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hazelchazFor the two friends left on my list who are still reading this but don't know a thing about Costume College: (And those who do know, please correct any inaccuracies!)
Costume College is a program-heavy convention, heavy on classes with limited sign-ups. Some of them have a materials fee associated with them, like $1 or $30. Some are free, but have limited sign-ups. Some are wide open -- like regular panels at a regular convention.
Members pre-register for the convention ("apply") and are assigned a priority number. At the con, they had an incrementing number stamper and numbered each envelope containing an application and a check as they were turned in. Your priority number is important, because of those limited sign-ups.
You get three limited-class slots. The schedule is announced a month or two before the convention, and you pick your three in order of desirability. (I don't know if they give you a chance to say "4th choice if I can't get all three of my first three choices" or not...) Then they go through all the requests in priority number order, and see how many get their first-choice classes. (Presumably if they're on the first round and your first-choice is full, they try to fit in your second choice?) Then they go through all of the forms again, for second-choice requests.
Many classes are the same year after year -- because they can only fit 20 people at a time into the room (or whatever), and people are trying year after year to get in. (Do they record any stats as to how many people requested a particular class? Do they keep the records so this sort of analysis can be done after the fact? Do they make any announcement about classes that didn't fill up?)
An example: "A Pressing Matter" was all about ironing and related topics. Fascinating class, acto Jen Raven. 20 students surrounding the instructor (Rory Cunningham) and an ironing board, filling up their notebooks. Or actually, 19 students in a circle and shorter-than-average Jen standing on a chair looking over their shoulders...
There were two classes on sleeves -- one for regular sleeves, one for fancy ones. (Only one of them is on the website -- the website wasn't updated to match the sign-up forms that went out.)
The list of classes is still on their website. The body text says 2007 even though the "TITLE" tag says 2006; presumably they just tweak the class list a little one year to the next. The list doesn't give any info as to how many seats are in the class, if it's open or limited sign-up, what the cost is... things that they might want to consider next year.
The Gala and the Fantasy Tea are extra-fare items, but their prices are not listed on the website. My understanding is that you do not have to be a paid member to sign up for those.
The whole paid membership model, in fact, appears to be inspired by real-life colleges. Say there's a college with a strong football program. You pay your tuition to be a student, a certain baseline amount so you can say "Yes, I'm a student, here's my ID card" plus additional charges for the classes you take. But that just applies to you going to classes at the college. You don't need to be a paid student in order to go to, say, a football game at the college. Being a student may get you a discount on the tickets, but anyone in the community can show up for the game. In some towns, they'll outnumber the student spectators, because you're only a student for five or six years but you can be an alumnus the rest of your life. And just as you don't need a student ID to buy a notebook at the student store, at Costume College the Marketplace (Dealers room) is unbadged as well.
Also, you don't need to be a paid member/student in order to volunteer at the convention. So![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
library_lynn, Christian and I didn't need any special dispensation to be given free badges -- it's their policy. We weren't going into the classes, we were just hanging out. (And by being there, it meant they had two more room-nights to the convention's credit.)
From a con-running standpoint, this certainly reduces the need for door dragons. Nothing's "badged", although some classes are closed if you're "not on the list."
Now, the primary reason people go to Costume College is for the classes. Secondary reason is to dress up and see your friends. Going just to volunteer (when you have friends or family attending classes) is a tertiary reason. It seems to me that #1 could be broken out into two halves -- for the limited signup special classes, and the open lectures.
Where does Costume College's limit of 350 (?) members come from? It's based on something, but I don't know what.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
animelosangeles's membership caps are based on expecting a certain percentage of the membership to want to see the Masquerade.
I wonder if it would be feasible to offer a class of membership that doesn't get to go to any limited-signup classes. (They already have it in one form: they call it "volunteer" but we don't get any of the materials -- the totebag, the program book, the schedule telling us what's when.)
EDIT: They already have such a thing, it's a member who didn't get their reg packet back to them quickly enough to get any of their limited classes...
Costume College is a program-heavy convention, heavy on classes with limited sign-ups. Some of them have a materials fee associated with them, like $1 or $30. Some are free, but have limited sign-ups. Some are wide open -- like regular panels at a regular convention.Members pre-register for the convention ("apply") and are assigned a priority number. At the con, they had an incrementing number stamper and numbered each envelope containing an application and a check as they were turned in. Your priority number is important, because of those limited sign-ups.
You get three limited-class slots. The schedule is announced a month or two before the convention, and you pick your three in order of desirability. (I don't know if they give you a chance to say "4th choice if I can't get all three of my first three choices" or not...) Then they go through all the requests in priority number order, and see how many get their first-choice classes. (Presumably if they're on the first round and your first-choice is full, they try to fit in your second choice?) Then they go through all of the forms again, for second-choice requests.
Many classes are the same year after year -- because they can only fit 20 people at a time into the room (or whatever), and people are trying year after year to get in. (Do they record any stats as to how many people requested a particular class? Do they keep the records so this sort of analysis can be done after the fact? Do they make any announcement about classes that didn't fill up?)
An example: "A Pressing Matter" was all about ironing and related topics. Fascinating class, acto Jen Raven. 20 students surrounding the instructor (Rory Cunningham) and an ironing board, filling up their notebooks. Or actually, 19 students in a circle and shorter-than-average Jen standing on a chair looking over their shoulders...
There were two classes on sleeves -- one for regular sleeves, one for fancy ones. (Only one of them is on the website -- the website wasn't updated to match the sign-up forms that went out.)
The list of classes is still on their website. The body text says 2007 even though the "TITLE" tag says 2006; presumably they just tweak the class list a little one year to the next. The list doesn't give any info as to how many seats are in the class, if it's open or limited sign-up, what the cost is... things that they might want to consider next year.
The Gala and the Fantasy Tea are extra-fare items, but their prices are not listed on the website. My understanding is that you do not have to be a paid member to sign up for those.
The whole paid membership model, in fact, appears to be inspired by real-life colleges. Say there's a college with a strong football program. You pay your tuition to be a student, a certain baseline amount so you can say "Yes, I'm a student, here's my ID card" plus additional charges for the classes you take. But that just applies to you going to classes at the college. You don't need to be a paid student in order to go to, say, a football game at the college. Being a student may get you a discount on the tickets, but anyone in the community can show up for the game. In some towns, they'll outnumber the student spectators, because you're only a student for five or six years but you can be an alumnus the rest of your life. And just as you don't need a student ID to buy a notebook at the student store, at Costume College the Marketplace (Dealers room) is unbadged as well.
Also, you don't need to be a paid member/student in order to volunteer at the convention. So
library_lynn, Christian and I didn't need any special dispensation to be given free badges -- it's their policy. We weren't going into the classes, we were just hanging out. (And by being there, it meant they had two more room-nights to the convention's credit.)From a con-running standpoint, this certainly reduces the need for door dragons. Nothing's "badged", although some classes are closed if you're "not on the list."
Now, the primary reason people go to Costume College is for the classes. Secondary reason is to dress up and see your friends. Going just to volunteer (when you have friends or family attending classes) is a tertiary reason. It seems to me that #1 could be broken out into two halves -- for the limited signup special classes, and the open lectures.
Where does Costume College's limit of 350 (?) members come from? It's based on something, but I don't know what.
animelosangeles's membership caps are based on expecting a certain percentage of the membership to want to see the Masquerade.I wonder if it would be feasible to offer a class of membership that doesn't get to go to any limited-signup classes. (They already have it in one form: they call it "volunteer" but we don't get any of the materials -- the totebag, the program book, the schedule telling us what's when.)
EDIT: They already have such a thing, it's a member who didn't get their reg packet back to them quickly enough to get any of their limited classes...
