I felt a bit odd, too. A lot of the NYUSFS fans either weren't there, or kept themselves scarce. We haven't been going to Lunacon much lately - the last time was 3 years ago, and then 2 or 3 years before that - twice we were in Israel, once it was my parents' 36th anniversary, and once or twice we just didn't bother.
We didn't stay for the gripe session, either, which we usually do, because we had a previous engagement in the City that evening. Only 1211 warm bodies, eh? There were a few visible holes in the management: an unattended cashbox in one location, the lack of publication of opening hours for standing Con functions in the pocket program or program grid (nowhere did it state that Book Raffle ticket sales closed at 12 on Sunday). I also wondered at the rather thin attendance at a lot of the panels. Panels booked into Grand North or Westchester C-D with 30-40 people in them. Even most of the panels in the Transdimensional Corridor rooms were kinda thin. And a lot of panelists didn't appear for their panels. Debbie sat in as an Emergency Holographic Panelist in "The Year in Fanfiction" because two out of three panelists didn't appear.
How does Lunacon set up its program? Arisia sends out letters to registered program participants asking for ideas for panels. They collate those, send them out again, and ask people to volunteer for as many as they'd be interested in. If they get enough people signed up to do a panel, they'll generally hold it, space/time permitting. It involves three mailings (ask for ideas, send out collated list, send out final assignments), but it does seem to ensure that people will get interesting program items.
no subject
We didn't stay for the gripe session, either, which we usually do, because we had a previous engagement in the City that evening. Only 1211 warm bodies, eh? There were a few visible holes in the management: an unattended cashbox in one location, the lack of publication of opening hours for standing Con functions in the pocket program or program grid (nowhere did it state that Book Raffle ticket sales closed at 12 on Sunday). I also wondered at the rather thin attendance at a lot of the panels. Panels booked into Grand North or Westchester C-D with 30-40 people in them. Even most of the panels in the Transdimensional Corridor rooms were kinda thin. And a lot of panelists didn't appear for their panels. Debbie sat in as an Emergency Holographic Panelist in "The Year in Fanfiction" because two out of three panelists didn't appear.
How does Lunacon set up its program? Arisia sends out letters to registered program participants asking for ideas for panels. They collate those, send them out again, and ask people to volunteer for as many as they'd be interested in. If they get enough people signed up to do a panel, they'll generally hold it, space/time permitting. It involves three mailings (ask for ideas, send out collated list, send out final assignments), but it does seem to ensure that people will get interesting program items.
In general, we had a good con, though.