Geek Fair 2005 Debrief

This is what we learned from Geek Fair 2005.

General

• Dunk tank: cost 175, made 102. Have volunteers sign up to sit in it beforehand
• Get the permits a little earlier and remember where we put them
• Get sponsors to pay for a big thing (like the tent)
• Try to find someone with truck instead of renting U-haul or find a few pickups
• Make gateway by the indoor entrance to attract more people inside
• Water: more water, more obviously labeled, by info booth
• 3 more awesome coordinators would have been helpful. Tap into other orgs? City Repair, P:ear, SCRAP
• In November, have a short meeting to make long-term timeline and start doing outreach for performers (especially entertainers and circus troupes) and sponsors (just a little)
• The running of receiving while geekfair happened was possibly necessary but seemed a little troubled. In the future a network drop and power drop to the end of the parking lot will allow receipts to be done, and then the front desk can be closed. (from freyley)
• We need better geeks to be beat Matthew. He's an amazing geek.
• The computer games stations had a huge line. More than five stations next year would be good (thank you BackSpace, you did well)

Smashtacular

• Needs music
• For reference: only went through 1.5 gaylords of printers

Signage

• Make big map and schedule and post outside: it should be ready 1 week beforehand so it can be printed in time
• Make permanent signage: water, info booth, more stuff inside, beer
• Make big robots with magnetic whiteboards that we can put schedule/map/thanks on

Kids, Volunteers, Booths, Silent Auction

• Looks like we want more volunteers. Get some from City Repair?
• Kids' area rocked
• Booth coordinator needs to be around while tents are being set up and placed and while boothers show up
• If it's inside, put a sampling of auction stuff on the program. Or put it outside.

Beer

• If we have beer inside, let beer into big classroom
• Beer outside?

Sound/Bands

• Have sound confirmed 4 weeks before event
• Have bands locked in 4 weeks before event
• Bands want this stuff: 1 mixer with power supply, 1 monitor, 3 mics, and speakers. They bring their own amps.
• Three sound coordinator positions: band coordinator (1), sound engineers (1 for each stage), stage manager to meet and greet bands (1 or 2)
• Book March Fourth 3-4 months in advance

Raffle

• Send people to walk around selling tickets during the fair
• Make raffle start a few weeks before the event so we make more money.

Publicity

• Programs: should have been passed out by volunteers and kept at booths
• Flier distribution: use party people from other orgs to pass out fliers

Setup/Cleanup

• Identifying a couple of people as teardown leads right the night of the fair is a good idea.
• Have volunteers load tents straight onto trucks
• Get clean up to happen inside the night-of
• Get a cadre of volunteers to tear down on Sunday