Introducing EPIC 2009 - The ExPo ICrontic
primesuspect
Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
With Icrontic LAN 2008 behind us, and everything fresh in our heads, we've gotten together over the last few days and held discussions about a great many aspects of the events, what makes them great, the downsides, and what we can do to make them even better.
We at Icrontic hereby announce that no longer will our big summer gathering be called IC LAN. From here forward it shall be known as The EPIC - Expo Icrontic.
We feel that this concept encompasses what we try to do with our annual gathering. Calling it a "LAN" just didn't cover what this thing was all about. LAN suggests computer gaming. Computer gaming is a core part of the gathering, true, but that makes every other awesome thing we do seem secondary. At IC LAN 08 we had a golf outing, a dedicated board gaming area, a rowdy social party, a multi-day food tour, an outdoor deep frying session, a Rock Band and console gaming area, jam sessions, and a duct tape building competition, just to name a few things. Clearly this is not a LAN party.
That's where some of the downsides come in. Those who want it to be a strict LAN party come away disappointed with certain aspects. We have taken a survey, talked to most of the attendees, and come up with an overall agenda for our events going forward.
The overall consensus is that everyone was pleased with almost everything. Instead of making drastic changes we felt that with some tweaks we can provide an even more awesome experience for EPIC 09.
We will be tweaking the rules for attendees to avoid inconvenience and discomfort for all guests. I'm going to go over some of the key problem areas for LAN 08 and give you our solutions:
- One of the primary problems with this year's LAN was sleeping accommodations: Next year we will have tweaked the tent arrangement, laid down rules about air mattresses, sleeping in the house, and placement of luggage and other personal belongings. No more "crash wherever you can find a spot" or winging it - "Hey, do you have a blanket?"
- Toilet clogging and morning traffic jams for showers: We will be upgrading to a commercial toilet in the primary bathroom, and we will be providing at least one Port-A-Potty for outdoors. We will also put time limits on showers - no more 45 minute pampering sessions while 12 people are lined up outside the door, or possibly schedule shower slots throughout the day.
- We will have all power issues worked out. Eric Ryder and Quinton Healy already have plans to fix this once and for all.
- We will no longer have any confusion about gaming tournaments. Andrew Conrad and Bryan Miller have volunteered to step up and bring the tournament setup to the next level for us.
- We will open up the property even more by changing a few rules - no more parking in the driveway, no more haphazard "put your tent wherever", everyone will have assigned tent spots
- We will be providing security in the form of actual access control (literally, a velvet rope! Gotta have style!) and bouncers. No volunteer "attendee bouncers" - actual bouncers whose job it is to strictly work in shifts to keep stragglers out.
- A new set of tools for team assignment. No more coin flips, excel spreadsheets, and white boards. Keebler is going to make this smooth. Teams will be ready to go before the scheduled game times. We won't spend the first 45-60 minutes picking teams.
- A "Chinese Auction" for prizes. This way, people can put tickets in for prizes they really want instead of randomly getting something impractical or undesirable.
- Pre-printed directions and assigned drivers for Food Tour events. No explanation necessary.
- Increased IC Staff presence. We will be assigning more roles and staff members will have staff shirts so there will be no questions as to who can help you with whatever problems you are having. We'll have roles more spread out so we don't have poor Eric and Q doing 11tyhundred things at once.
- Various other infrastructure improvements. Too numerous to mention, but we've got plans to do little upgrades and tweaks at ICHQ to make things better for everyone.
- The tent will be COMPLETELY set up on time for next year. No more "piecemeal arrival on various days"
We feel that with the improvements we've come up with over the last few days, EPIC 09 will be the best Icrontic event yet. This year's was absolutely fantastic, and we're only going up from here.
See you all in 09!
0
Comments
I have an electronic module that you can set how long you want a shower. I can modify next year...if you like
The USS Curmudgeon needs its captain. Will you answer the call?
I would suggest STFU and GTFO.:p
LAN
Expo describes a broader range of activities, whereas LAN tends to signify gaming. The name change is to prevent the confusion that seems to have occurred in previous years.
Seconded.
Looking forward to it, a year is a long time to wait.
Plus, no more drunk neighbors just bumming around our event. That part sucked so bad.
Oh c'mon, they were funny!
Funny until the one stepped on my foot as he was 'leaving' and spilled his beer.
Oh that could have happened with anyone! I'm actually quite surprised it didn't happen with me, I'm very clumsy.
i like this... it's very helium pirate.....
I just have one little thing:
The 'P' in EPIC should be lowercase to set-off the 'IC' from the rest of the word:
EpIC Expo
Hmm... maybe just make the IC a different color on the posters and such would work better...
CB has an excellent point, but I still like BuddyJ's name better.
The word Epic in the title is just there for flair, IMO
Sure sure, but people would be disappointed if I didn't have SOME kind of correction/suggestion to make... I mean: I have a reputation to uphold here.
$1800 for the unit for 4 days (That's more than the tent)
Also a DIESEL ****ING GENERATOR, running 24/7, which would be loud and obnoxious, and just.. no.