back to normal, such as it is

[totient]

This morning I took the ring of unusual keys off my daily keyring. I no longer expect to make unscheduled trips to Arisia's mailbox or storage facility. The small flashlight will do; I don't need the big one. All of my coworkers who took time off are now back, and I myself am almost recovered.

Once again, I find that my convention-going experience consists of show up, throw party, leave. Well, not quite: I learned a lot about the difference between 4-year-olds and 6-year-olds while supervising the bounce castle on Thursday, and got to go to the last panel of the con on Monday. The rest of the time I was doing party prep, talking people into working on the party, cleaning up after the party and after a hotel-based miscommunication about the party cleanup, borrowing and returning equipment for the party, and so on.

The party itself went absolutely fabulously. I had at least three dozen people working on the party. People really took the theme idea and ran with it. On top of the details I planned, we had a lot of subtle details that I didn't know would be there. This gave the party feel a lot of depth and really contributed to making it feel like an Arisia. I was flying for the entire time.

Having a PA system with a microphone was tremendously useful, so much so that I will repeat it with bookshelf components at other parties. Having fallback plans for movie projection was a good idea. Doing dry runs for tech was a good idea, but we should have done more of it. Not doing the bulk of the shopping until the morning of the party would have allowed us to adjust the amounts, except that we failed to close that loop. Having something compelling (in this case, free ice cream) at the end of the party really helped keep the party going in the small hours as people were there waiting for it.

I was afraid that opening at 8 would be too early, but it wasn't, and we had a line to get in when we opened. Making one door exit-only really helped with the traffic flow. We sold 44 memberships (!) and signed up some really great dealers and artists. And I've been noticing a lot of buzz.

Now I have ten days to put on a road rally and finish up the FY04 Arisia books. Wish me luck!

Comments

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Arisia 2004.5 was one of the most inspired events of any kind I've been to in some time. (Including, perhaps, Arisia 2004. ;-) I am simply amazed you did such a nice job. Some of it may have been serendipity (and I'm curious which details were which), but I think it was really a sort of brilliant synergy.

(And did I mention I sold over 200 buttons?!)

The really entertaining thing is how much it pointed up the difference between Arisia (whose reputation and primary function seem to be social) and other cons more like Worldcon, where the emphasis is so much more on programming. I have heard a whole lot of Arisia people saying of N4 "There was a lot of [fascinating|good|decent|okay] programming to go to, but I didn't feel like I got much con...!" And yet Mini-Arisia managed to provide a small pocket of that, which is part of what made it so great. Genius.

[coraline]

yeah, it felt weird that one of the best things about worldcon (certainly in my case, the best thing, socially) was arisia :)

good job.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Planned details included the program book, badges (though these were supposed to have been mini), newsletter, clothespins, most of the events, most of the mini-food, dealers, art show, having Hal do gaming, and Children's Programming. Unplanned details included Past-O-Rama, the bellydancers, mini-timesheets, having Hal be the art show auctioneer, all of the programming, and the Montreal bid announcement and party. We also planned to have 5/8-inch-wide ribbons, but they didn't make it in time.

[tcb.livejournal.com]

I heard the party was amazing and well put on.. sorry I missed it ;)

attention to details

[sebastian-tombs.livejournal.com]

The party was an amazing event, and definitely a highlight. From the mini-volunteer sheets, to seeing Crash run a mini-Junkyard Wars, to the dealers and art show, to bellydancing and movies, panels (did anyone mention the mini-moderator when Gabriel ran the gaming panel?), and so on, and so on. Excellent job to all involved in the planning and running! (and congrats on selling so many memberships!)

Re: attention to details

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

I hadn't known about the mini-moderator. That's great!

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

The party was amazingly cool! I'm just sorry I wasn't able to spend more time there.