Swancon Venue Liaison

Intro

This Job is in aid of securing and managing a Swancon Venue.

Why

What is the "reward" for this activity

Goals

Main Tasks

• working with the Program Coordinator on a hotel briefing on room requirements / resets / etc
• helping the venue to understand us (if you give us big enough rubbish bins we'll be tidy; we'll be noisy at rooms parties; we won't trash the place)
• at the convention, being the focal point from the venue's perspective, when they e.g. want to complain about room parties etc.

Coordinate these with Swancon Venue Negotiator

• remaining in contact with the venue (even when their liaison person changes, which is common over a 1- to 2-year period)
• keeping an eye on how many accommodation rooms are left and keeping the Swancon community appraised of this (particularly when they're starting to run low)
• ironing out misunderstandings and/or disagreements beforehand (particularly if their personnel have changed)
• making sure we're paying deposits and progress payments on time as needed

Supplied

• Handover from Swancon Venue Negotiator (Contract and other details)
• Updates from the programmer regarding room change requirements

Resources

• Swancon Email address: venue@swancon.com.au

Deliverable

What should you deliver during/after this task

Task List

1. Handover from Swancon Venue Negotiator
2. Pay installments as required
3. Maintain communications
4. Create a Banquet order
5. Walkthrough
6. Finalise Banquet order
7. Ensure Venue setup goes smoothly and issues are addressed quickly
8. Communicate with the venue during the event regarding any concerns either party has and address where possible
9. Close account with the Venue and organise an final payments

Conclusion and Notes

Swancon is an unusual convention in that almost all the delegates are paying their own way. Occasionally, venues do not understand this. We use the convention rooms more hours per day than many other conventions; some venues do not understand that when we say "24 hour", that means that we are planning to be singing loudly at 3am in one of the convention rooms. Room parties can be a little rowdy; some hotels listen when you tell them to book all the Swancon rooms in a block physically segregated from guest rooms occupied by mundanes. And some do not. When we find a hotel on our wavelength, everybody is happy; when people go in with incompatible expectations, there is less happiness.

Help

Who do you contact for help, list previous Personnel?