Guests Procedures

General Guest Policies

• Absolutely no one is allowed to speak on the con's behalf as to whether a guest will be accepted/denied except those authorized to do so.
  • Those authorized to do so: Beta. Llama. Thomas.
• All humans who send an email to the guests queue should receive a timely reply (as opposed to mailing lists, bots and mass emails which can be ignored).
• All guests who are suggested or email us requesting guest status will have a guest file note created in Evernote (May be changing to just a row in the decision spreadsheet)
• All guest notes must be approved or denied in a timely manner
• All denied guests must receive a polite denial email
• All guests must be contracted before they can be announced / Guests cannot be announced until the convention has received a signed contract from the guest.
• All guests will be announced in a timely manner after they are contracted
• For all staff members who need guest information, the Guest File Evernote folder must be shared.
• No staff member is to make publicly available any information we have received from guests (in Evernote, spreadsheet, database, etc.) except for the Guest Bio and Head Shot.
• Any staff member who needs guest information that is not in the Evernote file must be authorized before contacting the guest directly. If staff member is not authorized to contact the guest then staff member must request the information from the relevant department head who is authorized who will contact the guest on their behalf.
• Staff members will put forth their best effort to keep the current year Evernote file (or replacement) as updated as possible.
• All Staff members will follow up with guest or other relevant staff members in a timely manner.
• If a flight is provided, it will always be the cheapest possible option that will still work within the guest's limitations (such as work, time, or distance)
• All staff are to treat the guests as they are to treat everyone - professionally and with utmost respect.
• Merchant documents should be handled through the contracting department.
• No staff member is to ever publicly speak poorly about a guest. However, if there is an incident with, or a complaint about a guest, it must be reported to the convention chairs ASAP.

General Procedure

Methods of contact:

• Guests email us
• Representatives/managers email us
• We email guests or representatives/managers.

We generally do everything by email. When we have a prospective guest, we will create a record for them in a spreadsheet designed to help make the decision as to whether we can bring them in. We will also create an Evernote record if they are likely to be approved now or in the future. Decisions are based on how popular a guest seems, how much we want to work with them, and how expensive (or inexpensive) they are.

Spreadsheet is located in Bitrix24\Guests\Guests Decision Worksheet.xls

When a guest is approved, we have a contract template located in Bitrix24\Guests\Guests Contracts\2018 Guest Contract Template.dotx The contract template MUST BE OPENED WITH MICROSOFT WORD. Libra office and Open Office will not work as how we want. The template has drop-down select boxes for the most common things we do for guests so that the language is already set and we don't need to bother the contracts department unless we need to do something special. Most guests can have a standard contract built from the template.

New contracts are saved in the Bitrix24\Guests\Guests Contracts\GUEST-NAME\ folder.

Once the contract looks how we want and is approved, it's made into a PDF form and sent to the guest. As part of this process we also ask for an updated headshot and bio.

After we've received a signed contract:

• the signed pdf is added to the bitrix24 folder and Evernote
• the guest is posted on the website and posted on social media (if we have headshot and bio)
• we put them in the registration system
• we add their panels to the panel system and get them scheduled
• any flights are purchased if needed

A list of guests who need hotel rooms are given to the venue.

As part of the final scheduling process, all guests should be sent their schedule so that they know what they are expecting for the weekend and if they have any changes.

Example Emails for Reaching Out to Potential Guests

The following emails should only be sent if the guest has been approved:

Reaching out to a guest we've had in the past

Hello {name}!

SNAFU Con has returned and would love to have you return with us!

This year our dates are {dates}.

Since you have been a guest of ours in the past, we are more than happy to send you a contract with the same terms as before. It is attached to this message, feel free to look it over and we can discuss any potential changes. Once it is signed we will announce your appearance and begin planning your panel times. Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any questions.

Looking forward to seeing you!

{signature}

Replying to a guest who reached out to us first

Hi {name}!

Thank you so much for your interest in being a guest at SNAFU Con!

This year the convention is {dates}.

The Convention Chair is considering you as a guest and we would be happy to discuss your terms and requirements. Please send us your requirements for consideration.

Thanks!

{signature}

Cold contacting a guest we are interested in who has not previously reached out to us

Hello {name},

My name is {name} and I am reaching out on behalf of the Sierra Nevada Anime Fans Unite! Convention (SNAFU Con). This is an anime and gaming convention that happens annually in Reno, NV.

This year our convention dates are {dates} at {location}.

We would love to talk with you about attending the convention as a guest this year. If you would be interested, please let us know what your requirements are to be a convention guest so that we can explore further.

Looking forward to working with you!

{signature}

When [email protected] Receives An Email

This task can be handled by any trustworthy lackey who can write somewhat business-like (no typos). So - higher level general staff, or upper staff, cleared through Beta, Llama, or Sammich (as the best 3 business writers on staff).

1. Once an email comes in, review the Evernote SNAFU Con Guest File for the guest.
2. If the guest is in the file:
   1. Copy the note into the same folder
   2. Remove all tags from the new note
   3. Add new tag "SNAFU Con (year)"
   4. Update the note with new contact info and/or any new info from the email
   5. If head shot, bio, panels, or requirements are not updated new, make sure to note that in the file in each of those headers (Example: "Requirements (2014 Information):"
   6. Delete the contracts from the file and remove any emails from the previous year unless they seem to be particularly relevant.
   7. Add new contact email to "Relevant Emails" section
   • Update the "First Contact" and "Contacted by"
3. If the guest is not in the file:
   1. Create a new note for the guest from the template. Fill in as much information as possible from the email.
   2. Add new tag "SNAFU Con (year)"
4. Email guest back to ask for more needed information, or verify information on file. We really would like to know:
   • Appearance fee and other requirements
   • Bio
   • Head shot
   • Contact Info
   1. Wait for guest reply
5. If guest does reply
   1. Update the guest note with the information given
6. If guest does not reply within 1 week move on to the next step. Do not email guest again unless directed to do so.
7. Ping people in the Guests hipchat room notify us that the guest note exists in Evernote and needs review
8. Change RT ticket status to Stalled. (This will not remove it from the Guest Queue)
9. Follow up every so often until you receive approval/denial of guest.
10. If guest is approved
    1. Reply to the guest and let them know they were approved and that they will be contacted by our Contracts department
    2. Make sure @llama is contacting the guest to get the guest contracted (Maybe CC the approval email to Llama or contracts@, but you still want to ping him in HipChat)
    3. Close your ticket - you are done.
11. If guest is denied
    1. Reply to guest using a customized standard ("Canned") response in RT
    2. Close the ticket. You are done.

Email Example

Hello (Name),

Thank you for your email! The chair is considering you as a guest for this year. Can you please send me your requirements so that I can give them to the chair for consideration.

Thank you,

(Your name) SNAFU Con Guests Department
http://snafucon.com
[email protected]

Guest Choices Which Weren't Emailed

Sometimes the chair adds choices to the mix.

1. Go to the Guest File Template
2. Copy the template
3. Create a new note
4. Paste into the new note
5. Title the note with the guest name
6. Rename the first line of the note with the guest name
7. Fill in the information as completely as possible
8. Contact guest to receive missing necessary information.

Guest Approval Process

The head of guests or the chair decided on the guests.

Procedure after decision:

1. Tell person handling email whether guest is approved/denied
2. If guest is approved, CC approval email to Contracts Department for contracting

Contracts Department

Once the guest has been approved they need to be contracted.

Contract's Procedure:

1. Review Evernote for information on approved guest
2. Create or update the current year's summary file for approved guests per the template
3. Create contract using previous years as templates
4. Attach the doc file to the Evernote Note (Dropbox no longer required for this step)
5. Get Beta to approve contract (if a reasonable period of time has passed without approval, consider it approved and push forward)
6. Create a signable PDF of the contract (Can save to dropbox - no need to save into Evernote)
7. Reach out to guest via email with their signable PDF contract attached
8. Keep following up with guests until you have a signed contract
9. Attach signed contract to Evernote file (Note: We may also have a location to upload it to BACON at some point but that is not a thing yet.)
10. Email: registration@, sm@, programming@, chair@ with the names of the contracted guests and a reminder that the information for them is in the Evernote file (Alternatively, you may ping the relevant heads in hipchat.)
11. If guest has a table, make sure they also fill out a merchant contract. Do not wait for this contract to alert everyone about the guest.
    • Note: As of 2014, YOU are responsible for guest merchants checkin/checkout at-con

After Contracted

Registration

Once contract email is received, an admin or staffer with sufficient rights needs to create the badge for the guest.

1. Log in to BACON
2. Navigate to Guests Management (Registration --> More Options --> Staff --> Users --> Manage Guests)
3. If individual was a guest in a previous year, find the person and click "Add me to (year)!"
4. If individual has a BACON account, but was not a guest before:
   1. Click "Make a current user into a guest."
   2. Yell at the administrators when you realize that it's a broken link (is this still accurate?)
5. If the individual is new to us:
   1. Click "Create a new guest"
   2. Fill out the form as completely and accurately as possible using the Evernote File.
   3. Click Submit

Social Media

Once the contract email is received, social media needs to post on the site and blast social media with guest info.

Note: At this time head shots must be uploaded by the website admin. Email webmaster to request specific head shots be uploaded.

1. Retrieve guest head shots & bios from the Evernote file
2. Post the guest to the guest list and index
   1. Log into BACON
   2. Navigate to the Webpage UI (Welcome --> More Options --> Staff --> Site & Other --> Webpage)
   3. Click "guests.php"
   4. If last year's guests are active, set all the guests to inactive.
   5. Set any guests to "archived" if we are not going to have them this year (if we need to unarchive any past guests, request it of the webmasters)
   6. If the guest already has a profile, set them to active and update it
   7. New guests can be added at the bottom
   8. Pay attention to the Order numbers. Update all guests so that the newest guest is on top and the oldest contracted guest is on the bottom. Alternatively, you can order them alphabetically but we traditionally post by contract date order.
   9. Once you have updated all guest bios as necessary, click "Submit" at the bottom (or click in a small field and hit "Enter" on your keyboard)
   10. Click "Return to website management index." to go back to the index.
   11. Click "index.php"
   12. Scroll to the bottom to add a new announcement
   13. Write an announcement for any guests you have posted. Include pictures, names, and links to the guest page (not bios!)
3. Do a social media blast for newly posted guests
   1. Post the guest bio and picture with a link to http://snafucon.com/guests to Facebook
      • IFTTT posts facebook posts to tumblr. Facebook connects and posts to twitter.
   2. If necessary, update tumblr to make post look better

Programming

Once the contract email is received, programming needs to schedule the guests.

1. Get the list of panels from the Evernote file.
2. If there isn't a list of panels:
   1. Contact the guest via email and request their panels.
   2. Continue to follow up with guest until panels are received
3. Enter desired panels in BACON
4. Schedule the panels
5. Contact guest with proposed schedule and ask for approval or changes
6. Negotiate schedule with guest as needed until finalized
7. Keep guests apprised of any necessary schedule changes
8. A few weeks before the convention, email all guests their final schedules again.

NOTE: You should probably provide the guest with your cell number or a way of contacting you at the con for panel-related concerns/needs.

Design

1. Pull all approved guest bios and head shots from Evernote file
2. Use head shots and bios for designing con book guest pages
3. Make sure to leave a good amount of white space for signatures

Accounting

Flights

For guests who have flights - as soon as a guest is contracted the flight should be purchased immediately.

1. Get guest flight information from the Evernote file
2. Find cheapest flight from necessary airport on the required days around the con (usually arriving Thursday and leaving Monday)
3. Contact Guest with flight options for approval before purchase
4. Negotiate flight with guest as needed
5. Once approved, purchase flight
6. Email guest with itinerary (many times this can be handled automatically by the airline in the purchase process)

Checks

Any guests that have appearance fees and/or per diem must have the checks run before con.

1. Issue appearance fees checks for any guests who have them
2. Issue separate checks for per diem fees
3. Sign the checks
4. Put appearance checks in individual envelopes - one envelope per guest
5. Place these envelopes in a large yellow envelope and label it
   • Appearance fees are to be given to the guests halfway through the con.
   • If there are any guests with appearance fees over $600, attach the guest's envelope to a Form W-9.
     • Form W-9 must be filled out and returned for guest to receive appearance fees.
6. Put the per diem checks in separate envelopes - one envelope per guest
   • This envelope will be attached to the guest con bag and badge as per diem fees are due to the guest at the beginning of the con. In 2014 we put the badges in this envelope but it caused confusion.
7. Follow up with registration to ensure that guest con bags are complete

Venue Liaison

Venue liaison or applicable individual needs to reserve rooms for any guests who need them.

1. Get or create a list of all guests who need rooms
2. Create a room list for the guests
3. Send room list to venue to place on master account

At Con

Liaison

1. Introduce yourself to guests
2. Someone should update this procedure with what you do at-con because I only have a vague idea and I don't want to tell you what you do because I know you know it better than I do.

Programming

1. Introduce yourself to guests
2. Do everything in your power to make sure the guests' panels are going well
3. Check in at the beginning and end of every guest panel
4. Make sure underlings are pushing feedback forms and counting the rooms because this helps us decide on if we want guests back

Contracts

1. Introduce yourself to guests
2. Deal with any guest issues as needed

For Tabling Guests

1. Make sure tabling guests are aware of the things they need to do as merchants (sales tax and that they must check out with YOU when they are done tabling)
2. Give guests the tax forms
3. Receive the tax forms at the end of con
4. Verify the forms for accuracy
5. Receive funds from all guests
6. Turn funds in to accounting by end of con