Prolly the last GM email for 2008:

Another Gen Con Indy has come and gone and I want to thank you for helping to make a success. Overall, it seemed like things operated more smoothly than ever before, due in no small part to much more communication with GMs much earlier in the year so we had time to try to sort out issues well before the show. There are a few loose ends we still need to wrap up, however.

 

    Event Tickets 

 

First of all, if you still have any event tickets, please send them back to me immediately. I need to received all event tickets by September 17^th (no exceptions – the deadline used to be 2 weeks but I extended it to a month so we could have a hard deadline). No ticket payment will issued for tickets received after that date. You can mail event tickets to me at:

Derek Guder

Gen Con LLC

120 Lakeside Avenue, Suite #100

Seattle, WA 98122

 

Even if you aren’t expecting payment, please make sure to send me your tickets so that I have an accurate attendance record. Lots of people have already started contacting me wanting more space for next year and the space crunch looks like it will only get worse. If space conflicts develop, space will be assigned based on tickets actually turned in for 2008.

 

Please make sure that your envelopes are properly labeled. The correct (and complete) game ID and correct ticket counts must be legibly printed on each envelope, and each envelope should contain only a single event.

 

    Time Sheets for Badge & Hotel Reimbursement 

 

Similarly, all time sheets and reimbursement requests must be received by September 17^th. Anything received after that date will not be processed. Time sheets can be mailed to me at:

Derek Guder

Gen Con LLC

120 Lakeside Avenue, Suite #100

Seattle, WA 98122

 

Your time sheet must be completely filled out and your account number must be legibly and correctly listed on your form, or I cannot process it.

 

If you are requesting hotel reimbursement, you must provide a copy of your hotel bill with your name printed on it by your hotel. Hotel reimbursements will not be issued without a bill.

 

If you do not need reimbursement for anything, you do not need to worry about filling out a time sheet. They are only required for badge and hotel reimbursement requests.

 

All reimbursements must be resolved by December. If you have any questions about your time sheet or have not received your reimbursement by then, please contact before then so we can take care of it before the holidays. Anything outstanding in 2009 will not be processed.

 

    Feedback & Suggestions 

 

This is the time of the year where we count tickets and wrap up paperwork and process reimbursements, but it’s also the time that we consider what went well this year, what went poorly and what we can do differently next time around.

 

If you have any comments, concerns, suggestions or feedback, please let me know.

 

Please be honest and direct, feel free to let me know about any concerns you have – just keep in mind that we can’t always change everything or make everyone happy. I am most interested in suggestions relating to events, but I will pass along any comments to the appropriate department here in the office.

   

Thanks again for making 2008 such a great year!

Holy cow...I didn't realize that if we weren't looking for badge reimbursement that the tickets still needed to be turned in.  I have a boatload of them at home that I didn't really bother organizing, because I wasn't going to bother with the whole badge reimbursement process this year.  Does it matter if they aren't in event envelopes or anything Derek, because I'm sure I can find most of them, just no envelopes to go with them.

Tickets must always be collected and turned in for your events, no matter what you're expecting after the show - that's our only reliable attendance record. That's why I've been harping on it so much this year.

I don't care if they're in Gen Con envelopes, but your tickets must be separated out on a per-event basis and must be clearly labeled. I need to know what tickets go with what event (so make sure that the game ID is clear for each ticket bundle).

And I need to received those tickets by September 17th or your event will be listed as "0".

I'll get those out to you this week for sure Derek.  Thanks

Great - make sure to get 'em out to me ASAP. I must receive all materials by September 17th.

That's going to be a hard deadline this year - I extended it a couple weeks from where we put it in the past so that I could be a bit more final with it. All of your post-show material must be in my grubby little hands by next Wednesday or you better have a damn good excuse.

Well I'm going to have to bite at least a partial bullet on this one Derek.  I went through the stuff I hadn't went through and tossed or gotten rid of since the Con, and while I have the event tickets from our Miniature events I do not have the tickets from the two slots of our RPG that I ran, so unfortunately for me, I'm going to have to take the big goose egg for those two events.  Next time I'll know better though.  I still will get the rest of the tickets out to your tomorrow so you'll have them in your "grubby little hands" by the 17th.  My apologies for not getting everything to you though.

Yeah, that's unfortunate. Those events will show up as not having any tickets turned in so if push comes to shove, attendance will be marked as 0.

Hotel and badges for your group won't be affected (since those are all based off of submitted event details, not actual attendance) but any ticket payments you may have been expecting certainly will and if I get even more tightly constrained on space next year I'll be looking at ticket counts for proof on actual attendance when people ask for a lot of space.

I will also be doing analysis to look at submitted player limits and requested space vs. actual ticketed attendance to see how well people are using the space they're asking for.

That might sound a bit harsh, but I'm trying to make it clear to people that we need those tickets. That's the only reliable data we have about who actually shows up to what events so you need to turn 'em in, even if you aren't expecting to get any payment based on them.

I strongly encourage everyone to just get in the habit of collecting tickets before they start each game, sticking them in the Gen Con envelope and quickly filling it out. Then just drop that off at GM HQ the next time you walk by on your way to the exhibit hall. Don't want until Sunday, don't try to sort all your tickets all at once, do each event as it happens and it's fast and simple.

Lesson learned for sure Derek.  I have to take the blame for this one.  Rob did get all his stuff turned in, but since I was event organizer for all our Judges, I ended up trying to keep track of their stuff as well as mine and it got me strung out thinner than I would have thought.  No excuse though, I'll just remember to do it correctly next time regardless of reimbursement.