Security's POV

[gabstaff.livejournal.com]

I want everyone who has responded to these thread about "Ideas for next year" to actually come volunteer. Please!

What makes you all think we have not thought of all of these ideas?? And you know what will make these ideas a success??? People!!! We need volunteers!!

Only half of the people that we had badges for in Security showed up to volunteer. So we were severely short-handed!!

We work the long hours because no one else is willing to work the basic 25, so everyone has to pick up the slack.

We had many of our volunteers able to "work" the panels they wanted to and were able to see the panel up close! They didn't have to stand in line for 4+ hours for registration. Nor did they have to stand in line for 2 hours to see a panel like Stan Lee but was able to watch it up close! 

If we had a full staff, no one would have to work 8-10 hours day!

Comments

[awillis2.livejournal.com]

I would be willing to work if we could work around the fact that I have mobility issues (overweight, bad knees so can't do stairs, can't stand for long etc).

[datavortex.livejournal.com]

This.

$100 badge / 25 hours = $4/hr. I realize it's volunteer work but a lot of people do this math and decide it's not worth it. The numbers are even worse if you are a first timer and have to pay $20 for your staff badge.

Maybe consider letting people work 10 hours for 1/2 off the price of their badge. Or just lower the requirements overall from 25 to 15 hours, which is a more reasonable rate.

Volunteering

[dotyertees.livejournal.com]

I am actually considering this. I was very grateful for the volunteers that did show and I had nothing but good experiences from them.

As I'm in a different section of the country, how important is it that i make the staff meetings? I see that they're not mandatory, but am I going to miss something I really ought to know by not going to one?

Re: Volunteering

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

Meetings aren't mandatory, and in most areas you'd be fine without attending them. I didn't go to any the first year I volunteered (because I signed up late), and I had no problems. :)

[daedaluszm.livejournal.com]

I really appreciate the staff, and the long hours they put in.

Why not reimburse people for weekend badges on Monday? That way you don't have to give free passes to people and then hope they show up. People buy their badge like normal, and then get a refund at the end (or dealer bux, or passes to next year's con).

[datavortex.livejournal.com]

I believe a lot of people who can't afford to come to con otherwise end up volunteering. I think it is doubtful most of them could front the money.

[kimberworld.livejournal.com]

I think the biggest hurdle is the mandatory 25 hours over the weekend. I know that is what kept me from doing it for years. That is something TPTB need to look into.

Did the people that volunteered then not show up actually attend the con at all do you know? Or did they just blow it off?

We need more people to volunteer, but I think they want more than a free badge. Shorter hours is a must. That many hours just isn't realistic over a four day period, especially since for the cost of a badge some non-fans could be hired at minimum wage.

And can we cross-volunteer? I'm in special events, but would more than happy to work the two-three panels I've been trying to get into for four years in addition to my other work.

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

Cross-volunteering is allowed. I know several people who do it. :)

[dusktodawn.livejournal.com]

Not only what the above said, but I think it's also Marriott's responsibility (as well as the other host hotels) to make sure they're guests are safe and secure, which is why the people responding to this aren't just targeting the D*C staff, they're also getting in touch with Marriott specifically.

No one ever said ya'll weren't doing your jobs, if there's so few of you, then there's only so many places you can be at once. But as they said above, 25 hours is a bit much, if the main D*C folks made it to where it was 5 hour swing shifts or something, you'd probably get a lot more folks.

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

I hope you don't feel like people are implying you weren't doing your jobs. That wasn't the impression I got at all, either from you or from other posts/comments. I haven't volunteered because it's been my impression that you needed to be able to attend meetings before the con, and since I'm not local I can't do that. Am I wrong?

[holliemke.livejournal.com]

who is the head of the security staff who can actually respond to these issues without getting sensitive? Is 25 hours really the only option? I've seen MANY posts on how short-staffed every department is - is anyone willing to respond to the fact that maybe 25 hours is too many hours?

This was my first year but the people I went with said they would never volunteer because the time committment was too high.

Instead of striking back at people with the "we worked too many hours because we volunteered and you didn't" why not direct someone with authority to this area?

I saw posts upon posts of people who said DC would NEVER mail out badges or do anything but have people stand in line. yet this next year, the plan is to do something different. So change is possible.

Please let me know and everyone else, who to email because I would volunteer but not for 5-8 hours a day (averaged out over 4-5 days).

[bahzi.livejournal.com]

Seconding this. How is it everyone else's fault for valuing 25 hours of their con experience at more than $60-100, (depending on when one buys their badge)?

I know personally, that even before my badge cost, I had $500 invested in attending D*C this year, easy. Many people aren't local thus they pay a lot to travel and then pay the ridiculous $200/night hotel prices, who could blame them for skipping out on volunteering when there's such high requirements and so little compensation? I'm all for volunteering for worthy causes, and safety of con-goers definitely fits the bill, but that's nearly two whole days of programming missed, surely it's not that everyone's just completely disinterested in helping. I'm guessing the half of security staff who never showed did the math and came to the same conclusion.

[mirana.livejournal.com]

I have worked a lot of cons, so I'm no stranger to spending the majority of it not actually enjoying the con (if at all). However, I'm a very petite woman with no training. I watch out for others when I'm at the con as a matter of course, but in an official capacity by my onesies I don't think I could do much.

Still, I'm considering it. It crazy upsets me to see women treated this way at any con. Usually it's all I can do to take care of my own when I work, but I'd love to do more.

[phantomminuet.livejournal.com]

I was seriously thinking about volunteering next year, if only to assure that there would be a second M line during registration, because damn.

What's the deadline for a commitment to volunteer?

[bantiarna.livejournal.com]

We've looked into volunteering but the mandatory staff meetings kill it for us. We live to far away to come back and forth.

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

Staff meetings are NOT mandatory. Recommended, especially for first-time volunteers, but not mandatory. A lot of volunteers don't even sign up until after the last meeting anyway (like me my first year, a few years ago).

[thatwordgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'd love to volunteer, but since I come from Los Angeles, it makes it difficult to attend the staff meetings beforehand...

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

Staff meetings are NOT mandatory. Recommended, especially for first-time volunteers, but not mandatory. A lot of volunteers don't even sign up until after the last meeting anyway (like me my first year, a few years ago).

[moonanstars.livejournal.com]

I'd like to say that none of us think that the security wasn't doing their job in fact on the long post that mine was originally a response to many people were praising their actions. What I was trying to bring up and help gather ideas for was the fact the volunteers are understaffed and pretty much everyone I've spoken to who didn't volunteer said it was specifically because of the 25 hour commitment.

Comicon asks for 3 hours a day. Megacon is something similar. Chicago and Big Apple Comic con asks for 5 hours a day over three days but lets you split up your shifts into smaller ones so you can still do what you want to do in between.

We're saying that you'll get a lot more volunteers if you listen to why people aren't volunteering and make adjustments.

Think if you can get 10% of the attendees to volunteer for just 2 hours, that's 3500 - 5000 people making 7000 to 10000 man hours. Split that over 5 days and you get an extra 1400 to 2000 man hours per day.

[veracity]

Comicon asks for 3 hours a day. Megacon is something similar. Chicago and Big Apple Comic con asks for 5 hours a day over three days but lets you split up your shifts into smaller ones so you can still do what you want to do in between.

This. I can't physically do 25 hours per con to volunteer. I simply can't. But I'd love to help out. I don't know how well my security skills would be, given the incidents this year, but I would love to help in other areas. And that might free up other people that can physically handle the rowdy people to do that job. If I could volunteer for 3-5 hours a day, I wouldn't mind. I could do that at a time even. But anything more than 5 and I get stressed out. Which makes my sugars go wacky. As a diabetic, I can't afford that because I'd be down the next day as I recover. It's not me trying to tell people what to do as knowing my limitations and trying to make a compromise. It's also making sure what I can contribute won't hurt other people the next day, too, if I have to bail based on health.

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

I don't know, 25 hours doesn't seem like much to me, but then I work 18 of mine in overnight shifts. Since security is 24/7, though, that seems to be a lot of time to work in the requirement.

Still, maybe there should be an option for lower time commitment and a membership discount? Say, if you work 15 hours you get a half off the lowest membership rate for the following year? Or lower time requirements for areas like Security that need the most volunteers.

[nyreak.livejournal.com]

Or can you just work a couple of hours to help out during a time they really need help, and not need to get anything in return?

My husband and I are eternal members, so we don't need a discount or a membership, but depending on where the help is needed, could probably give a few hours each. I don't want to dedicate heaps of time to volunteering, because we bring our little girl along and already have to spread our time out so we can each go out and do things.

[borogove13.livejournal.com]

Wendy GabStaff, I can appreciate not enjoying reading criticism and taking it personally. You're taking it out on the wrong people, though. The people who complained in that thread were people who paid what the con asked for passes and probably also paid quite a bit more for hotel stay. Paying that money for an event surely entitles them to complain about things that went wrong with the experience, especially when they might feel that they don't see where their money is going. The problem of no-show volunteers isn't the fault of paying guests. Chastising paying guests for complaining when invited to isn't the way to recruit new members to volunteer staff.

I know I use Dragon*Con as a vacation from work, and save money from work to pay to go. Imagine saving up for a trip to Disney World, with money for hotel, park admission, travel and food, then being given a survey card to rate the experience. If you had to wait 4-5 hours outside just to buy your ticket, then rides you wanted to ride were out of service or had prohibitively long lines and the park and your hotel were over-crowded and you mentioned those things on the survey card, you wouldn't expect one of the ride workers to send you back a letter saying "what, you don't think we thought of that? Why don't you come work here instead of complaining!" That's misdirected. That ride worker shouldn't have seen the complaint form, their manager should have, and they should have worked to make the ride worker feel better appreciated and looked for ways to support them in making the experience better for their guests. If higher-ups aren't seriously working on that, they're disrespecting the work of their volunteers and they're disrespecting the investment of the paying guest.

Since guests have shown they're willing to pay more and volunteers have shown they're willing to work longer and harder, the part of this equation that hasn't visibly shown their commitment are the people who control the volunteers and take the guests' money. If volunteers are the only ones seeing and answering guest complaints, all that will happen is feelings will be hurt and nothing will ultimately improve.

[datavortex.livejournal.com]

If higher-ups aren't seriously working on that, they're disrespecting the work of their volunteers and they're disrespecting the investment of the paying guest.

Bingo! Well-said. This is a problem created by mismanagement and less than ideal rules, not bad volunteers or congoers.

[away-fromitall.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'd seriously think of volunteering if the hours were much less, around 5 or 6 hours. And I think many other people would too, so that's what would make up for the smaller amount of hours per person - there would be many more people.

What your asking now basically eats up people's weekend (which for many is their vacation...who wants to work that hard during their vacation?!?) I had a friend who volunteered for 2 years in a row and after the second year he said he couldn't do it anymore - he wasn't seeing the friends he had come to be with, he was stressed all the time, it just wasn't fun for him.

[maudelynn.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. It seems that 25 hours for a $100 badge is rather much. That breaks down to $4 an hour.

[maudelynn.livejournal.com]

I am curious about a few people who I met that said they offered to volunteer but were turned down. I didn't ask why, but it is definitely something that makes me curious.

[silverbrow.livejournal.com]

Where/What did they try to volunteer for? Some tracks/areas already have a full "staff" of regular volunteers that return each year, and therefore don't need new volunteers. Something similar happened to me the first year I tried to volunteer, so I just switched to something else.

[puzzleoflight.livejournal.com]

I did work the con this year, just for my game company instead of con staff. Keep in mind not everyone comes to con just to hang out. Those people deserve their safety just as much as any other person.

As someone said above, what's probably prohibitive is the number of hours people are required to work. 25 may be necessary, but it is definitely excessive for the average joe who doesn't want to come from several states away to work a convention that he won't get to see much of. Restructuring how the department is run and setting more reasonable expectations of volunteers might next you a bigger workforce next year.

[datavortex.livejournal.com]

Same here! I help to run a fan table that has to be staffed ten hours each day of con (10 AM to 8 PM) already, so the 25 hour requirement pretty much cuts me right out of the picture. I worked the fan table for 9 hours on Saturday and another 10 hours the rest of the days, so that would be my entire con.

[petrona.livejournal.com]

I actually tried to volunteer back in January and it was quite frustrating as only one person got back to me and tried to get the person I needed to speak to contact me. Numerous emails and two months later, I still had heard nothing. I was trying to volunteer my services and no one seemed to want them. *shrug*

[catrustler.livejournal.com]

That also happened to me. Mine was for a fan track but in a detailed email i explained that I was an eternal member and just wanted to help for a few hours each day as this was my vacation. A very general email was sent back that said nothing specific so I decided they must not really need the help.

[nicosian.livejournal.com]

The time committment over that short of an event is just prohibitive. I've volunteered events that last two weeks but require much less. They don't usually have issues with the volunteer staffing as a result.

it sounds this year from several departments that there were significant no shows.

[phantomminuet.livejournal.com]

I think some people here misunderstand the concept of volunteering. If you're assigning a dollar value to your time and expecting to be compensated accordingly (in freebies or perks or whatever), then you're not really a volunteer. And let's face it...anyone who relies on a cost-benefit analysis is going to be able to talk themselves out of volunteering every single time.

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

Good point. I don't volunteer for a free badge. I volunteer because I enjoy it and want to help out. The badge is just a side benefit for me.

[ubiquitous-a.livejournal.com]

Personally, those who I did see working D*C security were all really fantastic this year. I think it's really unfortunate that so few had to shoulder the burden for so much work, and they are well-appreciated by us all for their efforts.

I've seriously thought about volunteering, as I've done events work in the past, and would enjoy helping out. But I have to pile on with the other commentors who indicated that the 25 hour commitment is just way too high to justify for me. D*C is one of my vacations, and outside of going on occasional cruises, between the travel costs and the hotel, it is the most money I spend on vacation during the year.

It would be fun to get involved, but spending what amounts to more than three full work days is not how I want to spend what is basically my vacation. I don't need to have my con badge paid for that badly....particularly if I've already spent hundreds of dollars on other expenses to get to con. I have a decent job and get paid well, so if I volunteer it is going to be because I find it fun and interesting, not because I might save $100.

Also, while I personally wouldn't mind volunteering for security, I am unable to be on my feet for hours at a time due to lower back issues. I could probably work registration, a table at the Walk of Fame, or any other position that would allow me to be off my feet for reasonable periods of time.

I think what it comes down to is that TPTB of D*C need to reassess the volunteering concept, accept that a smaller commitment of time will yield a larger crop of volunteers (there were apparently some 70,000 con attendees this year.....there should be no reason not to have full rosters for every area at the con), and how to make it more appealing for folks to give up their time for the con. And then promote the hell out of volunteering for the various tracks.

They also seriously need to look at alternate forms of compensation besides the free con badge and t-shirt. Perhaps a special party with some of the con guests, or possibly a discount coupon for their badge rather than a full comp for less hours served. The majority of con attendees aren't teenagers or college students, they are professionals in their 30's and above who frankly don't need a free badge as incentive to volunteer. Basically, they need to give people a reason to want to volunteer rather than relying on the past motivations that clearly are no longer quite so motivational.

[tonyalittegirl.livejournal.com]

my friend and i would love to work the whole con as long as we could "work" the panels we wanted to see or atleast most of them. what do you get for volunteering how do we sign up and do would me have to pay for a membership even if we volunteer?

[vianvamp.livejournal.com]

You don't have to pay for a membership if you volunteer, but there is a one time fee to become a volunteer. Decide which area you want to volunteer in and then email that department. The links to volunteer are on the dragon con home page.

[wookieegunner.livejournal.com]

I have a question. I keep hearing the 25 hour rule. Is that for ANY volunteering, or just to get a badge. I just have a hard problem with believing if someone shows up to security and says "How can I help for the next six hours" will get turned away because you won't work an additional 19.

[materpenitentia.livejournal.com]

This. volunteer for what time you can w/o perks - that is real volunteering

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

I worked the con when the hours were only 20. 5 hours a day may not seem like much, but it depends on what one is doing. I found that out the hard way the second year I tried it.

When I came down with Con Crud on Saturday, I realized I was pushing myself way, way too hard, and had to stop.

If there were a smaller time commitment, though, I'd be willing to donate some more time.

I too have mobility issues (not enough -- not yet -- that I'm willing to use disability services) too, which also makes it rough on me.