object lessons

[totient]

Two things learned at Lunacon:

If doing something well requires so much staff that there is no one left to appreciate it, it is better to do it poorly.

This is actually something I knew already from putting on TSD rallies, but had not applied to convention running. It is probably especially true of the Masquerade, because the pool you are drawing down is entrants rather than audience members, and there are a lot fewer of those. Lunacon got this one right, though they might not have seen it that way.

Changing hotels doesn't make the convention fresh.

Going to a hotel that you haven't been to before makes a convention fresh. Returning to a previously used hotel after a long absence is worse than staying put; you tend towards the patterns that worked then, losing improvements and adaptations you have made along the way. Lunacon got this one right, too, by dint of the unfinished construction taking away the familiar aspect of the hotel. Though the price paid for it was rather steep.

Comments

[muffyjo]

I'm not clear if you are saying that Lunacon was successful or failed miserably. What I am reading is that everyone was so busy working that no one got to appreciate the con itself and that the old hotel made them fall into their old bad habits instead of taking advantage of improvements. Only then you said they got it right, so I'm trying to figure out if you are being sarcastic.

Did you have fun?

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Lunacon was both successful and a disaster, depending on your point of view. The staff probably thought it was a failure. In fact the things they didn't do contributed to how enjoyable the convention was.

[roozle.livejournal.com]

I wasn't there but let me try it:
2) they COULDN'T fall into their old bad habits, they had to improvise their way into improvement, thus they got it right. Though palmwiz clearly implies, not through merit on their part.

1) Doing a less complicated masquerade had fewer costumers (those potential entrants) working the show -- and more entrants entertaining the audience. Where less complicated is "less complicated than Arisia". Again, I wasn't at the con, and there could easily be multiple factors contributing to more entrants in the masquerade.

[wren13.livejournal.com]

I thought it was incredibly successful given the hotel handicaps. The masquerade was excellent (tech rules), the art show was its usual wonderful self, and whoever hung all the Hotel D'isaster signs has a great sense of humor. Of course the hotel could have been better (lots better, even), but a good time was had by everyone I talked to, and I did work for several hours this weekend.