TOPIC: General feedback from a Origins (TD) Volunteer

Jon Cook wrote: Good Shoes and Socks (and even sock liners)

My flip-flops got a lot of comments by the tear-down crew... I didn't really think about bringing shoes since I normally don't wear them except when I have to. And my bags were loaded full of tokens on the way out there...

Kirk Bauer wrote:

Jon Cook wrote: Good Shoes and Socks (and even sock liners)

My flip-flops got a lot of comments by the tear-down crew... I didn't really think about bringing shoes since I normally don't wear them except when I have to. And my bags were loaded full of tokens on the way out there...

You know you bring up a good point. We really needed to communicate best practices ahead of the game. Origins came up fast on all of us I think. Good closed toe shoes can save your bacon!

Jon Cook wrote:

Kirk Bauer wrote:

Jon Cook wrote: Good Shoes and Socks (and even sock liners)

My flip-flops got a lot of comments by the tear-down crew... I didn't really think about bringing shoes since I normally don't wear them except when I have to. And my bags were loaded full of tokens on the way out there...

You know you bring up a good point. We really needed to communicate best practices ahead of the game. Origins came up fast on all of us I think. Good closed toe shoes can save your bacon!

Think this came up during the late night talk we had with Barry, Wil, Kyle, Andrew, You, Me and anothers whose name escapes me at the moment. Just a general notes such as what to expect on setup/teardown such as what to bring and how to read our build maps would be nice. I've done enough outdoors stuff to pack more than enough socks and multi pairs of shoes. Gloves was something i didn't even think to bring and wish i had as i was leery of slicing skin on the edge of cavewall every time i had to grab an edge of it.

A suggestion that Andrew brought up I agree very much with would be to either the night or morning before scheduled runs start do a pair of runs for the volunteers as both a thank you and shake down before we really get going. Do 1 side for half the volunteers then flip it so everyone gets at least one run and again serves as shakedown.

For Origins that would've been deeperdark does run for Vols working Beholder and then flip so Beholder staff does run for Deeperdark staff. Not a perfect solution but would at least be an improvement for some volunteers and TD itself gets bonus of a final check before real runs begin.

Harlax wrote: My experience with volunteering at the smaller cons is that it is tough to get any runs in. Druegar and Laz were very gracious is giving me flexibility by stepping in for me in coaching to allow me to do an end of shift run each day.

I love volunteering but I also like to run. I hope we can find some way to facilitate this for GHC this year.

I would be up for stepping in for a run. GHC is my home con and I play pretty much non stop but I could make room at the end of my day to help step in so people could get a run in.

Matt wrote:

Jon Cook wrote:

Kirk Bauer wrote:

Jon Cook wrote: Good Shoes and Socks (and even sock liners)

My flip-flops got a lot of comments by the tear-down crew... I didn't really think about bringing shoes since I normally don't wear them except when I have to. And my bags were loaded full of tokens on the way out there...

You know you bring up a good point. We really needed to communicate best practices ahead of the game. Origins came up fast on all of us I think. Good closed toe shoes can save your bacon!

Think this came up during the late night talk we had with Barry, Wil, Kyle, Andrew, You, Me and anothers whose name escapes me at the moment. Just a general notes such as what to expect on setup/teardown such as what to bring and how to read our build maps would be nice. I've done enough outdoors stuff to pack more than enough socks and multi pairs of shoes. Gloves was something i didn't even think to bring and wish i had as i was leery of slicing skin on the edge of cavewall every time i had to grab an edge of it.

A suggestion that Andrew brought up I agree very much with would be to either the night or morning before scheduled runs start do a pair of runs for the volunteers as both a thank you and shake down before we really get going. Do 1 side for half the volunteers then flip it so everyone gets at least one run and again serves as shakedown.

For Origins that would've been deeperdark does run for Vols working Beholder and then flip so Beholder staff does run for Deeperdark staff. Not a perfect solution but would at least be an improvement for some volunteers and TD itself gets bonus of a final check before real runs begin.

Where I think we erred is probably forgetting that we don't already have the veteran build crew that we have in Indy. There are people there that have been doing install for years now. Eventually, we'll have that in Columbus too, provided we keep returning. Also, fat lot of good it does you now, but we have a box of gloves for handling cave wall.

But at the very least, we need a best practices document that the build crew can read and question ahead of time. The map reading can be taught in very short order, and I always try to at least give a rundown when I'm getting people going. Though it was probably rushed and slapdash.

You know, I can't for the life of me remember where, but I feel like we did do a kind of volunteer run in the past somewhere. It served as a training, a run, and a final check, just like you're talking. It may be tricky to find four to five hours to pull that off before the con hits, as slim as our time margins already are, but I do like the idea.

Matt wrote: A suggestion that Andrew brought up I agree very much with would be to either the night or morning before scheduled runs start do a pair of runs for the volunteers as both a thank you and shake down before we really get going. Do 1 side for half the volunteers then flip it so everyone gets at least one run and again serves as shakedown.

For Origins that would've been deeperdark does run for Vols working Beholder and then flip so Beholder staff does run for Deeperdark staff. Not a perfect solution but would at least be an improvement for some volunteers and TD itself gets bonus of a final check before real runs begin.

That would be super neat especially for conventions where the volunteers don't get to run otherwise. And like you said great for training. I know my first few groups through my room were much more rough than later in the convention.

Jon Cook wrote:

Matt wrote:

Jon Cook wrote:

Kirk Bauer wrote:

Jon Cook wrote: Good Shoes and Socks (and even sock liners)

My flip-flops got a lot of comments by the tear-down crew... I didn't really think about bringing shoes since I normally don't wear them except when I have to. And my bags were loaded full of tokens on the way out there...

You know you bring up a good point. We really needed to communicate best practices ahead of the game. Origins came up fast on all of us I think. Good closed toe shoes can save your bacon!

Think this came up during the late night talk we had with Barry, Wil, Kyle, Andrew, You, Me and anothers whose name escapes me at the moment. Just a general notes such as what to expect on setup/teardown such as what to bring and how to read our build maps would be nice. I've done enough outdoors stuff to pack more than enough socks and multi pairs of shoes. Gloves was something i didn't even think to bring and wish i had as i was leery of slicing skin on the edge of cavewall every time i had to grab an edge of it.

A suggestion that Andrew brought up I agree very much with would be to either the night or morning before scheduled runs start do a pair of runs for the volunteers as both a thank you and shake down before we really get going. Do 1 side for half the volunteers then flip it so everyone gets at least one run and again serves as shakedown.

For Origins that would've been deeperdark does run for Vols working Beholder and then flip so Beholder staff does run for Deeperdark staff. Not a perfect solution but would at least be an improvement for some volunteers and TD itself gets bonus of a final check before real runs begin.

Where I think we erred is probably forgetting that we don't already have the veteran build crew that we have in Indy. There are people there that have been doing install for years now. Eventually, we'll have that in Columbus too, provided we keep returning. Also, fat lot of good it does you now, but we have a box of gloves for handling cave wall.

But at the very least, we need a best practices document that the build crew can read and question ahead of time. The map reading can be taught in very short order, and I always try to at least give a rundown when I'm getting people going. Though it was probably rushed and slapdash.

You know, I can't for the life of me remember where, but I feel like we did do a kind of volunteer run in the past somewhere. It served as a training, a run, and a final check, just like you're talking. It may be tricky to find four to five hours to pull that off before the con hits, as slim as our time margins already are, but I do like the idea.

I think there was originally a plan to do one at ghc last year but it fell off the radar fairly quickly.

Jon Cook wrote:

Matt wrote:

Jon Cook wrote:

Kirk Bauer wrote:

Jon Cook wrote: Good Shoes and Socks (and even sock liners)

My flip-flops got a lot of comments by the tear-down crew... I didn't really think about bringing shoes since I normally don't wear them except when I have to. And my bags were loaded full of tokens on the way out there...

You know you bring up a good point. We really needed to communicate best practices ahead of the game. Origins came up fast on all of us I think. Good closed toe shoes can save your bacon!

Think this came up during the late night talk we had with Barry, Wil, Kyle, Andrew, You, Me and anothers whose name escapes me at the moment. Just a general notes such as what to expect on setup/teardown such as what to bring and how to read our build maps would be nice. I've done enough outdoors stuff to pack more than enough socks and multi pairs of shoes. Gloves was something i didn't even think to bring and wish i had as i was leery of slicing skin on the edge of cavewall every time i had to grab an edge of it.

A suggestion that Andrew brought up I agree very much with would be to either the night or morning before scheduled runs start do a pair of runs for the volunteers as both a thank you and shake down before we really get going. Do 1 side for half the volunteers then flip it so everyone gets at least one run and again serves as shakedown.

For Origins that would've been deeperdark does run for Vols working Beholder and then flip so Beholder staff does run for Deeperdark staff. Not a perfect solution but would at least be an improvement for some volunteers and TD itself gets bonus of a final check before real runs begin.

Where I think we erred is probably forgetting that we don't already have the veteran build crew that we have in Indy. There are people there that have been doing install for years now. Eventually, we'll have that in Columbus too, provided we keep returning. Also, fat lot of good it does you now, but we have a box of gloves for handling cave wall.

But at the very least, we need a best practices document that the build crew can read and question ahead of time. The map reading can be taught in very short order, and I always try to at least give a rundown when I'm getting people going. Though it was probably rushed and slapdash.

You know, I can't for the life of me remember where, but I feel like we did do a kind of volunteer run in the past somewhere. It served as a training, a run, and a final check, just like you're talking. It may be tricky to find four to five hours to pull that off before the con hits, as slim as our time margins already are, but I do like the idea.

We did a shakedown run at WYC the last two years for coaches and DMs.

OMG that would be Awesome

Raven wrote: Thanks for sharing this! It brings back memories of GenCon SoCal (the only time I was a full-time Vol and worked the Build as well as the dungeon)

You Rock!!!

When gencon was in SoCal did TD come too?

jon wrote:

Raven wrote: Thanks for sharing this! It brings back memories of GenCon SoCal (the only time I was a full-time Vol and worked the Build as well as the dungeon)

You Rock!!!

When gencon was in SoCal did TD come too?

Yes - I think that was my first run.

Can't imagine the drive and haul with that stuff.