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Welcome to ConRunner, a Why and How-To reference for Convention organizers.
ConRunner was started in July 2005, and we are currently working on 337 articles. You are invited to join us, and to help make them better.
ContentsSPECIAL NOTICE - FireEvacStatusThis page is for emergency status of people in the Fan community. Please put the name, status, DATE AND TIME of the person involved. Emergency and urgent messages only, please. If you need follow-up, include a way to contact whomever is involved. Thanks! Further discussion, upload photographs, etc. at the sdfans2007fires Yahoo! group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sdfans2007fires/). Who, What, Where, WhenChaz Boston Baden & Lynn Baden, not in danger, Anaheim, October 22 Thomas Benson, not evacuated, El Cajon not in danger Alex Boster, not in danger in downtown San Diego, October 22 James Briggs, Evacuated, from Ramona to Poway, 3:00pm October 21 James Briggs, Evacuated, from Poway to Clairmont, noon, October 22 James Briggs, October 23 - reports received property burned but house and garage okay. James Briggs, October 25 - have seen the house and garage in the dark, looks okay. Will return on 10/26 in daylight for further assessment of the burned areas. Sandra Childress, Evacuated, from Ramona to Poway, 3:00pm October 21 Sandra Childress, Evacuated, from Poway to Lakeside, 11:00am to Clairemont 9:00pm October 22 Sandra Childress, October 23 - reports received property burned but house and garage okay. Sandra Childress, October 25 - have seen the house and garage in the dark, looks okay. All the chinchillas that were left behind are alive. Will return on 10/26 in daylight for further assessment of the burned areas. Sue Dawe, Evacuated from Ramona, October 21 Sue Dawe, contacted - NOT evacuated but safe in Ramona, October 24 Darrel Exline, prepared to evacuate but still at home in Lemon Grove, October 23 Ray Feist, Evacuated to La Jolla, October 23, evac canceled and returned home October 23 Catherine (Hampton) Jefferson, not in danger East LA County, October 23 Stacey Helton, Evacuated from Poway to elsewhere in Poway, noon, October 22 Stacey Helton, returned home, noon, October 23 Jessica Hilt, not in danger in downtown San Diego, October 22 Allison Lonsdale, not in danger in central San Diego, October 23 Christian McGuire, fires w/i one mile of house, October 22 David Mills has evacuated to Solana Beach, October 22 Elayne Pelz, fires w/i one mile of house, October 22 Tim and Serena Powers, all okay, October 24 Gregg and Regina Reynante, travelling, Baltimore, October 22 house in no danger Gregg and Regina Reynante, safe at home in Santee, October 24 David Ross, evacuated from Palomar Mountain, October 23 or 24 Richard Rowell, Evacuated from Escondido, October 22 Richard Rowell, safe with friends in Tierrasanta, October 24 Atanielle Rowland, Evacuated from Ramona, October 21 Atanielle and Kevin Rowland, tried to evacuate on October 21 but forced back due to road closures. Stayed and fought several small fires on property. Still in home on October 24 Elisa Sheets has evacuated to Solana Beach, October 22 Pearl Stickler, Evacuated from Escondido, October 22 Pearl Stickler, safe with friends in Tierrasanta, October 24 Harry Turtledove, north of LA, nothing is close and nothing is headed their way, October 22 Michael Underwood, Evacuated from Ramona, October 21 Michael Underwood, contacted - NOT evacuated but safe in Ramona, October 24 |
Featured Article - FinanceFinance can cover any of the processes and procedures required to collect, store, distribute, or account for the convention's money. The convention needs income to buy things, and the money has to stay somewhere before it is used, usually a bank account. The process of making it clear the money was not wasted (or stolen), an audit, is supported by careful record-keeping and saving receipts. At a minimum, someone must be granted the authority to collect, store, and distribute the funds of the convention. Typically this person is called the Treasurer. Physical property and other assets must be accounted for as well. One or more persons should be designated to audit the bookkeeping from time to time and report back to the Executive Committee. A Budget should be created and approved, and then actual expenses should be tracked. |
DepartmentsThere is no One True Way to organize your committee into departments. Often times a convention will run for a few years one way, and then combine departments that share a lot of the same resources or purpose into a single department. Or a department may split, as the needs of the convention grow. Do what works for you, and recruit reliable department heads. Create, publish, and maintain a clear set of objectives and methods to document continuity of what works, what doesn't, and why. Check on the senior staff regularly to make sure they're getting whatever support they need from you and the rest of the committee, pre-con and at-con. Department heads then recruit what staff and at-con volunteers they need to accomplish the goals of the department. Have your department heads document the procedures of running their department, and train people under them so that you have a pool of people ready to be future department heads, and you are capturing knowledge from one year to the next. A common way to split a science fiction convention into departments is like so:
You can easily see how Volunteers might also go under Operations, Masquerade and Dance under Programming, etc. A small enough convention may not have a person dedicated to publicity separate from their publications head, or an information desk, or whatever. And of course, some conventions don't have Art Shows, or Charity Auctions, or whatever. Try to pick a structure that best supports what you do and how you want to do it. |
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