All articles by KnitChick

Convention Staffing

What do convention staff do?

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This post is to help shed some light on what exactly goes into putting on a fan-run convention. Now, I won’t go into the nitty gritty details (some of which is only meant to be known by staff, some of which differs greatly by convention), but just speak in general terms. I feel like a lot of people think staff do nothing, or underestimate just how hard staff work. I know often if there’s a problem, so many attendees come out of the woodwork going “I could do this better” or “Why didn’t staff anticipate this problem?”  I know my first time staffing, it was after a year when there was a major problem with the registration system, and many people thought it should have been anticipated and a backup plan put into place. When I started going to meetings I found out that the con staff planned for everything they could imagine might go wrong…but no one had dreamed there would be a crazy person out there launching a DDOS attack at the servers!

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Convention Guide, Conventions, Rosemont Guide

Convention Breakdown: Anime Central

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Anime Central is the Midwest’s largest anime convention, held annually in mid-May in Rosemont, Illinois. With over 30,000 people and tons of programming, you’re guaranteed to meet new people and have fun!

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Conventions

Newbie’s Guide to Conventions

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So you want to attend a convention? That’s great! Nowadays there are so many different fun conventions of all different types to choose from. There’s anime cons, entertainment cons, fandom-specific cons, literature cons, and everything else under the sun.

This guide will cover the differences between types of conventions, how to gather the information you need to make a decision about which con to attend, and the steps in planning your trip to a con.

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Rosemont Guide

Rosemont Dining Guide

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This is a guide to the many food options available in Rosemont. As quite a few conventions take place in the area, I have been working to put this together to help people who are unfamiliar with the area decide where to eat. I live just around the corner from Rosemont, so I am pretty familiar with the town and surrounding area.  I’ve tried to include as much information as I can – how far places are from the convention center, how to get there (walking/shuttles/public transit/driving/Uber/etc), and price range. I also plan to add reviews of the places as I get around to visiting and trying the food.

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