phi and other Arisia hotel staff. Also registration.
It was great that security went around to vendors and let them know they were available, if they could do the same a little more casually next year it would be great. Some were concerned that something had happened.

The hotel's staff was once again great with few exceptions. Many came up to Dealers Row to shop.

Dealers would like to be able to use the area by the candy machine as a space for some vendors displays/activities.

If the GOHs are allowed to vend from the Crow's Nest, Dealers Coordinators should be informed ahead, and the GOH should have a sign identifying who they are. There were vendors who had asked about paying for space there and they felt snubbed till I told them that the person selling art there was the Artist GOH. Question to consider: Are we comping the GOHs enough? The question of waiver of vending fees was raised by GOHs, and Panel members this year more than usual.

Folks selling things at parties (books, art work, whatever) should be registered with the Party Liaison and Dealers, even if they aren't charged a vendors fee so that we can police vending activity out of the Dealers Venue. This is a financial loss to Arisia if it gets out of hand. (I understand that someone dropped the ball this year, just thought it important to remind folks that this has an impact on vendors and Arisia.)

EXTRA: Larry Smith wanted to thank everyone for going the extra mile for him. Especially those who jumped into cover the last minute glitch Ben found in the parking arrangements.

Also, I spoke with him about sales. He did well this year but not as well last year. It turns out that if he looks at how much of his sales were GOH sales, it is a good indirect retrospective indicator for Arisia how good a job we are doing over time getting GOHs who will draw people. This year another writer who was at Arisia unofficially contacted Larry and asked him to bring his books. Larry sold as much if not a bit more of that writers books than the GOHs. Larry said he knows and likes both writers.