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Minicon 32 Postmortem
5-Apr-97, Bill Lochen's group
Members of this group: Cynthia Sorenson (took notes; need help? 721-5638), Page Appelbaum, Kuck B. Marston, Linda A. Paul, Bill Lochen, Cat Ocel, [withheld for security reasons], Glenn Tenhoff, Lucia Johnson, Donall Gearby (?).
What did you like most?
Best convention for blood drives (57 volunteers, 45 units) in Twin Cities area for Memorial Blood Center.
NASA
ILM
How mellow it was this year, even though there was a record attendance of 3574. Good traffic flow.
Switching dealers' room and Grand Ballroom.
Post Office.
Pre-reg Thursday evening.
Breakfast with guests of honor.
Con-friendly guests of honor.
Bridge and con suite locations.
Low visibility of S&M group.
Saturday night dance.
What Is In Need Of Improvement?
Delayed seating of GOH at breakfast.
Dark Star closed too early Saturday.
Pocket guide not in chronological order.
"Why do we abuse our volunteers so badly?"
Better delegation needed.
Lack of decorum & support from experienced people towards those newly in charge.
Air filters in smoking areas would be good
Peter: more smoking areas needed.
Those with heavy responsibility need to have their down time and not be bothered when off duty.
Question 3
Putting drum jam in verandas and Bloomington rooms was good. Able to keep cabana doors open.
Rangers did good job, helpful, unobtrusive. Ops moved like smoothly oiled machine.
Appreciate people who did volunteer this year.
Teamsters good job.
Radisson hauled away trash.
What Would You Change?
Not have more than one true registration list. Problems of registered people not showing on main list.
Some badgers overly ambitious, i.e. not letting people into the hotel.
Work with Radisson hotel to get quicker access to locked areas.
Party rooms were too trashy for Radisson to clean properly.
Overall first aid services to convention good. Needs more volunteers.
Teamsters role could be expanded. Need to be there before and after (i.e. Thursday, Tuesday) to help set up and tear down.
Have old guard complain about younger multimedia members be more accepting.
Do something so pool can be open longer. Better pool chemical use.
Better communication regarding confirmation of hotel rooms, and con registration.
Better telecast of mainstage events.
What Should Never Be Changed?
Long live munchie movement & cuddle squad.
Dedicated room for children's programming.
Minicon 101.
Always have coffee.
Keep inclusiveness of convention.
Current setup or relationship of bridge and ops.
Always have free alcohol.
Miscellaneous
Decrease tension between literary and media SF fans.
Better treatment of volunteers. A) make requests of them respectfully. B) not abandon them (work harder to send relief shifts, so those who volunteer don't do 12 hour shifts).
Interface or relationship between Minicon L and Minicon XX needs to be crystallized. (ddb: I can read the notes clearly, but this makes no sense to me).
Needs publications person.
Have professional database management deal with registration mailing lists.