Reply To: JCCC4: Post Mortem (Feedback Thread)
Re: the Helper Monkey numbers/busy-ness factor.
Some of this, I’m sure, was due to this being the first year of the expanded Helper Monkey program, with the attendant organizational “we think we’ve got all the bases cove… oh, hells, we forgot about that!” aspects that entails. Thera (who was in charge of that part of the puzzle) still knocked it out of the park (and often the solution was more Monkeys – one of the roles of the Silverback cadre is “utility infielder” – and someone would always step in without hesitation where needed. And sometimes, that was one of the shift Helpers, for which we’re all eternally grateful), and I know we’ve already got notes on continuous improvements for next year.
That is, after all, how life works. 🙂
One of the things I hope to do from my end is come up with a “Door Helper Quick Reference Guide” with Donovan so that the Door Helpers have something they can actually read and not just rely on me remembering to talk about it at the initial gathering, for instance. I don’t think eliminating the shifts on the doors is the right answer, but certainly making clear that we’re either talking about sets or talking about times instead of that being somewhat muddled will help (my personal preference is for sets, as that minimizes disruptions from folks getting up/coming back in, but we’ll be discussing it further. The near-total absence of intermissions this year didn’t help).
In any event, none of it would have worked if not for all the generous folks who sacrificed part of a show or some sleep to help make the whole thing run as well as it did (and it did run well, all in all).