Hi everyone,
Our biggest goal at Fanime is to make it better than the year before. You can help by pointing out what did or didn't work so well, or making some suggestions of what you'd like to see change. I'd especially personally really appreciate feedback from those of you who volunteered.
Thanks!!
Kylie Dulin
Head of Volunteers
I had issues with the people manning the doors for the Artist Alley. In particular there was a guy there with a beret saturday morning who would physically grab people which I thought was highly inappropriate. I don't recommend using him or any of the beret wearers in a staff position in the future as such actions could be considered assault. On sunday there was a kid who looked at my preregistered members badge and asked if it was a badge from yesterday. Seems like there was a huge lack of communication between con ops and the staff/volunteers.
Another huge issue I had was with the Gainax tickets. No one at any info booth on Friday or Saturday had any idea. I talked with 3 other staff members and they said to wait in the An Cafe line which after 2 hrs did not have any Gainax tickets. An asian staff member was telling people to go to the gainax booth in the dealers room. Which of course there is no gainax booth there. Talking to the info booth in the dealer room referred us to brocolli. So we talked with the brocolli booth who had no idea and had us to go to con ops. Con ops called the ticket booth and said that the gainax tickets should of been available earlier in the An Cafe line which was a blatant lie. We did eventually get our tickets 8 hrs later after spending 3 hrs of foot work trying to track down information.
Another issue I had was with the swap meet. Plenty of staff said that a few minutes after the swap meet opens they should stop taking preregistered sellers. But a female staff member with long brunette hair said that they're gonna keep taking people that preregistered even when they show up hours later and that everyone else is just fucked. I think the fact that only one person
is processing sellers was amazingly bad.
In fact I think I was pretty much fed up with every staff member and volunteer I saw with the exception of the people handling the badge pickup for preregistered members on Friday.
Quote from: garbagetool on May 27, 2008, 01:36:09 PM
In fact I think I was pretty much fed up with every staff member and volunteer I saw with the exception of the people handling the badge pickup for preregistered members on Friday.
Muha!
(:
Quote from: garbagetool on May 27, 2008, 01:36:09 PMAnother issue I had was with the swap meet. Plenty of staff said that a few minutes after the swap meet opens they should stop taking preregistered sellers. But a female staff member with long brunette hair said that they're gonna keep taking people that preregistered even when they show up hours later and that everyone else is just fucked. I think the fact that only one person is processing sellers was amazingly bad.
I'm not sure what staff told you that swap meet was going to stop taking pre-registered sellers a few minutes after swap meet opens, the rule has always been that if someone was not around after opening and we were through the line, we would give up their spots.
As the female staff member with long brunette hair working swap meet, I can assure you I never said swap meet would take preregistered people hours later and certainly not that "everyone else is just ----ed." I would never use that kind of language to an attendee and I was confident that we would be able to place everyone I talked to and told them so. On Friday evening, we let people know there were extra spaces for non-registered individuals but we would process pre-registered sellers first and then those who weren't registered. As we were finished with both pre-registered and unregistered within an hour of opening, "hours later" registration was already closed.
It was unfortunate that our second cashier got held up but eventually we got a replacement. We are already planning on ways to make processing even faster next year and securing more staff. We actually placed people at a rate 50% faster than last year. We also were able to place more people.
Thank you for your feedback. It is always helpful to know how our attendees are feeling and hopefully we can serve you better at next year's event!
Quote from: garbagetool on May 27, 2008, 01:36:09 PM
I had issues with the people manning the doors for the Artist Alley. In particular there was a guy there with a beret saturday morning who would physically grab people which I thought was highly inappropriate. I don't recommend using him or any of the beret wearers in a staff position in the future as such actions could be considered assault. On sunday there was a kid who looked at my preregistered members badge and asked if it was a badge from yesterday. Seems like there was a huge lack of communication between con ops and the staff/volunteers.
Another huge issue I had was with the Gainax tickets. No one at any info booth on Friday or Saturday had any idea. I talked with 3 other staff members and they said to wait in the An Cafe line which after 2 hrs did not have any Gainax tickets. An asian staff member was telling people to go to the gainax booth in the dealers room. Which of course there is no gainax booth there. Talking to the info booth in the dealer room referred us to brocolli. So we talked with the brocolli booth who had no idea and had us to go to con ops. Con ops called the ticket booth and said that the gainax tickets should of been available earlier in the An Cafe line which was a blatant lie. We did eventually get our tickets 8 hrs later after spending 3 hrs of foot work trying to track down information.
Another issue I had was with the swap meet. Plenty of staff said that a few minutes after the swap meet opens they should stop taking preregistered sellers. But a female staff member with long brunette hair said that they're gonna keep taking people that preregistered even when they show up hours later and that everyone else is just fucked. I think the fact that only one person
is processing sellers was amazingly bad.
In fact I think I was pretty much fed up with every staff member and volunteer I saw with the exception of the people handling the badge pickup for preregistered members on Friday.
Sorry about that, we were informed the tickets would be at the booths. If they had not lied to me about it, I would not have told you to go to the dealers room >.>
Quote from: Chiri Kcrinh on May 27, 2008, 02:09:21 PM
Quote from: garbagetool on May 27, 2008, 01:36:09 PM
In fact I think I was pretty much fed up with every staff member and volunteer I saw with the exception of the people handling the badge pickup for preregistered members on Friday.
Muha!
(:
:( so I = fail?
Quote from: anomaly on May 28, 2008, 01:00:23 PM
Quote from: Chiri Kcrinh on May 27, 2008, 02:09:21 PM
Quote from: garbagetool on May 27, 2008, 01:36:09 PM
In fact I think I was pretty much fed up with every staff member and volunteer I saw with the exception of the people handling the badge pickup for preregistered members on Friday.
Muha!
(:
:( so I = fail?
No, Pre-reg just wins. (:
I lost the game. D:
Quote from: Chiri Kcrinh on May 28, 2008, 03:00:00 PM
Quote from: anomaly on May 28, 2008, 01:00:23 PM
Quote from: Chiri Kcrinh on May 27, 2008, 02:09:21 PM
Quote from: garbagetool on May 27, 2008, 01:36:09 PM
In fact I think I was pretty much fed up with every staff member and volunteer I saw with the exception of the people handling the badge pickup for preregistered members on Friday.
Muha!
(:
:( so I = fail?
No, Pre-reg just wins. (:
I lost the game. D:
Wait wait wait...so if I < fail = false, but I > fail = false then What is the average speed of my forehead hitting a wall?
Solve for X
haha...uhm..
X = Speed of Light?
Hey were you the guy at Con-Ops at night sitting in the chair filling out lost and found stuff? I was the asian dude in the black suit with the radio/Earpiece walking in all the time with horror stories and lost stuff turned into me =P
Just wondering cause you look familiar
Oh yeah, I forgot to say...
All volunteers I saw at Reg were seriously kickass, they deserve medal because they were so awesome. (:
Quote from: Steve.Young on May 28, 2008, 05:18:29 PM
haha...uhm..
X = Speed of Light?
Hey were you the guy at Con-Ops at night sitting in the chair filling out lost and found stuff? I was the asian dude in the black suit with the radio/Earpiece walking in all the time with horror stories and lost stuff turned into me =P
Just wondering cause you look familiar
if your referring to the guy that wore one of the following items....
Bright green and black ear hat thingy
spikey blondish hair
black tuxedo with green vest and tie
then yes, that was me hehe...
And I made it a point to return as many things as possible to those that had lost them. I personally kept a photographic mental log of everyone and everything they lost as well as everything that was in the bins at all times. It actually came in handy numerous times ^_^
everytime I was able to reunite an item with its loving owner I felt a sense of pride that I finally had found my calling.
the lost and found master
:: raises fists in the air :: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONEEEE!!!!!!!.....lost and found guy
Quote from: Chiri Kcrinh on May 27, 2008, 02:09:21 PM
Quote from: garbagetool on May 27, 2008, 01:36:09 PM
In fact I think I was pretty much fed up with every staff member and volunteer I saw with the exception of the people handling the badge pickup for preregistered members on Friday.
Muha!
(:
I think there is an inverse relationship between attendees and reg staff. The less time attendees spend seeing us, the happier they are. ;D
Quote from: Sen on May 29, 2008, 12:57:37 PM
Quote from: Chiri Kcrinh on May 27, 2008, 02:09:21 PM
Quote from: garbagetool on May 27, 2008, 01:36:09 PM
In fact I think I was pretty much fed up with every staff member and volunteer I saw with the exception of the people handling the badge pickup for preregistered members on Friday.
Muha!
(:
I think there is an inverse relationship between attendees and reg staff. The less time attendees spend seeing us, the happier they are. ;D
True story.
Quote from: garbagetool on May 27, 2008, 01:36:09 PMCon ops called the ticket booth and said that the gainax tickets should of been available earlier in the An Cafe line which was a blatant lie.
I am most curious on when you talked to ConOps (via, phone, walk in, radio?). Because, I believe we did not have a phone number for the Box Office AND we would not have said that the "any tickets" would have been given out before the box office hours. If you would like, please feel free to PM me with more details of your issue with ConOps lying to you.
Thank you.
I was in contact with a Rob Miles at the con about feedback but I didn't get a chance to get any sort of contact info from him.
If anyone has even an email for him, that would help me a lot. thank you!
Contact me (
[email protected]) and I can forward information along to him. (Rob is incredibly busy so it's difficult!)
Quote from: Tony on June 01, 2008, 11:57:28 PM
Contact me ([email protected]) and I can forward information along to him. (Rob is incredibly busy so it's difficult!)
[/quote
But what does that say about you?
Your not as busy?
Quote from: Steve.Young on June 02, 2008, 12:27:36 AM
Quote from: Tony on June 01, 2008, 11:57:28 PM
Contact me ([email protected]) and I can forward information along to him. (Rob is incredibly busy so it's difficult!)
But what does that say about you?
Your not as busy?
Seeing as though he gave up working for....3 departments this year to focus on the larger picture, he's as busy as he makes himself to be!
P.S. You rock Steve!!
Quote from: Pimpstress Rei on June 07, 2008, 10:47:59 AM
Quote from: Steve.Young on June 02, 2008, 12:27:36 AM
Quote from: Tony on June 01, 2008, 11:57:28 PM
Contact me ([email protected]) and I can forward information along to him. (Rob is incredibly busy so it's difficult!)
But what does that say about you?
Your not as busy?
Seeing as though he gave up working for....3 departments this year to focus on the larger picture, he's as busy as he makes himself to be!
P.S. You rock Steve!!
<3
Well I was really disappointed with AMV and Access Control(is that correct?) staff .
Look for my post in this page on AMV.org. I left a long note with Con opps and I wondered if it ever got through...
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=86566&start=60
My issue with Access Control was just stupid seriously...
I was walking on the second floor through the Exhibit Hall line on Day 1, I believe it was near the Gaming/Artist Hall when I was stopped by one staff because I walked through the line twice. Without any explanation I was warned by one staff that my badge would be removed immediately if I did it again.
The way the staff put it just ruined my day (as the con couldn't have gone any better for me), I wish he would have kindly told me that I should not do that again but no he has to act as if he can act as if he has all the power in the world to treat me like crap and remove my badge if he ever wanted to.
I know staff is under stress but the fact that it has to be taken out on a attendee is just...I don't know how to put it really. My weekend barely turned out to be positive (thanks to my friends), but I didn't feel my time at Fanime was worth anything let alone take a 5 hour trip to get there. This is my first time going there and I'm not sure about going again next year really...
Quote from: Ryvannis on June 29, 2008, 05:34:16 PM
My issue with Access Control was just stupid seriously...
I was walking on the second floor through the Exhibit Hall line on Day 1, I believe it was near the Gaming/Artist Hall when I was stopped by one staff because I walked through the line twice. Without any explanation I was warned by one staff that my badge would be removed immediately if I did it again.
The way the staff put it just ruined my day (as the con couldn't have gone any better for me), I wish he would have kindly told me that I should not do that again but no he has to act as if he can act as if he has all the power in the world to treat me like crap and remove my badge if he ever wanted to.
I know staff is under stress but the fact that it has to be taken out on a attendee is just...I don't know how to put it really. My weekend barely turned out to be positive (thanks to my friends), but I didn't feel my time at Fanime was worth anything let alone take a 5 hour trip to get there. This is my first time going there and I'm not sure about going again next year really...
My personal belief is that it is not always what you say that can piss off someone and ruin their good time, it's how you say it. This is definitely something I agree that staff should take into consideration and I will definitely bring it up to the Safety heads for 2009.
I say just e-mail
[email protected] regarding the access control thingy(or pm deonchan) and they'll take care of it.
Quote from: Sen on May 29, 2008, 12:57:37 PM
Quote from: Chiri Kcrinh on May 27, 2008, 02:09:21 PM
Quote from: garbagetool on May 27, 2008, 01:36:09 PM
In fact I think I was pretty much fed up with every staff member and volunteer I saw with the exception of the people handling the badge pickup for preregistered members on Friday.
Muha!
(:
I think there is an inverse relationship between attendees and reg staff. The less time attendees spend seeing us, the happier they are. ;D
Nice.....
I didn't have any negative experiences with rovers or security this year, but from the sounds of it a number of people had issues with volunteer staff who may (or may not) have had any experience with authority in the past. I'm not exactly sure what kind of training you put the volunteers through, but it seems like a lot of general etiquette fell through the cracks when crunch time came. I know this is hard to avoid, but it should be understood that people can act one way while going through training, and a completely different way when faced with a real situation at the convention.
One thing that should be completely understood is that none of them have the right to physically grab, stop or otherwise touch an attendee except for Rovers (do they even have that ability? I'm unsure of their exact restrictions).
As was mentioned earlier, 95% of what you say is in how you say it. There's a big difference between "Excuse me, please don't cross this line again, it should be gone in about 5-10 minutes but until then I'd like it if you would pick one side or the other and just stay there until the line goes away. Do you need to get something from the other side? Here let me get that for you." as opposed to "Hey! Cross this line again and I'll have your badge removed for the weekend."
I can see how that'd put a damper on anyone's weekend.
If I did that at any of my jobs I'd probably get fired on the spot lol.
I understand "We work so hard and we don't get any pay...people don't appreciate us...we're people too and we get upset..." but the thing is, most of the people there are volunteers . Meaning, they signed themselves up to do it. Nobody put a gun to their head. If they are going to volunteer for a position like that, knowing what to expect, there really isn't much excuse for acting rudely to an attendee. Granted sometimes it takes the patience of Job not to kill a really stupid attendee...but other times just a little bit of patience and courtesy goes a long way.
Anyways, I've rambled on for quite some time now. I'll just close by saying thank you to all the staff who did a great job this last year and I look forward to next year.