Convention, Day 0

I was so not ready for morning to arrive.

Data entry the night before kept me up to 1:30 AM but I was still down at the registration kiosk for 8 AM to set up for a 9 AM opening.

And the people came.

The registration process was much better today than yesterday: we learned a lot from our (my) mistakes and bad assumptions. Generic brunch tickets were swapped out for those who needed vegetarian brunch options. The updated dietary special needs list was passed to the kitchen management along with our latest dining numbers. Our signs were better placed to reduce general confusion. We also collected a lot of information at the desk which weren't previously determined (location of the memorial room, location of the women's hospitality suite, locations of various affiliate group tables, etc.).

I was able to slip away to attend the IAGSDC delegates executive meeting; the big news is that we're going to San Francisco for 2014. I also attended the GCA general membership meeting as a minor board officer (alternate IAGSDC rep); the board members up for election were all returned to office although we did have a contested election. billeyler was prepared to run for treasurer not knowing that Michael Maltenfort had decided he wanted to remain in the job. In the end, even billeyler voted in Michael's favour.

tdjohnsn and rlegters arrived in the late morning but we haven't had much time to catch up yet. I want to get more time with them before this weekend is out.

bradford23 is also in town and --at long last-- we got to meet. Yay! He's just as hawt in person as in his photos.

There are, of course, so many other people here from LJ but I'm more than a little too mentally exhausted right now to attempt listing them. Have I mentioned how glad I am that I requested no calling opportunities?

In all, the afternoon and evening were spent stamping out fires, answering a thousand dancer questions, helping staff & vendors and generally trying to be useful. I've even managed to clinch some tour and registration transfers for some folks who had to cancel their plans at the last minute: I'll have to mail some checks early next week.

Data entry and sorting took nearly three hours this evening: I wrapped up around 1 AM. After some minor analysis to get updated banquet & brunch numbers for the kitchen management and reprinting the fun badge tour participant lists --only one seat left to sell-- I called it a night. I still need to print lists of stickers with fun badge tour participant names so people may choose their buses, as well as similar lists of diners so they may chose their tables and inform one person her kosher meal selections are confirmed.

We're trying something different with the banquet and brunch seating this year: we're assigning tables. Each diner & friends may place themselves at a common table, but the precise location of that table within the dining hall will be assigned randomly. There is no advantage to getting one's name on the banquet map early as there's equal odds of the table being assigned to the back of the hall as the front. Hopefully, this will avoid the unseemly and insane crush and feeding frenzy when the table sign-up sheets are brought out.

To bed now.

Convention, Day 0

I was so not ready for morning to arrive.

Data entry the night before kept me up to 1:30 AM but I was still down at the registration kiosk for 8 AM to set up for a 9 AM opening.

And the people came.

The registration process was much better today than yesterday: we learned a lot from our (my) mistakes and bad assumptions. Generic brunch tickets were swapped out for those who needed vegetarian brunch options. The updated dietary special needs list was passed to the kitchen management along with our latest dining numbers. Our signs were better placed to reduce general confusion. We also collected a lot of information at the desk which weren't previously determined (location of the memorial room, location of the women's hospitality suite, locations of various affiliate group tables, etc.).

I was able to slip away to attend the IAGSDC delegates executive meeting; the big news is that we're going to San Francisco for 2014. I also attended the GCA general membership meeting as a minor board officer (alternate IAGSDC rep); the board members up for election were all returned to office although we did have a contested election. billeyler was prepared to run for treasurer not knowing that Michael Maltenfort had decided he wanted to remain in the job. In the end, even billeyler voted in Michael's favour.

tdjohnsn and rlegters arrived in the late morning but we haven't had much time to catch up yet. I want to get more time with them before this weekend is out.

bradford23 is also in town and --at long last-- we got to meet. Yay! He's just as hawt in person as in his photos.

There are, of course, so many other people here from LJ but I'm more than a little too mentally exhausted right now to attempt listing them. Have I mentioned how glad I am that I requested no calling opportunities?

In all, the afternoon and evening were spent stamping out fires, answering a thousand dancer questions, helping staff & vendors and generally trying to be useful. I've even managed to clinch some tour and registration transfers for some folks who had to cancel their plans at the last minute: I'll have to mail some checks early next week.

Data entry and sorting took nearly three hours this evening: I wrapped up around 1 AM. After some minor analysis to get updated banquet & brunch numbers for the kitchen management and reprinting the fun badge tour participant lists --only one seat left to sell-- I called it a night. I still need to print lists of stickers with fun badge tour participant names so people may choose their buses, as well as similar lists of diners so they may chose their tables and inform one person her kosher meal selections are confirmed.

We're trying something different with the banquet and brunch seating this year: we're assigning tables. Each diner & friends may place themselves at a common table, but the precise location of that table within the dining hall will be assigned randomly. There is no advantage to getting one's name on the banquet map early as there's equal odds of the table being assigned to the back of the hall as the front. Hopefully, this will avoid the unseemly and insane crush and feeding frenzy when the table sign-up sheets are brought out.

To bed now.

Convention, Day 1

Another night of four hours' sleep. Gotta do better soon.

Morning at the registration desk was pretty rough as my scheduled volunteers didn't show. As best I could, I set up the desk while juggling a wave of dancers seeking their registration packets, directions or help in a variety of issues. In the middle of this, I still had to compile attendance statistics for the opening ceremonies only 2 hours later, then print the labels we needed for the banquet, brunch and fun badge tour seating.

I continued fading through the course of the day. It was a struggle to keep my head together long enough to compile the final banquet and brunch entree numbers (867 place settings) and pass the lot to the hotel management by 4 PM.

Once the numbers were given to the kitchen staff, I was largely off the hook for the rest of the day. The space to decompress was a welcome change. Indeed, the balance of my work will largely be centered around putting out fires as they come up rather than working registration issues. Oddly though, there are still 35 people who pre-registered but haven't collected their docs yet; I'm hopeful they simply had to work Friday and will be collecting their materials Saturday morning.

To sleep now, perchance to snore.

Convention, Day 1

Another night of four hours' sleep. Gotta do better soon.

Morning at the registration desk was pretty rough as my scheduled volunteers didn't show. As best I could, I set up the desk while juggling a wave of dancers seeking their registration packets, directions or help in a variety of issues. In the middle of this, I still had to compile attendance statistics for the opening ceremonies only 2 hours later, then print the labels we needed for the banquet, brunch and fun badge tour seating.

I continued fading through the course of the day. It was a struggle to keep my head together long enough to compile the final banquet and brunch entree numbers (867 place settings) and pass the lot to the hotel management by 4 PM.

Once the numbers were given to the kitchen staff, I was largely off the hook for the rest of the day. The space to decompress was a welcome change. Indeed, the balance of my work will largely be centered around putting out fires as they come up rather than working registration issues. Oddly though, there are still 35 people who pre-registered but haven't collected their docs yet; I'm hopeful they simply had to work Friday and will be collecting their materials Saturday morning.

To sleep now, perchance to snore.