2012 Programming Instructions By Sarah “Sparrow” Slovik
Track Heads and Project Managers Job Description and Deadlines
1. Submit a list of Nifty Guests for approval to Concom Due January 1, 2012
2. Submit a budget request, use it, get your refunds Done, Ongoing, Before con
3. Seek out new talent Until March 1, 2012
4. Invite last year’s participants Due January 1, 2012
5. Plan an introduction and feedback to your track Due March 1, 2012
6. Keep in contact with panelists Ongoing
7. Organize panelists and submit to programming Due April 1, 2012
8. Request Hotel Layouts early and often Next Year…
9. Buy ribbons Februaryish… 2012
10. Plan to attend Penguicon April 27-29, 2012
1. Submit a list of Nifty Guests for approval to Concom Start by looking at past Nifty's and last year's speakers. Is there anyone that sticks out as having a following? Someone the con is better merely because of there presence? A person who contributes above and beyond the typical Panelist?
Each Track is allowed a certain number of Nifty's. Send a list of 5-10 potential Nifty Guests to programming@penguicon.org for consideration.
2. Submit a budget request Budget allowances cover the costs of consumable and permanent property items of Penguicon. All consumable materials should be taken into consideration for the majority of the convention. This can include materials for workshops, demonstrations, food tasting, events, etc. You may spend less on a smaller project that applies only to a small portion of attendees as long as the event started out as a public event. For example, you cannot fund a private meal that only a few people know about. However, you may offer a sign up sheet at Operations for a small meal that anyone can sign up for. The budget may also cover a dealer’s room table if necessary.
Spending you budget happens in a couple different ways.
You spend money out of your pocket, Programming approves the spending and requests the treasuer to refund you with a check.
You request a check form the treasurer after getting a wishlist approved by Programming, then you use that check to purchase items.
The Treasurer or Head of Programming use their bank access to purchase materials for your track at your request by order form or online shopping. The Treasurer or Head of Programming may be available to go shopping with you and use a bank card if necessary.
Reimbursements are approved by the Head of Programming for all track heads and project managers. This means that regardless of how you spend the money, the Head of Programming decides if you’ve spent the money wisely. That being said, nobody can take your budget away and spend it elsewhere. However, you will only get refunded if you provide a budget inventory sheet with receipts to the Head of Programming who will then sign off. This budget sheet then moves onto the treasurer who issues you a check for the refund. While Head of Programming can’t reduce your budget, they can deny refunds based on inappropriate spending.
THE BUDGET IS NOT FOR: personal use, registration badges, hotel accommodations, travel expenses, paying for your friends, paying panelists to speak, and the general idea of anything that your supervisor does not approve. If you are worried about your spending habits simply email programming@penguicon.org, tell them your budget ideas and work from there. Basically, get the spending approved prior to actually spending the money. Remember, just because you did it before does not mean it will be approved again.
Finally, please request your budget refunds before the days of the convention. The treasurer is super busy at the convention and should not have to whip out the check book every five seconds. Try to get everything in early, if not by the last meeting before hte convention. Otherwise, save your refunds for the wrap up meeting in May/June. Please plan your budget out wisely.
3. Seek out new talent Look at the following places for people who are experts in your track subject: colleges and schools businesses local hacker spaces, art guild, drama guilds, etc. community events websites
Advice: Use the form letter, aim for local(Midwest) participants and help promote Penguicon through Penguin Meetups, local festivals and fairs, and your own social network.
If you run into people willing to pick up an open position, please direct them here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/penguicon.org/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dDMyaWVkbER1Tzh1UllacDRXcjJmanc6MQ#gid=0
4. Invite last year’s participants This seems self explanatory… but it’s not always easy to track them all down. The Head of Programming relies on the track heads to do some of this footwork in order to keep communication with the panelists. Penguicon fills so many hours of excellent and ridiculous material into just 3 days it’s difficult to remember everyone.
If you were the track head of your subject last year then you might have the email addresses of people you worked with, EXCELLENT! Try to contact those people as soon as possible and invite them back, especially if Ops shows they had good attendance, you remember hoping to attend their panels yourself, or you hear a lot of good feedback about their presentations.
If you did not manage your track or project last year, you have a few options. First, try to contact last year’s staff member who handled it. Second, get an old program book and start hunting down the names you see listed. Third, start fresh when all else fails.
Luckily, many panelists know that they can contact us themselves and many of them will and Programming will forward them on to you until the time of scheduling. Keep in mind that some of these panelists present at many local conventions and while we don’t want to to turn them away for this reason, we also don’t want our convention to turn in something predictable, boring or identical to another con. Let those people keep coming back, especially if they are awesome, but don’t forget to also incorporate some new stuff each year.
5. Plan an introduction to your track at the convention, as well as a feedback session Some tracks already diligently do this. Expect to hold an introduction panel discussion to your track at the beginning of the convention. The introductions can be combined across a couple of tracks. It should be less than one hour, it can (and should) include your Nifty Guests and Panelists, and any staff you may be relying on over the weekend. It is simply a way for the attendees to meet you all together and for your panelists to get to know each other. Keep in mind, sometimes Nifty’s don’t know very many people in the community and it’s great to connect the new panelists with them. If you are managing a project you may want to introduce that project on your own, or you may want it to be included in the track it suits most.
Alternatively, we may try to have the track heads all attend an introduction to the convention panel to help newbies get a sense of how the weekend will go. This is a great opportunity for track heads to sell their new projects, announce Nifty Guests, and to meet some new people.
Feedback sessions should be held on Sunday, and should also be less than an hour long. This should be run by the track head of each subject. These are great ways to gather information on how things are going throughout the weekend and to see what’s new in your field. Yes, there is a convention wide feedback session held at the end of closing ceremonies, however, some people don’t feel comfortable shouting into a microphone. And yes, some of the feedback will come from Ops at the end of the convention, so this is really just a time for people to come and tell you what they’d like to see for next year. Even if you don’t think you will have the same job next year, try to take notes for the next person.
6. Keep in contact with panelists Track heads are the mediators between the panelists and the Head of Programming. You should respond to emails coming in within a week’s time. You should also be asking questions, and keeping them posted on new information over time. The more you keep in contact the less likely they will cancel later.
7. Organize panelists and submit to programming At the end of March, get together all of the information for the people who have said they want to help. They should have filled out this form by now: https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/penguicon.org/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDdmS3ktVGZISDJZUUd1Wi14RzFqVkE6MQ
Then, add up how many hours you believe these staff members are working and submit a discount registration list. Programming will combine the lists to make sure that anyone working enough hours gets the correct registration price.
8. Request Hotel Layouts early and often Most of the function space will be set up in one way or another as a presentation style. If you need space for a workshop or event that does not fit this description let us know right away so we can plan for that from the start.
9. Buy ribbons Ribbons are a mainstay of the convention, everyone loves them and expects them and their popularity continues to grow. you are always welcome to buy a personal order of ribbons for your own use. The order usually happens in the beginning of the year, sometime around February. As a staff member, your budget may be used for ribbons that will be given out at the track panels or events. However, if you plan to use the budget for ribbons, please be fair and reasonable. Since these are subjective terms, run your order past Programming and the Treasurer to make sure your budget can cover your order. Additionally, make sure that Nifty Guests and Panelists get a chance to order some as well if you haven’t already covered those in your budget. Once again be reasonable. If you have 10 Nifty Guests and another 20 Panelists, this might not be the year to buy all of their ribbons. you may however, decide to buy a larger quantity of the same ribbons for your track and let some of those presenters give them out.
10. Plan to attend Penguicon Take off work, find a baby sitter, get the car fixed, pack your bags, tell your friends, tell your moms, get yourself to the hotel!!!