Message-ID: <1001@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 7-Mar-85 10:53:53 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.1001
Posted: Thu Mar  7 10:53:53 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Mar-85 11:29:23 EST
Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: DEC Engineering Network
Lines: 39

One solution to a high at-the-door price is to pre-register... cons really
like you to pre-register so that they have a good idea of what sort of problem
(i.e. crowd control) they have facing them.

Many cons have dropped one-day registrations.  Given that cons are run by
volunteer labor, usually by non-profit groups (those that don't have club-
houses don't have such big expenses to cover...), and that one-day registrations
are considerable trouble (all badge-checkers have to recognize multiple
classes of badges, not to mention the record keeping), it seems perfectly
reasonable to me to drop them.  What bothers me about the story is the
statement that they claimed to have them, but they cost the same as a full
registration; that seems like a deliberate insult to those wanting them.

Relations with the hotel were an interesting tangle.  On the one hand, for
the first time I can remember Boskone managed to get the hotel to extend
checkout time for con members.  It's about time, this is one of the things
that makes the biggest difference to me at a con.  I'm often not up by
the usual checkout times....  On the other hand, hotel security was rude
and surly, the bellhops were rude and surly, and the restaurant managers
were rude and surly.  On balance, I'd rate it "mediocre", composed of equal
parts "good" and "bad".  It might have been better to have a lower
standard deviation....

Film program -- personally I approve of their reputed policy of de-emphasizing
the film program.  I do not attend films at SF-conventions; I view them as
social functions.  If there's nothing better to do than sit in the dark
watching flashing lights on a screen, I rank it as a complete failure.
Many people that I like, and like to see at conventions, like to watch
films, at conventions and elsewhere.  However, MOST of the class of people
I DON'T like to see at conventions seem to find the films the main attraction.
(I doubt most of them can read...).  On balance, therefore, while regretting
the loss to people who like films AND books, I find conventions better if
they reduce the film program to the more esoteric and unusual items.

{If you consider the above a flame, you have a socialization problem.  THIS
is a flame; the difference should be obvious.}

		-- David Dyer-Bennet
		-- ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-mrvax!ddb