Head of Convention Operations: wow. I wasn't really expecting things at the convention to be as crazy as they were, but by goodness was I busy. Unlike other cons, ConOps had 4 goals: - Risk Management (keep from getting sued) - Keep Everyone Informed about Everything - Manage Personnel and the Master Convention Schedule - Make sure the Con Experience is Enjoyable
I feel very confident in saying that we succeeded and that thanks to the other staff, RECCACon 2004 was the coolest convention ever. Now for the part that nobody outside really knew about. We turned this around from the November show, which means the actual dedicated time-working-on-con was only 3 months. If we threw a show like this for 600 people in three months, imagine what will happen when we have an entire year to get ready. Oh yes, RECCACon 2005 is going to rock you up, rock you down, and rock you side to side. Our hope is another March show, which seems to work with a lot of Spring breaks, which is an added plus. But now, shoutouts:
Jason Ebner: You da man! I am so glad you didn't have a walkie all con. You could go around being a big important person like you were supposed to be. I think we might've been the first con to ever do that. (though next time, you get one on a special "secret" channel because there were times we did need to keep you informed.
Christy: Co-Chair extrordinaire! You made life a lot easier, and helped with the signs. Your arrow idea was a beautiful idea and I think the color coding was just that much better. I didn't hear anything about people being lost, despite our layout. I wish I could have seen your panel!
Craig, Robert, Roni, Ashley, Jake (Duo), Owen, Eliza, Glenn, Tania, Jorge: HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS ROCK! This would have never happened without you. This year, Ops took a backseat and let you have 110% control of your departments, meaning all we did was coordinate between you. You all either sank or swam this last Saturday, and I feel very proud to say we floated through with ease. As we go into next con season, we are so going to rock.
Ashley: You get a special note because you dragged (hehe) me in as your lead tech for the Masquerade. Having Aaron's Apple iBook handy made getting the music ready for the con much much easier. Blown circuit aside, we got the light working. Nevermind the extension cord came from over 100ft away at a plug in the back of the cafeteria!
Dave, Chris, Michelle, Andrea, Jess, Charles: Thanks for coming up to help on my staff and helping with the Anime Club table.
Hank and the "Karaoke Boys": Please come back, we love you! You had equipment, you had style, you had the ability to stall for 15 minutes during the intermission in the Masquerade! Oh, and your streaming linux thing was very cool.
Jenn: Awesome on the 2nd place! I'm sorry I couldn't hang out or join you at iHop after the masquerade. We so need to hang out at Fanime & AX. I promise, I won't be working at one of them... << >>
Wayne #2: O_O I wasn't expecting you to be there at all. :) I'm so glad you came up! I'm sorry you caught me mid-mini-crisis else I would have stayed a bit and chatted. Thankfully this is the only con I work full time at.
Lionel: You couldn't remember me! sniff sniff I hope you had a good time, and I can't wait to see the pictures from the con! (I can see what I missed! LOL)
Judy, AJ, Al, Kira, and all other cosplay judges: Thank you for being so prompt and decisive! I was so worried we might have a 40 minute judging incident, but we didn't. It was a huge sigh of relief from the Tech Booth.
All RECCACon Staff: I love you all, without you, I would have been nothing. With you, we made the most insanely amazing convention East Bay has ever seen. This next year is going to be a lot of fun!
All RECCACon Participants: I love you all too! Without you, we wouldn't have money for 2005, and we wouldn't have had 600 people showing up. Tell your friends, our next show is going to top this one, I promise. And thank you all for talking to us. From an operations standpoint, every thing we did was based on feedback. We are a con for the fans, and so finding out stuff from the fans themselves is what helps make us so unique and so much fun.
We did something right with this con, we aren't going to lose that. RECCACon 2005 will be coming and will be coming strong. It will continue to be an experience unlike any other convention. A thousand thanks to everyone who made the con a success, and a thousand more thanks to every person who walked out of the door with a smile on their face. It reminds me why several months ago I said "yes" to Jason for working on this con.
In response to "RECCACon 2004 Thanks":
Sounds like you guys are finally getting on track. That’s great. I would like to talk to you more about it, if you have a chance. Call me.
- Skeeve