Open Complaint to Peter Adkison

[The Sigil]

Re: Re:

My two cents here...

From everything I've read, it seems like a classic example of "management-think":

Tell your employees exactly what they can do and tell them you expect your orders to be carried out.

This, of course, removes all responsibility from the employees. It also means they can't improvise should something go wrong.

In my experience, a good manager tells his employees the following:

Your goal is to do X (in this case, get people into the convention). You are NOT allowed to do Y (let people get in without paying). You have the authority to accomplish X by any means necessary, provided you don't do Y.

Corollary: Every employee should be given full authority to do X on his own and should not have to check with any other employee - in other words, a "ticket-taker" must be able to be totally autonomous and not have to get the approval of a manager for every little decision.

Now, when there is a problem like the one you have above, you have "empowered the employees" (Gads, I hate that phrase) to make decisions - you've told them, in essence, I don't care HOW you get them in as long as you make sure they've paid.

Then when the computers go down, one of the mentally quickest employees immediately decides to start writing down names, credit card numbers, expiration dates, and signatures on a ruled piece of paper in lieu of getting approval on all of the credit cards, secure in the knowledge that with a CC# and an expiration date, you can charge the card later, and that the signature on that piece of paper should allow you to fight any disputes.

Yes, it means that those who are trying to use debit cards get hosed, but perhaps you can "stamp their hand," send them to the nearest ATM machine, and set up an "express lane" for those with stamped hands to pay cash.

If you can't trust the temp with $4,000 cash in the till, you shouldn't have hired the temp in the first place. Seriously, most "generic" temps are told by their temp agencies not to handle cash... so you should only be getting those whom you can trust anyway.

Is handwritten documentation the best way to track monetary things? No. But people used it for centuries - and many businesses were still using it through the late 60's and 70's (before computers became ubiquitous) - so it's not THAT bad. If I can't trust people to keep handwritten records, I sure as heck don't trust them to use computers, which require MORE skill to use properly.

You have another one who realizes that he can handwrite names on badges and doesn't have to use the printer. Maybe he initials them so that anyone suspected of using a fake tag can be checked against his handwritten list.

The ones that aren't as quick notice what the guy next to them is doing, and can immediatly adapt.

Ultimately, though, it seems that the problem was that the employees were instructed on the PROCESS - and not instructed on the RESULTS expected and the necessary LIMITATIONS associated therewith. Instruct employees on the RESULTS expected and the LIMITATIONS they must adhere to, and let them find the "path of least resistance" to determine the PROCESS that will get them there. You might even find that their process works better than yours. :-b

--The Sigil

 

[Zogg]

You know, it's kinda funny. Getting into the Gen Con can be looked at in a RP sense.....

1. Those who pre-registered can be viewed as

a) nobility (ie., the press)

b) having a high INT

2. Those who did not pre-register had choices
a) leave after x hours passed (smart move)

b) attempt to use Intimidate or Diplomacy skills (most likely doomed to failure)

c) sneak in with stealth skills (I would have tried this - there are always lots of opportunities to do sneak into a large venue with lots of crowds)

d) Use their Forgery skills to duplicate a badge (smart move and easy to fool the buffoons working the joint)

e) Go medieval on their ignorant asses (I definitely would have had I been in the aforementioned situations. It's gratifying, but could cause legal trouble and doesn't actually get you into the place)

For those who chose to "Do the Right Thing" and wait in line, you do have my pity. I know I would have looked at this "puzzle" and found a solution to it other than waiting for 4 hours. Seriously, in this case study you got screwed royally. Don't let it happen to you again.

Edited to add: Is it just me, or is Peter Adkinson taunting us with his badge in this picture?:

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/july03/gencon2003/adkison/

 

[JoeGKushner]

Re: FWIW

From GamingReport.com:

"Peter Adkison, owner of Gen Con LLC, did attempt to satisfy both attendee and exhibitor alike when he walked the registration line giving away 1200 free entries to the show allowing people to skip the wait. Although an honorable gesture, this may have been done to late to satisfy many based on feedback from many we talked to."

And I'd agree that it was indeed too late.

The man didn't even walk up to the line once in five hours. Not once.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Yes, the four hour wait was inexusable. More inexcusable was the aforementioned "Customer Servitude" guy who shouted at us, every tirade punctuated by screaming "REMEMBER, WE WANT YOU ALL TO HAVE A GOOD TIME!!!!!!!!" Then he would send his minions to throw tchatchke at us...little foam demon head keyrings...I'll give that a moment to sink in before I point out how ironic and borderline sadistic this was.

Kinda makes you wonder...just where did he get these? Could it be......satan! (cue Church Lady music)

I was ready to join the likes of Jack Chick after this fiasco. Next year, they should offer Exhibit Hall only passes and sell them at the door to the hall.

I would second that. That's one of the only reasons I go to the Con, to see what's new. Get some interviews for Ogre Cave and other sites done.

Don't get me wrong, the miniature painting, auctions, art room and other stuff is good, but I want the hall.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Before the thread falls out due to the Con being over, I urge everyone to write to the Convention Owners and let the know the good and the bad, the things you'd like to see and the things that were just unacceptable.

This is 2003. There are new technologies and management stragetiges coming out all the time that can help maximize utility of the space we're using and still generate a profit.

It's often been said that just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done. True. It's also true that just because that's the way it's always been done doesn't mean that is the way it should always be done.

 

[blakwind]

The service that JoeGKushner and many other "on-sight" registrants received is inexcusable. Without taking anything away from Joe, or downplaying the tragedy of those lost hours in line with all the good stuff going on inside, I'd be remiss if I didn't share my own registration experience.

My flight got me into Indy around 10am on Thursday. After checking into my hotel, I arrived at the convention centre around 11:45, with my first game scheduled for 12:30. Timing was tight. My eyes took in the huge lines that wrapped around the mammoth building and I knew despair! Fortunately, I had preregistered, and with my convention badge in hand, I walked through the line and into the building. I still needed to pick up my pre-registered event tickets, so I was sure that I would miss my first event. However, I quickly located the "will call" booth, walked immediately up to an available attendant (there was no line), and picked up my tickets without any fuss. I had enough time left over before my event to slip into the dealers' room and have Monte autograph a copy of Arcana Unearthed.

JoeGKushner had a horrible experience, and I don't blame him for being angry. Peter and the GenCon staff should definitely apologize, make amends, and ensure that this never happens again. However, many others had a much better registration experience. If you weren't there in 2003, and you decide to boycott GenCon in 2004 because of this, you'll be missing out on something wonderful.

 

[Glyfair]

IThere are plenty of tales of not setting up booths because only carpenters could put up the frames, but not the signs, and only electricians could change the light bulbs. And DON'T YOU DARE DO IT YOURSELF.

I was working Wizard World East for WizKids this year at the PA Convention center. The day after it was over there was a story in the Inquirer (IIRC) about how the Carpenter's union had just won a concession from the Convention center that no one besides a paid member of the Carpenter's Union may make use of a screwdriver on the convention floor.

 

[Henry]

I pre-reg'ed myself, having received my badge in the mail, and waited literally 5 minutes for my tickets. While I agree that the wait for on-sites is terrible and needs fixing, I did not see:

a) The End of Gencon (As was said, all attendance records were broken in two days)

b) Vendors demanding compensation (most vendors were insanely busy that I saw JUST from the people who did get in).

 

[Dr. Confoundo]

For a contrast: I got into line for my badge at the San Diego Comi Con Wednesday July 16th. at about 5:10 pm. By 5:35 I had my badge and was prowling the exhibit hall.

The Wednesday evening line when I arrived (finally) at the end was three fourths of the way around the building. But it only took 20 minutes to get to the head of the line. For those who were there to purchase a badge it was, maybe, another 30 minutes to make the transaction.

For contrast to Mythusmage's contrast, I arrived at the San Diego Comic Con at 9:30 on Saturday Morning. We had to stand in a very slow moving line, in the sun, on an incredibly muggy San Diego day, for almost three hours. We too had annoying minimum-wage security personnel yelling stupid demands at us, so I feel for my GenCon line brothers and sisters.

Doc

 

[heimdall]

I can only shake my head in sadness. I used to be part of a conference team (infotech) and the first year we went to computer registration, we had a 1-2 hour wait the first day because of computer systems. We gave the guys who had brought in the system as much time as we could tolerate before we had to act. None of this 4-5 hours. That's insane. During the time they were troubleshooting their broke system, we as a conference staff were brainstorming how best to handle registration manually.

The next year we secured the registration ourselves, load tested it, tried to break it, had pre-registration the day before for those who flew in and had nothing else to do. That year and every year thereafter we were extremely apologetic if it took more than 15 minutes for a user to process.

And the conference chair and co-chair were among those standing in line every year checking personally on things. They were out front where they were supposed to be. You can't lead from the back. You can push, but that's not leadership.