Department Head: Pam Koretsky (dr.pamk@gmail.com)
This year we had 32 Dealers on Dealers Row with one cancellation just before the convention when it was too late to replace them. We have a couple of vendors who couldn't make it this year but have expressed interest in Arisia 08.
The Dealers Room, which was smaller than at the Park Plaza, had 29/30 tables divided among 16 vendors to of whom share tables. 30 tables includes Arisia Sales which was run by off World Design again.
All vendors reported that the hotel staff was very professional, pleasant and helpful with both move in and move out. Move in was especially easy for those arriving on Thursday, although several vendors mentioned that the hotel staff weren't expecting them and weren't sure what to do at first. apparently the hotel had alerted staff who would b on duty starting Friday morning. There was some difficult due to the size of the loading dock and vendors leaving vehicles that blocked access.
The Dealers Room was clearly visible from the elevators due to the glass walls, a clever display of T-shirts by Off Wold design which we had discussed before the convention, and a sign that Ben and Ann displayed. We also had Chanukah lights along the atrium wall-window. Next year I'd like to see more signage around the hotel announcing the Dealers room, and an advertisement in every Clear Ether. Also, we lost a party that had been planned for a suite around the corner from the Dealers Room, so that hurt traffic a bit. Over all I still saw a lot of people shopping. The problems with hotel elevators had a severe effect on the Dealers Room. There should be an elevator that picks people up in the lobby and lets them off at the Dealers Room as well as the Art show. People weren't using the stairwells much. On the up side, there were fewer kids shop lifting for kicks this year.
The kitchen end of the Dealers Room was rather dark and we should consider providing some additional lighting next year. Fuzzy Pal managed to get moved from their assigned space again this year. Complaining about neighbors and demanding that they be moved has become a habit over the past 3 or 4 years with this vendor in particular. As with last year this created sales difficulties for the vendor they displaced. The vendor they displaced came back this year specifically because they were assigned a very visible table since they could not get their usual two tables. Changes of this type also disturb carefully designed traffic/shopping flow through the room. I am leaning toward not inviting Fuzzy Pal back if they will not stay in their assigned space.
Dealers Row needed a party . There was not as much traffic late at night. I think this was in part due to lack of a party activity, and in addition the split hotel. There just didn't seem to be as many people wandering about, especially Saturday evening.
Lower convention attendance due to hotel size and population limits had a bigger effect on Dealers than perhaps was seen by other functions.
Door guards enjoyed collecting from and rewarding Duck finders. They also enjoyed re-hiding turned in ducks. There was some unplanned guard turnover which resulted in a brief interruption in instructions being passed on. A usual, the kids took that in stride and just used the delay to look for more ducks, "adults" got very uptight !
The Smutty Mermaid had a treasure hunt Saturday that was designed to bring participants throughout both Dealers Areas. (I won ! To see the announcement you can go to their web site ! )
Dave did night guard duty again and would be happy to do so again next year. Dave, Ed Trachtenberg, Peter Ferdinand, and a couple of other people have all offered to help me out with Dealers at Arisia 08 before and/or at the convention.
Badger and Peter did much of the guard duty during the day this year, but both ended up wanting to spend more time attending program events than they had anticipated. Security and "Volunteers" sent fill in people. (BTW: I heard complaints from several people who didn't like being called volunteers. they felt it suggested more responsibility, but no more benefit and was much too serious compared to "Gopher".
The only real complaints I heard from vendors were things I have no control over. Smaller hotel, smaller attendance. The exception was access to the Dealers Room which could be fixed with better elevator management. The stairs in this hotel are not very user friendly.
Pre-con Dealers was difficult this year. Folk were uptight about last year. Many were still upset about the effects of the snow storm the year before. We need to come up with a way to remind people that Arisia is put together by volunteers with full time day jobs and are not here to be abused. One step to this end would be to stop rewarding bad behavior. (Fuzzy Pal is a good example.) Deadlines need to be enforced. But Dealer responses aggressively pursued. People responded to warning letters and phone calls. Dealers should have a July/August deadline for returning vendors, and an end of September deadline for new vendors who are invited to respond.
We need a new sword vendor, and some new adult dress up vendors. I would like to try to get Good Vibes for Arisia 08. Grand opening was popular and did well several years ago.
Check out for Dealers was going well when I left on Sunday. Some Dealers did not take the polite request to please coordinate with others for loading dock time and space well. Most were polite and helpful. I'm open to ideas for how to make this go more smoothly next year.
Information letters and bulletins to Dealers need to have less and more easily read information. There was too much in the confirmation letter and people didn't read through it.
DEALERS NEEDS A MAIN PERON AND AN ACTIVE ASSISTANT WORKING TOGETHER BEFORE AND DURING THE CONVENTION!!!! It is too big a function for one person, but can't be split because the two areas work together!
The dragon sign for Dealers Room is gone. Arisia apparently paid an artist for this sign. It needs to be replaced.
Thursday check in was a good thing. There was a huge pile of stuff in the Dealers Room on Thursday night. It would be good if the hotel staff could be prepared for Thursday Dealer check ins next year.
On Sunday someone told the door guards in the Dealers Room that no bags were allowed. This did not go through either Ben or me for approval, and is counter productive to people shopping. Not to mention that we have no way to ensure that people get back the bags they left and only the bags they left. In the future orders of this type should only come from the Dealers Department Head and/or assistant.
Pam K.
BTW: Thank You Ben for your help this year
Back to the 2007 Fixed Functions Debrief Report