[Wedge]

Post your IRT questions here. Please be able to include all important information including but not limited to:
Who was the IRT operative's name, radio call sign, or detailed description� (Please don't say they were wearing a black vest. Everyone name was on their badges and their radio call sign was in orange print on their vest)
What is your specific concern or comment�
Where exactly did this event occur� (Main lobby between the elevators instead of lobby)
When did this event occur� (Please give date and time)
How would you like to see this matter resolved� OR How would you have handled it differently�

We will be working hard to improve IRT and the services we render for next year but to do this we need detailed and specific information.

[mmy-sama]

Wedge, on May 14 2007, 08:58 PM, said:

Post your IRT questions here. Please be able to include all important information including but not limited to:
Who was the IRT operative's name, radio call sign, or detailed description� (Please don't say they were wearing a black vest. Everyone name was on their badges and their radio call sign was in orange print on their vest)
What is your specific concern or comment�
Where exactly did this event occur� (Main lobby between the elevators instead of lobby)
When did this event occur� (Please give date and time)
How would you like to see this matter resolved� OR How would you have handled it differently�

We will be working hard to improve IRT and the services we render for next year but to do this we need detailed and specific information.

WHO: The entire hardworking IRT staff.

WHAT: Where working WAY too hard. I have some friends who are on IRT and I was hardly able to see them this Acen because they where always busy.

WHERE: The entire convention area.

WHEN: All weekend, especially a night when they should have been partying and having fun.

HOW: More appreciation and better behaved attendees.

[LolipopGestapo]

Wedge, on May 14 2007, 08:58 PM, said:

Post your IRT questions here. Please be able to include all important information including but not limited to:
Who was the IRT operative's name, radio call sign, or detailed description� (Please don't say they were wearing a black vest. Everyone name was on their badges and their radio call sign was in orange print on their vest)
What is your specific concern or comment�
Where exactly did this event occur� (Main lobby between the elevators instead of lobby)
When did this event occur� (Please give date and time)
How would you like to see this matter resolved� OR How would you have handled it differently�

We will be working hard to improve IRT and the services we render for next year but to do this we need detailed and specific information.

Who You if Wedge was the name on your vest
What Thank you!
Where Outside the entrance to Soap Bubble
When Around midnight
How Exactly how it was handled.

I was the girl who lost her badge in line and was in tears. I go to pieces when I'm lacking of the sleep and stressed. Thank you SO much for letting me into Soap Bubble! You made my weekend! I look forward to Soap Bubble every year and would have been devastated if I couldn't get in. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Shay]

mmy-sama, on May 15 2007, 12:26 AM, said:

WHO: The entire hardworking IRT staff.

WHAT: Where working WAY too hard. I have some friends who are on IRT and I was hardly able to see them this Acen because they where always busy.

WHERE: The entire convention area.

WHEN: All weekend, especially a night when they should have been partying and having fun.

HOW: More appreciation and better behaved attendees.

Agreed to all of the above. Everyone on IRT that I saw was very polite and VERY overworked.

[Pixie]

Thank you all so much for these kind words! we appreciate it! we all really do!

[rondo]

Who: From what I can tell, the entire IRT staff is a safe callout.

What: A general lack of knowledge of what was going on. For the Friday morning registration, I can't count all of the different explanations of line forming and what was for what. The Friday morning registration mass was poorly handled and was not taken care of until Saturday it seems (the queueing lines in the main lobby for reg and pre-reg should have already been setup the night before). I hate trying to help other congoers with questions when I can't provide them an accurate answer...and neither could the IRT member. Most info came from others in lines..which in a couple cases, they were misinformed as well.

Where & When: Everywhere, though one particularly was Friday morning registration.

How to fix it: Well, I believe communications between the rest of the con and the IRT needs to be better. The IRT needs to know just about everything that is going on with the con, as well as being kept updated promptly on changes. If anything, if the IRT doesn't know the answer to many of the questions, instead of trying to answer them or giving the "I'm not sure" answer, have IRT members direct those type of inquiries to convention information booths in the con without as much as a second thought.

Good job on doing your best handling the insanity.

[Pixie]

You are quickly becoming our main stay for gripes and concerns and im very glad for this. you are a very observant and informed individual and i can safly say thank you from all of us for bringing these things to light so we can try to deal with it all

about the friday morning problems there were a few things that had gotten changed that we did not know about and we are sorry for the lack of communication. there was alot of that this year and we have already started looking into ways of fixing that for next year. please keep infoming us of ways you think we should/could fix things since if i recal you work for the was it Oak Park forestry unit? if i am wrong i am sorry but my memory isn't the best and i have been reading alot this evening.

please feel free to Email me at IRTNightShiftNinja@gmail.com

Thanks for your input and i hope to be hearing more from you soon!

rondo, on May 16 2007, 03:54 AM, said:

Who: From what I can tell, the entire IRT staff is a safe callout.

What: A general lack of knowledge of what was going on. For the Friday morning registration, I can't count all of the different explanations of line forming and what was for what. The Friday morning registration mass was poorly handled and was not taken care of until Saturday it seems (the queueing lines in the main lobby for reg and pre-reg should have already been setup the night before). I hate trying to help other congoers with questions when I can't provide them an accurate answer...and neither could the IRT member. Most info came from others in lines..which in a couple cases, they were misinformed as well.

Where & When: Everywhere, though one particularly was Friday morning registration.

How to fix it: Well, I believe communications between the rest of the con and the IRT needs to be better. The IRT needs to know just about everything that is going on with the con, as well as being kept updated promptly on changes. If anything, if the IRT doesn't know the answer to many of the questions, instead of trying to answer them or giving the "I'm not sure" answer, have IRT members direct those type of inquiries to convention information booths in the con without as much as a second thought.

Good job on doing your best handling the insanity.

[CapsuleCorp]

who: not sure...it was several people

where: in the Hyatt lobby as well as in the dealer's room

when: primarily Saturday

what: complete failure to enforce the 4' prop rule.

I personally witnessed more than one IRT staff member walk right by cosplayers carrying props taller than themselves. As I am 5'4", I'm pretty sure said props were over 4'. One was a Demyx carrying a very large sitar (and consciously hugging it to herself whenever a black vest came into view - she knew it was too big) and one was a sailor senshi of some ilk (pluto? saturn?) toting a very tall glaive that did not have any sign of being able to break down to under 4'. She stood with it for a long time in the lobby near the bar, chatting with people, and I never saw it broken down. I saw other cosplayers, too, but that Demyx was the glaring example, because I didn't just see IRT walk past her and ignore her prop once, I saw it happen at least three times, and I never saw her without the sitar - afaik she was never asked to put it away.

HOW - well, obviously the simple answer is to ask for more consistent enforcement of the prop size rules. naturally, I already anticipate that the IRT staff will say, we were short-handed, we can't be everywhere at once, we can't catch everyone, sorry a few will slip through the cracks. My question, then, is this: do you guys appreciate someone coming up to you and telling you how to do your job, essentially ratting out another cosplayer? Would your people bristle and react badly to the suggestion that they ought to go over and bust that cosplayer, or would they happily take that sort of narcing in stride and go over and do it? It's somewhat of a rhetorical question - I'd like to know what your people would do in such a situation, whether it ought to be the cosplayer's job to start being a jerk and ratting out other cosplayers who can't keep their big props in the room. Or whether it is humanly possible for IRT to enforce such a rule with the con growing larger every year. Personally, I think some leeway is called for. Tall, thin props like staves, brooms, glaives, and narrow swords aren't an issue, tall, broad props like buster swords and sitars and scythes are. Not that I'm in favor of nitpicky rules, exclusionary type, but maybe one ought to rethink the feasability of enforcing those rules against a con growing out of control in size and a staff that can't or won't keep up with the demands.

[Wedge]

rondo, on May 16 2007, 03:54 AM, said:

Who: From what I can tell, the entire IRT staff is a safe callout.

What: A general lack of knowledge of what was going on. For the Friday morning registration, I can't count all of the different explanations of line forming and what was for what. The Friday morning registration mass was poorly handled and was not taken care of until Saturday it seems (the queueing lines in the main lobby for reg and pre-reg should have already been setup the night before). I hate trying to help other congoers with questions when I can't provide them an accurate answer...and neither could the IRT member. Most info came from others in lines..which in a couple cases, they were misinformed as well.

Where & When: Everywhere, though one particularly was Friday morning registration.

How to fix it: Well, I believe communications between the rest of the con and the IRT needs to be better. The IRT needs to know just about everything that is going on with the con, as well as being kept updated promptly on changes. If anything, if the IRT doesn't know the answer to many of the questions, instead of trying to answer them or giving the "I'm not sure" answer, have IRT members direct those type of inquiries to convention information booths in the con without as much as a second thought.

Good job on doing your best handling the insanity.

Yep, as the guy in charge of that mess it did not go well. People would have been instructed to go to the information services booth except they didn't open until 09:00 that day, most of the issues happened between 6-9. I think we had most of the problems hammered out by Saturday morning. We are working on plans to keep these problems from happening again next year.

CapsuleCorp, on May 16 2007, 05:08 AM, said:

who: not sure...it was several people

where: in the Hyatt lobby as well as in the dealer's room

when: primarily Saturday

what: complete failure to enforce the 4' prop rule.

I personally witnessed more than one IRT staff member walk right by cosplayers carrying props taller than themselves. As I am 5'4", I'm pretty sure said props were over 4'. One was a Demyx carrying a very large sitar (and consciously hugging it to herself whenever a black vest came into view - she knew it was too big) and one was a sailor senshi of some ilk (pluto? saturn?) toting a very tall glaive that did not have any sign of being able to break down to under 4'. She stood with it for a long time in the lobby near the bar, chatting with people, and I never saw it broken down. I saw other cosplayers, too, but that Demyx was the glaring example, because I didn't just see IRT walk past her and ignore her prop once, I saw it happen at least three times, and I never saw her without the sitar - afaik she was never asked to put it away.

HOW - well, obviously the simple answer is to ask for more consistent enforcement of the prop size rules. naturally, I already anticipate that the IRT staff will say, we were short-handed, we can't be everywhere at once, we can't catch everyone, sorry a few will slip through the cracks. My question, then, is this: do you guys appreciate someone coming up to you and telling you how to do your job, essentially ratting out another cosplayer? Would your people bristle and react badly to the suggestion that they ought to go over and bust that cosplayer, or would they happily take that sort of narcing in stride and go over and do it? It's somewhat of a rhetorical question - I'd like to know what your people would do in such a situation, whether it ought to be the cosplayer's job to start being a jerk and ratting out other cosplayers who can't keep their big props in the room. Or whether it is humanly possible for IRT to enforce such a rule with the con growing larger every year. Personally, I think some leeway is called for. Tall, thin props like staves, brooms, glaives, and narrow swords aren't an issue, tall, broad props like buster swords and sitars and scythes are. Not that I'm in favor of nitpicky rules, exclusionary type, but maybe one ought to rethink the feasability of enforcing those rules against a con growing out of control in size and a staff that can't or won't keep up with the demands.

This issue is something that I have known about plans are in the works for improvements next year. Some operatives were dedicated to rules enforcement, including the 4 foot rule. Others were working on other things such as Crowd Control. This matter will be looked into further.

[Pixie]

just to say this. we now have a few things in the works to make situations like this null in void as much as we can for next year! we are taking everything you are putting here to heart and making plans to try our best to rectify the problems...Thanks people!

[Amunet]

Who An IRT guy with shades and a hat with floppy ears (I believe)
What It was when IRT started controlling the elevators. I got on at the 2nd floor and went down (whatever goes down must go up) and we were ALL told to come out. No one was at the bottom waiting to get on except the IRT people telling us to get the hell out. Now, I understand about elevator control, but the guy was VERY rude about it. I asked why and he would not tell me, he just said it was because he said so.
A lot of IRT was very rude and took the "power" to their head and it was very unsettling to think that I could get my badge taken away just because this guy has an ego trip.
I repeatidly asked him why we were being evacuated and he would not tell me, nothing.
Where 1st floor at the Elevator Cluster
When Saturday Evening (about 9:45ish)
How I would like to be told why I'm doing something. I just wanted to know why or if while IRT is moving and getting things going can explain, it would help (instead of repeating him/herself a lot). I understand that things need to be managed but not in that fashion when it was just RUDE.
Making sure that IRT understands that they are there to HELP the con and not become powerhungry jerks would be a real nice way to handle it. Oh oh oh you should hand out buttons at the meetings!!

[TheRabbi]

Amunet, on May 18 2007, 04:32 AM, said:

Who An IRT guy with shades and a hat with floppy ears (I believe)
What It was when IRT started controlling the elevators. I got on at the 2nd floor and went down (whatever goes down must go up) and we were ALL told to come out. No one was at the bottom waiting to get on except the IRT people telling us to get the hell out. Now, I understand about elevator control, but the guy was VERY rude about it. I asked why and he would not tell me, he just said it was because he said so.
A lot of IRT was very rude and took the "power" to their head and it was very unsettling to think that I could get my badge taken away just because this guy has an ego trip.
I repeatidly asked him why we were being evacuated and he would not tell me, nothing.
Where 1st floor at the Elevator Cluster
When Saturday Evening (about 9:45ish)
How I would like to be told why I'm doing something. I just wanted to know why or if while IRT is moving and getting things going can explain, it would help (instead of repeating him/herself a lot). I understand that things need to be managed but not in that fashion when it was just RUDE.
Making sure that IRT understands that they are there to HELP the con and not become powerhungry jerks would be a real nice way to handle it. Oh oh oh you should hand out buttons at the meetings!! ^_^

Amunet, we got several reports about this situation and the ops that were handing it were talked to. Much of this sort of thing comes from a misunderstanding by first-year-staffers of what position IRT occupies at the convention. Because we have to pull a hundred people together from different states and get them all prepared for a job that only experience can teach well, proper education is lacking. We're well aware of it, though, and we are taking steps to remedy these faults, as we do with each year's problem spots.

[CuteButDeadly]

Who Lots of IRT members specifically one with longish wavy blonde hair and glasses.
What Invading the privacy of non con goers staying at the hotel
Where In front of the elevators on the second story lobby I saw a couple that clearly wasn�t with the con told by the man with the longish wavy blonde hair and glasses they couldn�t get on the elevator there they would have to go to the first lobby and then get on. The women was gripping about how he couldn�t tell her what to do and said she was going to complain to the hotel. And on the balconies I think it was the same couple was asked for ID�s and badges. I also saw IRT members knocking on hotel room doors a few times demanding that the door be open (yes they could have been going back to there own room but if that was the case why didn�t they have keys?).
When Various times during the weekend but the incident with the couple was on Saturday night around 10ish.
How You can�t assume that everyone at the hotel and staying in the hotel is are con goers if they don�t have a badge and there not doing anything wrong or trying to get in to con event you should leave them alone. Be respectful to those who are trapped in the madness.

[Some People]

CuteButDeadly, on Jun 18 2007, 12:10 PM, said:

Who Lots of IRT members specifically one with longish wavy blonde hair and glasses.
What Invading the privacy of non con goers staying at the hotel
Where In front of the elevators on the second story lobby I saw a couple that clearly wasn�t with the con told by the man with the longish wavy blonde hair and glasses they couldn�t get on the elevator there they would have to go to the first lobby and then get on. The women was gripping about how he couldn�t tell her what to do and said she was going to complain to the hotel. And on the balconies I think it was the same couple was asked for ID�s and badges. I also saw IRT members knocking on hotel room doors a few times demanding that the door be open (yes they could have been going back to there own room but if that was the case why didn�t they have keys?).
When Various times during the weekend but the incident with the couple was on Saturday night around 10ish.
How You can�t assume that everyone at the hotel and staying in the hotel is are con goers if they don�t have a badge and there not doing anything wrong or trying to get in to con event you should leave them alone. Be respectful to those who are trapped in the madness.

Wow, I would hate to be somebody staying at the Hyatt during the con but not attending. Imagine the madness! Especially if they didn't know about it prior to arriving/booking. Could you imagine walking into your hotel and have it full of strangely dressed people and staff members questioning you (IRT: Where's your badge? You: ...I'm um...not attending whatever that is...*scared*) ? I know I would probably just blink, walk out, and pretend I hadn't seen a thing.

Who: All staff, mainly registration.
What: Just a thanks.
Where: The registration lines in the convention center.
When: Thursday night.
How: Not really a how, but...well, we all know registration was disorganized, especially Thursday night because the printers were down and everything. See, this was our/my first con and we/I weren't quite sure what to expect. But, my mom decided to test our luck and go down on Thursday to see if we could get our badges (four of the six hadn't shown up by mail - I think we're still missing one ). Of course, the lines were long (I had expected that, apparently she hadn't) and slow and nothing was working right. Well, we had to be back by a certain time to pick up my younger brother from court-ordered visitation with my father (they're currently getting a divorce and visitation hours are very strict). It was obvious that we weren't going to get our badges that night, but my mom really didn't want to have to come down Saturday and wait in that line with not just me but three other teens and my younger brother. So, she went and found a staff member, explained that we had to be back in the next hour and lived forty-five minutes away, and they were totally cool about it. They pointed us to a working printer where they quickly got our badges run off and we made it back in time. On the way back my mom said that, judging by the fact that badges had been sent out so late by mail and that everybody had seemed so disorganized, she really hadn't expected that type of customer service. She said that it had shocked her, in a good way. She had just gotten so used to people not treating each other with respect that she really hadn't expected it, especially from pressured volunteers who were being hated by a large line of people.

[CuteButDeadly]

Who Its not really a who but a lack of who.
What The lack of staff members who weren't IRT. I know they were around but the only thing that distingusted them as staff was different color badges.
Where Every where
When All weekeend
How Have a more vissable staff. Have them wear a specific staff T Shirt at least one day of the con. Find more people to be on staff to wander around and be able to answer questions and handle situations like hallway conguestion and stuff like that.

[Harrison Bergeron]

CuteButDeadly, on Jul 9 2007, 10:55 AM, said:

Who Its not really a who but a lack of who.
What The lack of staff members who weren't IRT. I know they were around but the only thing that distingusted them as staff was different color badges.
Where Every where
When All weekeend
How Have a more vissable staff. Have them wear a specific staff T Shirt at least one day of the con. Find more people to be on staff to wander around and be able to answer questions and handle situations like hallway conguestion and stuff like that.

We did and we do. Saturday was staff shirt day.

If you saw a staff member in a dark blue polo shirt, they were convention managers.

If you saw staff members in black Anime Central t-shirts with the word "staff" on it, they were general staff.

If you saw staff members in black utility/tactical vests, they were IRT.

If you saw other people with fluorescent orange or green mesh vests, they were security volunteers.

There were a few people who were not in an official staff shirt, but a good number were.

However, with all of that being said, if you had trouble finding people to help you, it is still a problem and we need to re-examine our policy regarding staff visibility.

Thank you for bringing this concern up. Please be assured that we will look into it and work toward improving that issue.

B. Turner

[Demmykins]

CapsuleCorp, on May 16 2007, 12:08 AM, said:

who: not sure...it was several people

where: in the Hyatt lobby as well as in the dealer's room

when: primarily Saturday

what: complete failure to enforce the 4' prop rule.

I personally witnessed more than one IRT staff member walk right by cosplayers carrying props taller than themselves. As I am 5'4", I'm pretty sure said props were over 4'. One was a Demyx carrying a very large sitar (and consciously hugging it to herself whenever a black vest came into view - she knew it was too big) and one was a sailor senshi of some ilk (pluto? saturn?) toting a very tall glaive that did not have any sign of being able to break down to under 4'. She stood with it for a long time in the lobby near the bar, chatting with people, and I never saw it broken down. I saw other cosplayers, too, but that Demyx was the glaring example, because I didn't just see IRT walk past her and ignore her prop once, I saw it happen at least three times, and I never saw her without the sitar - afaik she was never asked to put it away.

HOW - well, obviously the simple answer is to ask for more consistent enforcement of the prop size rules. naturally, I already anticipate that the IRT staff will say, we were short-handed, we can't be everywhere at once, we can't catch everyone, sorry a few will slip through the cracks. My question, then, is this: do you guys appreciate someone coming up to you and telling you how to do your job, essentially ratting out another cosplayer? Would your people bristle and react badly to the suggestion that they ought to go over and bust that cosplayer, or would they happily take that sort of narcing in stride and go over and do it? It's somewhat of a rhetorical question - I'd like to know what your people would do in such a situation, whether it ought to be the cosplayer's job to start being a jerk and ratting out other cosplayers who can't keep their big props in the room. Or whether it is humanly possible for IRT to enforce such a rule with the con growing larger every year. Personally, I think some leeway is called for. Tall, thin props like staves, brooms, glaives, and narrow swords aren't an issue, tall, broad props like buster swords and sitars and scythes are. Not that I'm in favor of nitpicky rules, exclusionary type, but maybe one ought to rethink the feasability of enforcing those rules against a con growing out of control in size and a staff that can't or won't keep up with the demands.

Hahaha.. I have reason to believe that /I/ was that Demyx... The next morning I /did/ cut it in half, though. I was hugging it to death because I worked so hard in making it and I had NO idea that it had to be under four feet. It was my first time cosplaying and my friend Cloudy told me that when she cosplayed weapons didn't have to be a certain size. That was Anime Iowa I believe.. so yeah. I love my Sitar even more now that it's portable XD

Well I did kinda try to avoid being caught after I found out. I didn't feel like Demyx without it, and so I didn't even want to cosplay that night. But, I fixed it, as I said. And it shall be used in Subliminal Rhombus from now on. ^_^

http://i6.photobucke...eandmysitar.jpg

Also, the reason we were just sitting towards the lobby was because our Xigbar was trying to find a friend of his with a room for me to put it in. The place we were staying at was several blocks away and I was not about to leave it in the IRT room when I didn't even like being in there. Talk about intimidation >< I understood that I had to put it away. I admit that I was trying my hardest to reason with them that I wouldn't hurt anyone, but I understood safety measures and that the workers didn't need people complaining that my weapon was over 4 feet tall.

I'm really sorry about everyone who made you guys so mad, but at least some of us can fix the problem, if not right away.

[vo.]

even though it inconveninced me the IRT was doing a great job last year at registration i wasnt able to get in on time BUT even when confrouinted by an IRATE mom they kept there cool GOOD JOB GUYS

[Irish]

CuteButDeadly, on Jun 18 2007, 11:10 AM, said:

Who Lots of IRT members specifically one with longish wavy blonde hair and glasses.
What Invading the privacy of non con goers staying at the hotel
Where In front of the elevators on the second story lobby I saw a couple that clearly wasn�t with the con told by the man with the longish wavy blonde hair and glasses they couldn�t get on the elevator there they would have to go to the first lobby and then get on. The women was gripping about how he couldn�t tell her what to do and said she was going to complain to the hotel. And on the balconies I think it was the same couple was asked for ID�s and badges. I also saw IRT members knocking on hotel room doors a few times demanding that the door be open (yes they could have been going back to there own room but if that was the case why didn�t they have keys?).
When Various times during the weekend but the incident with the couple was on Saturday night around 10ish.
How You can�t assume that everyone at the hotel and staying in the hotel is are con goers if they don�t have a badge and there not doing anything wrong or trying to get in to con event you should leave them alone. Be respectful to those who are trapped in the madness.

....long wavy blond hair and glasses. Sounds like what I looked like last ACen. Invading the privacy of non-con goers? If we were sent anywhere dealing with non-con goers it was to investigate a complaint. And if someone was asked for ID's and Badges and happened not to be a con goer... well then... sorry?

-Irish

[trythisoutchiki]

Who was the IRT operative's name, radio call sign, or detailed description� I'm not very sure, he had a beard and ...a hat...sunglasses possibly wonderfully pudgy '
What is your specific concern or comment� THANK YOU, when the fire alarm went off and we ended up stuck next to the fountain across the street, you not only listened to our gripes, but even let us see the con schedule <3
Where exactly did this event occur� Out doors next to the fountain across the street from the hyatt, near some resturant that I didn't know existed till then
When did this event occur� it was either friday or saturday sorry for being so vague
How would you like to see this matter resolved� DON'T, keep being awesome!

[Bunni]

Amunet, on May 17 2007, 10:32 PM, said:

Who An IRT guy with shades and a hat with floppy ears (I believe)
What It was when IRT started controlling the elevators. I got on at the 2nd floor and went down (whatever goes down must go up) and we were ALL told to come out. No one was at the bottom waiting to get on except the IRT people telling us to get the hell out. Now, I understand about elevator control, but the guy was VERY rude about it. I asked why and he would not tell me, he just said it was because he said so.
A lot of IRT was very rude and took the "power" to their head and it was very unsettling to think that I could get my badge taken away just because this guy has an ego trip.
I repeatidly asked him why we were being evacuated and he would not tell me, nothing.
Where 1st floor at the Elevator Cluster
When Saturday Evening (about 9:45ish)
How I would like to be told why I'm doing something. I just wanted to know why or if while IRT is moving and getting things going can explain, it would help (instead of repeating him/herself a lot). I understand that things need to be managed but not in that fashion when it was just RUDE.
Making sure that IRT understands that they are there to HELP the con and not become powerhungry jerks would be a real nice way to handle it. Oh oh oh you should hand out buttons at the meetings!!

Hi i was the Bunni^^.

I am sorry for the misunderstanding. We were having many problems that night with elevator usage. I promise you that my exact words were "Please vacate the elevator", or "First floor everyone off." With a few very confrontational guests it became "Remove yourself from the elevator or we will be going to ConOps."

It was a very hectic situation and many mistakes were made, but the area was made safe because of the efforts. For all of the IRT working on the elevators that night you did a great job, even though we all wanted to cry after it was over. ^^

I spent the entire rest of the night apologizing to friends later that night that i had to remove them from the elevator. And to alot of random people who thought i was cool till i had to tell hundreds of people to get off the elevator. You don't always get brownie points working for the man, but without the man there'd be no acen.

p.s. If you are the young woman claiming you had a broken foot we offered you many options but riding the elevator in excess of 10 times up and down in a row makes a bad situation worse. You should not dance at the soap bubble on a broken foot, its bad for your foot. Ya I saw ya there 20 mins later.^^

[CuteButDeadly]

Irish, on Nov 30 2007, 07:06 AM, said:

....long wavy blond hair and glasses. Sounds like what I looked like last ACen. Invading the privacy of non-con goers? If we were sent anywhere dealing with non-con goers it was to investigate a complaint. And if someone was asked for ID's and Badges and happened not to be a con goer... well then... sorry?

-Irish

I think you kinda miss the point of my concern. Say some random women was staying at the Hyatt the same weekend, for any number of reasons she didn't know they con was going on that weekend. Cosplayer's bump into her, weird people ask her weird questions, and IRT asks her to not stand there, get off the elevator here ect. This women finds all this very annoying, she didn't pay good money to be harassed by a bunch of weirdos. She's walking to her room and some IRT member asks her to see an ID and doesn't give her a reason as to why she needs to produce her ID. Said women views this a violation of the rights of privacy one expects and is entitled to as a guest at any hotel regardless of any events going on in the hotel. She reports to the hotel and the police that she's being harassed by this IRT member and then the IRT member gets ticketed or escorted for the Hyatt ect., bad things happen.
Of course this is all a little dramatic but there are crazy people out there. You never know how outsiders others will react to the swarms of anime fans. IRT should be carefull about dealing with non-con goers so they don't piss of the wrong person.

[Wedge]

Its that time again for your comments and concerns. Remember to include the following information.
Post your IRT questions here. Please be able to include all important information including but not limited to:
Who was the IRT operative's name, radio call sign, or detailed description� (Please don't say they were wearing a black vest. Everyone name was on their badges and their radio call sign was in orange print on their vest)
What is your specific concern or comment�
Where exactly did this event occur� (Main lobby between the elevators instead of lobby)
When did this event occur� (Please give date and time)
How would you like to see this matter resolved� OR How would you have handled it differently�

We will be working hard to improve IRT and the services we render for next year but to do this we need detailed and specific information.

[this_chick25]

Who: the IRT guys in front of IRT Ops and in front of the Masq Green Room

What: you guys are amazing! Thank you for helping our group to clear a path to tote our Armor. I was trying to make my little voice as big as possible to get people out of the way, but large groups of people just don't take a little 5'3" 110 lb catgirl in a short dress very seriously no matter how much bass she puts in her voice. When the IRT guys saw what we needed, they took over and skillfully cleared traffic so we could get through quickly, and we sustained no damage on the way. Thanks again for all your help!

When: about 1:30pm to about 3pm Friday (the Escaflowne photoshoot) and about 2-2:45pm Saturday

[Kasin]

who: various members

what: the laura bailey autograph signing. i asked a irt person, who was even infront of the FMA signing area, and they said they didn't know where it was. then i keep asking and was told to look for a big sign label autgraph by the restraurant entrance. nothing was there. so then i'm told laura was at the FMA signing, i get in line and got yelled at by irt because the line started on the other wall and for some reason there was just a giant gap. finally while i was talking to the irt guy, laura bailey walks out and she directed me where to go...to get her own autograph!

oh and the fact that irt let some guy walk around Jason David Frank and trash talk him to others because he wouldn't sign the guys stuff, because he told him he trash talks him on rangerboard. IRT should of told him to move on or something, he waited till the signing was over to finally leave.

when: 1 to 2 on saturday, and 1 to 2 on sunday

where: dealer room

how: well if a irt member doesn't even know the person who is signing in the line there watching thats an issue, i would have daily memos of changes. keiko right down the street

and for Jason, well just help him out, IRT could of said move alone or etc. but they let the trash talk right next to the signing area talking stuff about him to his friend, and Jason looked very mad. I mean your paying them, and with some one like Jason David Frank you want him to come back. i mean i have other things to know he was mad, but i won't post them. i would pm them though. they pay for an autograph, not to act stupid. why would you say that if you want an autograph? reminds me of guy at a hockey game talking stuff while the player is in the box.

so just 2 small things

[sentinel28a]

I'm going to be a dorque and not follow the right format--just put down my own observations of IRT this year. I also didn't get names this year, so unfortunately I can't single out anyone in particular (I will bring a notepad along next year to watch the watchmen).

It's always easy and quick to judge IRT by the bad apples. It's not fair to do so. I'm sure most of IRT are hardworking joes and janes who really do their best in a hostile work environment. There's too many people who go to these conventions who do what they can to push IRT's buttons, and worse, absolutely refuse to trust them or any other security personnel. That's not IRT's fault, but those people's. I don't hold IRT responsible for that.

Also, I want to hand out particular praise for the way IRT handled the situation with the severely injured congoer on Friday night just before Anime Hell. A security cordon was set up, IRT was calm, and the ones I ran into were polite but firm in getting the rubberneckers (like me!) out of the way so the EMTs could work. There was also one particular IRT member who went down the reg line on Friday morning to let us know what was going on. Kudos to him for braving a surly crowd. I was similarly impressed with the level of coordination between IRT, hotel security, and Rosemont PD.

Now, on to the complaints...there have been too many reports of IRT members getting badge-heavy and throwing their weight around. I've seen this in isolated incidents in the past, but never on the level of this year. There was too many incidences of IRT members shouting, screaming, and haranguing congoers. Yes, herding ACen congoers is like herding cats, and I can definitely understand that after hours of trying to convince people that lines need to be out of the street and in something resembling order that tempers can snap. But I personally witnessed two IRT staffers in the Anime Hell line, one in the Masquerade line, and two others working the reg lines who were screaming at people to get into single file like they were Marine DIs at Parris Island. (Which is a friendlier analogy than the one I was thinking of at the time, I'll admit--that had something to do with the Gestapo.) I agree that there comes a time when being polite and firm no longer cuts it, and you have to start being tough--but these people were being bullies.

Two other incidents I personally witnessed: a friend of mine was out having a smoke when he was accosted by a female IRT worker who was short and heavyset. She asked nastily what he was drinking. My friend did not have anything remotely resembling a bottle or a can near him. She then demanded--not asked, demanded--what he was smoking. Any fool could plainly see that he was smoking a cigarette, or at the very least, smell that he was smoking a cigarette. Understandably, my friend was rather upset about the matter and invited the IRT staffer to kiss a certain part of his anatomy--and frankly, he was in the right to do so. Having worked security myself, you can and should be more professional than looking for trouble where none exists.

My own incident was with whoever was working the doors at approximately 11 PM during Anime Hell. Since IRT had in the past refused to allow people to reenter AH/Midnight Madness even if those people were stepping out to go to the bathroom, I asked her (again, a female staffer--bad luck on my part) if that was all right to step out. She addressed me in the most patronizing tone possible that it was PERFECTLY fine to do so and OBVIOUSLY she would allow me to return. I came very close to telling her that I have ten years on her and have not been three years old for some time. I would've if it wasn't for the fact that I feared being jacked up by IRT.

Finally, I witnessed several IRT members carrying Airsoft rifles. This should not happen. It gives entirely the wrong impression, and I think gives some IRT members an overinflated sense of purpose. You're providing security at an anime con; you're not riding shotgun on a convoy in Iraq and you're not Delta getting ready to rope into Mogadishu. Leave gunplay, even simulated, to the professionals of Rosemont PD.

I'm glad to see that IRT is willing to listen and address these problems. Good. Do so. There are too many complaints this year for it simply to be a case of otaku who got busted being asshats (and there were plenty of those this year, too).

Ben Da Mad Irishman

[Caleb]

Who: I'm not sure who it was exactly because he was heading to the weapons check-in, but he was VERY tall, wearing all black, and was carrying a FAMAS airsoft. The guys in the security room too...
What: I was on my way to the security check before I went to register, because as Revolver Ocelot, I obviously carry a very realistic replica revolver. I was stopped for a picture, and I pulled the revolver out of the bag just for the photo. As I was putting the revolver back in the bag, he stopped me very politely, asked to see the revolver, and did then handed it back to me, and asked where I was going. I told him the security check, and he lead me to it, and we had a nice conversation on the walk.
Where: The walkway in between the convention center and the Hyatt
When: May 16, 2008, around 3:30pm
How would you like to see this matter resolved: well, I think this is actually a great example of everything you guys did right this year. The IRT staffer waited for the picture to be done. He POLITELY asked to see the gun, and politely asked me to return it to my bag on the way to check-in. He also took over holding a door open to allow a con goer to catch up with her group. The guys in the security room were just as cool, and tagged my gun in a way that I could still twirl the revolver. It gave the Con a good start in spite of the registration debacle, which pretty much ate my friday.

[Smeet]

I had both a good experience and a bad experience with IRT. This being my first convention, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.

I was dressed as a white mage, with a staff that can be disassembled into several pieces to fit the size limit.

Pretty early on Thursday, an IRT stopped me and told me to get the staff tagged. I explained that this was my first ACEN, and he was very patient and explained exactly where to go to get it checked in. He also said that since it breaks down, if I was stopped again, I could just show the IRT that it does break down. (I think this IRT was Irish - he was wearing a kilt? Regardless, he was very nice. Kudos to you!)

Unfortunately, that didn't exactly work.

A few hours later I was standing next to a wall in the Hyatt lobby, posing for pictures whenever asked. I had my staff assembled, as the IRT had told me I could, as long as I showed that it could be disassembled. After a while, I had two female IRT watching me - as soon as someone finished taking my picture, the two IRT walked over to me and gave me a warning because I had my staff assembled when no one was taking my picture. This happened -twice- within ten minutes - you can't tell me that's a coincidence. The second time, the two IRT threatened to confiscate my staff.

I was completely blown away that I was being threatened before the convention even started!

I can understand cracking down on props that are bulky or dangerous, or being swung around or walked around with. But I was just standing off to one side, holding it in an upright position, against my body. My cloak was spread out more than my staff was!


I think perhaps there needs to be more consistency with IRT reactions. I mean, it's frustrating when one IRT says you're fine, then an hour or so later another is threatening to take your prop.


I met another really nice IRT earlier on Thursday, when I was waiting for a friend to come through the pre-reg payment line. I had my badge mailed to me, so I was in and out quickly. I wanted to know how close my friend was to getting through the line, and so I tried to go back into the registration room (through the entrance from the creepy hallway down the stairs, next to the car show). I was stopped by an IRT (don't remember his name though), but after I explained that I was trying to find my friend, he let me peek around the corner to try to spot her. Thanks!

[szwrld]

Who: I can't remember her name but she was blond and with a brown haired guy
What: I just want to say that she was very polite and courteous. My friend was cosplayed and had her badge in her pocket and a painted airsoft gun. The IRT member politely asked her after a photograph was taken to see her badge which she showed her and then informed her that she should get her gun tagged. She politely told us where it was and told us to enjoy the con.
Where: The Dealer's Room
When did this event occur: About 5 o'clock on Friday
How: I thought it was handled very well! Thank you!

[Caerulea Windseeker]

My issue with I.R.T. is discussed in this thread: http://www.acen.org/...showtopic=23262 . I did not bring it up just in this forum because it is not just an issue that I.R.T. needs to deal with. It is an issue that goes above I.R.T. to the very top levels of ACen. If the issue of con-goers' basic human needs while they stand in line is not addressed by the highest levels of con leadership, the issue will be forced upon them when someone has a major medical emergency or con-goers begin to find their own ways of addressing their need to use restrooms and stay hydrated.