As e-mailed to convention committee:
"What I want to do is yet another version of the Big Book of Minicon.
Kay Drache and I kicked around some ideas. Kay suggested that we should
have a template with information on each department. She and I, with material
assistance from DDB, have put together a template/form/thingy. It is at
the bottom of this post.
"The general idea on how this would work is as follows. I want to mail
out this template to many of the previous and perhaps current department
heads for Minicon. (I have no delusions about being able to find all of
them, and I am uncertain as to whether or not the current department heads
will have time for this.) In addition to the mailing, Martin Schaeffer has
tentatively agreed to host a party at the Rad, which would be called Datacon.
The party would have A Room of Many Computers, which would have this template
in some useful word processor already up. Another room would have Good Company
and Interesting Consumables. The plan is to have people fill out the forms
while having a good time. I would also (obviously) accept mail in
contributions.
"Once I have lots and lots of information, then I get to try to condense
it, crunch it, and generally beat it into submission. The goal is to have
a template for each department to give to each department head by Minicon
33. I would hope to have a 3 ring binder for each department with the template
and other supporting documentation. It would be the responsibility of the
department head to return the binder after the convention with whatever
additions and corrections would make it useful for the next year's head.
"Hopefully by then Minicon will have a Continuity Director. My own
preference is that this be a board position, rather than a con com position.
"This is in the most general of terms. I actually do have more precise
ideas about what I'm doing, but don't want to bore you all.
"I would appreciate feedback on the sample template below. Please e-mail
me, as I don't want to clutter up the list too much with specific suggestions.
However, I would also be pleased if this provided a jumping off point for
people to discuss Mini-issues, as well."
PROJECT: BRAIN SUCK
Name (yours):
Department: (One per file, please. Do this again [and again and again] for
each department worked upon):
Term: Years or Minicons you did this:
RESOURCES MODULE
I. Stuff: Stuff you need to run your department
- Owned Equipment (list and location):
- Rented Equipment (list and cost):
- Borrowed Equipment (list, and from whom):
- Supplies (things which get used up, list and cost):
- Services (from whom and how much):
II. Volunteers: Whom do you need?
Body Count: Please complete matrix below:
Position | # of bodies | By when should they | Training needed
| | be recruited? |
_________________________________________________________________
| | |
Job Descriptions: Please include description of the job for each position
listed above, the time frame in which the job exists, and some idea of how
much time it will take from your poor volunteer's real life. Please list
skilled positions, critical positions, and cannon fodder. If you need gophers,
be sure to say so. If you need a rocket scientist, be sure to say so. Red
shirts to be supplied by department heads.
III. Documentation Available: What information currently exists that you
need to use? Examples would be art show rules, ops manual, pubs requirements,
the OTML, the art show list, the comp policy, etc. Where is this
documentation?
IV. Hotel Resources: What do you need in terms of hotel rooms, tables, phones,
and other equipment/space that belong to the hotel?
V. Spock's Brain: Who knows lots about what you do who would be willing
to share? What do they want in return? How can we get a hold of them?
COMMUNICATION MODULE
I. Interdepartmental Feud (I mean, Fugue)
What do you need from the other departments? When? Please list both information
and supplies.
What do you need to give to the other departments? When? Please list both
information and supplies.
II. Politics. (I mean, Policies. I get those two confused.) Please list
all departmental policies you can recall. If you had a policy, but didn't
enforce it, either don't list it, or do list it and explain why it wasn't
enforced, your choice. But please don't list policies which you later
discarded as useless without telling me that's what you did.
III. Tradition: Tell me anything about your department which is not quite
at the level of policy, but which has been handed down to you by the ancients,
and which you wish to pass on to generations unborn.
LEARNING BEHAVIOUR MODULE
I. Cool ideas that didn't work, and other noteworthy mistakes.
II. Serendipity: Things that shouldn't have worked but did.
PHILOSOPHY 101
If you had a philosophy or mission statement which you would like to
articulate,
please do. This is entirely optional, but I'll give extra points to clarity,
concision, and/or humor. Please don't bother with the obvious and banal.
If your mission was to "Make this the best Minicon within your
power",
I don't want to know. If, however, your mission was not to work towards
a good Minicon, I'd love to know.
SPACE AND TIME MODULE
Timeline: For each of the following tombstones (I mean, Milestones), please
indicate the policies that should have been decided by that point, the work
that should be accomplished by that point, the positions that should be
filled, the equipment that should be acquired, and anything else about that
milestone which some poor sucker following in your footsteps should know.
Please don't fill in all the blanks.
MILESTONES:
- Organizational Meeting, May.
- PR 1, July or so.
- PR 2, Say, December
- Pre-Reg deadline, say February
- Minicon - 90 days and counting
- Minicon - 76 days and counting
- Minicon - 60 days and counting
- Minicon - 45 days and counting
- Minicon - 30 days and counting
- Minicon - 20 days and counting
- Minicon - 10 days and counting
- Minicon - 9
- Minicon - 8
- Minicon - 7
- Minicon - 6
- Minicon - 5
- Monday before Minicon
- Tuesday before Minicon
- Wednesday party
- Pre-con party
- Minicon
- Post-Minicon
REQUIREMENTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR EACH MILESTONE:
- Policies that must be set:
- Positions which must be filled:
- Acquisitions which must have happened:
- Contracts or commitments to 3rd parties (like hotel, printing, or
GoH which must be finalized):
- Work which must be completed:
For further information on the "Brain Suck"/Big Book of Minicon
project, contact Lydia Nickerson at lydy@terrabit.mn.org,
nicke001@tc.umn.org, or lydy@demesne.com
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