Drama sucks and final thought.
Cons should be mostly fun even on while running the con as a staffer even if you don't see everything and might miss a few events due to getting things done, but ensuring that everyone coming to your event is having a good time. Politics brought in the mix never works well, which has been proven several times over and over.
A con chair is the so-called head of the con and he puts out the big fires while the rest of the staffers get their ducks in the row in their department. Jim has done an excellent job deal with the crap that is our con, but does not jump up and down with a sign about what he has done to the rest of the world, since he is not an attention whore. It's done and those who need to know are told. The reorganization was a good move and works if you give a chance, but a low attendance of staffers is a shame and I'll bet a few of the stupid rumors are coming from people who don't know. We have a place to run the con, guests, hotel at the same price, programming is coming together, and getting more support to ensure we can run the con. What else do you want?
My position has grown due to lack of anyone willing to handle publicity, but I'm doing as best I can and trying to ensure people know about our con. We really need to get some new blood in the departments so people feel more involved. It would ensure that a few of us that want could take a break or if we have to leave, than someone can step in.
Anonymous letters with personal attacks with no examples is no way to vent your personal feelings, but if you can come up with specific and direct examples to show why you are right and they are wrong might work better... Spreading rumors is not a good way either, since it is underhanded and rather "high school"-ish. Let's work together and even if you don't like me, jim, kate, tj, chris, etc: deal with it for the con that you have worked hard for over the years. It keeps everyone from stressing out and losing interest.
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Another thought was as Anime is sliding in popularity and many of us are fans of other areas (scifi, dice RPG, Fantasy, novels, more manga, etc.) should we look to expand to other areas to keep people interested and bring in more people? They might just give anime or fantasy or scifi a shot while at con? Anime Companies have become cheap due to their weak marketing and poor choices of certain bad anime that they sunk lots of money into, so depending on them is becoming harder for support. Pittsburgh's gaming convention scene is extremely limited to a small group of people who run their games and nothing more. I loved old gaming cons where I could try NEW games that I have seen the books and did not know if I should drop the coin.... Just an idea to keep things alive and have a wider base to recruit people to help run the show!
A con chair is the so-called head of the con and he puts out the big fires while the rest of the staffers get their ducks in the row in their department. Jim has done an excellent job deal with the crap that is our con, but does not jump up and down with a sign about what he has done to the rest of the world, since he is not an attention whore. It's done and those who need to know are told. The reorganization was a good move and works if you give a chance, but a low attendance of staffers is a shame and I'll bet a few of the stupid rumors are coming from people who don't know. We have a place to run the con, guests, hotel at the same price, programming is coming together, and getting more support to ensure we can run the con. What else do you want?
My position has grown due to lack of anyone willing to handle publicity, but I'm doing as best I can and trying to ensure people know about our con. We really need to get some new blood in the departments so people feel more involved. It would ensure that a few of us that want could take a break or if we have to leave, than someone can step in.
Anonymous letters with personal attacks with no examples is no way to vent your personal feelings, but if you can come up with specific and direct examples to show why you are right and they are wrong might work better... Spreading rumors is not a good way either, since it is underhanded and rather "high school"-ish. Let's work together and even if you don't like me, jim, kate, tj, chris, etc: deal with it for the con that you have worked hard for over the years. It keeps everyone from stressing out and losing interest.
--------------------
Another thought was as Anime is sliding in popularity and many of us are fans of other areas (scifi, dice RPG, Fantasy, novels, more manga, etc.) should we look to expand to other areas to keep people interested and bring in more people? They might just give anime or fantasy or scifi a shot while at con? Anime Companies have become cheap due to their weak marketing and poor choices of certain bad anime that they sunk lots of money into, so depending on them is becoming harder for support. Pittsburgh's gaming convention scene is extremely limited to a small group of people who run their games and nothing more. I loved old gaming cons where I could try NEW games that I have seen the books and did not know if I should drop the coin.... Just an idea to keep things alive and have a wider base to recruit people to help run the show!