Tell us how we did?

Disclaimer: as a middle-aged tee-totaler, I realize that I'm not Nauticon's target demographic!
So, if you would, please think of the following as a "minority report"...

Venue: Once again, P-town was a blast--just as much in September as May. My fiancee and I went up the Pilgrim Monument Friday, took a very successful whale watch on Saturday, and the Pirate Shipwreck Museum on Sunday. I wouldn't have this event held anywhere else!

Inn: The Provincetown Inn remains a great choice to host Nauticon. From my perspective, it has just enough space for all our events, and is isolated enough from town to give the event a sense of privacy.

Panels: Speaking only for myself and my fiancee, there were few panels we were interested in seeing this year. Also, in one instance (the "Old Phart" panel), the panelist didn't show--so I ran the panel with a twenty-something to my left. We actually had a nice discussion, and I rather liked being behind the mike, much to my surprise.

Luau: I liked having a decent dinner on site Saturday night, and was willing to pay extra for it. But as someone mentioned at con feedback, some form of entertainment would spice the affair. For 2014, I suggest beef ribs, a hearty beef stew, and some dark ales and hard cider. I'm sure some research can suggest other items for the menu.

Tastings: Not my thing, but they do seem to be popular. For 2014, I'm wondering if a collection of dark ales and stouts would be in keeping with the Viking theme.

Stickies on badges: This was a very good idea for the multitude of special events we had this year.

Artist's Colony: I've already commented on this subject elsewhere on the forum. Suffice to say that this year's arrangements were very effective for both artists and patrons.

Harborview Room: When you enter this function room, there was a totally unused space behind and to the right of the bar. I wonder if this space can be somehow closed off and used as an additional hall. Might I suggest a screening room? I know that the Trawler Room was used for this in 2012, and I rather missed it this year. (There were some titles I'd never seen before, and I've since bought a number of them.) If it's legal, I wonder if attendees could bring their own DVD/Blu-rays.

Operation Hammond and Barfleet: Again, I was very grateful to have the former on site. And now that I have a better understanding of Barfleet's philosophy, I'm glad that the UBS Shameless was in port for those who wished its services!

That's all I have for now. My fiancee and I have already paid for 2014, and we'll see you all there!

What Viking mead hall would be complete without mead? And the best mead ever happens to be made by fans.



Here's hoping that J & J Miracle Mead come and bring the happy!

I wrote some ruminations about this year in "Master of NERV" style, but I'm not totally happy with them, and class starts soon. So here's the last part where I suggest future ideas that might make it more fun without requiring a pretty penny. I'll try to re-do the stuff actually asked for here later on or tomorrow, and you can read the messages in reverse order. :)

Quick background: I'm the gorilla with the space helmet, or the guy on stilts making Mr. Fedora unhappy by helping others risk life and limb, the guy who was giving out cookies and shots of homemade infusions and sharing play time with hula hoops. I also joined Barfleet during the weekend.


Future stuff:

* J&J is a pretty good group of peeps. Though I make my own, I would definitely push them as next year's "Mead Guest of Awesome".

* Invite the group who did the party with Red vs Blue and Duck Hunt and the FALCOOOON Punch to make sure they come back. Offer them special ribbons or a voucher to the orgy room or something if they return to host again.

* If you keep a similar number of vendors, it might be advantageous to move them to the rooms between the registration area and the party wing. That way, they will always get foot traffic, and that long hall won't seem so drab and uninviting.

* The central meetup area for the un-loud wing could be then used for... something. Something interesting and vaguely communal and not costing oodles of money. Ideas from my shinier half: "Freebie table, place for people to put their self-promotion flyers, mini library, emergency dress-up bin of costume parts..."

* There was a dude who got buried in sand. It was awesome, and he got lots of attention. Have a body burying competition. Bunch of people volunteer to be immersed, more bunches of people cover them in sand, guests of awesome come by and draw penises or whatnot all over their sandy bodies (or maybe offer them a sip while immersed if it's one of the J&J folk!), and everybody votes for best sandy body art!

* Attractive girl's suggestion: Have an evening bonfire on the beach. My addendum: You can position it as romantic and, if it's cool outside, a great way to keep warm with sexy geeks.

* There was enough costume traction this year that they should be showed off next time in a more structured way. Being different from a normal con, eschew the typical contest and instead have a costume parade through the halls (not necessarily out to the beach, as some costumes aren't beach friendly).

* Holy crap, whatever you're doing with the nifty buck fifty thing, keep doing it. There were always people there, and they were excited about colouring within the lines. Seriously, I think this area was more popular than all of gaming!


My Personal Prospects for '14: I would go again if I had a larger group that was willing to chip in to run a party with me. I rather like unofficial participation of that sort at smaller cons, for Miltonian reasons. If it was just in a passive role as was the case this year, I'd be less enthused, as there are fewer things available to engage me than I'm used to.


--
John Cholewa
Arisia, I-Con, Lunacon, Wicked Faire, Philcon, Pi-con, Playa del Fuego, WorldCon, Burning Man

And I'm the guy who thought you costume was awesome, and for that you promised to "Kill me last!" Yay, 1953's Robot Monster!! (I had to explain the costume to my Chinese fiancee later...)


I trust you intend to do this at high tide. (Remember that segment in the original Creepshow? "If you can hold your breath!")