What my experience was like volunteering at Salt Lake Comic Con. Part 1.

Mid January 2014

Laying in bed on a cold January night, I signed up to volunteer at SLCC and was very excited to see all the cool costumes and take lots of pictures. Within a few weeks was the first volunteer meeting. It was insanely disorganized, Nick lead the group, he was very high spirited and easily distracted, a fun guy but the meeting was very much on the unprofessional side. Now this disorganization I'm sure was mostly due to the fact that this was all so new to everyone. It was in this first meeting that we interviewed for positions. I recall interviewing with Johanna. She was very professional and bright spirited. I enjoyed the interview.

The next meeting was for the volunteers selected to be Czars for FanX 2014. There were about ninety of us. Everyone who said they could work all three days were made to be Czars. It was in this second meeting that we met Johnny, a great guy, very professional. I took good notes and shared with other volunteers who showed up late or were otherwise unprepared. 

The final meeting before the event was at the salt palace itself for all volunteers. It was crowded but incredibly unorganized as well. This should have been a clue to me how everything is run at Comic con but I simply attributed this to Nick perhaps being overwhelmed with things to do. The Czars that were over certain areas were supposed to be there an hour early for a tour of what the event hall was going to look like and where things were to be located. There were about thirty of us. We all met together then split up into our groups by area where we had been assigned. I took my group through the same tour I was given, then answered the groups questions, This is when I first met an amazing guy named Rick. He came up to the group and introduced himself to me and offered his number and assistance with anything should the need arise.

Leading up to the event I noticed Nick trying to do almost everything by himself. I offered several times to help and he reluctantly, almost begrudgingly accepted after I visited him at his work after noticing him entering data online. I met with him, we chatted while I ate lunch, I tried to help Nick enter that data, but he rejected my help still, insisting on doing it himself.
In preparation for the event I planned out a map of the area I was assigned, Vendor hall 3. I contacted my fellow Czar assigned to the area and made sure he was alright with me spearheading a plan and sending out an email to all of the volunteers assigned to our area. He was grateful, as he was busy finishing a paper for a class. I really had no idea what to expect or how to run our little section. I wrote up an email detailing what little I knew and also that I had a surprise, an extra perk for everyone in our section. I personally purchased for those who worked under me, a star trek pin. I attribute the lowest attrition rates in the vendor hall to this little perk. I sent the email out to all of the volunteers assigned to my area. I was excited to hear back from most of them to verify that they would be there and answered any additional questions they had.

The day of FanX 2014 had finally arrived. I got there early to check out and familiarize myself with my area, as well as to get to know the vendors and help them with anything they may need. I really enjoyed this first few hours working in the vendor hall, which turned out to be the only time I would spend working that area.

I snagged this photo of my area before the doors opened.

This was because after a few hours, I noticed the lines from the adjacent autograph row running out into and blocking the main walkway between the vendor floor and the autograph area. I knew this to be a major issue as the fire marshal had shut down the salt palace for this exact issue at the previous event. So I contacted the celebrity handlers in charge of those booths that had lines building into the walkways and the answer I got was that the lines weren't their problem. So I contacted Nick, the Volunteer manager via text. He didn't respond, so after a while I called him, and he said he had sent someone to talk to me about the issue, Johnny. I met up with him and discussed the issue we were having and mentioned that this area had been over looked and needed attending to but that I didn't want to step on anyone's toes by tackling it without being given the proper authority to do so. After a short interview, Johnny gave me the go ahead to oversee line control for autograph row. I remember thinking, wow, that was fast. I had achieved my goal of climbing the ladder in just a few short hours with just a willingness to do what needed to be done. I asked him if that would be okay with Nick as I didn't want to get in trouble, not knowing that Johnny had more authority than Nick. He assured me he would let Nick know and that I could go ahead and do what needed to be done.

So I hit the ground running. I snagged all the volunteers from my area save one or two and put them in front of the problem areas and had them keep the lines forming in the taped lines on the floor that designated where the lines were to go. The lack of stanchions in this area was a problem because attendees didn't know how the lines were to be formed. There was only the tape on the floor marking out rough lines. So I set out to find some stanchions, only to find out that there were no more. All that the salt palace had were already in use. There weren't even any extra poles that I could use a rope to tie a few off to. So, that left me with the tape on the floor. The only other solution I could think of then was to put arrows down on the floor so that attendees would at least know which direction their lane was going. This coupled with volunteers monitoring the longer lines would have to do. So I started rattling chains to find out where I could get some tape to make arrows on the floor. The answer was GES, the unionized entity that sets up and tears down conventions for the salt palace. After contacting them about the issue and my solution for it, I was told by a particularly ornery lady that "(I) couldn't touch those floors, they belong to GES."

Remembering that great guy, Rick, from comic con that introduced himself and gave me his number should I need any assistance. I called him and I explained everything to him. He came over and sweet talked that ornery old lady and got her to give me some tape that I could use to make arrows to designate the direction of the path for lines, so long as I didn't mess with their tape lines on the floor.

I then had a large task ahead of me. As the areas needing arrows measured about 20 feet by the length the entire vendor floor. My fellow Czar Josh and I, and set out to tape arrows down while our volunteers manned the lines. I was also able to employ a few other Czars from the vendor hall and their volunteers to help with this task. After several hours the lines in some areas needed attending to. I came back periodically, doing what I could and at the end of 5-6 hours there were three of us still putting arrows down, Myself, Josh and a firefighter named Stuart. Nick came by about this time to check on things and I brought him up to speed and mentioned to him the extra work particularly that Stuart had done. He spent more time on the floor putting arrows down than anyone else had. To which Nick rewarded him with a big hug and a heartfelt thank you. I finished out the day doing the same thing, keeping lines in order and making sure the volunteers that were helping me had plenty of breaks and water.

At the end of the day, all of my fellow vendor hall Czars got together and discussed giving me most of the volunteers and offering their help for the remaining two days of the event. Saying that they had voted and decided to make me the manager over that area. I thanked them and laid a plan out for the next day, and just kind of left out the part that Johnny had already officially put me in that position.

Those of us in the vendor hall really bonded.

The dark lord on the bridge of... wait, what universe is this?

At the beginning of day two, I was more exited than ever to get to work. I used many of the same volunteers that I had from the day before to help with the lines. Nick came to me early in the day and mentioned that the Karen Gillan line would be a particular problem that we needed to address, so we set out a plan to run an overflow, Ro helped me steal some stanchions from Issac in the south ballroom so I could accomplish this. We set out an area and when the time came the line ran smoothly and just as we had planned. Best of all, the fire marshal didn't shut us down.

After Karen Gillans line had finally died down, I had a few extra volunteers beginning to stand around waiting for what was next. A security guy asked me to help form a meat shield around a golf cart that was positioned behind the autograph row curtains in the public walkway, so we could transport Karen Gillan from the autograph area to photo ops. So I went back in front of the autograph area to gather a few of my trusted fellow volunteers for the duty, Josh, Jacob and one or two others. After communicating to them what we needed to do and then positioning ourselves around the cart, I noticed a crowd starting to form to watch the celebrity be transferred. A few of the patrons had their phones out ready to take pictures of the celebrity. So as per my brief experience the previous two days had taught me. The best method to get patrons to put away their cell phones was to kindly ask them individually to do so. So I walked up to the first and gave him my sch-peel.

"Hi, The celebrities have asked that we don't take pictures of them. I think it's a union thing, I don't know. Bottom line, I want to leave a good impression on them so that they will want to come back next time."

Most people will have put away their phones at some point during the sch-peel. The first guy I addressed was dressed as Ironman in a minimal state. (From the third movie when Tony Stark was slowly being dressed by his suit so he had only a glove or boot on.) He was wearing a shirt that had something to do with the costume and a glove, not to mention he looked an awful lot like RDJ. I didn't give it much thought till about halfway through my script, when I noticed this guys beard wasn't colored in or fake, it was real.

This first patron stuck out mostly because his reaction was drastically different from everyone else. Instead of calmly putting away his galaxy note in agreeance, his jaw dropped and he slowly put it away. I thanked him then moved on to the next patron or two to give them the same script. After I had the initial patrons in the crowd put away their phones I went back to the front of the autograph area and grabbed three more volunteers to assign them to photo-bomb patrol. They were Mark, Heather and one other. Once I had communicated to the photo-bomb patrol what and where I needed them to patrol I returned back to my position in the meat shield around the golf cart and we eventually made our way to photo-ops. All the while, Karen Gillan was blissfully unaware of the trouble we had all gone to so that her transport would go smoothly.

I few hours later I ran into that same first guy in passing and apologized to him for having been a hard-ass earlier and complimented him on his costume. He stuttered through his responses and was quickly on his way.

Now to dissect the script:

Hi  -a simple greeting to put the patron at ease and also conveys a friendly tone.

The Celebrities have asked that we don't take pictures of them  -The primary communication.

I think it's a union thing  -This is a very important step because it shifts the blame from the celebrity (which may be their idol) to an arbitrary entity.

I don't know  -This takes all accountability away from me.

Bottom line  -conveyance that this is my main goal.

I  -makes it personal.

want to leave a good impression on them so that they will want to come back next time.  -distinctively communicates what my whole motivation is for even addressing this person individually. And if this person likes this celebrity enough to take a picture of them, as their actions have shown, then they will also share this goal with me, which establishes common ground and a mutual understanding.

And the all important follow-up, Thank them!

All this is conveyed through a statement that only takes eight seconds. Which is why doing so individually through the crowd is plausible. I proved its effectiveness for me at the Fan-X.

Exhausted at the end of the day I turned in my radio and headed to the hotel room that another fellow Czar and I were sharing. His name was Troy, we had met each other at the meetings and decided to split the cost of a room. He had been assigned to volunteer in the photo op area. As we went to sleep that night It reminded me of my time spent sharing a room as a teenager. Because we shared stories of what each of us had done that day and how much excitement and fun we had had.

I crack up at Johnathan's Wookie love story in this series of photos.

On Saturday Nick informed me of a line that was sure to give us grief, the Sir. Patrick Stewart autograph line. I was like, Bring it! For this line Nick had also employed Jed, a salt palace employee to walk us through how he wanted the line to run. Jed walked us through the route he projected then I was turned lose to 'make it so'. Nick provided me with extra help for the two hours we had to accomplish the goal.

It was about this time that some short cranky guy came out standing behind Patrick Stewart's table and began barking orders and complaining. I looked him straight in the eyes and told him to calm down, tell us what he wanted and that we would make it happen. So he began barking orders and rambling off issues that he foresaw and after his rant was over I asked him additionally what we needed to do to address the other celebrity he was representing, Karen Gillan, who would be signing simultaneously with Patrick Stewart. Which I think stumped him because I believe he expected me to stumble over what he had said and to have concerns, that he would have him repeat himself, with all the orders he had barked at us about Patrick Stewart. He then answered my question and calmly walked away. I didn't find this out till way later but it turns out that guy is a very poplar celebrity agent.

After getting all the volunteers in place and trained in on their part I had yet to eat lunch, it was about 2:30 so I went to quickly grab something to eat but was interrupted when Nick called me on the radio saying that Patrick Stewart had showed up early and was currently signing autographs. So I dropped everything and ran down to make sure the line went smoothly and according to plan. He was there for only about twenty minutes before he was off to do photo ops for an hour. He then came back to sign the remaining autographs which took about two hours. I bounced back and forth along the line making sure the front was running smoothly with the volunteers doing photo-bomb patrol so that no one was taking photos with their cell phones. Then back to the back of the line to make sure it was snaking in the right direction. Several times, I had volunteers get their own idea where the line should run and had to move it back to where Jed wanted it to go. I kept volunteers from having to leave on breaks by giving them granola bars that I had personally brought, in order to tide them over till the line had been depleted. Between keeping the walkways clear, using the railroad crossing tactic and listening to customer service complaints about the wait, I kept pretty busy. I made sure the fire marshal was alright with how things were running, I stood with him for a while to verify this, as he was standing in the middle of the walkway that was his primary concern.

There was one instance where an attendee refused to put away his camera so the photo-bomb volunteers came to tell me about it. I went over and addressed the man, asking the same question I'm sure the volunteers had, to which he gruffly replied that he would do no such thing. I tried negotiating with him, to see if I could get him to at least be more discrete about it. After a few minutes of talking to him, he opened up to me that he had just paid for a photo op for his sons with Sir Patrick Stewart and had bought VIP passes for them all, so that they could get through the lines in order to get the photo autographed. He simply wanted to have a photo of his sons with Patrick Stewart as he was signing their photographs, which he would then put alongside in the shadow box next to the primary photograph. After doing the quick calculation in my head, I realized this guy had spent well over a grand for this specific experience. I then decided not to prevent him from taking the picture but to prevent my volunteers from blocking his shot. So I stayed with him until his sons had gotten their autograph and made sure he was able to get that shot. At this point he had calmed down, from being berated by the photo-bomb patrol. I asked him if he got the shot he wanted, after he confirmed, I thanked him for coming and told him to enjoy the rest of the con. That was the one exception I ever gave to someone taking a picture of the celebrity. I feel he had already paid full price for everything else, this was the least I could do, to help him feel he got his moneys worth.

This cute little guy passed out as his parents waited in line to get an autograph.

Another notable experience was when an attendee had lost his ticket for the autograph and wasn't allowed to get the autograph he had paid for as the autographs were sold out. The volunteer he was talking with, came to me with the problem. Unfortunately, without proof that he had purchased the autograph, there was nothing I could do, not without proof. The poor guy began freaking out. While I tried to calm him down the volunteer, I believe it was Levi, went and found someone who could vouch for him that he indeed had purchased the autograph. I told him I would see what I could do. So I went up to negotiate with the cashier in charge of verifying purchases and pleaded his case. This time she allowed him to get the autograph. I walked with Levi back to the very distraught attendee and asked Levi if it would be alright that I told him the good news. When we got there the poor guy was a wreck, tears flowing he had obviously paid for the autograph with how upset he was. I told him to calm down because... we got it approved, he would be able to get the autograph! He almost ran up to the front of the line but I had to stop him. I told him to wait until he had gained his composure, that he needed to calm down a bit first, then we would escort him to the front of the line. Once the poor guy had calmed down, he got very excited, then I walked with him to the front of the line and explained to the group waiting that he had already waited in line, that we just had to resolve an issue. They graciously let him in. I briefly explained the issue to the handler who asked if I had verified it with the cashier, I affirmed that I had and he was able to get the autograph. I walked with him afterwards to make sure he was not going to pass out or anything. He thanked me and went on his way. 

Later that night, after things had calmed down. After we took the volunteer group picture and after my name was called in the raffle, I sat with Nick and Johnny. We compared pedometers and I trumped them all as I had over 50K steps that day alone. Referring to the raffle, Nick asked me what I wanted, that I could have anything. As he was very grateful for the hard work I had done. I joked that he should give me the Patrick Stewart banner. This was by far the convention that I enjoyed the most. I made lots of friends, made a significant impact and took plenty of photos with lots of cool costumes, which was my primary goal.

Here are a few of the best costume photos:

Thanks for the pictures Rob!

I have yet to get a good photo with this guy.