Wai-Con Forum

This is more of a mental "note to future volunteers"

I wasn't actually rostered on for the "bouncer" job(door stopper, entry guard) whatever yu call it(the guys at the entrance that lets ppl in) but I was there for less then 10minutes talking to my friends while eating lunch on sunday and for the duration I was there I had to stop countless people from trying to enter without a pass. No joke I lost count of how many ppl I had to stop in those few minutes of being there and send them over to the front desk. Almost all of them were single(alone) middle aged to oldies aged men, some very crafty and devious ppl. Using the classic "follow someone else in" trick. The first guy I saw that did this walked in front of a guy with a ticket/lanyard and avoided eyecontact and camouflaged in to the crowd before I could get to him, it was kinda hard too there was about 5 ppl between me and him... god he disappeared amazingly fast... so unfortunately thats one person that got through without a lanyardthat I know of... there was a guy behind him that tried to do the same thing, I managed to get to him but had to give up on the other guy cause of it, he was kinda persistant but I got him to go to the front desk(he ended up just watching from outside, i told him it was free after 3 though so no idea if he stayed around for that...), another person was watching the sumo wrestling, got into conversation with some ppl nearby and walked behind them and tried to get in but when I asked him if he had a lanyard he asked if this was a free exhibition thingy... and then turned around and left...

for future volunteers who end up with sentry duty, be wary of middle aged to old aged men, I'm rather amazed at just how many ppl tried to get in without paying, and just how crafty and devious these guys are. I wasn't there for long and by far exceeded my expectations of the number of ppl that tried to get in for free... Future Volunteers as uncool of a job as it seems its actually quite entertainingand fun, I'd do it again if I volunteered next yr.

Theres got to be something with these old men, seeing kids cosplay or something fanceys them... kinda disturbing that...

next time they should give us a clicker for how many ppl we've thwarted entry without paying for entrance

Seriously? That ahppened? Woah i was gaurd duty at 10:00am and nothing like that happened ^^:; Well I hope nothing like that happened

Hmm.. actually it might be useful having a large stand (such as an anime figure cutout) next to the entrance with some instructions on it. Such as "Please present your pass", "Entrance here ¬_¬" or something like "Keep your pass on at all times" or "You must be this tall to ride ---->" etc etc. Just something to help improve visibility (especially if there are a lot of people milling near the entrance) of what is the entrance as opposed to registration. This won't help with the people who are trying to get in for free, but it'll help separate those who are confused, with those who just can't read even if they were being beaten on the head with a 5 ft plank.

Thanks- it's definitely something I've make a note of. Whether it's a stand, or a third person to keep an eye out for these thing and chase after offenders or a mixture of the two, hopefully it's something that will be fixed for the next convention.

we need real enterance guards in costume that get to keep their weapons on them.

i think that would work really well for an asthetic point
and also deter the people from sneaking in

I volunteered too at a slightly different place, and we DID confiscate a yaoi paddle, no beatings there

Deadalready and I thought a sign at the entrance stating 'Wai-con' or 'WA Anime Convention' might be an idea, we did have a few people coming up thinking it was something else.

Perhaps more guards for when the big crowds are coming in?

Well I thought things were a little disorganised in regards to setting up an packing up, still things got done in record time, I'm amazed as to how fast everything went away.

My problems were the lack of communication of changes or problems. When I did my shift in screenings I got very little information in regards as to what was happening and room/computer operation. It's a good thing I dragged the information out of my impatient friend who was in charge before me, I probably would've been royally screwed if I hadn't stopped him.

I tell you now I was very confused to find out that the episode that was listed for the time slot did not exist and I had to just substitute another anime. Would have been nice to know, Michael(?) was a cool guy though.

~

As for entrances I was one of the first people to be manning the gates as it were, the major problem lay in people getting allocated the wrong lanyards and tags or just as bad not being allocated one at all. I had to halt a good number of people from entering because I couldn't verify who they were. It doesn't sit well with me having poor people standing around the gates while someone runs off to find the guys who are responsible for knowing who they were. A walking talkie would have been very good for the front gate, that way we'd be able to contact the merchandise co ordinator or who ever easier.

The number of people who rocked up to say "Oh I'm helping Joe Bloggs setup" was curious, I let most of them through in the morning though it doesn't sit with me well at all.

Additionally as previously mentioned we really needed a sign saying that we were an anime convention, there were quite a few redirects to the DVD sale down the other half of the convention. Not to mention there needs to be a physical sign saying when we open to public, there were dozens of people rocking up from 8am - 10am that I sent away.

Hrm I'm gonna come across as pretty heavy handed when it comes to rules and regulations. *shrug* It's not fair that some people are lining up for long periods and paying up to $35 dollars to enter while some people are trying to cheat the good honest people.

~

I must say however that I thank everyone who did the right thing, I must say entrance guard was definitely the most appealing aspect of volunteer work, 95% of people had their tags and were a delite to serve.

Special thanks to Emily and Jeffu who are all round cool people and all the people I had the pleasure to work with. CCC was especially good to work with, I noticed one person get past that I couldn't catch. Other than that we were able to get a few dodgy people to pay for their registrations.

That happened to me on the Saturday -_-

Apparently someone had told the traders coordinator that all the traders lanyards had been handed out, and then I rocked up to set up my stall a little while before the gates opened, and had to stand around waiting for someone to track her down for me, since they thought I was bogus....nevermind the fact that I was carrying loads of stock and my empty table was right by the front entrance.

To the guy that took pity on me and let me in - Thankyou!



Here here!

Actually what we need as a sign is "If you have a tag DON'T LOOK SUSPICIOUS!" I swear I had to stop all these people cause they kept looking all twitchy.

Through I agree with above statements. Might be helpful saying entrance here, keep tag ot. If you don't have a tag we will shoot you (...Ok mayeb not that last part)

Yeah, there was this kid who came up to me on the sunday. He'd just wandered in... and was like, "whats all this?, what do you do? what's going on? whats anime?"...... need i say more?

But all round the volunteers did a great job and the con was good :c)

I love volunteers (that is why i am one in the conventions i can go to)

the entrances is a tricky thing, and yes people have many excuses of why they should be there, at Waicon 06 some girl arrived 2 hours and i had to show her how to get there as the buses hadn't started running and i was walking anyways. Before you know it we arrive and i tell her to wait out side, but what you know she thinks i was joking and wanders on it...... yeah sure you are 2 hours early and the con is already open...... red X there

anyway i found at a door i was manning at manifest is that if a bunch of people try to go for a door at once, announce before they arrive 1 at a time please and show your badges, then as they walk past make sure they file in 1 at a time and you point and acknowledge they have a badge, if they don't then you friendly remind them that they will have to purchase an entry, if they refuse then there is nothing you can do, if they walk in you can't stop them so just tell a committee member when you get the first available chance, generally most people who do the right thing are more than happy to show their id making it easy to identify the infiltrators!

how cheap can u get. i mean if i'm a sleazy old man who wanted to gawk on innocent cosplay girls, i would have paid for the entrance fees. but thats just me.

I think the walkie talkies would have been a fantastic idea! I think it would also give the entrance guards a bit more of a "business" feel. I mean, I don't mess with people with walkie talkies. You know they're gonna call for back up!

I had the 10am entrance guard shift on the Saturday and I did get quite a few people who had come to help run a stall but didn't have a traders pass. I sent them to the front desk, and I do apologize if they were delayed, but that line was massive!