Norwescon 36 Post-Con Report

Norwescon 36

The post-convention report for Norwescon 36

Norwescon

January 2014

Michael Hanscom

Adobe Acrobat .pdf

English

Norwescon 36 Post-Con Report

January 2014

Inside This Issue:

Art Show Report 2
Art Show Awards 3
Convention Srv 4
Hotel Report 4
Programming 5
Movie Previews 5
Registration 6
Special Events 6
Masquerade 8-9
Single Pattern 10
Personnel 11
Member Srv 12
Business 13
Publications 13

GOOD BYE NWC 36, HELLO NWC 37!

As we wrap up Norwescon 36, I can only tell you how I feel. It was my first Norwescon as Chairman and I was nervous going into the con, but I can say with absolute conviction that we had a great con. The Norwescon ConCom is the hardest working group of volunteers that anyone could ask for. Both the execs that Brad and I had the honor of hand-picking and their staff worked hard and put on an excellent convention for everyone. It seems too little to just say, "thank you" for your hard work. We wouldn't be the con we are without all of you.

The chairman oversees everything, but there are some departments that are directly under the Chair. They are: Guest of Honor Banquet, charitable events, elections, Google administration, info manager, Phillip K. Dick Event, and EMP liaison. I had a great staff in charge of these and I want to thank them all for their dedicated work.

Ali Grieve picked a fabulous meal and put together the Guest of Honor Banquet on Thursday. People really liked the option to pick which Guest of Honor (GoH) they sat with. Every GoH spoke and we gave them plaques to commemorate their time at Norwescon 36. We also had representatives from our charities speak. Phillip Buff was in charge of charitable events and he did a super job arranging for them to be at the dinner. It was very entertaining and informative. If you missed it, please make sure to buy your tickets early for the Norwescon 37 Guest of Honor Banquet. Who wouldn't want to sit with any of our NWC 37 GoHs?

Phillip Buff also did an amazing job organizing and working with our charities and getting donations. He arranged for the three artists from the NW College of Art and Design that were competing for the Norwescon scholarship to come to the convention for the first time. He and Brad Nelson solicited donations from the Dealers' Room and the dealers gave very generously. We had a can countdown in the lobby for Northwest Harvest, and attendees could also donate when they bought their membership. All in all, we had a very generous year for our charities and we couldn't have done it without Phillip and everyone who donated.

Another event under the Chair is the Philip K. Dick Awards. It was run by William Sadorus, and fabulously, I might add. We had five of the seven nominees at Norwescon this year, which is a record for us. It was quite inspiring to hear the authors read from their nominated books. Thank you to all the authors, The Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, NWSFS, and Gordon Van Gelder.

I would like to thank Pearl Young and Shannon Hillinger for Google administration and info management respectively. Pearl is always in the background making sure the aliases work and we can access the Google docs. I'm not even sure what all she does,but boy, can she do it well. Shannon is the lovely voice of the info alias. When you have a question, she has an answer or finds someone to give you one. She is quick to answer and always polite. These two do a very important job for us and I really appreciate it.

Elections is another very important department for Norwescon. I can't thank Doug Booze enough for stepping up and running it for me. He did a fabulous job. Everything ran smoothly and as it should.

Last, but not least of my departments, is EMP liaison. I'd like to thank Pat and Doug Booze for interfacing with the EMP to strengthen our connection with them. We are privileged to support the EMP, and hopefully let other science fiction and fantasy fans know we are here through our sponsorship of things like The Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival. Pat and Doug also worked with Locus, and we were a proud sponsor of the Locus Awards this summer. Thank you both for doing all this on top of your other Norwescon jobs.

I wouldn't have had time to focus on my departments if my Vice Chair, Brad Nelson, wasn't there to take some of the weight of the con. Brad was always funny and supportive. I really enjoyed working with him. Thank you so much for making my first year as chair successful.

The same thank you goes to all my execs. You held Norwescon together and oversaw every aspect of it. You worked together and you worked hard. I know Brad and I both thank you for the wonderful job you did.

I would be remiss without thanking our honored guests, pros, lifetime members, and attendees, without whom we would have no convention. I have learned a lot about Norwescon this year from all of you, and I look forward to putting what I learned to the test for Norwescon 37. Thank you all, and I look forward to seeing you next year.

An extra special thanks to my family for putting up with all the time I spent on Norwescon stuff. Thanks for letting me do it again another year!

Peggy Stewart, Norwescon Chair

NORWESCON 36 ART SHOW REPORT

We hope that you all had a chance to come by the Art Show to see the art and possibly take some home with you. We had a great time in the Art Show this year and we hope that you did too.

Along with registration, we also launched our new art show program. Based on feedback and how things ran, the launch of the new program went very well. However, as with all new things, we will be fine tuning it over the summer to make the Art Show even better for Norwescon 37.

We would like to thank our hardworking staff for everything that they did to make this a successful year; we could not have done any of this without them. We also want to thank the artists for participating in our show. We had a great lineup with 88 artists participating this year, giving us an amazing variety of great art.

And of course we would like to thank Lee Moyer for being our Artist Guest of Honor. He was a tremendous guest, and his generosity with the membership and in sharing his wonderful art with us was the focal point of the show.

We hope to see you all again next year.

Doug and Pat Booze, Norwescon Art Show

NORWESCON 36 ART SHOW AWARDS

The Norwescon Art Show is proud to announce this year's winners, and would like to thank all of our artists for their outstanding contributions to this years show

From Panel of Judges

Best in Show -- Lee Moyer: Theora

1st place -- Stephanie Pui-mun Law: Firefly Hunters

2nd place -- Heather Hudson: Out of the Closet

3rd place -- Theresa Lee Halbert: Guardian of Avalon

Best Color -- Mark Tedin: Chaos Orb 2013

Best Black & White -- Julie Baroh: Faerie Wasponry

Best Mixed Media -- Michael Duquette: Nazca Machine

Best 3D -- Gabe Marquez: Uberlopz

Best Textile -- Sandfra Ackley: The Navigator

Best Jewelry - Squirrel: Naboo

GoH Pick -- Claire Hummel

From People's Choice

Best of Show -- Lee Moyer: Theora

Best Humor -- Robin Kaplan: Tea Rex

Best Science Fiction - Jeff Sturgeon: Essence of Humanity

Best Fantasy -- Aimee Stewart: The Dreaming Tree

Best Horror -- Cat Grey: Robert

Best 3D -- Butch Honeck: Teeter Totter Twins

Best Jewelry -- Katherine Howes: Weeping Garden

We would also like to thank this year's panel of judges, Betty Bigelow and Don Lacky, for their generous time and knowledge in helping judge this year's show.

NORTHWEST COLLEGE OF ART SCHOLARSHIP

We are proud to announce that this year's scholarship has been awarded to Leanna Dunn. This is Leanna's second year of participating in the scholarship process and is also her second win. We would like to congratulate her, and hope that she has a bright and successful future. We would also like to thank the other two participants, Kelsea Dill and Michael Young. They both presented outstanding work and received great praise from our membership.

I would like to thank all the volunteers who helped out; I could not have done it without you. I enjoyed working with you. Thank you Rob and Becky for your hard work and support. I look forward to working with you again*.*

Lydia, NWC36 Staff Support Lead

YOU HAVE BEEN SERVED! (Convention Services Post-con Report)

The convention services department had a wonderful year. I believe that this convention was one of the best ones I have ever been a part of, and all of it is due to the people who work hard for me and for this convention. I am in the unique position of having several exec level departments report to me during the convention, in addition to my own staff and volunteers. I would like to thank all of them for all of their hard work before and during the convention. My team, convention services, consists of office services, security and communications, event services, the Cloakroom and last but not least, transportation.

My team did a great job! Thank you to each and every one of you for all your hard work.

If you'd like to be part of the Norwescon 37 convention services team, please send an email of interest to conservices@norwescon.org as soon as possible.

Joshua Keegan, Convention Services Director

NORWESCON 36 HOTEL REPORT

This last year there was a major change in reserving your hotel room: the implementation of the one night deposit. Norwescon apologizes for the additional financial burden this deposit placed on our members. However, instituting the deposit helped resolve a number of issues that affected the DoubleTree, Norwescon, and our members. It pushed back when we sold out the hotel by a month. It dramatically cut down the number of last minute room cancellations. One positive thing we heard on Sunday was that many enjoyed the "lower" bill when they checked out (as they had paid part of it up front).

As we have cut down the amount of last minute cancellations, the hotel agreed to increase the room block for Norwescon 37. Hopefully this will allow more of you to stay at the hotel at the convention rate.

For those of you who need the party suites, further information about availability and how to request them can be found on the website at http://www.norwescon.org/nwc37/hotel/hotel-suite-request/

Shawn Marier, Hotel Liaison

Norwescon Hotel Liaison

PROGRAMMING PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

It has been a delight serving Norwescon 36 as programming director. As a relatively new member of ConCom and a brand new executive, I had a lot to learn and had a blast doing so. I couldn't have pulled it all together without my wonderful and dedicated staff. Including the panelists, more than 260 people came together in my department to make this convention a success--and aside from our Guests of Honor, every single one of them was a volunteer.

We also had a truly massive number of events this year: 368.5 hours of panels and presentations, 32 hours of readings, 38 hours of writers' workshop critiques, 26 hours of music and live performances, 143.5 hours devoted to the Special Events department, and another 43 hours of other events like banquets, socials, and receptions, for a grand total of 651 hours of events on the schedule.

The programming department starts with a clean slate every year, and everyone has to be rehired--panelists, track leads, and execs included. Changing the lineup from year to year helps us keep our content fresh and exciting, but some departments have higher turnover than others: the music track, for example, aims for a performer turnover rate of 80% or more! And as we regularly have around three times as many panelists to choose from as we have slots to fill, it's always a good idea to tell us (or remind us) if you're interested!

If you have ideas for new panels, or you want to throw your name in the hat for a staff or panelist position next year, the programming department starts hiring again in the summer. Staff positions will start to be filled in July or August, panelist invitations go out around September or October, and we solicit panel and presentation ideas from August until around Thanksgiving--and then it's time to start setting the schedule! You can reach us through our contact page, submit a panel suggestion, or view the programming page for more info as things develop throughout the year.

Loree Parker, Programming Director

MOVIE NEWS AND PREVIEWS

For our eighth year, we worked hard to find the perfect balance of previews to show and news to tell, and the comments we've been getting suggest we got it just right. This year, our five hours of programming time (spread amongst three "shows") were seen by 305 people. Based on a 10% repeat rate we believe we served approx. 275 unique members, 9% of our membership! This is less than last year when we had a Saturday show, but on average with other "three show" years.

With Alan Halfhill's peerless technical direction and our knack for presenting information our members are interested in, we believe the Movie Previews will continue to be the most popular panel programming at Norwescon.

Keith Johnson & Alan Halfhill, Movie Previews

NORWESCON 36 REGISTRATION REPORT

As you know, we inaugurated a new registration system for Norwescon 36. It was a learning experience for all of us. Despite the learning curve it was a great success and will work much more smoothly next year with what we've learned.

I want to thank the hardworking IT team who tore down and reset the layout of the registration area Thursday night after we found out that the one we had set up didn't work the way we wanted. Thanks to Jason, Richard, Jonathan, Zack, James, and Drew for the set up, and to CP and Alexis for the training. Jeri Lynn kept the art show computers going. The Convention Master support from Tank, Kay, and Aloha was awesome.

The registration team was outstanding and kept their cool during a very frustrating and extremely busy Thursday, and throughout the rest of the weekend. Special thanks to Mindy and Karen, who we had to force to leave at times. Out­standing kudos to Drew, Jeff, Diane, Arlene, and James: we could not have made it without you. A special thanks to William, our boss, for his support and keeping his calm when everything around him was chaos.

I want to thank the volunteers department for sending us people every time we asked. Especially for Conde and Chris who answered our appeals for help so many times that I felt that they were part of the registration staff.

Thanks to lobby services for your help in directing the people into the new traffic pattern for registration. Thanks, Jeanine and Scotty.

2,869 people picked up their badges on Thursday through Sunday.

At-con Registration

Wednesday	109
Thursday	1,271
Friday	759
Saturday	396
Sunday	178
Total Reg @ Con	2,713
Special Passes	156
Warm Bodies @ Con	2,869

Thank you to everyone for making Norwescon 36 a great convention.

Sally Woehrle, Head of NWC36 Registration

SPECIAL EVENTS

Everything went smoothly for open gaming except for the Magic Tournament, which was on-again/off-again in the planning stages due to requirements from WoTC. The rules and regulations should be hammered out well in advance for next year if it is run again. The website signup forms worked excellently, but Bryan has several suggested changes to make it easier to schedule and track them.

LARP groups need to sign up earlier in the year. There were issues with the layout (furniture in the Rotunda) that were caused by coming in late and not having layouts prepared in time to get them to the hotel. Consider allowing the groups Grand 3 on Sunday if they need more space. The Rotunda's low ceiling (and foot traffic) can be limiting.Scheduled gaming was very successful this year and had excellent results using the website forms from last year. Bryan has suggested some modifications for next year to make it easier to keep track of the games and times. "Adult only" gaming was attempted and was also successful, but it meant locking teens out of one of the few late-night places open for them to congregate. I suggest moving adult after-hours gaming to a separate room next year and leave scheduled gaming open for everyone. Cascade 9 and 10 worked well for gaming, but make sure there is access for persons with disabilities.

The arcade machines were only placed in strategic places for NWC36. Consider opening a room for them again, but with more supervision than they had at NWC35.

All of the dances were well attended. One suggestion was for the online song-request form to allow selection of which dance to be optional - many attendees just wanted the song played and did not want to narrow it down to a time. For NWC37: consider breaking up the "Under-21" dance and possibly extending it. Have an "Under-13 dance for the younger kids and then raise the age to 13 and over at 9pm for the teens to have a livelier dance with more modern music (and without danger of trampling the tots).

The poker tournament was not held for Norwescon 36 due to a lack of available dealers.

Lazer Tag was as popular as usual. There was a suggestion to make a specific time for the younger players (possibly coordinate with children's programming and host it in Olympic 1?) and there was only one evening Lazer Tag, so increase the night events if possible. Bring back a more even balance between the wand and gun versions of the game. There seems to be an known issue of the hotel Wi-Fi interfering with the game unless the doors are closed--please note that for next year. The video rules were a great idea and gave all newcomers a chance to learn important information without requiring a staff member to explain them over and over.

The Fannish Fetish Fashion Show (FFFS) was extremely successful this year. Richard's organizational skills were highly appreciated and the Facebook page is earning "likes" on a daily basis, even after the convention. We suggest hiring dedicated "FFFS liaison" staff positions - each person should be assigned to a designer and would be responsible for providing the designers and models with vital information such as hotel rules, where to go at what time, and what NOT to touch in Grand 3 in order to alleviate some of the chaos and confusion, especially backstage prior to the event. Consider finding a dedicated space for them to rehearse prior to the show (the Salon was too small and there was no sound availability - consider Maxi's Ballroom?) as Grand 3 is unavailable due to the Philip K. Dick Award ceremony. The photographers did a great job backstage, but they were sometimes in the way. We are not sure if there is a way to create a dedicated "photo area" for backstage, but we should definitely look into it. Ditto an "air station" for the blower machine - and label it with instructions. Please add to the NWC37 budget to get new makeup mirrors for both the FFFS and the Masquerade. As the FFFS were rehearsing from early afternoon on, many of the performers and stage crew did not eat - add more protein or actual meals to the Grand 3 request (7pm) or have the special events Director provide more solid snacks - boiled eggs, jerky, sliced deli meats, etc. as many of the models and crew will not leave the room until 11pm. Also, to add to the Master Schedule for both the FFFS and Masquerade, please have security introduce key crew members and let everyone know where they will be stationed during the event - it is nearly impossible to find them in the dark without prior knowledge of where/who they are seeking. Also explain who is responsible for cleanup backstage after the event. We needed a ridiculous number of badges this year and would like to propose special "event passes" to Registration for people (such as the models) who plan to attend a single event at the convention and then depart. It would cut down greatly on the number of day passes.

The midnight movies reported no blips or concerns. The Rocky Horror group had several members from the Tacoma group and they seem to be bringing in new members on their own.

The Friday Stealth and Tracking game was very well attended and the new "free-for-all" and "respawn" rules were appreciated by the players. The long time span (10am to 4pm) was difficult for the mods, so consider shortening the playing time. Starting at noon might have better participation. Also suggest a meeting room for the final: there was some confusion about location. Rules should be explained in detail: there were a couple of complaints about players concealing their tokens, and also being too rough during gameplay. Emphasize that players will be disqualified for *any *complaints from non-players. Seeding the tokens amongst the staff members was a great idea and the younger players had a great time "stalking" potential victims.

The Masquerade had 19 participants this year. The movie previews were pulled and in place was an open "photo op" for the audience to take pictures of the participants. Unfortunately, this was not well coordinated ahead of time. Upon exiting to the lobby photo area, many participants stayed much longer than they should have. Next year we will need dedicated guides to lead the participants to the photo op area, allow them a certain amount of time, and then return them to Grand 3 in time for the presentation of the awards. They will also need to pose in several directions on stage and ALSO out in the aisle so that audience members in the rear of the auditorium can take photos.

The MC was slightly green this year, but overall did an excellent job and was very enthusiastic. Please consider bringing him back, but note he is very hard to reach via electronic methods.

The lighting was better than NWC35, but still had several issues that did not appear during rehearsal. Consider hiring a dedicated FFFS and Masquerade lighting team that reports to Special Events and works closely with tech - we need someone who understands stage lighting and can work with performers. One lighting tech was found through the website job listing and he did a great job - work with tech to try and iron out the issues with lighting for all Grand 3 events.

New positions to hire for NWC37: A dedicated traffic manager for Grand 3 to make sure all performers are aware of where they are to go at all times, and also to make them aware of the rules and regulations of the space. There was damage to several curtains during NWC36 and having some "Do Not Do This" talks ahead of time would alleviate such occurrences. This position would be responsible for all movement into and out of the ballroom.

Please add "backstage requests" to the Masquerade sign-up forms.

Limit the number of photographers in the audience area - there were several altercations between audience members and photographers when they were repeatedly blocking views and behaving rudely.

MASQUERADE PARTICIPANTS AND WINNERS:

1. The Disney Princess Retirement Home--Janet Borkowski, Orchid Cavett, Lisa Saherlund, Julie Zetterbery Surdo (Winners of Master Class - Presentation)

2. Catwoman--Erica Marr

3. Music of the Spheres--Diana Daniels (Winner of Best in Class - Journeyman)

4. Whovian Family--Thomas Leingang, Laura Kurr, Emma Kurr, Laci Kurr, Linny Kurr, Elliot Kurr

5. "Who Let the Dogs Out!" - Stella Dalmation6) Here to Save the World--Anita Taylor, David Tackett, Jonnalynn Prill, Melissa Quinn (Winner of Master Class - Workmanship), (Winner of Best in Show), (Winner of Best Use of Theme)

6. Here to Save the World—Anita Taylor, David Tackett, Jonnalynn Prill, Melissa Quinn (Winner of Master Class - Workmanship), (Winner of Best in Show), (Winner of Best Use of Theme)

7. Ariel and Ursula with a Hint of Steampunk-- Sharon Kingsford, Melissa Lambard

8. Original Gangman Style--Alicia Faires

9. Me and Mr. Nobody--Helga D'Andrea

10. Save the Cheerleader--Chris Corbitt

11. Starships are Meant to Fly--Lindie Schmidt

12. Who Do You Save the World From-- Shaylee Bell

13. Yankee Doodle Dandy--April Faires

14. Don't Blink--Leslee Fuller, Tristan Fuller, Scarlett Fuller (Winner of Novice Class - Presentation)

15. Pinkie Pie--Breanna Garnes-Lancaster

16. Vostroyan General--Curtis Bender (Winner of Novice Class - Workmanship), (Winner of Novice Class - Presentation)

17. Major David Duran--David Duran

18. Game of Thrones--The Calgary Costume Guild (Winner of Journeyman - Workmanship), (Winner of Journeyman - Presentation)

19. Something Wicked This Way Comes--Richard Stephens, Ciandi Patry, Tia Stephens (Winner of Master - Best in Class)

The Hall Costume Awards were handled by the BRCG and it was very successful, even though only two winners were willing to present their costumes on stage during the Masquerade. Definitely consider bringing back the BRCG liaison position next year.

LGBT Speed Dating (formerly Queer Eye for the Con-Goer) was a "cancelled/not cancelled" event that ended up being thrown together at the last minute. As such, the layout was not correct and had to be moved by the participants. "Queer" should be removed from the title of the event. Bisexuals expected to have homosexual and then heterosexual speed dating, or possibly concurrent speed dating. For the speed-dating event, it should be stated in the program that late comers will be out of luck - it is hard to add latecomers to the rotation. It was difficult for one person to run this event, so please give them an assistant next year, especially for speed-dating as it took too long for one person to tabulate the results (or consider requesting volunteers ahead of time). Posters announcing the event would increase participation.

Adult Quidditch was greatly missed this year. Consider putting it in Grand 3 at whatever time is available - space made it impossible for NWC36, although the kids' game was great in the Evergreens. Sunday morning is difficult due to exhaustion, but a one-hour game might be worth it for some last-minute fun before the con ends.

The scavenger hunt game was much more fun this year with participants required to take digital photos and explain why they chose the images they did.

Maxi's was extremely disappointing this year as our alcohol sales did not come close to allowing us a decent budgetary margin. Most feedback received points to the hotel being at fault here - the Pub Quiz and the music was very much liked, but patrons were unable to purchase drinks. There was not enough bar staff to accommodate, the drinks were very expensive and not of high quality, and there were no specialty drinks even though they were requested well in advance. As the hotel seems unwilling to work with us to make events in Maxi's successful, a Kickstarter or Indiegogo drive was suggested as a way to subsidize the cost of keeping Maxi's as a convention-only space. This would lessen our need to "sell sell sell" alcohol that that hotel cannot provide, and will allow us to schedule different events without the need to push our members to drink.

Cheryl Dyson, NWC36 Special Events Director

SAVING THE WORLD: ONE SHOPPING BAG AT A TIME

Congratulations to all of our single pattern contest entrants! Our members made some really fantastic re-usable shop­ping bags this year, mostly from stuff they had lying around their homes. We saw re-used shower curtains, re­purposed clothing, and scraps from other costumes incorporated into some great bags. The winners are:

Best Workmanship - Tracey Plunkett
Best Use of Recycled/Repurposed Materials - Janice Mears
Judges' Choice - Tracey Plunkett
Fan Favorite - M J Parker

Sunny Jim, Single Pattern Contest

PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT

I really hope everyone enjoyed this year's Norwescon, because I know I did. I got to hang out with a great bunch of volunteers who worked more than 700 hours over the course of the convention, helping out wherever needed to make sure the convention ran smoothly. I also had the privilege of being the director of a great bunch of staff members who did extraordinary things to make my job so easy. As head of the Personnel department, I oversaw the staff that ran volunteers, Hospitality, and staff support.

Thanks to Tom, Miriam, Jerry and Tina for an amazing job in hospitality. It takes a lot of planning and hard work to feed over 3000 hungry fans; Tom and his team stepped up and hit the ball out of the park. If you had a chance to try Tom's pulled pork, you know what I mean. I

never saw Tom leave the hospitality room unless it was to go prep something for the next meal. The man loves to cook, and I think he really gets joy out of the happy folks who eat his food.

Thanks to Lydia and her staff, who helped feed the volunteers as well as the staff of Norwescon! She helped keep us fed which is not an easy task to do. The food they prepared was divine. If you volunteered this past year you can attest to this fact. If you didn't volunteer this past year, I suggest you do next year because I know Lydia is cooking up something special.

Elana, Kat, Shaylee, Starshadow, and Cora did a wonderful job of coordinating the flow of volunteers to make sure they were in the locations that needed the help. They all deserve a standing ovation for the amount of work you put in before and during the convention. It takes a lot to motivate folks to work over 700 hours during the course of the weekend. They all made it look easy and fun.

Shawna was my rock this past year and stepped in for me while I was stuck at my day job. Thank you. Shawna is going to be a great head of Personnel for Norwescon 37. We both send out thanks to Becky, for all of her help, knowledge, and ability to shop.

Remember next year when you see a volunteer- thank them for doing a great job. Better yet come on down to volunteers and sign up.

Thank you,

Rob Stewart, NWC36 Personnel Director

VOLUNTEER SERVICES ACTION

Well, it's that time of year again. Norwescon has come and gone in all its ephemeral glory. As we look forward to the next year's festivities, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who came out and made this year such a success. As usual, there are literally scores of you who gave your time and energy to Norwescon through the volunteers department. You gave more than 700 hours in 5 days to help Norwescon be great! Thank you so much for everything you did to help out! You are a truly amazing group of people to give your time so generously. We hope you had as much fun as we did, and the volunteers department looks forward to seeing you at next year's convention!

Elana, NWC36 Volunteer Services Lead

MEMBER SERVICES

Norwescon 36 was a fairly tough year for member services. After a roaring start, my friend and predecessor, Mindy Sherwood-Lewis had to step down mid-year due to health issues. She's doing fine now, but it was still an un-looked-to experience for me to fill the void she left and move forward with the group. The new registration system had to be vetted, adjusted, and put into use. Almost all of member services was affected by the new registration system and we're still fine tuning it for optimal operation. The member services team rose to the challenge and I can't praise them enough for all of their hard work and dedication.

I really want to call out and thank my department heads:

For the Art Show, Doug, Pat, and the rest of their staff were great! Through all the hiccups and workarounds, they kept their cool and put on one of the best Art Shows we've had in recent history. Thank you Doug and Pat!

In the Dealers' Room, Tracy was the calming and efficient influence that she always is. ... pssst... I love you Tracy... don't tell Charlie... Thanks a bunch for your expertise!

Sally's staff in Registration had their work cut out for them. In cooperation with Jason and Richard in IT and Jeanine and Scotty in lobby services, all the groups adapted to the new registration system, and managed to rebound from massive overload issues on Thursday. Talk about a stress test! The restructuring of the traffic flow and processing continued through the weekend but these three groups managed to solve the issues and improve the Registration experience. Sally, Jason, and Jeanine, you guys are wonderful!

Finally I want to say thanks to Karen and Mindy for their support and efforts to solve the problems and move member services forward. I couldn't have done it without you.

Be well, everyone! See you next year!

William Sadorus, NWC36 Member Services Director

NORWESCON 36 BUSINESS REPORT

For Norwescon 36, the business team did its part in trying to Save the World as we shifted more of our operation to be paperless. The new registration system helped with that, as did some new internal accounting measures that meant we spent less time recording actual paper trails

Financially, the picture for Norwescon 36 was about average. We had our first full year operating as 501(c)(3), which meant we did not pay federal income taxes. We were also able to net some neat donations. Look for more expansion in that arena in the next few years. We also continued our own charitable giving with gifts to Clarion West, Northwest Harvest, the EMP's Science Fiction Short Film Festival, the Locus Awards, and one lucky student from the Northwest College of Art. On the expense side, we tried to reign that in with some success. We will be trying harder in the next few years.

As a side note, neither figure below directly captures the cost of some of the hotel food and beverage events because we pay the hotel one lump sum, and then we have to manually break out the charges and assign them budget codes after the fact. And well, the business team is human. However, I will break out a specific example that is asked about a lot--Maxi's. For Maxi's, we had a beverage minimum to meet of $12,000. To break it out, Maxis cost us $8,848.34. This figure includes our drink ticket purchases as well as the attrition rate, which is the difference between what people purchased and the minimum. If you are curious as to what exactly was spent at the GOH banquet or the PK Dick Awards, please feel free to ask for more information.

The report below is as follows. First, you will see the big picture overview of net income, net expenses, and then expenditures by department. As a note, the expenditures by department will not directly add up to the net expenses because we do have a few expenses that do not line up under the departments. Second, you will see a report that attempts to break things out into different categories across departments but in a grouping that might be more similar to how you actually think about the money we spend at the convention. Included in this chart is a listing of the budget codes that comprise each grouping so that you can get a sense of how interdepartmental some of the spending is.

A final note before the numbers. You will notice that the final number is a rather large, scary negative number. However, it is important to place this number in perspective. That number includes an almost $22,000 capital expense. While it is important to note that we spent that money this year, it is also important to note that we would have been much closer to breaking even without those expenses. Capital expenses, especially this one, are not a frequent occurrence. Additionally, we unfortunately had to pay for some equipment damage this year. If both of these expenses were to be taken out, we would have made almost $4,000.

If the reports on the next page are not satisfying your fiscal itch, feel free to ask for more information.

Figure 1: Big Picture NWC36

Department	Budget Amount	Amount Spent
Chair	$19,845	$19,297.01
Vice-Chair	$42,795	$37,735.18
Business	$16,272	$14,102.44
Member Services	$13,100	$7,047.53
Publications	$37,820	$31,496.61
Convention Services	$23,350	$25,804.10
Programming	$11,350	$10,981.13
Personnel	$7,260	$7,236.30
Special Events	$2,510.00	$1,168.03
Capital Expenses	$24,669	$22,953.38
Totals:	$198,971	$177,821.71

Net Income:	$157,770.47
Net Expenditures\*:	$179,604.14
Grand Total:	($21,833.67)

*includes the above department totals plus bank charges, etc.

Figure 2: An Alternate Way

Income:	Amount	Budget Code
Memberships	$151,425.53	601
Dealer Room	$10,455	602
Art Show	$(9,711.65)	500, 603, 501
Misc. Income	$5,531.59	750, 751, 752, 753, 755, 904
NWSFS Pass Through*	$70	599
Totals	$157,770.47

* Normally, this income would not still be reflected in our report as it is pass through income; however, we have not yet written their check.

Expenditures:	Amount	Budget Code
Hotel: Food and Space	$31,236.23	1110, 1149, 1150, 1152, 1153, 1154, 1156
Publications	$31,496.61	Total from all codes
Registration	$6,854.05	3002, 3003, 3004, 3005, 3020
Art Show	$345.13	3007, 3008, 3009, 3018
Equipment Rental	$17,505.71	5002, 5009
Business Expenses	$9,800.74	5012, 2004, 2011, 1010
Legal/Professional Fees	$2,984.21	2006, 2010, 2017, 2018, 5008
GOH Travel and Per Diem	$7,283.65	6006, 6007
Food and Beverage	$7,402.78	7003, 7006, 7008, 7011, 7014, 7016, 6013, 6014
Charity	$9,593.50	700, 1025, 1026, 1027, 1028, 1029, 1032
KBTC Sponsorship	$0	1030
Capital Expense	$22,953.38	950
Misc. Expenses	$1,782.43
Totals:	$149,238.42

Total Income:	$157,770.47
Total Expenditures:	$179,604.14
Grand Total:	($21,833.67)

PUBLICATIONS PROCLAMATION

Three years as publications Director goes by very quickly. This year we had our challenges and our successes. A couple of technology items limited our ability to accomplish traditional tasks for the convention. The Norwescon 35 post-con report was not able to be mailed to members as their address information was not available. The Norwescon 36 program book did not include members names because the new registration system was not asking people for permission to publish their names. Both of these items have been corrected for Norwescon 37.

Publications has a large budget and a largish staff. We are responsible for just about all the printed items you see before, during, and after the convention. Also included is the website, photography, advertising, and online guide. If Iwere to itemize everything that we do, there wouldn't be enough space to thank the people who make it all possible, which would be a shame as showing our appreciation and giving feedback on how the convention year went is the main purpose of the post-con report each year.

Thanks to dQneil Kauffman, Gail McArthur, and Scott Douwes for graphic design. Rick and Vicky Bligh produced and distributed many, many signs throughout the convention for most departments. The crack editing team consisted of Philip Buff, Sika Holman, Mark Sebring, Kimberly Agbayani, Kevin Black, Sunny Jim, and Brian Pickett. Alexis Easterbrook-Lewis contributed her talents to the eNewsletter and Daily 'Zine. Michael Hanscom oversaw the photographers, as well as managed the website and social media. Thanks to the other members of the ConCom who got their information turned in for the various deadlines. A big high-five to those of you who turned it in on time.

It's been a great run, I'm sure the next person will set his or her shoulder to the wheel and Publications will keep rolling uphill.

Felice, NWC36 Publications Chair

Norwescon 37

www.norwescon.org/nwc37/memberships

Memberships:
The cost for a full-weekend (four day) membership is $70 through March 16, 2014. After March 16, you'll need to purchase your membership at the convention for $75, so register today for the best rate!

Youth 13-17
New this year, we are introducing a youth rate! Youth who will be aged 13-17 on the first day of the convention (April 17, 2014) can preregister for the flat $50 rate at any time until preregistration closes on March 16, 2014.

Children 12 and Under Children 12 and under may attend for free, but must have a permission slip on file in order to attend the convention. If you plan to bring children with you, you can save some time at registration by completing the form in advance and bringing it with you when you arrive.

Registration Hours:
Thursday noon-10pm Saturday 9am-10pm
Friday 9am-10pm Sunday 9am-5pm

100 Andover Park W Suite 150-165
Tukwila, WA 98188-2828
Voicemail: (425) 243-4692
E-mail: info@norwescon.org

The Pacific Northwest's Premiere Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention