Breaks and Class Times

[Vaitalla]

Heya all! Well, that classes thread is pretty darn cool, so I thought I would go another step further and ask for opinions on two things:

 

1. Break times for lunch and dinner, the timing thereof;

 

And

 

2. Late classes.

 

Read on!

 

I was informed that many people complained about the break timing last year. To clarify, we actually did schedule an hour where no classes at all ran, for lunch and for dinner. We staggered these breaks with the Tournament/gaming schedule. The reason this was staggered is two-fold. One, it was so that Sonic did not get bombarded with the entire population of the Con. And two, it was so everyone wanting to eat would have adequate places to sit, as there was not enough room for the whole con to sit down to eat at once. So what I want to know is, what specifically did people not like? Was it:

 

1. My friend/significant other games, I paint, and we did not have scheduled break times together.

2. I was on the later break and they were out of certain food items (we are working with Sonic to keep this from happening hopefully in the future).

3. Break time was a waste of time, I eat on the run. More classes, please! (If I do not schedule breaks I can fit in a lot more classes per day, but people complained that they did not have enough time to eat when we did that before.)

 

On the subject of late classes (sometimes there are classes scheduled in the 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. time slot), I noticed that these classes enjoy lower attendance, presumably because people's brains are full, they're tired, they want to relax with friends instead of having more structure, etc. Normally I schedule fewer of them because of this. What's the going opinion like? Are these "night owl" classes worth having? It is sometimes hard to find instructors to teach these because of the late time frame, but there are a few I can usually convince to do so. What do you think?

 

--Anne, waiting to hear The Word from y'all!!

[Redhandstudios]

I am doubting that I will be able to go this year, but I think that night classes rock!!!

[pae]

Breaks -- as long as they exist, I'm fine. On a related note, having Starbucks on site would be awesome, but I do know that it's only like a five minute drive to get to one, so as long as I can get a ride, I'll be caffeinated.

 

Late classes -- Sign me up! Since I typically don't get to sleep until about 2AM, the 8 to 10 PM slot is probably most productive (actually after 10PM is more productive for me, but I realize others have to sleep).

[vutpakdi]

I'd prefer not to have night classes, or, at least, few of them. Seems more like time to unwind, socialize, and otherwise relax. Maybe a couple of easy going or fun events, but not classes.

 

Ron

[Qwyksilver]

I think night classes would be fine. The difficulty is probably more that people going to the Con need to learn to pace themselves and not try to take 6 classes in a day because then by the time those night classes are starting, they have burnt out and might just no show or have brains of tapioca.

 

I think a lot would also have to do with the subject matter. I know by 8PM, my brain isn't going to be capable of grasping Color Theory when I am running on short sleep, even if I never took a class or event all day. Whereas a class on army painting shortcuts might be more palatable, since by design it's going to be all about shortcuts and simplifications to gets stuff looking good, and uniform, quick and easy. Subject matter and degree of hands on involvement I think would help a lot.

 

Or maybe if there is going to be a critique class, or some of the closer to 1-on-1 instruction classes then.

 

As far as breaks. I never had an issue with the meal times. They worked out for me. And I was happily very busy last year between classes and running events. Course I am more of an eat and scoot person and also packed extra drinks in my bag and brought some snacks for when Sonic wasn't open, though I don't really recall them being close all that much.

[cutebutpsycho]

It would be nice if we could have an hour between class slots. I had a class from 10-12 and 12-2 if I remember correctly. It would have been nice to not have to pack up and run.

 

It would be nice if we could have an hour between class slots. I had a class from 10-12 and 12-2 if I remember correctly. It would have been nice to not have to pack up and run.

[haldir]

I'm like Qwyk, eat & run, but I know I did spend alot of time at Sonic's while doing other things. The lunch hour was fine by me this year, so no worries on that part

 

Night classes---hmmm I recall having at least 1 last year & it was after my 9-5 class day (how I did that I have no idea, & it was Friday too!!!), but I have no probs with night classes, as I'm a night person anyways (graveyard job for 13 years), but I can see where this would be a good time for free time for the teachers & such, no reason to bombard them the entire day. but overall if there were night classes I would take one if a class I wanted was in there.

 

RM

[Mengu]

I didn't really have any complaints about the breaks. I thought they were fine. Food situation on the other hand could use some improvement, but you already knew that. An option of hamburger on soggy bun or cold fries wasn't much of an option if you happened to need a late lunch.

 

I like late classes because my brain works better when it's late, so I'm on the same boat as Flynn (oddly no boats run between Colorado and Ohio). Also if people wanted to do tournaments during the day, this would give them the option to do paint classes in the evening.

 

So that's The Word from my side of the painting table.

[MiniWargamer]

I thought the scheduling from last year was fine. I don't know that I would take many, if any, of the late classes because my brain turned to mush after the first class every day as I learned a lot....

 

I enjoyed Sonic, did not get a chance to participate in the tournaments or gaming, but that was by choice. I do agree with Mengu about how late classes would benefit tourney players, however.

[Stubbdog]

my problem with the breaks and class times was my own fault. Trying to play in both tournaments and also take about 12 classes. Ran myself a bit ragged. Wont be doing that again.

 

But, having said that, I do hope that the two tournaments can somehow be scheduled to where I can try to play in both. Last year, both tourneys had their semi final rounds at the same time, I luckily made both, and so had to choose which to continue on in.

 

On hte subject of late classes. As long as the teachers are willing, those are awesome for me. I remember last year when I got all excited when I saw the late night classes on the online store ticket purchase. It said 10pm to 12, being anight owl those sounded awesome, so I immediately signed up for a couple of them. But, later found out that even though it was labeled 10 PM to 12 it was actually 10am to noon. So, I guess one request is to please make sure that the actual class time be listed in the ticket purchase.

[ixminis]

Hrm, I don't remember if I suggested it, but we should use military time for schedules & provide a standard to military translation table... While it may take a bit of practice for some to get used to, there's no mistaking 06:00 for 18:00, eh? one's definitely before noon and the other is definitely *after* noon.

 

okee - that's all from the peanut gallery (me) :-)

[Patrick]

we should use military time for schedules

 

Good idea, Mike! I'm sure that the 12 based calculation is pretty easy for most.

 

( 19:00 - 12 = 7:00pm )

 

I like having some time between classes rather than back-to-back. I also like having an hour for eats. The only problem posed for my by late classes (after 8pm) would be bonding time with the other sculptors and the fact I'll be commuting back home over an hour afterwards.

[Qwyksilver]

Or, since a lot of people have to switch their watches because of changes in time zones, just switch it over to 24 hr time on your watch too.

[Vaitalla]

I will look at putting time between classes, but remember this will result in fewer classes offered. Pretty much you have three choices:

 

1. No official break time between classes; instructors will be advised to wrap the class up by ten minutes before the hour. Scheduled hourly breaks for meals. Results in 25 possible classes offered per full day (best option in my opinion).

 

2. Hour breaks in between classes, with no extra scheduled meal breaks. Results in only 20 possible classes offered per full day.

 

3. Half-hour breaks in between classes, with no extra scheduled meal breaks. Results in 25 possible classes offered per full day, but you will have no scheduled hour for lunch/dinner and would thus be responsible for your own schedule on the meals thing.

 

I am still leaning toward option one. I will make sure that some night classes continue to be offered.

 

--Anne

[Qwyksilver]

I personally like the idea of option 3. You don't lose any classes, but you allow everyone, both instructors and students to relax, decompress, absorb the information and most importantly, pack up theitr stuff and get from A to B. You can also have instructors start right on time, as there would be no excuse for being late at this point, instead of wasting the first 15 minutes of classes on stragglers and people getting settled.

 

30 minutes is sufficient for a meal break. And with 30 minute breaks, you could also stagger classes so there isn't a huge horde of people descending on the meal table at the same time. Some people might complain because they can't take every class they want as a result because of overlap, but that also means there will be classes available to more people. So instead of having say 10 people in 20 classes, you might have 20 people in 10 classes instead. Maybe there will be some smaller class sizes, ubt I don't find that to be a bad thing, because it allows more 1:1 attention from the instructor.