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Duncan da Husky
duncandahusky
13 July 2007 @ 04:00 pm
Anthrocon Report, Part 6: Final Thoughts  
So, how to summarize Anthrocon 2007?

It was a big year for me. We put a lot of plans into place and I think they came off rather well, a few technical glitches notwithstanding. I didn't have enough time to socialize, which isn't too surprising given how I was tethered to the Alley, but I don't really regret that too much. Standing in the empty Artists Alley at 4:45 PM on Sunday, after everyone had been paid and left, I was left with a feeling of accomplishment.

One thing that I think is worth mentioning, and something that very few people know, unless they were involved with staff in Hall C. I wouldn't be able to do my job if it weren't for the efforts of my husband, [info]takaza. Yes, I know - he's my husband and it's expected that I would give him credit. But were it not for him and his staff ([info]daveqat, [info]jimcyl, and [info]tango) we wouldn't have had the cash for our cash registers or to pay the artists at the end of the day, and Anthrocon's finances would be a mess. Dan put in a lot of time preparing for the con, and during the con put in even longer hours than I did. Unfortunately, the nature of his job keeps him out of the public eye, and it's often rather thankless. So I want to publicly thank him for all of his hard work, and remind him that I love him very much!

Looking ahead to 2008, I see a lot of challenges ahead of us. If we expand the Alley by 50%, our registers and our payout system are going to be stretched to the breaking point. We need to investigate how to improve the artist tracking system (possibly with a Point-of-Sale system, and making the Con Store register able to take Artists Alley purchases during busy periods) and how to speed up payout. I need at least two or three more staff members, as well. We've got some other innovative ideas that we need to pitch to the Anthrocon board that could help dealers as well. In short, we have some exciting opportunities ahead of us, and amazingly enough I'm looking forward to next year already.

Among other things for next year, I hope to finally set foot in the Steel City Diner. I hope to host another Fine Potables Tasting (and actually get invitations to everyone I want to invite!). I hope to make it back to the Dorsai debriefing on Sunday night. And finally, I hope that, when Anthrocon 2008 is over, I'm looking forward to 2009 with the excitement I feel now for 2008.
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Foxfeather[info]foxfeather on July 13th, 2007 09:30 pm (UTC)
Not sure what you're using right now, but how about a barcode system? You could give each artist a number and labels for the receipt, it would make it really easy to track/differentiate them in a POS system. Then you just use a scanner and don't have to deal with typing them in/numbering them for checkout. I use quickbooks and it's a fantastic software, albeit probably not the best/most flexible for what you are trying to do. Though if you used the barcode system, it would work fine. :)
Duncan da Husky: HTML Husky[info]duncandahusky on July 14th, 2007 04:25 pm (UTC)
This is going to get a bit involved, but bear with me :-) Right now we're giving out receipt books that each have 50 triplicate sets of receipts, numbered XX00-XX49 or XX50-XX99, where XX is a number from 01 to 80 corresponding to the 80 seats in the Alley. Up until now our cashiers have been manually entering the receipt number at the beginning of each transaction, remembering to enter the number probably 95% of the time (this helps later when trying to match up receipts: what got paid for, what the artist got back, etc.).

The idea I'm kicking around is printing new receipt books (which we have to anyway, since currently we only have books from 00 to 99, which won't work if we go to 120 seats). Each receipt would have a bar code corresponding to the receipt number, but ideally the POS software would be able to pick out the first few digits of the receipt number as the artist number (or, for tracking purposes, the "department" number). At the end of the day, then, we could then run off a report by department that would tell us exactly how much to pay each artist, along with an itemized list of what was paid for for each artist.

Now we need to try to sort through the POS software to see what can best meet our needs, and how we can get the lowest price for the software and hardware. Quickbooks would be ideal, though I note that if you use multiple terminals networked together you need a unique copy of the software for each terminal - ouch! That drives the price up a bit. We'll see what I can find after more research, though :-)
Kellic J. Tiger[info]kellicjtiger on July 13th, 2007 10:03 pm (UTC)

Personally I think you and the art show need a combined POS system. Both of you were on the edge this year. Buy a Dell POS system. I'm certified on setting them up. :xP
The Wild Dream[info]tango on July 13th, 2007 11:00 pm (UTC)
I promise not to crack jokes beyond this comment on the term "Dell POS System" :)
Duncan da Husky: Erf?[info]duncandahusky on July 14th, 2007 04:30 pm (UTC)
I know better than to try to get involved in the Art Show dealings. Having seen what goes into MFF's Art Show software, that's magnitudes of complexity that I don't EVEN want to get into.

Unfortunately, looking at the Dell POS site, the cheapest complete system they sell is around $2,200. We'd need four of those, and if I presented that number to Kage, the poor guy would have a heart attack.
Kellic J. Tiger[info]kellicjtiger on July 15th, 2007 06:00 am (UTC)

I wonder if you can rent them? I doubt it but it would be worth looking into. *flings himself into a bunker before someone asks him to do it.*
Woody: With Tongue[info]woodychitwn on July 14th, 2007 01:30 am (UTC)
Yay [info]takaza!

I WILL get around to a post-con report, eventually...

And screw Con Store taking Artist's Alley receipts... Artist's Alley needs to take Con Store Receipts!