[Komurin II]

ピケギン, on May 11 2008, 04:38 AM, said:

I have never had a problem reaching Lynn before tonight, and I am not blaming anyone in particular for filling her box. I am just asking people to use it as more of a last resort so people like me can get in on the situation and help! I do apologize on her behalf and I know you may be stressed about your individual panel, but she has to worry about many panels. I am NOT trying to make excuses, and when I can reach her, as I said, I will do everything I can do to try and make things better. I just feel it only fair shes not constantly interrupted by phone calls while shes in the middle of studying, that's all.

And that's a perfectly fair request, but she did make her number available to us. I have only called her when I have been particularly alarmed by something and I only ever try once. If she doesn't answer, I try to reach someone else some other way.

However, painting an image like we panelists are calling her every few minutes while she's trying to studying is unfair to us and just makes us panelists sound bad. If she really needed to study, she could and should turn her phone off. I need to study without any distractions at all, so I put on headphones.

Please don't try to guilt trip us about her circumstances. We all have our sob stories and we're all trying to make the best of a crappy situation.

I feel like if we all hadn't been so afraid of contacting you guys and waiting patiently for word before this, we wouldn't all be here trying to hash out a schedule as last minute as this.

[ピケギンゴ]

Komurin II, on May 11 2008, 08:43 AM, said:

And that's a perfectly fair request, but she did make her number available to us. I have only called her when I have been particularly alarmed by something and I only ever try once. If she doesn't answer, I try to reach someone else some other way.

However, painting an image like we panelists are calling her every few minutes while she's trying to studying is unfair to us and just makes us panelists sound bad. If she really needed to study, she could and should turn her phone off. I need to study without any distractions at all, so I put on headphones.

Please don't try to guilt trip us about her circumstances. We all have our sob stories and we're all trying to make the best of a crappy situation.

I feel like if we all hadn't been so afraid of contacting you guys and waiting patiently for word before this, we wouldn't all be here trying to hash out a schedule as last minute as this.

The last thing I have to say on the matter is that when I can get ahold of her, I will do my best to try to rectify the situation if anything can be done. Please do not infer anything else.


Thanks.

-Chris
(Panel staff, even though the forum doesn't denote it)

[cactusmomma]

ピケギン, on May 11 2008, 06:37 AM, said:

RenegadePocky, You may have put that there, but it is nowhere on the data sheet I received. Again, I apologize that its up against a meetup, but we did the best we could with the data we were given. If we see something that might work for you during the last edits, we will let you know.

We're trying to get everyone to move this gathering to 4 pm now.

It just..kind of really irks me that the only One Piece panel was scheduled at the time of the only One Piece meetup (which I DID inform you guys of upon application), where everyone who would be attending said panel would be at at that time. Edit: There's another issue at hand, but that can stay off the public boards. Pm or aim me at kohakuscactus.

Ninja edit: Thanks for that.

[Gani]

�s�P�M��, on May 11 2008, 02:00 AM, said:

Wonderful! Sad thing is because people have bombarded Lynn, I cannot get ahold of her. I need to most recent changes to the schedule to be of any help. Indeed my solution was to switch the two panels and have yours run in that half hour gap between the two. I was going to suggest this because on my data sheet, the only request I have from you is to not be scheduled with the yaoi panel, I saw nothing about the masquerade.

Gani, I will continue to try and find a suitable solution for you. You are both scheduled for a very large room not directly in the hotel. I do not know the hours it is available to us, and I do not have a recent schedule because people have walled in Lynn. I will continue to try to get ahold of her tomorrow.
Thanks.

-Chris
(Panel staff, even though the forum doesn't denote it)

It would have been nice to switch if it worked, but since it doesn't, maybe you can switch another two, or simply put this panel as the last panel in the night in some room. (I'm sure you're considering both options from what it sounds like ) Thank you for working hard for me. I haven't gotten an email indicating you got my email yet, so I came back here to the forum this morning, and I'm relieved to see my problem is being worked on (I do realize it's Sunday now so that might slow that down). But that doesn't mean you get to forget about me now

I'm not sure who was being spoken to when saying "telling us things you can't be scheduled during is important," but in case that was aimed at me, I in fact said that I couldn't be put during the masq for my aforementioned reason.

For my internet, I have to use public computers right now, so I won't be able to check here or email exceedingly often. So, if you come to a decision, please email me too, just make sure I get it.

Thank you,
Gani

[Illia Sadri]

Alright... I am not about to tolerate rudeness to Chris, Ryan or anybody else on panel staff. They are trying everything to help you. However it relies on not being unreasonable and accept we are not superhuman. And I cannot state the issues I had with behind the scenes stuff that kept the schedule form being done a couple weeks ago.

As far as the voicemail being full... it was not intended to be an accusation against anyone. I am receiving calls from my bosses, from people in the department and panelists. But some people ARE calling too much and not giving me time to get back to them. I am not accusing anybody specifically as it is a compound issue. It is getting too troublesome to keep emptying it so if you call and get no reply I will see your number as a missed call and call back. I keep my phone on at all times so if I do not answer it means I am likely working, in class or in a place like the shower. But do understand that I cannot always be there to answer.

But please listen to yourselves when you get huffy over Chris simply explaining that I am a little less available because finals start for me tomorrow. He figured to alert you guys to what is happening right now and people throw it back at him and are being rude to him and myself. If you know you only called once, then you are not an issue. You obviously are not acting out of line. Don't get defensive if you did things the proper way because I am then not referring to you.

We are trying to make people happy, but I am a lot more willing to deal with it if people are respectful and kind in return. One young woman called yesterday because due to some really odd field problem in the database we have she got the times for the wrong panel. I remembered the panel she had by name and said I know it is on the schedule and would email her the proper time once I got on the computer. But she was very, very nice about things and I am willing to do things to help her.

Basically, be respectful. We are here to help you but the fact is we also have lives. I do not have to tolerate rudeness nor should anybody else trying to help you to the best of our ability.

[ピケギンゴ]

Gani, on May 11 2008, 02:42 PM, said:

It would have been nice to switch if it worked, but since it doesn't, maybe you can switch another two, or simply put this panel as the last panel in the night in some room. (I'm sure you're considering both options from what it sounds like ) Thank you for working hard for me. I haven't gotten an email indicating you got my email yet, so I came back here to the forum this morning, and I'm relieved to see my problem is being worked on (I do realize it's Sunday now so that might slow that down). But that doesn't mean you get to forget about me now

I'm not sure who was being spoken to when saying "telling us things you can't be scheduled during is important," but in case that was aimed at me, I in fact said that I couldn't be put during the masq for my aforementioned reason.

For my internet, I have to use public computers right now, so I won't be able to check here or email exceedingly often. So, if you come to a decision, please email me too, just make sure I get it.

Thank you,
Gani

Gani, I do not have access to any of the panel programming email accounts yet. The person handling that is Ryan. The best method of communication right now with me is here on the forum or my personal email address (If you would like that, PM me). I hope to have everything sorted out later today. I received a call from Lynn but since I wanted to make sure I got it, I left my phone on without charging it and it really cut my conversation short, so I will call her back later on today to continue sorting things out.

Lynn was speaking to everyone en mass when she was talking about that. Your panel is one of the few that did have this information in tact and one of the panels I flagged as a possible problem during my draft. The current solution I see, if we are able to use the room and Lynn approves it, is after when fans go bad at 11:30 at night on Saturday. It's the same sized room, but probably the best I can do for you.

Please know your issues are important and I am doing what I can to help. You guys take precedence over, even myself. I too am running panels and contrary to my request of it not being in the masquerade time slot, it is directly paralleling it. I see this as kind of taking a hit for you all, because I am there, it means some of you don't have to be. I will continue to try and help to the best of my ability.

Thanks.

-Chris
(Panel staff, even though the forum doesn't denote it)

[Brightdreamer]

ピケギン, on May 11 2008, 07:00 AM, said:

Wonderful! Sad thing is because people have bombarded Lynn, I cannot get ahold of her. I need to most recent changes to the schedule to be of any help. Indeed my solution was to switch the two panels and have yours run in that half hour gap between the two. I was going to suggest this because on my data sheet, the only request I have from you is to not be scheduled with the yaoi panel, I saw nothing about the masquerade.

Then your data sheet is wrong, because I remember asking not to be scheduled during it. I did have to request the panel twice, so perhaps one of them had that missed? I could try to find my original email if you need it.

Also, as mine is an "adult" panel, it really can't be moved any earlier.

[ピケギンゴ]

Brightdreamer, on May 11 2008, 06:06 PM, said:

Then your data sheet is wrong, because I remember asking not to be scheduled during it. I did have to request the panel twice, so perhaps one of them had that missed? I could try to find my original email if you need it.

Also, as mine is an "adult" panel, it really can't be moved any earlier.

I am not going to move the panel, just letting you know, this is the ONLY scheduling request that I received for that particular panel:

Please do not schedule during the main Yaoi panel

You have been on the contact information for multiple panels however, and as well as on those, there was no mention of masquerade. We have gone through some departmental changes and it is possible that if you sent in that request a first time, it was lost from a now removed negligence.

Thanks.

[Brightdreamer]

ピケギン, on May 11 2008, 06:42 PM, said:

I am not going to move the panel, just letting you know, this is the ONLY scheduling request that I received for that particular panel:

Please do not schedule during the main Yaoi panel

You have been on the contact information for multiple panels however, and as well as on those, there was no mention of masquerade. We have gone through some departmental changes and it is possible that if you sent in that request a first time, it was lost from a now removed negligence.

Thanks.

It's possible that I forgot to request it on the second application I sent in. (I may have also assumed that since it was 18+ programming, it would be late-night anyway, in which case, it would be my mistake.)

But thank you again for not changing it.

[Master Aniki]

Illia Sadri, on May 11 2008, 11:48 AM, said:

Alright... I am not about to tolerate rudeness to Chris, Ryan or anybody else on panel staff. They are trying everything to help you. However it relies on not being unreasonable and accept we are not superhuman. And I cannot state the issues I had with behind the scenes stuff that kept the schedule form being done a couple weeks ago.

As far as the voicemail being full... it was not intended to be an accusation against anyone. I am receiving calls from my bosses, from people in the department and panelists. But some people ARE calling too much and not giving me time to get back to them. I am not accusing anybody specifically as it is a compound issue. It is getting too troublesome to keep emptying it so if you call and get no reply I will see your number as a missed call and call back. I keep my phone on at all times so if I do not answer it means I am likely working, in class or in a place like the shower. But do understand that I cannot always be there to answer.

But please listen to yourselves when you get huffy over Chris simply explaining that I am a little less available because finals start for me tomorrow. He figured to alert you guys to what is happening right now and people throw it back at him and are being rude to him and myself. If you know you only called once, then you are not an issue. You obviously are not acting out of line. Don't get defensive if you did things the proper way because I am then not referring to you.

We are trying to make people happy, but I am a lot more willing to deal with it if people are respectful and kind in return. One young woman called yesterday because due to some really odd field problem in the database we have she got the times for the wrong panel. I remembered the panel she had by name and said I know it is on the schedule and would email her the proper time once I got on the computer. But she was very, very nice about things and I am willing to do things to help her.

Basically, be respectful. We are here to help you but the fact is we also have lives. I do not have to tolerate rudeness nor should anybody else trying to help you to the best of our ability.

Lynn, I just want to say that I was not trying to be rude towards Chris or yourself (I talked to Ryan, too, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't rude, he was really helpful, actually). Last night it simply seemed as though when we were voicing the things that we were frustrated over, he made us feel as though we were being irrational, and as though the worries that we had were inconsequential and that we, by complaining about them, were keeping you from doing your homework.

I understand entirely about your finals as all of the panelists in our group are having to do theirs too. And then all of us are gearing up to make trips from all over the continent. So I mean, we can understand being bombarded by a lot of things, and last night, I think, tensions were rather high since we were stressed out and feeling frustrated and disappointed from not having the changes we'd been told were going to be made actually being made. We understand if you're busy, and as far as we know there's nothing more you can do about it.

Anyways, we didn't mean to offend anyone, and I'm sorry for any rudeness that there was yesterday. I just thought I'd apologize and try to straighten it out as best as we could, but really all I can do is apologize for my own actions.

~Lyn

[Illia Sadri]

I did make a couple adjustment for some of the conflicts that were legitimately our fault. Mostly shifted a couple things later to account for masquerade time.

However i am not intending to make any more adjustments at this time.

[Gani]

�s�P�M��, on May 11 2008, 11:00 AM, said:

I hope to have everything sorted out later today. I received a call from Lynn but since I wanted to make sure I got it, I left my phone on without charging it and it really cut my conversation short, so I will call her back later on today to continue sorting things out.

The current solution I see, if we are able to use the room and Lynn approves it, is after when fans go bad at 11:30 at night on Saturday. It's the same sized room, but probably the best I can do for you.

Please know your issues are important and I am doing what I can to help. You guys take precedence over, even myself. I will continue to try and help to the best of my ability.

Thanks.

-Chris
(Panel staff, even though the forum doesn't denote it)

Thank you for your speed and diligence! I really do appreciate it, and it's making my customer satisfaction go up by leaps and bounds. ^__~ Let's keep it up!

That solution you've said, if you can pull it off, sounds just great to me. I would love to have a panel at that time. Scheduling it after "when fans go bad" might be beneficial too--the same type of people might want to attend both. (assuming "when fans go bad" is a comedy panel...?)

I know my fellow panelists would really appreciate it, too.

So, for further updates, I'll look to see it here, then, if I read you right. That is doable.

Thank you,
(and good luck with the ... difficult public relations ... you all are dealing with today )

Gani

Edit: Ah, I see that the original time of the panel (8:30) has been moved back an hour to 9:30. Thank you for this. This makes things less urgent overall (Meaning, if it doesn't get changed further, it's not the end of the world. I see that there's also nothing scheduled after, so potentially if the masq goes over, there's time that can be worked with therein for my other panelists to arrive? I also see that Sadri has mentioned that the masq has been getting tighter in recent years, which bodes even better).

I also see that it's after the Dismuke Q&A. I know it's a logical decision anyway, but I must tip my hat to you for this. I'll be sure not to disappoint. : )

I have read Sadri's post about not planning to change schedules further; if that means me too, and the time change is not a typo (just making sure!), I leave any further decisions on arrangement in your--paneling staff's--hands. I believe I will be satisfied with either decision.
Thanks again.~

[Illia Sadri]

Glad it works for you. And yeah the biggest challenge has been FMA panels due to the bnumber of guests and also the number of fanpanels for it resulted in difficulty in spreading them out. So we were trying to avoid overlapping it.

And should masquerade run late, you would be able to go late if need be. The issue is usually attendees wanting to stick around though.

[Gani]

Illia Sadri, on May 11 2008, 07:30 PM, said:

Glad it works for you. And yeah the biggest challenge has been FMA panels due to the bnumber of guests and also the number of fanpanels for it resulted in difficulty in spreading them out. So we were trying to avoid overlapping it.

And should masquerade run late, you would be able to go late if need be. The issue is usually attendees wanting to stick around though.

I can definitely see that. I think you did a good job, though. I like how some of the guest Q & As are on two different days for the same person, so that there is more access to them. Nice. I looked at the revised (5/12) schedule on the mainpage, but it looks like it still has the old Saturday information on it (with mine being at 8:30 and having several after it in the same room). Is that right?

I guess I'll do whatever the printed booklet says when I get there, but I just want to make sure that the one on the forum that said it was moved to 9:30 is...right? Just wanna have all my ducks in a row beforehand and the like. So, which one's correct? < : )

(sorry it took me a while to come back)

[ピケギンゴ]

Gani, on May 14 2008, 01:40 AM, said:

I can definitely see that. I think you did a good job, though. I like how some of the guest Q & As are on two different days for the same person, so that there is more access to them. Nice. I looked at the revised (5/12) schedule on the mainpage, but it looks like it still has the old Saturday information on it (with mine being at 8:30 and having several after it in the same room). Is that right?

I guess I'll do whatever the printed booklet says when I get there, but I just want to make sure that the one on the forum that said it was moved to 9:30 is...right? Just wanna have all my ducks in a row beforehand and the like. So, which one's correct? < : )

(sorry it took me a while to come back)

Your panel was moved, the schedule on acen's site is outdated. What you saw before is correct. Please let me know if you have any other questions. PM would be best.

[Amunet]

I'm leaving early tomorrow to catch my flight, so I ask:

Has the room been announced where we can check-in and get our panelist badge? If you still don't know, will it be printed in the program book? Also, when will the room be open till? ... I'd like to come by tomorrow and get it

[ピケギンゴ]

Panel Programming Operations will be located in Lambert (Both A & B ). It is on the Hyatts entry level. We do not know when we will be "open" as of yet, we will close whenever we have completed our work for the day. In the past I have hit the hay around midnight-ish.

[Amunet]

OH okay, thank-you. Will you guys be open on Thursday?

[ピケギンゴ]

Amunet, on May 14 2008, 10:09 PM, said:

OH okay, thank-you. Will you guys be open on Thursday?

Yes, the given times were referencing a thursday night schedule, however, Lynn and I will be setting up panel rooms. You will probably have to correspond either Justin or Ryan.

Thanks.

[Amunet]

That's completely okay. Whoever is able to check me in, give me the reimbursment form and give me the badge will be good

ONE more question (sorry >.<). Will I have to turn in the badge that was mailed to me to get reimbursed?

[ピケギンゴ]

While I do not know the official answer to your question, I would bring your badge just in case. More than likely you will have to leave behind one of your badges to be reimbursed. Just think, someone could slip their other badge to their friend or let someone into an 18+ panel.

[Amunet]

I wouldn't do that T.T I just really like the mailed in badge, it's cool o.o But I want a panelist's badge too cause it would be my first time

[ピケギンゴ]

I don't think the panelist badge is any different than the regular badge, but if it is,perhaps you can speak to Lynn or I and we can hold on to one of them for you and at the end of the convention you can pick it up.

Thanks.