Reapercon Report

[buglips*the*goblin]

You didn't seem cranky at all.  In fact, for a guy who waited that long in line you were more cheerful than anyone would have been.

[LordDave]

2 hours ago, SamuraiJack said:

, they need to designate classes as Tabletop or Competition level.  I learned a couple things in my classes, but two were more clearly geared towards Tabletop/arm's length quality than Competition pieces.

 

 

That is a good suggestion.  I am not sure if it was any of my classes, because I really try to be descriptive in my class details, but next year I will clearly call out tabletop or display level techniques in next year's write ups.  

[OneBoot]

14 minutes ago, LordDave said:

That is a good suggestion.  I am not sure if it was any of my classes, because I really try to be descriptive in my class details, but next year I will clearly call out tabletop or display level techniques in next year's write ups.  

 

Agreed; I specify that my class is intended for Beginners, but it's only in the classroom I specify it's intended for tabletop minis. I'll tweak my class description for next year! 

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D 

[ironman1231]

FWIW, I was the guy who got pizza delivery for Awards. :D

 

The Good: I brought 3 new people to the 'Con this year, and all of them thought it was the best convention they'd ever been to. @corbie and @fletcherpeatross and one other. I had as much fun as I did last year (which means I'll probably try and bring 9 people with me next year). I took a class that was incredibly fun (Bones Mashup) that I'll certainly do again, several very educational classes with fantastic painters (including with one of the best in show winners and someone who won multiple vendor awards). I participated in a bunch of paint and takes and Hobby Hijinx (thanks @Ludo for your hard work). The hotel was great. I walked away exhausted from all of the fun I had, and my hands were ready to try new techniques when I got home. Tons of loot acquired, and still a bunch of metal weight to redeem next year. 

 

I want all of my "bad and ugly" to be constructive and not just complaints. If I don't have a suggestion I won't say anything. 

The Bad:

• Some of my classes were underwhelming. I think the level of preparedness for each instructor varies and some of the classes were honestly a waste of my time. If they'd had better outlines in advance (as part of the class description), I could have made better decisions. There was at least one instructor I will actively avoid in the future (though I'm sure others had a better experience). This is also on me, I should have researched class instructors, not just subject matter. 
• Classes were scheduled correctly, dealer hall closed and opened on time, Hobby Hijinx went well. However main 'Con activities were not on schedule and the schedule wasn't available to be seen easily. "Hey, are you at the raffle tonight?" "What raffle?" shouldn't be a conversation that we had. But we did. A printed schedule of main events like HH had should be out and visible and adhered to. 
• The awards ceremony was far too long. 1000 entries from 1500 participants? There needs to be a limit to entries. The current format isn't scalable. 
• The auction is a frustrating experience for a lot of folks, especially newcomers. I watched a poor kid raise his hand on everything he wanted and lower it at 1700 every time. He didn't have a chance to win anything and he sat through the entire thing trying anyway. Apparently he couldn't even have turned his bucks into tickets because registration ran out of them. But knowing you could do that isn't information that's widely understood either. The raffle should be completed before the auction. Examples from previous years should be given - "Paint sets went from 4,000 to 8,000 last year" so that people know what to expect. 

The Ugly: GrowTix is the effing worst. With the way the 'Con has grown, it simply cannot be this bad again next year. I think Reaper has to keep hearing about it until they confirm it won't be in use next year. Two years in a row of just the worst possible customer experience really putting a stain on them - and it could easily be avoided. 

 

For all of these complaints, I loved my experience. I will definitely be back next year. I hope that Reaper has the opportunity to make improvements, but if they can't, I'll grin and bear it. 

 

Thanks Ron and Ed for putting on another great show. 

[Pegazus]

33 minutes ago, ironman1231 said:

The awards ceremony was far too long. 1000 entries from 1500 participants? There needs to be a limit to entries. The current format isn't scalable. 

 

This one is a case of being a victim of its own success. While it is possible to enter 100 figures into the contest, only four per person would ever get judged, one per category (open, painter’s, diorama, and ordinance). With 150% of attendees from last year, it is just a given that the awards would take longer.

 

And you’re right, this isn’t going to be scaleable, even if the growth levels off to something reasonable. Maybe they need to scrap announcing certificates and bronzes, with just silver and gold awards (plus the special categories) getting announced.

 

Eventually, the judges are going to run out of time too, so they may have to have the judged entry specified at the entry registration. That would actually solve two problems. I heard several complaints from individuals that the entry they wanted judged didn’t, and that was frustrating. Making entrants specify which entry is to be judged would save judging time, at the loss of a potentially higher score.

[Crowley]

3 minutes ago, Pegazus said:

 

This one is a case of being a victim of its own success. While it is possible to enter 100 figures into the contest, only four per person would ever get judged, one per category (open, painter’s, diorama, and ordinance). With 150% of attendees from last year, it is just a given that the awards would take longer.

 

And you’re right, this isn’t going to be scaleable, even if the growth levels off to something reasonable. Maybe they need to scrap announcing certificates and bronzes, with just silver and gold awards (plus the special categories) getting announced.

 

Eventually, the judges are going to run out of time too, so they may have to have the judged entry specified at the entry registration. That would actually solve two problems. I heard several complaints from individuals that the entry they wanted judged didn’t, and that was frustrating. Making entrants specify which entry is to be judged would save judging time, at the loss of a potentially higher score.

Or tighten up what qualifies as medal winning, and let anyone who gets a certificate to pick it up when they get their entries? 

[Clearman]

8 minutes ago, Pegazus said:

I heard several complaints from individuals that the entry they wanted judged didn’t, and that was frustrating.

 

In my mind this one is easy to solve.  Just enter the single piece you want judged.  This addresses some of the other points as well.

[buglips*the*goblin]

More than four can be judged, you forgot the manufacturer awards.  

[Clearman]

3 minutes ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

More than four can be judged, you forgot the manufacturer awards.  

 

Fair point, but that follows the victim of it's own success problem too.  The more vendor awards, the more entries, etc.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Clearman

[Pegazus]

2 minutes ago, Clearman said:

 

In my mind this one is easy to solve.  Just enter the single piece you want judged.  This addresses some of the other points as well.

 

And I did that last year. One can also put “For Display Only”, too. 

 

1 minute ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

More than four can be judged, you forgot the manufacturer awards.  

 

Right, but I was going over the Reaper judging. The manufacturer judging I believe was a team apart from Reaper’s.

 

7 minutes ago, Crowley said:

Or tighten up what qualifies as medal winning, and let anyone who gets a certificate to pick it up when they get their entries? 

 

Also possible. The bulk was bronzes tho.

[buglips*the*goblin]

1 minute ago, Clearman said:

 

Fair point, but that follows the victim of it's own success problem too.  The more vendor awards, the more entries, etc.

 

There are also special categories (big monster, etc)

 

Let's bear in mind also that 1000 entries for 1500 attendees is still well below the threshold of one figure per person anyway.  

Also, before people get too caught up in projective math let's keep in mind that there were at least three unusual events bulking the numbers some this year over prior years:  the Wiebe Pug, Paint it Pink, and Ed skeletons.  

[SamuraiJack]

29 minutes ago, Pegazus said:

Eventually, the judges are going to run out of time too, so they may have to have the judged entry specified at the entry registration. That would actually solve two problems. I heard several complaints from individuals that the entry they wanted judged didn’t, and that was frustrating. Making entrants specify which entry is to be judged would save judging time, at the loss of a potentially higher score.

 

Judges try and pick the best piece of what was entered.  what you think is your best piece may not be what they think it is.  I think if you limit it to 3 per category, you'll either get more entries outside of Painters, or you'll just get less Painters entries.  I don't think Open had nearly as many, but I haven't counted.  With lots of new people coming, not everyone might have realized only one gets judged, I know I didnt my first year.

 

 

 

[Guindyloo]

I don't mind so much if the awards ceremony is just forever going to be longer, but I do think that it needs to take place a couple of hours earlier and perhaps a 15-20 intermission at the halfway point could be considered. I think that would be a better option than cutting out anyone's awards. The problem is that moving things up eats into the time that the judges have to finish judging, so I think as the number of people entering/time the awards ceremony takes grows, there needs to also be an expansion in judging teams.

[Crimson_king_of_the_tower]

First day back at work, post con depression has definitely set in...

[OneBoot]

Kit showed me the final data, and while I don't remember the exact numbers, I do recall it averaging out to roughly 3 entries per person who entered this year. 

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D