My First Kaffeklatch: kevin_standlee

OryCon has dealt with a bit of shortage of small function rooms by taking a section of one ballroom connected to the largest function space in an L shape, putting rounds in it, and running three small tracks of programming around the rounds. This is "kaffeklatch" style programming to me, where all the groups are quite small. This was well suited to the six-person (including the two "panelists" of which I was one) discussion group about organizing a fan group. We went all over the board, from informal groups that meet at conventions to social clubs like BASFA to large fannish powerhouses like LASFS and NESFA. Discussion included legal forms (in case you get so big that you have to worry about money and liability), getting the group started (book discussion groups and bookstores seem to be a good match for each other), setting goals and keeping to them, and also when to shut it down. In my opinion, even if your group has been around since dirt, if nobody is interested anymore and it's no longer enjoyable in some what to stay involved, the right thing to do is disband it in an orderly fashion. Don't keep limping along out of a mistaken sense of duty -- I asked, "Duty to whom?"

After the panel, I stopped by the Game Room and discovered that the flyers from yesterday that said the poker tournament was at 9 PM were still up, unchanged, saying "9 PM tonight" which is now wrong, and were pointing people at the wrong room to boot. I took a pen and hand-wrote "7 PM, Medford Room"" on them.

After that, I went back up to the room and collected Lisa. We headed out for a while and walked up the hill to the Safeway and picked up another box of cereal -- we've been a little generous in the mornings here, but that's because we both like Crispix -- and despite the rain, I was glad to get out and walk around for a bit.

The only drawback of the 7 PM start tonight is that it's about the time I really should be eating dinner. I guess I'll have to find something after the tournament is over. (Some of this will depend on how well I do, naturally; if I'm knocked out early, it's sort of moot.)

I noticed that the convention newsletter had a new issue "2A" out that replaces the earlier version 2. (Some program corrections were wrong and were re-corrected.) I have one of each now -- complete the set!

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