Convention Fans:
Has The Steampunk World's Fair Made an Unwise Decision Not to Cap Attendance?
Organizers for The Steampunk World's Fair have made a posting in their online LiveJournal community, and even posted an official note on their website front page, stating that there will not be an attendance cap for their upcoming convention. This decision was apparently born from potential attendees concern about not being able to get in. The organizers have said: "People have asked us overwhelmingly not to cap our attendance; too many folks really want to go, and haven't been able to get tickets yet. We heard, and we listened. [...] And yes, while we do have part of the ballroom in a our hotel, and we're working on a few other ideas... we're still a GIANT hunk of Steampunk in a moderate-sized home."
The convention has made moves to accommodate the expected increase in attendees by adding some outdoor events. They have also increased the price of day-of ticket sales. But even with those changes, organizers are warning that "that it will be a bit crowded, and our staff is overwhelmed."
I am one such attendee very much looking forward to this convention, but the organizers' decision not to cap attendance has me concerned. I've been attending cons for over a decade now, and one of the easiest ways to screw up what should be a fun experience is to pack a hotel to the brim with people.
Why? Because it can negatively affect every single aspect of the convention.
It all starts with parking, accommodations, and registration. If the hotel isn't large enough for the crowd, you may run out of room for cars. You'll certainly run out of rooms at the hosting hotel, forcing people to go elsewhere, and thus resulting in even more cars in the parking lot. It also means that pre-registration pick up and day-of sales can become nightmarish. A con will have to dedicate so many staffers to processing people and getting them inside, that they won't be able to be in other crucial areas of the con. It also means that people will be waiting around in long queue lines, potentially spending a good portion of the day in line and not inside the con. This has a way of making people very unhappy. Where will the convention put these lines? Outside? What if it rains? Can the inside of the hotel really accommodate the people outside of it does?
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I apologize if your read of the piece was that I said you're packing people in "willy nilly." I did acknowledge that the con was already taking steps to deal with the crowds:
"The convention has made moves to accommodate the expected increase in attendees by adding some outdoor events."
I acknowledged that the con has warned people in advance:
"Organizers are warning that 'that it will be a bit crowded, and our staff is overwhelmed.'
So clearly I'm not suggesting that the con is doing this "thought or planning, and without making any plans to accommodate the attendees."
But at the same time, when your own staff admits they are overwhelmed, how can attendees be anything but a bit concerned about the situation? I hope you can see that this piece is about concerns, not accusations, because we're looking forward to attendees.
As for not mentioning the Embassy Suites, that was not part of either of the two recent messages I saw. The only mention was of the addition of outdoor space.
Again, I'm sorry of you consider this piece accusatory somehow, but it isn't intended to be and I just don't think it is. I still stand by my suggestion, based on my experiences with cons of all sizes for more than a decade, that an attendance cap would be wise, even if it means it is just higher than before thanks to the addition of the extra hotel and parking lots.
Good luck to the con organizers and staff.
We didn't simply decide that we weren't going to cap attendance; we decided that we weren't going to cap attendance, and then booked space in a second hotel across the parking lot, and added several outdoor events, as well as investing in tents, generators, and some degree of outdoor lighting, so that we'd be able to have events outside even if it rained. Perhaps you meant the idea of going outside as a joke, but we're not joking about it, and we've invested thousands of dollars into making it feasible. We've always said we were a festival, and we are; I've been to plenty of festivals where there wasn't even partial coverage for rain. We, at least, have invested the time, money, and permits in getting some degree of tented and covered area.
We have the parking lots of two hotels available, and permission to use the corporate parking next door--which is literally separated from the Radisson's parking only by a think strip of grass, perhaps eight feet wide.
I'm curious why your article doesn't mention any of these points; our booking of the Embassy Suites, for example, happened quite some time back. I quite understand your concerns, and I assure you, I, too, worry about these things. But your article, in my eyes, really seems to suggest that we're simply packing people into the hotel willy-nilly, without thought or planning, and without making any plans to accommodate the attendees. I really must assert in the strongest of terms that this is not the case.
Jeff Mach
Producer & Partner,
The Steampunk World's Fair
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