Title: OOC Seminar - Running/Attending Events

Who: Admins and players
What: A seminar on how to run a successful event.
When: June 11, 2003 (RL Date)
Summary: Running events is discussed from the planning stage, to the
execution, to the followup afterwards. Being a good and polite attendee to
an event is also discussed. It's highly recommended everyone read this,
but particularly those who want to run an event.

Logger: Tengu


Tengu says "This will probably be a lot of me talking. I don't have it written
ahead of time, so it won't be spammy. Just a bit slow. :) Feel free to jump
in with questions and comments along the way. If there's any reason you
want to ask or say something semi-anonymously, you can page me or Pixie."

Tengu says "I'm going to talk about running events in a more or less
chronological way. From planning stage, to running it, to post-event stuff.
I thought it'd be useful if we had an example to follow along with. So
someone give me an example event that'd be fun to talk about."

Dougal says "Carnival?"

Tengu says "Okay. Carnival it is. We'll fine-tune that idea as we go along. :)"

Dougal beanbags. Yay.

Tengu says "First. See if there's any interest. Page a few people, chat on a
channel. See if people sound interested in the idea. They can also help you
with brainstorming ideas for it. Find the people who seem most interested.
Maybe they'll help you with running it. Or maybe you just want to make sure
they come."

Tengu says "So be sure to ask the people you want to come when good dates and
times are for them. And when you've got a good time, slap it up in +Events
before someone else takes it. :)"

Tengu says "And this is the time to decide exactly what you want to do. What
sort of Carnival is it? Muggle? Wizarding? Hogwarts-only? Where are you
going to hold it? Who's invited? Are there going to be games? Rides? Food?"

Tengu says "Feel free to answer some of those questions now. Any of you. :)"

Roderick considers that question. "Not sure what Carnival is being discussed,
m'afraid. So opinions are hard to come by, boss."

Iain says "Those games that are impossible to win prizes from >)"

Tengu says "I don't know either Roderick. All Dougal gave us
was 'Carnival'. :)"

Dougal says "Wizarding, Hogwarts only, in the Meadow, all the students and
faculty, lots of games, wizarding rides, and tons of treats provided by our
luverly elfies. ^^"

Dougal likes carnivals.

Roderick says "What time of IC year, Dougal?"

Dougal hms. Springtime?

Tengu says "Events should be run past the admins or plots. Plots is probably
preferable. Our plot committee can then give input on the idea. In the case
of a Hogwarts Carnival, you're also going to need the help and support of
McGonagall and the Heads of House if not the entire faculty. Quite the
undertaking. :)"

Roderick says "Bit late for this spring, obviously. ;) Just crossed my mind
that it'd have to be during the school year, given the location you're
choosin'."

Tengu says "When you /do/ +mail us asking to run your event, you need to give
us as many details as possible. So, for instance, if you said 'I want to
run a carnival at Hogwarts', we'd just turn it around and ask you some of
those questions I just did, and more."

Dougal says "And more?"

Tengu says "Who's running the games and the rides? Do you yourself want to be
responsible for coming up with everything, or will you hand bits and pieces
off to other people? Like maybe each House or each Year gets a game or a
ride to work out the details off. Maybe you want Winky to create the menu
for you."

Tengu says "Yes, more. :) What sorts of games? What sorts of rides? Are there
prizes? What sorts of prizes? :)"

Dougal says "Cool."

Tengu says "Are parents invited? Siblings? People from Hogsmeade? Everyone?"

Tengu says "Your carnival idea is quite the undertaking. :) Did I say that
already? :)"

Dougal says "I think so."

Dougal says "But now I really want to do it. :P Carnivals are cool, even if
they take months of planning. e.e"

Tengu says "Okay, say you know the answer to most of these questions now and
the Admins have given you the go-ahead. Now... you said you're going to
hold it in the Meadow. That can get quite spammy with everyone in one room.
Are you going to use adjoining rooms? Like the Quidditch Pitch or the Road?
Courtyard? Or are you going to create objects to use as booths and things
for people to walk into?"

Tengu says "We /might/ be talked into upping your quota for something like
this. But be prepared to work with other people so you can use their
quota. :)"

Tengu says "If you dig rooms or create objects, be sure to give them a nice
@desc too. So people are aware of what's there and what it looks like."

Tengu says "Now you're all set, hopefully. And you've got a date set down and
everything. You can +bbpost to an appropriate bboard. This idea for
instance could go on Events or on Hogwarts. If people outside Hogwarts are
invited, then probably just post it to the Events board. Be sure to remind
people when and where it is. Be clear about who's invited. Tell people if
it's casual or formal dress, or even costumes. :) So they have time to
write themselves a new @desc. :)"

Tengu says "Okay. I think that covers the planning stage. Did anyone have any
questions or comments?"

Hermione says "Realize that some of these things you may rethink a number of
times between the planning stage and the actual execution stage. If it's
anything major, it's usually a good idea to keep the admins apprised of any
changes of plans."

Tengu nods. And in the case of this carnival, the particular games, rides, and
prizes may need to be approved by us if they're kind of unusual. If they
involve new magic particularly.

Tengu says "Moving on. We can go back to this at any point. Running the event!
Be sure to show up early. This way people aren't wondering anxiously if
you're going to make it. If you /can't/ make it and need to
reschedule, /please/ do it more than 24 hours in advance. A lot of people
will be disappointed if they rearranged their RL schedule just so they
could come to your party. So give them as much warning as possible."

Tengu says "Once you're online, make sure everything is set up. Make sure
you're desced right and all your major players are ready. Join the Events
channel.... or another appropriate channel. Hogwarts might work here for
instance."

Tengu says "Then page one of the Admins so we can @wall an announcement for
you. Be sure to tell us all the useful information. Where is it, how to get
there, who's invited, and anything else important so we can include it."

Tengu says "Now the nervewracking part. ;)"

Tengu says "As people start to show up at your event, try to greet them. At a
party, this is really easy and obvious to do. Greet them as they ICly
arrive. 'Hi, how're you doing Fred? Oh, I'm sorry, George. Nice robes. Are
they new?'"

Snape says "Hello Lucius. Nice hat, shame about the cat."

Iain snerks.

Draco laughs.

Tengu says "At other events it'll be trickier. No matter if you do it yourself
or with NPCs.. /somehow/ try to acknowledge that the person has arrived
(/after/ they pose in). The point here is to involve them in the RP right
from the start. So they don't feel left out and wander away when they get
bored."

Tengu snickers.

Draco says "Mog! :D"

Snape low5s da Drake.

Tengu says "Don't strain the IC situation to do this. But I think you get the
general idea."

Tengu says "Now, you can give people time to scope out the area and get settled
and mingled or whatnot. But if there's a main 'action' part of your event
(there probably wouldn't be in a Carnival)...But a concert for instance, try
to get it started by about 20 minutes in."

Tengu says "Once started, try to keep things moving. If something is
unexpectedly interesting, be ready to slow down your pace and stick with
that for a bit. Be flexible."

Hermione says "Flexibility can make a big difference between an 'okay' even
and a really fun one. When I ran a DADA class during the siege, letting in
Ravenclaws and Slytherin was a last-minute decision, but one that made the
scene more fun."

Tengu says "Pacing really is the trickiest bit. I'm not sure if I have any good
advice on that. If anyone else does, feel free to toss it in. :)"

Tengu says "One thing that might help is.. don't have a lot of activities
planned so you feel you're cramming them all in. I know in classes that some
professors will have a couple things in mind to do, but really only have
time for one. Be ready to drop things if there's really no time to do them
justice. You can try again at another event."

Snape shrugs. "Just the obvious; if the pace of posing slows down or the
number of hooks people are throwing each other is drying up, those are two
pretty good signs it's time for a wrap." ;^>

Echidna says "It can be difficult to keep things moving, but keeping your
poses interesting as host really helps. Make sure you give people something
to react to. You can subtly steer the pacing of a scene to achieve a
particular goal without resorting to a time jump pose. Those are necessary
sometimes, but they can really jar the continuity of the scene for the
players."

Tengu says "That reminds me about time. If the event is ICly occuring at a date
other than +time says, be sure to tell people up front. If it's a
particular time of day, tell them that too. If it's snowing, be sure to
inform them of that."

Snape nods to Echi. "That's what I meant by 'hooks'. Giving people something
to hang a reaction off."

Tengu says "Try to stick to 2 or 3 hours. Long events, especially in large
group scenes can get very tiring. If your type of event allows for it, you
can let people continue rping even after the main part of your event has
finished and you're ready to log off. For instance, the carnival could have
a set start time and you can put the interesting events (such as a
pie-eating contest) in the first 2 hours... but after that, let people RP
whatever they like until everyone gets tired and goes to bed. :)"

Tengu says "Anyone else with ideas or thoughts on running the event? I have a
bit of info on finishing up and those attending events, but I'm out of
material for the actual running of it. :)"

Echidna says "I would advise keeping mp/h and OOC chatter to a minimum. It can
/really/ distract from what's going on. And don't get bent out of shape if
people aren't posing exactly how you'd like them to. It's a cooperative
scene, not just yours. :)"

Snape says "Hear hear. And unless you've got really fearsome powers of
concentration, I'd advise against running an alt in the same scene. That
Way Lies Mavs."

Echidna says "Always try to have something for everybody to do. Try not to
devise a scenario that leaves some players sitting someplace waiting for
something to happen. They'll probably idle out."

Tengu says "That brings up a point. If anything you're doing involves
directions of any sort, try to give them clearly. Be ready to answer
questions until everyone knows what's going on."

Snape says "Would you recommend the Events channel for that sort of Q&A?"

Echidna says "Sure. I think channels like that are more formal than mp/h's."

Echidna says "Less prone to idle gabbing."

Tengu says "Using a channel gives people who /are/ running alts a chance to not
be doublespammed by the OOC stuff."

Tengu says "Also easier to remove from logs."

Snape says "Zackly."

Tengu says "Let me move on and finish what I've got notes on and we can come
back to any particularly interesting bits. :)"

Tengu says "Finishing up! Thank people for coming. Be sure you have a log,
whether it was one you took yourself or acquired from someone else. If the
event was run in multiple rooms, you may have to coordinate with a couple
of people."

Tengu says "Remove your +event from the +Events listing. And after you've had a
break, edit and post the log! Also, if House points were involved, be
sure to put those up before you forget. :)"

Tengu says "Tada! Success! You can also remove your +bbpost, but you don't have
to. It'll time out eventually on its own."

Tengu says "Now, /attending/ events. Those attending events should arrive on
time. If you're late, you might miss hearing directions or have difficulty
joining in. Try to get caught up from someone who isn't running the event.
It'll be less stress on the person running it."

Tengu says "Pay attention to directions. Ask questions about them if you're
confused. You may not be the only one. Better to clear up confusion before
it gets posed."

Snape says "Unless what you're confused about is things like MU* commands: in
that case, pleaseplease ask someone _not_ running the event. :)"

Tengu says "Do /not/ spring something unexpected on the person running the
event. This is anything that may be a large or protracted distraction. For
example, if you want to go into labor in the middle of things, ask for
permission /before/ the event. Or save it for another time."

Snape waves and scarpers back to scenage.

Tengu says "I just know Snape was planning to go into labor and he ran and hid
before anyone accused him of it."

Hermione topples off her beanbag. x.x

Vanya says "..."

Tengu says "And finally, thank the person for running the event. Tell them of
any parts you particularly enjoyed. Compliments are always good."

Tengu says "Okay. Any other comments or questions?"

Tengu has an activity I just came up with for when we're done. :)

Echidna ooohs. "Activity."

Hermione says "Some events will include scheduling next events. For example,
at the end of the last couple SPEW meetings were discussions, IC and OOC,
about next meetings. It basically brings the 'wrap-up' and 'start planning'
phases together. It's not a good idea to do this, though, if the event
takes a real long time - people may have other things to get to."

Tengu says "In that case you might followup with +mail. Which brings up a..
semi-related note. If people are +mailing you about events, /do/ reply.
Even if it's 'I can't make any of these times'. It can be frustrating to
try to schedule an event to accomodate people's schedules and yet.. not get
any feedback from them."

Tengu says "Okay. Here we go. "Good Event/Bad Event" Just shout out some
examples of each. And we'll examine why they're good or bad. :)"

Echidna says "How about.. feasts? :)"

Tengu says "Is that Good Event or Bad Event?"

Vanya says "Good! Especially when Professors go nuts ;)"

Draco says "It depends."

Echidna says "It's a both event. :)"

Iain says "Long :/"

Draco says "If you have something interesting happen. (i.e. Voldemort invade
the school.)"

Vanya admits that they can be boring if your character has no one to talk to.

Echidna says "It's important for the character to be there, but sometimes
spammy."

Hermione agrees - they can go either way. Mixed with something else going on
(like the start of the siege), it's .... Oh, get out of my head, Malfoy. -.-

Draco mwas at Granger. ;)

Dougal says "A Hermione/Draco mind-meld. Eek."

Hermione says "He can't have my mind. Mine. >.<"

Tengu says "We try not to schedule Feasts without a good reason. Not a 'have
one just to have one'. Sortings are important, but /incredibly/ spammy. So
we've done what we can to combat that... having group table posers. But
that can get boring, as most people are just watching the rp for quite
awhile."

Dougal says "Good thing, that. Your IQ would drop..."

Dougal quiets.

Echidna says "So, if you wonder why we don't have tons of meal-time RP,
there's why. Y'all are free to schedule it if you like, though, or to even
have a small scene where someone receives owl post at breakfast, for
example."

Tengu will do one for you. Good Event: Party at Draco's house! Bad Event:
Draco staging a 2 hour drag show starring him and his goons.

Hermione chokes. @.@

Echidna is traumatized.

Aubrey claws her eyes out.

Draco dies.

Vanya is struck blind by the very idea.

Draco says "It's always the bad guy that gets made fun of. o_O"

Dougal wheeeeeees.

Iain cackles. Oh you just wait.

Tengu says "Ahhhh.. but can anyone tell me /why/ it's bad? :)"

Tommy chops off his head...

Echidna sits on her hands.

Dougal says "Because... it's disturbing, unsettling, and involves people
primarily sitting and watching?"

Vanya says "Because no one has anything to do, aside from Draco and the goons?"

Dougal tackles Van.

Hermione tries to be diplomatic. "Lack of audience, for one?"

Iain snickers

Vanya says "And it's long. We'd have fled in terror before then."

Tengu says "Ping pong! Dougal and Vanya've got it. :)"

Dougal says "/I'd/ go."

Aubrey winces. "Completely out of character?"

Tengu says "Now, there are ways you can work with it to make it more
interesting... :) Like give the audience rotten tomatoes and dungbombs..."

Iain /snickers./

Hermione says "Oh, well that's different. XD"

Tommy says "Would've been better with a rotten watermelon? @;o)="

Echidna says "Concerts are very similar. If it's just people sitting around
watching a performer, it's dull, but if they have cool things to look at or
people to socialize with, it's much more fun."

Cypress sticks in her two cents, "festival style concerts (like the hippie
music ones I go to), I imagine would be better than concert-hall type ones.
:)" Then she shuts up. ;)

Dougal says "People on stage, stands and random game things to do, but the
central attention point being the stage with those little things to keep
them busy if they get tired of posing about staring?"

Tengu says "In most cases, any event can be made to be interesting. But some
ideas you're going to have to work extra hard at."

Hermione gives an example: group meetings. Have something worthwhile to talk
about or to have happen.

Tengu says "Good Event: A pickup game of Quidditch. Bad Event: A game of
Quodpot."

Draco says "Heh."

Cypress nods to Dougal quietly, mentioning that a lot of big music fests are
also weekend camping events.. so there's camping-type RP too. Then she
shuts up for real.. since she's falling behind the conversation. :)

Tengu says "Someone want to tell us why the quodpot would be bad? :)"

Vanya says "I know I have no idea how it's played...does anyone?"

Draco says "We really don't know the rules. It could get messy. And out of
control quickly."

Iain says "We really have no idea how to play? Or it's not widely known.."

Dougal says "Quodpot's a stup - er. I mean. It's an American game?"

Vanya says "Also: Blowing things up is usually bad."

Hermione says "We have some info on it. But it's also not very thematic, since
we're not wizards in America."

Tengu says "Right. Now, it's doable... like with Ruby's game of wizard
croquet... but it'll take a lot of work."

Tengu says "You'll have to figure out gameplay and rules and everything and
make sure everyone playing understands."

Antonis says "sorry, why croquet? Sorry to butt in, I've been listening."

Pixie says "Croquet is good because Ruby sat down and wrote out extensive
rules for it so everyone can read up on it and be clear on the rules OOCly."

Tengu says "They're in the +info now even. '+info game croquet'."

Dougal says "Cool. :)"

Antonis says "but why croquet...? why would you want to play it...?"

Pixie says "Because it's fun?"

Tengu says "It's also fairly flexible. She could play with 2 players or a
bunch. Quodpot has a set number of players like Quidditch."

Antonis says "you can play with 6"

Vanya says "It's something most people are already vaguely familiar with?"

Antonis says "I guess I see what you mean"

Pixie says "That's also a good point, Vanya."

Antonis says "I thought you meant cos all English people play croquet...."

Antonis grins a little, "which we don't, by the way"

Dougal says "Darn Americans. e.e"

Antonis says "well unless you're like, the queen or something"

Tengu says "We wouldn't not play quodpot because it's American. It's at least
not Muggle. :)"

Tengu says "Okay, try to get /this/ one. :)"

Tengu says "Good Event: Christmas party at Vanya's house! Bad Event: Christmas
party at Harry's house!"

Pixie thinks the idea was more Alice in Wonderland than a really-truly garden
party. Not all British people play chess either, but wizard chess can be
interesting to RP.

Dougal says "Ugh. x.x"

Victoria says "Harry lives with a psychopath!"

Iain says "Harry doesn't have a house? o.O"

Vanya says "Because I'm better than Harry? ;) No. Um...because Harry, as far
as I know, still lives with Dursleys?"

Antonis says "Harry's family wouldn't let him have a party?"

Dougal says "Who are Muggle and would kill us ALL!!!"

Victoria says "He lives with Sirius."

Echidna says "He's lived with Sirius for a while now."

Vanya smacks herself. "I knew that. Really."

Dougal coughs.

Antonis says "oh yeah"

Iain says "And Sirius' house is a... cottage?"

Vanya says "No room! I live in a big house. :)"

Dougal says "It'd make too many people uncomfortable to be around Sirius?"

Dougal says "Harry has too many fans? :P"

Xavier says "Sirius's landlords wouldn't like that at all."

Tengu says "Because 2 events that are so similar can be kind of dull. And it's
not fair to the person who first scheduled to event. It might look like
you're copying. :)"

Tengu says "Now in /this/ case.. Harry and Vanya might draw enough of a
different crowd that it's okay.. but better if Harry waits and has some
other sort of party a little later."

Dougal says "Oh, I thought you meant at seperate times or something..."

Tengu says "Like maybe he has a New Year's Party at The Grotto instead."

Tengu is tricksy. ;)

Dougal says "Tricksy Tengus..."

Hermione says "A party at Harry's house would be best aimed toward a smaller
group - which I feel should be avoided as a scheduled "event," rather than
a small group's RP."

Tengu says "Yeah. I don't see Harry holding a party. :)"

Antonis says "And I suppose he wouldn't."

Dougal says "It'd be the perfect chance for E.V.I.L."

Tengu says "Unless he's the one who got Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle into drag."

Antonis says "Sorry, I meant he wouldn't really advertise it around, 'cause
everyone would come, to _Harry Potter's_ party."

Draco says "Evil? Is that like L.U.S.T.? :D"

Echidna says "How about... a transfiguration class where people transfigure
something vs. a transfiguration class where people transfigure something
/and/ Professor McGonagall introduces something new."

Dougal says "E.V.I.L. and L.U.S.T. came from the same base company, yes."

Dougal says "Something new creates anticipation and makes the class less
monotonous?"

Hermione would lean toward the latter as the better, so long as it's done
within a decent time period. Can't take too long on one aspect or the other.

Echidna points to Dougal. "Right. Avoid using the same pattern for your
events. Classes are most susceptible to this."

Dougal woots.

Tengu says "Anybody have anything else or are we about ready to wrap it up? :)"

Tengu says "Just to reiterate, since some of you weren't here at the beginning.
We encourage people to run events. Doesn't matter if you're not a teacher
or not an FC. We don't want all the +Events run by Admins and Teachers...
that gets to be a heavy workload on all of us. :) If it's your first time
running an event, I do recommend you start small. A pie-eating contest
rather than an entire carnival. :)"

Tengu says "If no one has any more questions or comments, I guess we're done.
Thanks for coming. :)"

Dougal says "Thank you, oh mighty Tengu!"

Antonis says "thanks for the advice with it all"

Iain says "That was darn useful. :)"

Draco noddles.

Hermione yays! Thanks, Tengu! ^.^

Draco says "Yes. Thanks a lot, Tengu."

Tommy adds to the thanks, "Good work."

Tengu sees some of you learned the 'thank the person' advice. ;)

Dougal hails the little Tengu shrine. :P

Iain waves and thanks. n.n