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AmazingCon happened
Jun. 22nd, 2020 06:38 pmThere's not much point in recapping AmazingCon in detail since most of the panels and readings were recorded and will be posted online at some point after we all return our filled-out releases. In general, it worked, people seemed to have fun, the panel I was on went fine, much was learned about the small details of running an online con. Final attendance was 263, pretty good for a first-time convention organized on the spur of the moment. AmazingCon II is tentatively scheduled for mid-March of next year.
The one piece of advice I have for other cons is to decide on a specific policy about how meetings rooms will be passed from program item to program item. Does the moderator of each item act as host and do they need to stick around for the next moderator? Do you have a separate room host on duty the whole time for a series of items? Does the meeting room get shut down in the break between items and restarted by someone at the beginning of the next one? Whatever you decide on, write it down and make sure it is clearly communicated to all panelists and presenters, ideally in its own separate e-mail.
You begin to see there how online conventions can still require a significant staff. Some of the things that you need staff for go away with the move to the virtual world, but needing a dedicated person to, essentially, hold the door open in each panel room can start adding up.
I have some work to do on the personal tech front. As my panel was in the Shelley Room, I found myself a background image full of seashells, and some nice space-y ones to pick from once I'd made the joke. But at the last moment, I discovered that my laptop was just below Zoom's requirements for doing a virtual background without chromakey. I can find individual backdrops online, but I need to figure out what sort of frame I need to hold one up.
I may also need to get a wifi repeater, as my connection got a bit dodgy a couple times during the panel. Unfortunately the spot I'd picked to broadcast from is just about the furthest point in the house from the router. It's never been a big deal just doing voice for online games, but video apparently strains it.
Well, either that or I just need a computer with more power to broadcast from.
Having the separate webcam worked well, though. Keeping it well away from the screen reduced the urge to look somewhere other than the camera.
AmazingCon was also, weirdly, the first time I put on my nice office clothes since my company sent everyone home. I think it was motivated by appearing as a representative of Amazing Stories, rather than just a random fan as I normally do. And I kind of missed having an excuse to wear them.
The one piece of advice I have for other cons is to decide on a specific policy about how meetings rooms will be passed from program item to program item. Does the moderator of each item act as host and do they need to stick around for the next moderator? Do you have a separate room host on duty the whole time for a series of items? Does the meeting room get shut down in the break between items and restarted by someone at the beginning of the next one? Whatever you decide on, write it down and make sure it is clearly communicated to all panelists and presenters, ideally in its own separate e-mail.
You begin to see there how online conventions can still require a significant staff. Some of the things that you need staff for go away with the move to the virtual world, but needing a dedicated person to, essentially, hold the door open in each panel room can start adding up.
I have some work to do on the personal tech front. As my panel was in the Shelley Room, I found myself a background image full of seashells, and some nice space-y ones to pick from once I'd made the joke. But at the last moment, I discovered that my laptop was just below Zoom's requirements for doing a virtual background without chromakey. I can find individual backdrops online, but I need to figure out what sort of frame I need to hold one up.
I may also need to get a wifi repeater, as my connection got a bit dodgy a couple times during the panel. Unfortunately the spot I'd picked to broadcast from is just about the furthest point in the house from the router. It's never been a big deal just doing voice for online games, but video apparently strains it.
Well, either that or I just need a computer with more power to broadcast from.
Having the separate webcam worked well, though. Keeping it well away from the screen reduced the urge to look somewhere other than the camera.
AmazingCon was also, weirdly, the first time I put on my nice office clothes since my company sent everyone home. I think it was motivated by appearing as a representative of Amazing Stories, rather than just a random fan as I normally do. And I kind of missed having an excuse to wear them.
