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Worldcon day 0 and 1
Jul. 29th, 2020 08:10 amI don't know if I'll be able to blog every day, but Gen Con doesn't start until tomorrow, so I have nothing better to do this morning.
Worldcon kind of started for me Monday night (Pacific time, that is-- Tuesday afternoon NZ time) when I stopped by the main con Discord to say hi to people and hang out by the info desk and staff lounge for a bit.
Actually, things started ramping up over the weekend, making sure I could get into all the various tools being used by con staff:
I'd committed to signing up for a couple info desk shifts, but people signed up so quickly that I wound up with only one. On the other hand, that meant I was free for random other pick-up tasks, like when someone asked for some test subjects for a Hugo tech rehearsal.
I kicked off the trip to virtual New Zealand by having a lamb pie for lunch. Then I went to the first official event, the opening reception for the dealers with virtual coffee and doughnuts. Actually I had a real doughnut, having picked up a box of them on last week's grocery run, with a vague thought that maybe I could simulate the experience of going to con parties a bit.
Right after that was my one info desk shift. The main questions were (1) how do I get to the dealers' room, (2) when does it open, and (3) how do I access the opening ceremonies. Things were quiet enough that I was able to watch the opening ceremonies.
Then I had an hour to eat dinner (the SO had gone out and gotten KFC), put on a nice blouse, settle in and do my final pre-panel panicking for "Accessible Magic". All three panelists left on the schedule did turn up, the room was open on time, and... I think it actually went okay. Useful information was shared, interesting questions were asked, the audience seemed appreciative, and as far as I know, no one was hate-tweeting it in an attempt to blow up Twitter (one of the scenarios I have spent way too much energy imagining the last few days).
After that I felt like I could truly relax. I watched most of "Running Conventions: A Worldwide Perspective" while lounging on the couch and eating a slice of chocolate hazelnut bourbon pie, then puttered around and did evening chores.
To finish the day, I was on "The World of Independent Board Games", and here is where I finally came face-to-face with technical difficulties. The room did not open at the appointed time, and I never did find out why, but it was a simple matter to pop into the #programme-ops channel and alert them. The panel got underway about 10 minutes late with a couple last-minute personnel changes, but a good time was had by all.
At one point, I read out my list of boardgame platforms from Origins Online, adding Sovranti, and someone in the audience promptly mentioned yet another one in the webinar chat: Yucata.
I got to recommend a few games I love, but I was left with a feeling like the games I was recommending weren't indie enough.
Worldcon kind of started for me Monday night (Pacific time, that is-- Tuesday afternoon NZ time) when I stopped by the main con Discord to say hi to people and hang out by the info desk and staff lounge for a bit.
Actually, things started ramping up over the weekend, making sure I could get into all the various tools being used by con staff:
- Gmail
- the "Crew for CoNZealand" site, built on BuddyBoss, providing the equivalent of an organizational intranet
- When I Work, used to let staff members sign up for shifts
- A staff-specific Discord server
- Staff channels on the main Discord server
I'd committed to signing up for a couple info desk shifts, but people signed up so quickly that I wound up with only one. On the other hand, that meant I was free for random other pick-up tasks, like when someone asked for some test subjects for a Hugo tech rehearsal.
I kicked off the trip to virtual New Zealand by having a lamb pie for lunch. Then I went to the first official event, the opening reception for the dealers with virtual coffee and doughnuts. Actually I had a real doughnut, having picked up a box of them on last week's grocery run, with a vague thought that maybe I could simulate the experience of going to con parties a bit.
Right after that was my one info desk shift. The main questions were (1) how do I get to the dealers' room, (2) when does it open, and (3) how do I access the opening ceremonies. Things were quiet enough that I was able to watch the opening ceremonies.
Then I had an hour to eat dinner (the SO had gone out and gotten KFC), put on a nice blouse, settle in and do my final pre-panel panicking for "Accessible Magic". All three panelists left on the schedule did turn up, the room was open on time, and... I think it actually went okay. Useful information was shared, interesting questions were asked, the audience seemed appreciative, and as far as I know, no one was hate-tweeting it in an attempt to blow up Twitter (one of the scenarios I have spent way too much energy imagining the last few days).
After that I felt like I could truly relax. I watched most of "Running Conventions: A Worldwide Perspective" while lounging on the couch and eating a slice of chocolate hazelnut bourbon pie, then puttered around and did evening chores.
To finish the day, I was on "The World of Independent Board Games", and here is where I finally came face-to-face with technical difficulties. The room did not open at the appointed time, and I never did find out why, but it was a simple matter to pop into the #programme-ops channel and alert them. The panel got underway about 10 minutes late with a couple last-minute personnel changes, but a good time was had by all.
At one point, I read out my list of boardgame platforms from Origins Online, adding Sovranti, and someone in the audience promptly mentioned yet another one in the webinar chat: Yucata.
I got to recommend a few games I love, but I was left with a feeling like the games I was recommending weren't indie enough.
