A note about parties

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Unclekage's picture
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Just a quiet reminder to our attendees about our policy on room parties. We all love to get together with friends, and as the night wears on, some rooms seem to attract more people than others. That's what a convention is all about: getting together with friends. But in doing so, please remember that other people in the hotel are trying to sleep and we would hope that you and your friends will be considerate.

1) If you have some folks over to your room, please keep the door to the room closed. That's all the way closed, not nearly-closed-but-propped open. This is the easiest way to keep the noise inside.

2) Do not allow your friends to congregate in the hotel corridor. Even if they are trying to be quiet, their conversations are bound to wake someone sleeping across the hall.

3) Any noise, such as conversations and music, must be contained in the room. The walls of the hotel are thick, but not so thick that they can block the sound of a rock concert going on next door. Sound also travels rather freely along the corridors.

Please be advised that if the hotel receives too many noise complaints related to Anthrocon, their enthusiasm for our convention may be diminished. Help us to maintain our outstanding relationship with our fine hosts by continuing to be the sort of guests they like to have back year after year.

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RappyRaptor's picture
Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

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The sad part about addressing a message like this is there are only a small handful of attendees who read this message board and will get this message =/

Skippy DI's picture
Location: Detroit-ish

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Actually, almost all these sorts of posts will be downloaded and put in the Con Book.

-----------------------------------------------
David M Stein, DI

"Not Unlike the Toaster, I Control the Darkness"
-- Abby Normal, "You Suck"

The Sonic God's picture
"What is this "logic" you speak of?"

Location: New Brighton, MN, USA

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I hope you don't mind my comment on this, but a couple of times last year, I had to get to bed early so that I could be at the registration desk on time for work.

It became difficult to sleep with certain banging noises coming from an unknown direction. I couldn't just get up and politely ask them to quiet down.

So, please take in consideration that the neighbours you have are those of whom help keep the convention running smoothly for you. Eye-wink

Arctic FX's picture
Location: WI

Is there a method in which we may contact Security Forces if its not something that we can or wish to deal with?

Softpaw's picture
"Photographer-Pup!"

Location: Harrisonburg, VA 22802

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This would also be excellent information for those who want to responsibly run a room party to have, so that if an unruly person tries to ruin the fun for everyone else, or if the party gets out of hand, it'd be nice to have someone to call to lend a hand before someone else in the hotel calls security or the police.

foxcat's picture

hmm like dial-a-bouncer 1-800-bootdem

Skippy DI's picture
Location: Detroit-ish

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Yes, We will endeavor to post the in house phone number for the ConOps room, where Security is based out of, so someone can call directly to ask for assistance.

-----------------------------------------------
David M Stein, DI

"Not Unlike the Toaster, I Control the Darkness"
-- Abby Normal, "You Suck"

Softpaw's picture
"Photographer-Pup!"

Location: Harrisonburg, VA 22802

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Blog: [Link]

That would be greatly appreciated, thank you Smiling

Shot King's picture
"CAUTION: Unplug electrical devices before talking with this dragon."

Location: Laredo, TX

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oh... no trouble at all! *grumbles and tells the band he got for his room party to go home*

RappyRaptor's picture
Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

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I would think its hotel security's job to deal with noise complaints, where con security deals with issues during convention times Smiling

Tora's picture
"Charity Auction / Masquerade / Security Staff "Glutton for punishment""

Location: Northern VA

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Except you'll find in many cases, you would rather have Con Security talk to you rather than Hotel Security.. Con Security tends to be... more lenient / friendlier than Hotel Security.

Exkhaniber's picture

Precisely why if my neighbors are being loud, I'd rather call hotel security Sticking out tongue

Besides, hotel rooms seem to be a bit of a gray area and I don't think con security has any jurisdiction there.

-If someone walks up to you and says they are a pathological liar, would you believe them?

charlieg's picture
Location: Alexandria, VA

Thirty years of con-going tells me that it's better to to call con security. When hotel security is called, the noisemakers don't take it seriously. "We're just having fun! They don't understand!" Often, the noisemakers get louder as a result: "They're complaining about noise? We'll give them noise!"

Oddly, I've found that if the same people are approached by con security, they quiet down. "Gee, these people are from the con. If they're saying we're too loud, maybe we'd better tone it down."

It doesn't always work out that way, I admit, but my experience says getting hotel security involved almost never works out well. Try con security first, then escalate to hotel security if necessary.

Baker Bunny's picture

Oddly last year it was con securities room party that kept me up

Unclekage's picture
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Meep?? I'm sorry! You should have said something. We would have quieted down straightaway.

Er...not that I was there. It was the Dorsai. I was asleep at the time.

Baker Bunny's picture

LOL
it wasn't that bad I was just teasing

*chuckles*

SimbaLion's picture
"Audio / Video"

Location: Chicago, IL

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Honestly, it's better for everybody if you contact con security first. If the hotel has to frequently respond to noise complaints, it does not reflect well on the convention as a whole.

Steve Hopps aka "Simba Lion"
Anthrocon 2008 A/V Director
http://www.anthrocon.org/
E-Mail: smblion@anthrocon.org

Exkhaniber's picture

I'll keep that in mind. So far as I've been attending AC, this hasn't been an issue yet. Hopefully there won't be a first time.

-Estimated six so far. Let's hope it doesn't go higher!

Sgt Steve's picture
"When the sh*t hits the fan, we're the first blade."

Location: 12 scenic miles from Hell

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Now that they've had experience with us, the hotel prefers that you call con security. If you call hotel security first, odds are good that they'll just call us. That extra step means it'll take longer to get the noise quieted down.

We have no more and no less authority over the rooms than we do over the rest of the con. Thus we have all the authority the hotel and Uncle Kage and the attendees grant us. In practice, that's quite a lot.

SimbaLion's picture
"Audio / Video"

Location: Chicago, IL

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Generally in the convention business, you want the convention to deal with issues so the hotel doesn't have to. That's one way the convention can keep the hotel happy, which is important for a long term relationship.

On the other hand, if the hotel finds itself dealing with a unusually high volume of noise complaints, every year during Anthrocon.. well you get the idea.

Steve Hopps aka "Simba Lion"
Anthrocon 2008 A/V Director
http://www.anthrocon.org/
E-Mail: smblion@anthrocon.org

Tyrrlin's picture
"We can fix anything we repair"

Location: Sioux City, IA

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Again, amen, kudos, hooah and all that enthusiastic agreeable noise-making.

All sorts of people attend this convention from all over the world and we all have different sleep schedules and noise tolerances. Last year I had a room very near the elevator and it was torture trying to get/stay asleep because of the noise in the corridors (and I'm talking 12-2am here, so I don't think I'm being unreasonable).

Keep in mind that your staff, security, volunteers, Artist Alley attendees, Dealers, and quite a few panel presenters *have* to get up early in order to prepare for the convention each day. Give them the gift of a good night's sleep and I'm sure the everything will run much more smoothly.

~Tyrrlin

Alondro's picture
"Lions are lazy, very lazy. However, never tell one that to its face, lest you be sliced like bacon."

Location: NJ

Con security can use the 4 magic words that will cause silence: Kage will be informed.

All phear the roach! D:

Unclekage's picture
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No, that's incorrect.

The words are: "You woke Kage up."

Volknochi's picture
Location: Northern VA

Ahh, now I have to sew my sides up from laughing so hard. Eye-wink

SORCERER's picture
Location: San Francisco,CA

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"Hurry, get a glass of wine for this man!"
LOL

The secret is in you.....

mapdark's picture
"Happiness is simple : Spaghettis , love and sleep ^^"

Location: Montreal , Quebec , Canada

DUN-DUN-DUNNNN!!!

not words you wanna hear..

-------------------
I love you all ..

except for the people I don't like..

Tyrrlin's picture
"We can fix anything we repair"

Location: Sioux City, IA

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Doesn't that particular set of four words usher in the Apocalypse? I think it's in one of those old moldy tomes about the end of all life or something.... Smiling

~Tyrrlin

Sgt Steve's picture
"When the sh*t hits the fan, we're the first blade."

Location: 12 scenic miles from Hell

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It's amazing how many disputes with an attendee end with the question "Would you like to wake up Uncle Kage and ask him yourself?" Conversationally speaking, it's the nuclear option.

atrapardus's picture
"Heat induces royalty and thus: I am king!"

Location: Quaker Hill, CT

Well, from the standpoint of someone who does this almost daily, here's how a situations like this goes:

Complaint is issued, security receives said complaint and responds, security issues a warning, security maintains a presence for 5-10 minutes to ensure the noise level goes down and stays down.

Second complaint issued, security responds again with a record of the names of those who are registered to the hotel room, anyone not on said list must then leave, failure to comply will result in police response, situation resolved.

Now I understand that those at Anthrocon may have a less impersonal and methodical way of dealing with it, but that is generally how a situation like this goes outside of Anthrocon.

Unclekage's picture
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It is far more personal, especially if the noise results in me being woken up.

atrapardus's picture
"Heat induces royalty and thus: I am king!"

Location: Quaker Hill, CT

Well played.

XD

Skippy DI's picture
Location: Detroit-ish

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Yes, we are a little more personal and hands on while dealing with such complaints. We always start with the friendly approach, chat to the party throwers, get them to work with us to get things under control. The LAST thing we want to do is shut down a party or ruin people's good time.

We do hope that people will understand that we aren't going to step in unless things have gotten beyond limits, and will just see us as a safety valve.

The second time we have to come up, we probably won't be as friendly, always professional.

-----------------------------------------------
David M Stein, DI

"Not Unlike the Toaster, I Control the Darkness"
-- Abby Normal, "You Suck"

atrapardus's picture
"Heat induces royalty and thus: I am king!"

Location: Quaker Hill, CT

I figured as much, but I just wanted to give the folks commenting here an idea of how lucky we are that the Dorsai acting on behalf of Anthrocon are alot nicer than having someone like me show up at their door with the no-nonsense intent to evict with no negotiation.

We are lucky, aren't we?

Sgt Steve's picture
"When the sh*t hits the fan, we're the first blade."

Location: 12 scenic miles from Hell

Website: [Link]

This user is a Staff Member.

To take a different tack on what Skippy said:

When con security visits a party, we don't intend to rain on anyone's parade. We're trying to avoid having the party struck by hotel-backed lightning.

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