Department Head: Steve Balzac (sbalzac@alum.mit.edu)
Organized the schedule for the massage den. Recruited MTs, set up the schedule, and scheduled massages for Arisia staff. Staff were invited to sign up for massages starting Wednesday before Arisia, and some took advantage of the opportunity. Others signed up at the con. All available massage slots were filled.
Gave a lot of massages.
We had 10 massage therapists working the massage den this year. Although one person did cancel at the last minute, he was replaced by two volunteers so we never had to cancel any sessions. The response from those who visited the massage den was generally positive. My random sample (i.e. whomever I ran into) of people I spoke to the next day or Monday confirmed their happiness with their massages.
Overall, the space was just right. A second bathroom would have been even better, but you can't have everything.
The linen rental service worked fine. The only bobble was that I misunderstood how I was supposed to have Arisia pay for them and arrange for the delivery. As a result, we almost had a lack of linens. Thanks for fixing that!
Purepro donated lotions once again.
Asking a MT to give 12 massages to get a free con membership is somewhat silly. I think that only two of us (David and me) gave 12 or more massages. 6-8 was more typical. My suggestion is to treat MTs like panelists, and give a free membership for a commitment of 3 massages. That will let us attract those MTs who are not already planning to attend the con anyway.
Several of the MTs never had time to pick up their badges. As a result, there was apparently some confusion when they showed up at the staff den with a staff ribbon and no badge. That was taken care of.
Back to the 2007 Fixed Functions Debrief Report