LeakyCon.com released some very helpful logistical details about A Very Potter Senior Year yesterday, regarding lines and recordings. I want to write today not only about the lines, because I can all but confirm that I will be the main stage volunteer coordinator for this event and I want things to go smoothly, but also about the recordings, also because I want things to go smoothly, but additionally because I really want to play fair.
Firstly, while the post at LeakyCon.com gives far more specific details, what they want to emphasize is that both presenters and attendees alike shouldn’t have to waste their time with lines. Presenters put in a lot of work in order to prepare for a convention session. Attendees should go to their sessions and enjoy them! Simple as that. Therefore, attendees who go to sessions (or events or programming or whatever you want to call them) during the time slot before AVPSY, which is from 11:00 to 11:50, as AVPSY starts at 12:00 noon, will be escorted from that session by a volunteer (not me–I’ll be in the International Ballroom waiting for you!) into the International Ballroom BEFORE those who choose to wait in line. What this hopes to accomplish is 1) more fun by going to more programming, and 2) fewer people waiting in line, which makes volunteers lives much happier. Not that we don’t think you’re awesome–we just want things to go smoothly, and lines can cause problems.
Secondly, there will be absolutely NO video recording, photography, live tweeting, blogging, or reporting by non-press for this event. I have a policy in my classroom where if I see any sort of cellular device during class, I take it and bring it to the office, where a parent has to pick it up after the school day is done. Unfortunately, I cannot use the “see it take it” policy in this situation, but if I or any other volunteers see a phone out during this session, you will be asked to leave without a refund and you will be asked to delete your content. If this happens in the Grand Ballroom, where there will be a live feed of the event in the International Ballroom, the feed will be disconnected. In short, the LeakyCon staff and volunteers are asking that you take this policy very seriously.
As a teacher, I enforce the “see it take it” rule with my students. Unfortunately, I am not always fair, as I do, from time to time, take my own phone out during class, albeit to check school email, since I am the kind of teacher who likes to roam around my classroom and help students with their work, rather than simply sit behind my desk or lecture the entire hour, and I don’t want to run over to my desk every time I get a new message. My students call me on it sometimes. However, because I take this LeakyCon policy very seriously, I will also have my phone away (and turned off to avoid any temptation to take it out) during this time and will rely solely on the walkie-talkie that I will have with me if I have to communicate with the other volunteers.
You may notice that I have several videos posted on my YouTube channel with StarKid performers in them from last year’s LeakyCon 2011. There is one video in particular wherein Joe Moses says specifically to not post any videos of his Potion Master’s Corner session on YouTube. I pretended not to hear (or understand, as his “Snape voice” can be very unintelligible at times) that request and posted it anyway. In my video, he said he would post his own video later, but he never did so. I have user comments on that video ranging from those who are angry at me for putting the video up in the first place and requesting that I take it down to those who are angry at Joe Moses for not putting up his video that he promised to post on YouTube. I personally think, in all fairness, that I should delete all videos on my channel which feature StarKid or any of their performers, including Joe Moses. I may also delete the videos that I posted from the Ball, since they feature songs being played in the background which are the intellectual property of their respective record labels. I will decide and delete by August 1st.
What do you think about this decision to delete my videos? Write your thoughts in the comments!
