Reapercon Report

[Inarah]

2 hours ago, Chaoswolf said:

Absolutely agree.

 

Regarding the cancel a class/start it earlier debate: there is absolutely no reason why the award ceremony can't be started earlier. According to the program the award ceremony started at 8 pm (tangent: did it actually start on time? I don't remember...), classes run from 5 pm to 7 pm. There's a whole hour right there that could be utilized without needing to cancel anything.

 

I think a lot of people utilized it to get dinner. 

[Pegazus]

13 minutes ago, Sanael said:

 Whether an 11a.m. entry deadline is feasible, I couldn't say.

 

That might be pushing things. The registration desk opens at 9am. Get your stuff, then get entries out, and in line for the entry booth. That 11am starts to squeeze up for any last minute repairs due to transport. 

 

Similarly, there was an entry on Friday pushing the deadline. Flight attendant dumped his travel box sideways chipping the nose of the figure. Something like that on Saturday with a shortened schedule will eventually happen.

[Dragoneye]

8 minutes ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

 

You have a lot of company, that change stressed some people out so bad they were nearly in tears.  

 

I should stress that it didn't bother me much, only because once I've surrendered my figures to the judges they get what they get and I don't worry about it, but I observed an enhanced level of distress among some eager to see how they scored.  

 

So if I have any suggestion it's that whatever merits the new order has might perhaps be balanced against this.  It gave some people a very unhappy time.

yes, the result didn't upset me, I was fine with the silver. I trust the judges. It was the multiple false hope + let down that killed me. I think it is along the same lines of the auction/raffle change - a failed experiment. I just wish it had been open and clear before the event, then I would have been less jumpy. Perhaps my addled brain missed an announcement.

[Inarah]

41 minutes ago, Chaoswolf said:

Look man, I'm not trying to fight with you, and I'm not trying to belittle anyone. The original problem was that the award ceremony went on for a very long time. One solution was to start it earlier. An argument against that idea was that it meant cutting a class. I provided a solution that satisfied both requirements (starting earlier and not cutting any classes).

You mentioned needing that time for folks to get food.  I said that is for people to figure out for themselves.

 

 

Point taken. 

 

42 minutes ago, Chaoswolf said:

 

Classes are actually 1 hour and 45 minutes long, so the last class before the ceremony ends at 6:45. If the award ceremony were to be pushed up to 7:30, that leaves 45 minutes to acquire food.

 

 

My classes all went right up to the hour mark and then some.  Some popular teachers spend half an hour after class answering questions (if the room isn't immediately needed).  So I don't think it is that cut and dried. 

 

And while 45 minutes seems like a good chunk of time, in my experience you can't get to a restaurant, get seated and have food delivered to your table -- let alone eat it -- on a Saturday night.  Some of us can't  live on power bars, cold pizza, booze and to-go burgers. 

 

I really miss the years when we had dinners catered, but I think the current population of the con makes that prohibitively expensive.  It was a nice break when *everyone* could sit down and relax together. 

 

I wonder if the Reaper service awards and one or two of the manufacturers awards could be moved to Friday night.  That would cut some time, though I know some Saturday only attendees would not get in on those special competitions. 

 

 

 

[Paradoxical Mouse]

11 minutes ago, Inarah said:

 

I wonder if the Reaper service awards and one or two of the manufacturers awards could be moved to Friday night.  That would cut some time, though I know some Saturday only attendees would not get in on those special competitions. 

Considering Saturday only attendees are still attendees, they should have equal chance to enter all of the competitions, not just the ones that happen to wait until Saturday rather than Friday. 

I know I would have been extremely upset had I not been able to have my bombshell entry added to the bombshell manufacturer's awards.

 

So separating those makes it as though some attendees matter less, which isn't the case.

[Argentee]

2 hours ago, Dragoneye said:

 My only real complaint was that the names were not in order, it shredded my nerves. 

50 minutes ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

 

You have a lot of company, that change stressed some people out so bad they were nearly in tears.  

34 minutes ago, Dragoneye said:

It was the multiple false hope + let down that killed me. I think it is along the same lines of the auction/raffle change - a failed experiment.

 

 

 

All of this. ALL OF IT. 

 

[Pegazus]

33 minutes ago, Inarah said:

Some of us can't  live on power bars, cold pizza, booze and to-go burgers. 

 

I sense heresy. 

 

 

/Hides evidence of salads from the last three days

[Argentee]

41 minutes ago, Pegazus said:

 

I sense heresy. 

 

 

/Hides evidence of salads from the last three days

I remain convinced that trying to live on salads on Thursday is why I woke up with food poisoning on Friday of the con. Vegetables need to be cooked and put in their place or they try to kill you!

 

Did anyone use DoorDash or Grubhub during the con? Any problems with that?

[Clearman]

2 minutes ago, Argentee said:

Did anyone use DoorDash or Grubhub during the con? Any problems with that?

 

I didn't during the Con, but I've used both GrubHub and UberEats extensively when traveling to various cities.  As long as you are there to meet the driver, never had a problem.

 

Edit:  I will add that you do need to be conscious of how far away you are from the place you are getting the food.  The delivery aspect is nice, but if the place is far away, you just get cold food.

Edited September 5, 2019 by Clearman

[Crowley]

22 minutes ago, Argentee said:

I remain convinced that trying to live on salads on Thursday is why I woke up with food poisoning on Friday of the con. Vegetables need to be cooked and put in their place or they try to kill you!

 

Did anyone use DoorDash or Grubhub during the con? Any problems with that?

Someone had a pizza delivered to... was it the auction or the awards ceremony? I saw some other food being delivered during the con too. I just went over to IHOP and Cheddars across the parking lot. 

[kristof65]

3 hours ago, Heisler said:

We realize there are problems and we are doing our best to correct them. One thing to keep in mind is that all the people working the competition are volunteers.

I think most of us here appreciate that, and really just want to improve things for everyone, including you and the other volunteers. 

Something to keep in mind for any change made is that many of the same factors that make for highly creative and artistic people are also the same factors that feed insecurities and social anxieties. 


As for the food situation if the awards ceremony gets moved up - would asking the hotel to put a food stand up in the ball room for an hour or so at the beginning of the ceremony be an option?    If they can make a profit off of it, it might be a win-win-win situation for everyone. 

[Cygnwulf]

On the subject of food, I loved the fusion bowl truck that was setting up outside the west doors several days.  With the increased attendance, I wonder if it would be something that could possibly be expanded in future years? 

 

I'm going to fourth (fifth? sixth?) the multiple passes through the alphabet stressing me out too.

[TGP]

3 hours ago, Chaoswolf said:

Look man, I'm not trying to fight with you, and I'm not trying to belittle anyone. The original problem was that the award ceremony went on for a very long time.

I wasn’t trying to start a fight either. Sorry. 

 

I was just trying to amusingly (but failing at the amusing part) to point out that the break from 7-8 has a purpose. I should have tossed in some:   or 

 

I also think there would be numerous unhappy people if there was no break.

 

(I wouldn’t be one of them but really that’s me being broken  rather than anybody being so ‘weak’ as to need food.)

 

3 hours ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

You have a lot of company, that change stressed some people out so bad they were nearly in tears.  

 

I should stress that it didn't bother me much, only because once I've surrendered my figures to the judges they get what they getand I don't worry about it...

This would be my ^ attitude also. I have painted nothing over the years that I think would make it to bronze. (So, I saved the judges time by not cluttering things up with any additional entries from me.)

 

3 hours ago, Inarah said:

I think a lot of people utilized it to get dinner. 

I knew it! 

 

 

2 hours ago, Inarah said:

And while 45 minutes seems like a good chunk of time, in my experience you can't get to a restaurant, get seated and have food delivered to your table -- let alone eat it -- on a Saturday night.  Some of us can't  live on power bars, cold pizza, booze and to-go burgers. 

 

I really miss the years when we had dinners catered, but I think the current population of the con makes that prohibitively expensive.  It was a nice break when *everyone* could sit down and relax together. 

I could not manage to get to, get in, and get back from a sit down restaurant in 45 minutes either. I can’t say I miss the catered dinners. (I could go for warm pizza though!)

 

2 minutes ago, Cygnwulf said:

I'm going to fourth (fifth? sixth?) the multiple passes through the alphabet stressing me out too.

Would it have helped if the emcee had mentioned from time to time they were in the 4th out of 5 lists of Bronze medalists?

 

I wasn’t there. IDK. 

[Dragoneye]

26 minutes ago, Cygnwulf said:

On the subject of food, I loved the fusion bowl truck that was setting up outside the west doors several days.  With the increased attendance, I wonder if it would be something that could possibly be expanded in future years? 

 

I'm going to fourth (fifth? sixth?) the multiple passes through the alphabet stressing me out too.

I second the Fusion place - good, fast, reasonably priced. Perfect!

-------

  2 minutes ago, Cygnwulf said:

I'm going to fourth (fifth? sixth?) the multiple passes through the alphabet stressing me out too.

Would it have helped if the emcee had mentioned from time to time they were in the 4th out of 5 lists of Bronze medalists?

------

 

Yes, I think announcing (for example) "Low Silver" then names, "Middle Silver" then names... etc... would have helped. But then it makes the silvers 'different.' I think many people would prefer a silver to be a silver regardless, and find out their scores privately. But I, myself, wouldn't mind either way.

Edited September 5, 2019 by Dragoneye

[Heisler]

Well the alphabetizing should be something we can easily rectify the rest of it is up in the air. While it is easy to say just move up the time slot, judges and other volunteers are doing things that take up that hour when they should be able to eat. While everyone else is taking classes or gaming or relaxing or eating. The MSP Open volunteers are doing all kinds of last minute things that have to be done to pull the awards ceremony off. That can cut heavily into that hour and asking them to figure out food for themselves when giving up their time is not an easy thing to do.