Can we please just stop having guests of honor from now on?

[nemorathwald]

I am successfully resisting the urge to chew out a Guest of Honor. "I forgot about you and wouldn't answer your emails until today. But can I put a couple of talks on the schedule?" Fuck yes you can get on the schedule, and justify the UTTERLY WASTED money we are spending to fly you out. Never mind that the book is due to the printer in two hours. FUCK YOU, CELEBRITY BIG-SHOT. I DO NOT HONOR YOU.

Comments

Re: That *Does* Suck

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Is it really that hard to get a schedule done before the last month?

Something is wrong because for ConFusion I used to be able to get a schedule done by the end of October about three months out.

It was my goal for last year until a couple of medical emergencies got in the way.

Re: That *Does* Suck

[matt-arnold.livejournal.com]

Jeffrey, this is due to the radically different structure between Penguicon and ConFusion. Since Penguicon is more diverse (and has vastly more programming), it uses a team of track heads to assemble unrelated tracks. With ConFusion, it's normal for there to exist one available person who possesses sufficient knowledge of the main topic-- science fiction and fantasy literature. There exists almost no one who can assemble literature, technology, comedy music concerts, board/card/roleplaying games, science, Do-It-Yourself, costuming (not just masquerade, but a panel/workshop track), anime, webcomics, movies/comics/TV, ecology, cooking demos, and even discussion panels about video gaming. We even have one guy whose only job is to work on the miscellaneous category.

Re: That *Does* Suck

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

What we used to do and Polaris a big multi-track media SF con in Toronto also did was gather all the tracks heads and related concom in one room to hammer out the schedule using a blank wall and lots of post its. Its allows a big picture view of the schedule that you cannot get from a spreadsheet. This is done well before the convention happens, with pizza.

It also helps to have a modular approach tracking as many panels on the same theme in the same room through the day.

Re: That *Does* Suck

[matt-arnold.livejournal.com]

Several heads of programming have done that in the past for Penguicon. It worked.

This year, there were no programming team meetings at all, to my knowledge. No one took ownership.

Re: That *Does* Suck

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

That had better change for next year when Penguicon moves to the Big House in Dearborn.