2016 Official Artists Alley Feedback Thread:

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Tuberat
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2016 Official Artists Alley Feedback Thread:

Post by Tuberat »

All in all, I heard it was a very good convention for most, if not all of you. YAY!!!! That makes me happy.
We did hit a few snags.

Of course, the BIG problem this year, the most consistent problem and complaint we had, was access to the Hynes.



I have no frickin' clue what the heck happened. It was inconsistent from hour to hour and contradicted many things I was told and what artists were told as they went through.

My sincerest apologies to anyone and everyone that was inconvenienced this weekend. This, from what I'm hearing, is probably going to be a hot topic for more than just our department. What can be done about it? I don’t know. I'm not in the higher up. For all I know, our hands could be tied. But it will be addressed. Whatever we can do, I'm sure will be done.

WATER STATIONS:
There was confusion about the water stations. I thought we'd get them like last year. Then told on site, no. Then later that same day they appeared. I wasn't going to argue it, but I WILL be bringing up the situation with my Department Head to find out if we can get that squared away to be set up EVERY year.

MAP: a few of you directly affected may have noticed that two sections of the map were deviated slightly from. It's the same as last year but I failed to correct the map. I've taken note this year of which tables they were so that I can accurately fix the map.

REGISTRATION: for some reason, there were a few of you who didn't get the Artists Alley status on their badges instead of Attendee. I understand why and how this happened for most of you. Some of it has to do with how we interfaced with registration this year – which will be something to bring up - and some of it has to do with HOW LATE folks gave me names. What I don't understand is how at least one artist who was the person who actually signed up and paid for a table managed not to get theirs changed.

Communications:
I am very grateful that you folks are trying to keep me updated on your status, Badge additions, possible Fraud in the alley, but I promise, if its time sensitive and we are all at the con…just come to the front desk. Once con opens, my internet connection drops and I have NO ACCESS to the email. There's just too much traffic

In fact, once on site (which for me, means Thursday early afternoon), unless I'm IN Hall C with the laptop, the likelihood that I'll get ANY email becomes slim to none. So overnight emails will be missed since I have no access to them in the hotel. And since I lose net when attendees come in, that means that I get a 2 hour period in the morning to catch up on issues via email, and one hour at night.

Getting a communication Thursday night or Friday morning about adding an artist to your table is pretty useless because I won't get it in time to pre make your badge, and its already too late to get their badge status changed at registration.

Traveling:
This isn't a con issue, but more of a shout out. I was SO SO GLAD to see that all the Canadian Artists didn't miss out on their tables due to weather canceling your planes. That could have been major for you and obviously outside of our control, but you don't understand the breath of relief I got from seeing you all managing to arrive! I hope the missed day didn't hurt you. Thanks for the updates - even when it took me a while to get them, that was the only way you could communicate with me and I did eventually get them.

Announcements:
I feel like announcements went very well. There were no silly messages just for silly, but was integrated into the real messages. Most of which seemed to be heard. I think our announcer was at times no quite loud enough. All I heard was a mumble, and I was right next to him, though that could be just the fact that I have a hard time 'separating sounds'. Opinions?

Noise on the Air Wall:
I didn't hear any complaints this year, so I can only conclude that this means it was a manageable level this year. *crossing fingers*

Stickers
STICKERS ARE NOT ALLOWED. I found at least two artists who had them. They were great about taking them down once i pointed it out, but they were both under the impression that it was allowed because they couldn't find anything in the FAQ about it.

That would be section 17, on the RED "Not Allowed Side" with the first notation paragraph underneath the list, ALSO in red. NO STICKERS of any kind. Not even ordering of stickers. Thanks again to the artists who complied. we just ask that a more careful look through the FAQ is done pre con. if you can't find something, just email us.

Check in
The majority of you knew exactly what you needed to do – so thank you.

By Saturday morning though, 3 tables had NOT been checked in, but were very obviously set up. Remember that getting your badge in registration is NOT the same as checking in. If we hadn't been diligent and checked on those tables, we could have counted them as abandoned by the 10am deadline on Saturday and sold them. By the rules, that would mean YOU would vacate.

So pleeeease…check in information was IN THE FAQ under section 13. Or read your emails as it was in the final instructions I sent out just 7 days ago. (I have this handy copy you all responded to, and it was section 2 of the email, while not numbered, it was boldly headed as "Check in")

Giving up your table:
IF YOU ARE LUCKY enough to sell out of your stuff and want to let another artist use your table: That's awesome! I wish *I* could do that! (I'm sure we all do! ) :D But – as this has happened at more than one of our cons – YOU NEED TO LET US KNOW.

We found the table in question being used by an artist who had not purchased the table. They were lucky enough to find the original artist who gave us confirmation after the fact and we allowed them to stay there. We have had problems with squatters in the past so it's less hassle to everyone if you just let us know before you leave. IF we can't find you and confirm, then the person you told could use the table WILL be told to leave.

At Con tables
We used a ticket system this year and it seems to have worked out pretty well. Some of you took a great risk in getting here from far away and before you were registered and you still got in. I'm glad to hear your trip wasn't wasted. But it does look like we're keeping the ticket system. It kept things orderly, it kept people from trampling other artists (though hopefully none of you would have done that anyway, but we learned last year that some artists will apparently do so.)it just overall seemed to work out better.

And now for the important stuff:
Shout outs to everyone who donated items to charity and those of you who donated to the Great Donut Runs. It's very appreciated. :D

Other
I feel like I'm already missing something. I'm typing this up as I sit in Hall C while I have internet, watching everything get loaded out. I'm trying to get a head start on this so that you folks don't have to wait till I get back home Monday afternoon (where I will be so exhausted, I'll probably crash into the bed with barely a hello to my daughter.)

Once again, thanks for listening to instructions, for being patient with us and I hope everyone had as wonderful time as I was hearing most of you had.

MY APOLOGIES IF I MISSED ANYTHING. I'll add a new post or something if I think of anything. If one of you mentions it first, I won't make it a separate thing, I'll just respond.

I DO REQUEST that all feedback be posted here please! I may miss it in other forums such as the facebook page AANI - thanks! :D
Nikki O'Shea Bean
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Artists Alley Manager 2008-2017
Artists Alley Co-Manager 2005-07
Attendee 2004
Artists Alley Accidental Volunteer 2003
Shattered-Earth
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Re: 2016 Official Artists Alley Feedback Thread:

Post by Shattered-Earth »

I've been so busy I hadn't had time to post though i read this the night it was posted XD

I think i didn't rush to post anything because this year was as close to perfect as most cans will get ever so there was nothing super pressing! And you already covered a lot of the stuff like the mystery water stations. The security we encountered (from boylston i think across from the trader joes) was good, it was actually the AB staff on one day that was confused, the police/security all knew about the artist alley exemption so that was great :) Check in for badges and AA badges was quick and painless as it is every single year.

Thank you guys as always for announcing the photo policy, every year it's the con where i have to chastise the least amount of attendees (can't control them all lol) as well as time reminders for when the hall is about to open and when it's about to close etc.

Lastly this was a record breaking con, how does it get better every year??? IDK but AB is always a shining example of a well run alley that also attracts a great crowd. I'll always hope to return for as long as i do cons! Thanks so much to you and all the staff for doing SUCH a great job!
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pulsedemon
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Re: 2016 Official Artists Alley Feedback Thread:

Post by pulsedemon »

Tuberat wrote:WATER STATIONS:
There was confusion about the water stations. I thought we'd get them like last year. Then told on site, no. Then later that same day they appeared. I wasn't going to argue it, but I WILL be bringing up the situation with my Department Head to find out if we can get that squared away to be set up EVERY year.
Yeah, there was a bunch of confusion on this. I know I talked to our Hynes rep at one point specifically about this during the weekend and water showed up later. I can't say for sure if my conversation did it or any of the other separate conversations that were distributed around did it. We'll have to make a note to get it on our list to get solidified earlier.

For what it's worth, though, there's water service in all meeting rooms, so it would just take crossing the hall to fill a container, worst case.
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