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| "...its worse than I thought" |
Let's take a look at what's buzzing in the beehive state.
The following is a Discord chatlog between some of the vendors and Thornwing, board member of CMPC.
But what caused all this?
Apparently, according to a pile of screencaps, it has something to do with the handling of the vending space, accommodations, transportation, communication, approval of tables, and expansion into science fiction and "mommy" communities for cross promotion.
But beyond all that is evidence of plans for cramming the vendor space beyond reasonability, as indicated by this chatlog exchange between the former liaison Wintre, and another administrative staff member, David Halliday.
This message, when cross-referenced with the first exchange, indicates that Wintre was "fired" on Sunday evening.
Which led to the following statement from Wintre about the whole situation:
Note: This information has yet to be independently verified and is coming to us second-hand.
The vendor's concerns were addressed in the following manner, although whether this has been to their satisfaction remains currently unknown.
Time for some good old fashioned:
Well, shit...
ReplyDeleteGood article and detail, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeletePURPLE TRANNY IS A CRYSTAL METH ADDICT!
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!TCIDDA HTEM LATSYRC A SI YNNART ELPRUP
hay dick bag fuck off loser
DeleteDoes anyone with a Galaxy anything 8 actually use that right-hand pull-out menu?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone with a Galaxy anything anything actually use any of samsung's intrusive and bloated gimmicks?
DeleteWhich Brony convention will die next?
ReplyDeleteWhy are the vendors assuming that the con should provide transportation for them? And why are they offering to rent a van to haul them around, and then offering rooms at $25 per person per night? This cuts into convention funding, and as a vendor at other conventions, I find it highly unusual that a vendor would request that the convention be responsible for their travel accommodations. Genuinely curious.
ReplyDeleteBecause the con staff has to make promises it can't afford to keep in order to try and draw people in, be it attendees, special guests, or vendors. Looks like the pattern they're working with.
DeleteI don't see this "pattern" you speak of.
DeleteIt's part of their strategy to try and make sure they pull in the big names while disregarding the needs of their staff and local guests. You see, they moved from the Davis Conference Center about 15 minutes north of Salt Lake City to a convention center nearly 45 minutes south. Their idea was to save money because they have been hemorrhaging money every year due to horrible planning and "organizing" by the conheads. They try to drop as much as possible on big names and hope to break even. They've taken thousands of dollars from the local community and haven't spent any of it wisely. Sure we got BlackGryphon and Crieber even Andrea Libmam last year. But they drained every last cent and took money from every department's budget to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteAt CMPC every year there is a meeting after the con where they tell us how much money they lost and how they have to rehink their strategy. Then at the next meeting they talk about money they got from someone else to try and get big names the next year. It's a Neve nding cycle of horrible decisions. CMPC has ever turned a profit because the conheads egos are too big. They aren't willing to accept that they make mistakes and instead blame everything they can on their staff. Anytime there's been a feedback panel all the conheads do is take questions and try to blame someone else for any issues anyone has.
You want to know why they barely get any reliable volunteers? Because they never have the money to help their volunteers in any way. If you volunteer you're expected to buy your own staff shirt and sometimes badge into the con. The only people who get rooms are the conheads and big name guests or whoever they're trying to bribe to come to the con. They don't even provide volunteers with so much as a snack because again all of the money is going towards the big name guests. The volunteers and local community guests are left to fend for themselves.
CMPC has also brought on staff who have no business bring there. It's not uncommon for Julie to tell close friends that she'll give them a department director role when that person has no idea what the fuck they're doing. A few of those people brag that they've worked the local comic con as their experience. Not as department heads or any higher ups. But as line management or panel assistance or they might have brought so and so some water once. There are so many people on staff at CMPC that should have been let go years ago. But they remain because they don't know any better or because they're friends and God forbid they get their feelings hurt.
ReplyDeleteSo now we have CMPC in a location that's very public transit unfriendly. That will take hours for some to reach on Friday and Saturday night. Staff has to pay for their own hotel room at a premium at the hotel across the street or one that is a little cheaper almost a mile away. They dained every department budget as much as possible to try and get those big names. They're hoping to break even or that some miracle happens and people are suckered into coming to a con that is ran by conheads who constantly demand the world from their staff and treat said staff like garbage unless they're those close friends who just push their duties on to someone else so that those friends can get autographs or go to dinner with the VIP guests or even cone party with them in a hotel room.
You'll find the number of people who used to defend CMPC dwindling because they're slowly starting to see what's really happening behind the scenes. If other people could just understand how badly staff is treated and how were blamed and forced to answer for mistakes made by the conheads and pushed to our absolute limits. There are a few well meaning people on staff who want a good con for our community and who try their hardest despite them being treated the way they are but none of those people are Julie or David and I'm ashamed to say hat even Scott has started to surprise staff in negative ways too.
CMPC is going to announce tomorrow that this is their last year. They're going to say it's because of lack of interest or the economy or the fandom is dying or some other bullshit reason that isn't anywhere near the actual reason why they're ending after many years of being a horribly planned and drama filled convention.
The real reason is because some many people have picked up on their bullshit that they refuse to give them any more of their hard earned money. That's why pre registration is horrible. That's why they are going to try to save themselves by trying to throw money they don't have at more VIPs.
Stephen Wintre had his name slandered because he decided to stand up and challenge the conheads. Aspen Young was royally fucked over by David because he stood up to the conheads. Who will be next to get the blame?
Enjoy the announcement tomorrow. This is CMPCs last year. But it's the fandoms fault. Right?
Glad I stayed away from this one. They wanted me to perform in 2017, but they were kind of wishy-washy on even a free pass, let alone any other form of compensation...Glad I skipped that one, probably would've been more money they didn't have anyways from the sounds of it.
ReplyDeleteTheir loss. 'Anon and the Anons' is, after all, a huge musical draw.
DeleteSounds like the 4chan house band.
DeleteAll the vocals are computer-generated text-to-speech voices.
DeleteAfter so many years I have a feeling like the stereotypical egotistical behavior is all we'll be known for on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteCan they not get it through their thick skulls that SOMETHING might be wrong with all of this?
ReplyDeleteIn an age where "critical thinking" means posting on Yelp?
DeleteWow, Horse News spreading fake news again.
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Yeah for all that advertising that we don't have
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