Movie Phone Guy
Con Regular
Posts: 58

Loc: Maine
Reg: 01-09-07
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07-06-14 03:16 PM - Post#13909
This is a question for the department heads and chairs out there.
How do you communicate with the other Heads and/or chairs at your conventions? FRS Radio, Business Band, Cell phone?
We've gone from several small FRS Radios to cell phones, and are now considering Business Band Radios for critical stuff. Any thoughts you can share are appreciated.
PortConMaine TechOps Chair 2006 -2011
PortConMaine Event Support Chair 2012-2015
Owner of a pretty good Alfredo recipe
Sometimes Patrick plays my Voicemails. |
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Nigoki
Obsessed with robots
Posts: 1468

Reg: 02-25-09
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07-09-14 10:06 PM - Post#13912
In response to Movie Phone Guy
Most on-site "deal with right away" stuff for me is over our professional level radio. This also prevents the general public from getting similar consumer FRS level radios and listening in.
Depending on the size of the event, it might be useful to have multiple channels, usually giving security its own, but with a feature for key staff members to do an all-call. It also helps to have a spare channel in case you need to have an extended conversation.
With radios, you can always slowly integrate it. First only do key staffers like department heads and then add on more as you grow in size and budget. Prioritizing is key there because not every staffer needs one and rental costs can escalate quickly.
It also helps to give staffers a quick training session on basic radio operations, lingo, and (I can't emphasize this enough) etiquette. No matter how stressed you get at con, yelling at someone over the radio is not acceptable.
Finally, always make sure you have plenty of spare batteries. During Anime Boston I have to swap mine out at least once a day.
-Doug Wilder
Resident Mecha fanboy of AnimeCons TV! |
Edited by Nigoki on 07-09-14 10:07 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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Nigoki
Obsessed with robots
Posts: 1468

Reg: 02-25-09
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07-09-14 10:11 PM - Post#13913
In response to Nigoki
If it's lower priority things, I tend to text message people to keep the radio channel free. You just have to make sure people are paying attention to their phones. Acknowledgement replies are very important.
Just make sure everyone had texting on their phone and unlimited texting on their phone plan. You can (and will) go through a lot of messages. Even if it's just for the month of the con, you need unlimited.
And once again, spare batteries and chargers are super helpful.
-Doug Wilder
Resident Mecha fanboy of AnimeCons TV! |
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