[Robotgroup] CON Jobs :)

[Tom Morin]

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Vern Graner wrote:

> 
> Ok, lets suppose it is.... Then what would explain why our booth was a 
> "choke point" that stopped folks right at the front *and* why they said 
> they would need to have us back next year *and* they would put us at the 
> back of the dealer room to draw people past all the dealer displays...

That what they said but from what I observed we had a smaller flow of
people past our booth than if we had been in the back of the room. I
think what we were drawing was the young children and their parents.

> 
> Oh and the reason our presentation was standing-room only when the 
> preceding panel had the room about 1/4 full...?
> 
> :)

Given that it was a lunch time panel and it was 1/4 full it speaks well
that the members of the panel to draw that may people. A one o'clock
Saturday afternoon panel is a prime time slot for a SF convention and
that is what we were given.

> 
> I still contend that we all underestimate our value as a group and 
> underestimate ourselves as a result. I've also observed that many folks 
> like to take advantage of that situation to get "free" . :)
> 

ArmdilloCon and similar non-profit run SF conventions depend entirely on
volunteers and set the ticket price to recover the cost of the hotel
facilities and to fly in the guest of honor, they don't have that much
money left over.

>> ArmdilloCon is a literary
>> SF convention and what money they have they spend on authors, artist,
>> and editors.
> 
> Hmm lets see.. I've written a few articles... ;)

How many were published in Analog or Asimov.

 many of the members
> qualify as "artists" and we *definitely* deal in physical manifestations 
> of what many would have otherwise considered to be "science fiction". 
> I'm guessing we're more on the concrete side of creativity as opposed to 
> wordsmithing ideas or story lines, but it does seem TRG is a good fit 
> with a focus like that.
> 
>> Because of the type of people who attend ArmdilloCon I've
>> been trying to build links between TRG and ArmdilloCon since 1999. 
> 
> Ok, this is good. I've been wondering if there was a "point". If 
> "Building links" is the point, how do we measure our success..? I know 
> that we did pick up new members (at least in name, we won't till later 
> if they become "active" members).
> 
> We did have a chance to describe our devices and ideas to some folks 
> that came by... So there was interaction, but if "building links" was 
> our goal, shouldn't we have had some type of handout that would 
> formalize said "link" A "join our group" or "come to our next event" 
> or... something? "Build Links" seems to be a pretty ethereal goal. I'd 
> like to see it broken down to measurable goals and the steps needed to 
> accomplish those goals.
> 
>> In 1999 and 2000 I rented a table in the Art Show so that we could show off
>> some of our work. In 2002 when I helped Debbie Hodgkinson with
>> programming I made sure that we had free space for our robots and we had
>> two panels for us to talk about our interest.
>> I also approached Linucon for the same reason as a place to show off our
>> projects and talk about our interest.
> 
> Ok, so the goal is to show-off projects and talk about our interests? We 
> do that at every meeting. ;)
> 
>> Not all value is monetary
> 
> I completely agree. Building rapport and "good will" as well as 
> advertising our group's very *existence* is valuable. What I'm unsure of 
> is *how* exactly we measure the effectiveness of these efforts. How do 
> we maximize the benefit from our efforts?
> 
>> and in
>> the case of ArmdilloCon I think we derived more value than we added.
> 
> I disagree, but I could be wrong (there has to be a first time for 
> everything after all!)  ;)

It provides a venue for a mini Robo Fest without the hassles of putting
on a Robo Fest. Putting on a convention is no fun, in fact it can be a
major pain. I'm willing to let someone else take on that pain and let
them derive any revenue they can.

> 
>> There was a lot of potential in Linucon and if it had survived we could
>> have used it in a major way.
> 
> Ok, lets not underestimate one aspect of this. FUN has *value*. Linucon 
> was FUN. I think everyone that attended had fun. Getting together to 
> show off projects and meet cool people is fun and enriching so I don't 
> discount that at all. We spend lots of money in return for fun (think 
> six flags, think movies, think television sets etc.).
> 
>> That said I have no objections to charging
>> an Alamo Drafthouse money to provide robots to promote an I Robot.
> 
> I completely agree. They would expect to pay to have a DJ come entertain 
> people, they would expect to pay to have a magician perform or a juggler 
> or some acrobats... why not pay to have TRG bring one of a kind robotic 
> creations?
> 
>> TRG is going to be twenty years old in 2009, are we going to have some
>> type of celebration?
> 
> Now *this* topic needs a thread of it's own! We need to have a press 
> release and some other things to draw attention to the group.. But I 
> digress.. :)
> 
> In summary, I want list members to know that I'm not trying to be a 
> "spoiler" or a wet blanket on fun. I *am* trying to instigate an open 
> discussion that examines *what* we're doing and how we can do it better.
> 
> :)
> 
> Vern
> 

I think what part of this discussion is about is a sharing culture vs a
commercial culture. Burning Man is a pure sharing culture, TRG and
ArmadilloCon are sharing cultures that exists within a larger commercial
culture and business is a pure commercial culture. If were dealing with
a business lets charge money, if it's a non-profit lets generate good will.

Tom

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