Jubilee

It's possible to run multiple check in and photo booths, assuming we can get that many people willing to devote their weekend to it and enough supplies/space. Definitely something we (the current volunteers) want to explore for next year. :)

Anne calls names in batches and people come up to get their medals from the group of 3 "lovely assistants" of the year. There's an occasional pause to allow for clapping and a pause between medal types so the assistants can be organized. Certificates cause a bit of a scramble amongst the assistants, because names are printed on them and you have to figure out who is who when they come up. Anne does a great job keeping things moving

It isn't so much about the cost as the amount of time it takes to corral everyone, figure out orders, get someone to pick it up or deliver it, and then distribute it. For Uber eats and grub hub, you can't make an order to arrive at a certain time, which means someone needs to organize making an order when we're in the thick of the busiest, most frazzling point of the process. :(. There's just not enough people with enough free time during the con to do it. Reaper pays for meals for volunteers but the amount of us has gotten too unmanageable, so we're mostly expected to plan for ourselves or band together to figure things out in smaller groups. They used to take the judges out to feed them before judging began but now that we need so many, that takes way too long and too much transportation. Also I used grub hub on Friday to order drinks from Kung Fu tea (~5 minutes away by car) and it took 2 hours and 20 minutes to show up, apparently drivers weren't showing up at the store. I also heard there was a massive rain storm that may have been a contributing factor, though.. On Sunday afternoon, we were trying to order food from cowboy chicken for the four of us at registration and it took at least 30-45 minutes to get the order in because we were all constantly being pulled away to do other work. It seemed to take forever to arrive, but maybe we were just really hungry by the time 1:30 rolled around.

We learned late on Saturday that the system was sorting people by score then alphabetically, so the good news is that as the last that means you had a 3 3 4 score, which means you were pretty close to a gold. I think Kit will fix it for next year, but there wasn't time in Saturday. We should have had Anne warn everyone about the weird order this year, but I think we were focused on the short of medals issue instead.

We don't do special awards or manufacture awards judging on Friday as it would make it way too late for us. It still takes most of the time from 12pm to 7pm to judge Saturday entries, reaper special awards, organize the various special awards, corral the various judges (including non reaper folks) for the special awards, print judging sheets, input the special awards, QC the data, count/tally the best in show votes, and enter those numbers. We also have to move and stage the awards, print sheets for Anne, print the certificates, get them signed, and this year we also had to design and print the bronze vouchers.. Kit was also doing something to make sure the slide show was in the right order for the various awards, but I'm not sure if that's just because we decided to change from the usual order or if it was because he had done a redesign on the system or if that is just something that he always has to do.

There were four of us :). Intake, explanation/swag/organization, photos, and processing. It was probably the least relaxing vacation I've had in a long time... The VIP line was definitely a problem but I think the unexpected uptick in entries (almost double) and entrants (200 to 340) made it even worse as an experiment than it otherwise would have been. We were not expecting to have basically non-stop entries on Thursday (with a brief slow down around 3) and no break on Friday. By the time we both realized how much of a problem it was, many people had been waiting far too long, but we changed it to keep everyone moving more reasonably after that. We were so overwhelmed with the crush that it took a while for us to realize that was going on! We've come up with several ideas for improvements next year, but we're not sure what's going to be reasonable to implement.

Basing (Presentation) is a consideration for the painter's category, even if it isn't a high %. Those small % matter more as you get higher in the scoring. Also, what's more important (imo) for a base in painter's category is not whether it's fancy or plain, but whether it's painted and that it's painted in a way that is cohesive with the model itself. If the base contains unpainted/partially painted elements or is distracting because it uses a different color palette than the model that is absolutely going to detract from the model overall and thus reduce your score. If you're going to put rocks/sand and grass on your base without painting them or considering whether it matches the rest of the figure, you're better off painting it black imo.

I don't think it has been mentioned here yet, but you can ask to submit your entry at the painting contest anonymously. This perhaps could have been better advertised, but I am reasonably sure it's in the rules as an option. We have allot of ground to cover when checking people in and did not make a point of asking about anonymity under the assumption people who felt it was important would ask.

i'm terrible at taking pictures and did not take any, but my husband took some of the contest, which he posted on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.354266835017727.1073741854.250778915366520&type=1&l=7dc7230a9e

Thank you:)

Here are pictures of my ReaperCon 2017 Diorama entry, "Wrong Turn":

I was working on organizing some models. Baby really, really wanted them. He's just learning to pull himself up on things and hasn't figured out he can walk around the box, so he decided to pull himself over it..

I booked tickets last night, so I guess my husband and I are committed to coming! We're renting a car, arriving at DFW airport around 6pm on Thursday. Our flight leaves at 7pm on Sunday, so we will be aiming to arrive at car-rental return around 4:30. We're traveling with our infant son but could provide a ride to at least one other person (two if traveling light, luggage space may be an issue with the stroller). We'll probably be going back and forth to the hotel multiple times per day to accommodate baby naps as well. Message me if you might need a ride to/from the airport at those times!

Yes, they would probably encourage budding toddler antics rather than discouraging them :) I'm hoping to go, just anxious about how Evan will do. We're leaving for model expo tomorrow, so it should be instructive and help me make a decision.

Well, our child is delightful, cheerful, and friendly, but I hate to assume that other people will want to participate in keeping him entertained and/or from killing himself. :) Yah, my husband would come if we decide to go. I probably will skip classes or most scheduled events, except for judging. I'm trying to also manage my expectations/schedule in a way that I'm not in conflict with the needs of our child (who will probably still be breastfeeding a few times a day, even if my husband is doing the wrangling, he doesn't have the equipment for that). So mostly, I just want to hang out and see friends and pretty models. :)