The short version: We need to be prepared for sudden surges in the number of artists wishing to sit in the Alley. We need to improve communications between customers and artists who may not have a seat in the Alley that day. I need more staff!

This year was a bit of a challenge since as the convention neared I lost a number of folks who were going to help out (all through no fault of their own, I wish to stress!). Nevertheless, we were able to pull through, though some folks had to work some long shifts. I am extremely grateful to Bullethc, Chanur2000 (who signed on as a volunteer but worked enough hours to be staff!), Frostyw, Grandma and Grandpa Kage, Linnaeus, Rooth, and Woodychitwn for all of the hard work that they put in to make Artists Alley and Con Store the success that it was. Special thanks go out to my wonderful husband Takaza and his staff (wild_rhythm, DaveQat, and jimcyl) for working closely with us to keep the register drawers full and cash well-accounted for. Thanks also go out to Datahawk, Danruk, and Rasslor for their assistance with Artists Alley payout. I hope that we can get every single one of these folks back next year to assist us again.

Set-Up

Not being able to get into the Convention Center until Thursday was a trifle nerve-wracking, but in the end we were able to handle everything OK. The table set-up was initially a bit skewed, a problem of which Kage is well aware some hopefully something that will be rectified next year with a little CAD work to lay out the hall and table placement to scale. Emily, our contact with the DLCC, did a fantastic job in addressing any concerns that I had, working with the (occasionally-grumpy) teamsters, and generally being available exactly when she was needed.

Since I took care to label everything when we packed up in 2006, I was pleased to see that nothing got misdelivered to the Westin and everything I needed was dropped off in Hall C. We had a bit of an issue getting the credit card terminal set up and properly programmed, but after that everything went OK. Unfortunately, since we were pulled away for meetings and other commitments, I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I would have liked getting the registers properly programmed, instead having to squeeze that in on Friday morning. I was at least able to walk some of my staff through the Alley process on Thursday afternoon.

As always, Grandma and Grandpa Kage did a great job in getting the Con Store set up, and I was able to turn a couple of volunteers loose on setting up the sorting boxes and various other small tasks while I laid out the supplies we’d need for the registers.

Signage

Not too much to say here. The Con Store price sign came out well. Grandma Kage has requested better demarcation between the Con Store and Artists Alley registers (since 20 feet of physical separation and a large sign that says “Con Store” isn’t sufficient), but I suspect that unless we put the Con Store on the opposite side of Hall C (something I am NOT advocating, by the way), the confusion is going to be inevitable.

Sign-Ups

This was our biggest challenge this year. First, some context: We have had 80 seats available in Artists Alley since 2005. That was also the first year that we implemented a lottery system. In 2005, we had 66, 66, and 51 artists sign up on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively. In 2006, we had 76, 85, and 65 artists sign up; when we drew names for the lottery that Saturday, because of some artists not being present all but two artists got seats.

Going into Anthrocon 2007, I knew that several artists who had been in the Alley in years past had moved over to the Dealers Room. I figured our numbers might even drop a bit. The spreadsheet I used to randomize the artists’ names and determine who would be on the waiting list held up to 100 names. I figured this wouldn’t be a problem.

On Friday morning, 114 artists signed up for Artists Alley. My spreadsheet broke completely, leaving me to come up with a fair and equitable system to assign seats with literally four minutes’ notice. It was a bit of a hash, I’m afraid, but we muddled through. I apologize profusely to any artists who may have felt confused or unhappy following Friday’s sign-ups, and all I can say is that as a programmer I’m a pretty good chemical engineer. Unfortunately, the delays meant that some artists didn’t get down to the Alley until after Hall C had opened to the public.

I took a couple of hours on Friday night rebuilding my sign up spreadsheet (which has a number of macros and randomization functions), and I was pleased that when Saturday rolled around I was ready for up to 200 artists to sign up. Surely, though, fewer artists would sign up and the previous day was a fluke. On Saturday, 113 artists signed up for Artists Alley. At least seat assignment went faster, though! Sunday was much easier, and only 71 artists signed up, though as the day went on we were able to fill the Alley with artists requesting tables after signups.

I want to give a pat on the back to Woody and Rooth for their assistance in signups and the rest of my staff for making sure the Alley was ready for business while I was on the other side of the convention center. I would also like to nominate Tango for beatification for bringing me coffee on Sunday morning.

Artists Alley Operation

My staff kicks ass. Things were a bit rocky on Friday, but once we got the kinks ironed out, things just…worked. As always, there were questions and concerns that popped up, but as the weekend progressed these got fewer and by Sunday everything was running perfectly smoothly. Even when we lost of our staff due to illness on Sunday, we were able to handle things quickly and efficiently. We ran X reports at the end of every shift, and Z reports at the end of each day. I’ll leave it up to Takaza to comment on the utility of those reports when he writes up his report.

The message board for communications between artists and customers got even more use this year than last, but we did still have to tell a number of customers that we had no way to contact an artist who wasn’t sitting in the Alley. I was extremely dissatisfied with this and I don’t think it meets the standards of customer service that we owe our attendees. I’m not sure how we’re going to improve on this next year, but I have some ideas.

I was able to patrol a bit more in the Alley this year, and with the exception of a couple of times where I had to request that artists hide some purchases that they had made which were a bit graphic, there were no problems with adult material. I also received some unconfirmed reports of artists accepting cash directly from customers, but unless I have specific names or times it’s obviously not actionable.

As far as the rules in general go, they have been through enough revisions that they are starting to get cumbersome and need to be reformatted to put things in more logical order. This will be one of my tasks for the coming year.

Con Store Operations

Con Store operations went smoothly, although the lack of lanyards until Friday morning was a bit disconcerting. Otherwise Chanur and Grandma and Grandpa Kage did a great job answering questions and ringing up purchases. I admit that I typically start new staff members in Con Store because it’s a bit easier to handle; I fully intend to incorporate Chanur into Artists Alley next year.

I ran X and Z reports on the Con Store register as well, and I also ran end-of-day department reports on Saturday and Sunday (I didn’t realize that information was needed until Saturday morning). The only place where there seems to be some confusion is in the name badge holders; it is possible that some got rung up on last year’s taxable PLU. That’s something that Takaza can address, though. I need to remember to completely wipe the cash register memory before programming next year.

Artists Alley Payout

We definitely have a pattern that we follow every year: Friday is a bit rocky as everyone involves re-learned how we run payout, Saturday is smoother, and by Sunday we blow through the artists in nothing flat. On Friday payout took about an hour; Sunday took right at thirty minutes. We ran into very few problems, with the exception of having to scramble for large bills at the end of Friday’s payout. We even had an artist give us back ten dollars that she had been overpaid due to a math error! That was very much appreciated.

Takaza will have the final definitive numbers, but it appears that over the course of three days we paid out $32,000 to 150 artists.

Planning For Next Year

We have some exciting opportunities for improvement for Anthrocon 2008. First off, the Artists Alley clearly needs to expand, so we’re looking at increasing the size by around 50%, up to 120 seats. This could drastically complicate payout under the current system, so we’re going to look into what improvements can be made, ideally working towards a Point-of-Sale system that will generate reports at the end of the day to easily determine how much each artist is owed. As mentioned above we need to improve on customer/artist communication mechanisms as well. And finally, we’re kicking around some interesting ideas to improve things for both Con Store and the Dealers Room; a proposal for that will be submitted to Kage in a few months.

As far as staffing, I really need to add at least two more staffers, if not three. Ideally I would be able to schedule my second to float, not pinned down to a register but able to answer questions, run for supplies for the cashiers, patrol the Alley, etc. This would allow me some time away from the Alley, as well, which would also be a Very Good Thing.

This wraps up my report for 2007. As always, it was exhausting and stressful, but a genuine pleasure nonetheless and I wouldn’t give it up for the world. I look forward to seeing everyone at Anthrocon 2008!