The purpose of this post is to provide a place to post lessons learned at TagFest2005 that should be attempted to be fixed in 2006.

1 - Move Date back a couple of weeks:

a. Should not be on a finals weekend for college students.
b. Should not be right before taxes are due.
c. Possibly after Oregon rain season (if there is such a thing).

2 - Hire or assign a full time photographer:

We missed out on doing a large group shot at lunch time (totally slipped my mind), and there were alot of other events that were not photographed. So, next year I will be looking for someone I can pay about $50-$100 to be our official photographer for the event.

3 - Its time to move to a more organized event, a committee needs to be formed that can communicate through a Yahoo User Group to discuss events and set things up better.

4 - Hire on / Assign a Kitchen helper:

To ensure everything is on time and properly prepped for meals we may pay someone about $50 to help ensure the meals go smoothly... I filled the role this year and got little tag time in, and when I did play tag, things got a little unscheduled and messy for Sat dinner (although our Scout troop assistant did a great job of bailing out that mess, I don't think most people even realized there was a crisis at dinner).

5 - If we do LARP games in the future, they need to be planned out well in advance and tested.

David "Shutup" Rimple (yeah, I know, you are gonna tag me last! did a great job with the resources he had available (which wasn't much). There needs to be at least 5 people on the LARP team, 2 for setup/refs, 2 for briefing the teams simultaneously that know the storyline for their team, and at least 1 person that knows everything to oversee that everything goes smoothly, and that the event stays on time....if there is a problem, that person must be able to make a quick decision to resolve the situation so that the games do not stall out over minor technical difficulties...which greatly damages the experience for everyone, especially the poor person trying to run the games.

I'd like to give a special thanks to David for taking on the task of throwing together a game together at the last minute for me, and trying to run it with no support..... I promise that won't happen again in the future.

6 - Never never try to Talk, move something, and walk up hill in slippery mud in front of a larg crowd of people - it can be very embarrasing!

Oh.....another thing on the LARPS, I will pick next year's teams to ensure that Doug Ross, LaserBait, Peter, & Gabriel (Tag version of the Doomsday Squad!)do NOT end up all on the same team.... Half of the opposing team (which I was lucky enough to be on) was wiped out within the 1st minute of the 1st game....

Only reason Yellow team won the second game was unlimited respawns and a lot of kids with boundless energy reserves.....hehehehe (Doomsday Squad started showing their age having to constantly go uphill to respawn.......lol).

"Only reason Yellow team won the second game was unlimited respawns and a lot of kids with boundless energy reserves.....hehehehe (Doomsday Squad started showing their age having to constantly go uphill to respawn.......lol)."

Yeah, I know -- I have long relied on the theory that Old Age and Treachery will always overcome Youth and Energy, but I may have to re-think my position....

Anyway, another lesson to be learned: Assign at least 2 people with power screwdrivers to put all the batteries in first thing in the morning. Also the yellow zip ties. It was chaos with 20 kids ringed around arguing over who was there first and which color gun they wanted and all that, all while trying to get the batteries in the right way around and remmebring to put the yellow zip ties on...

And as posted in another thread here, I need to make sure I have about 3 more people who are very familiar with all of the LTTO games, and who can help in hosting games and taking new players through the joining and debriefing process. The idea is to have one qualified person doing the hosting and another helping the joiners, while the other two are either also helping the joiners or are sitting the game out and enjoying the company of the other people at the event.

I also hope to put together a DVD introduction to LTTO gear, so people can sit down and watch the intro while others are out playing the games.

I'd like to schedule specific LTTO games at specific times -- we never got a chance to have a KINGS game, a HIDE AND SEEK game, or any of the cool new Master Blaster games.

What were the yellow zip ties for?

We used Yellow Zip ties on all the guns owned by 1SLT so they would be easily identifyable from everyone elses gear.

I posted this on the review thread but I think it actually belongs here.

Last year’s event was the most fun I’ve ever had in a 24 hour period! Sadly, I found this year’s tagfest a bit of a let down. So, I am glad that David set up a place for us to talk about our ideas for improving Tagfest.

I hope no one will take my comments personally. I think there were actually a few different things that contributed to a less focused event.

Here are a few things that I think contributed to making Tagfest a bit less focused on fun:
-Having the boy scouts at the event. There were a few times when we wanted to play but the scouts were earning badges or doing other Scout activities. The kids were also a bit of a handful during the games.
-A lack of structure / guidance / leadership. I think a lot of use knew things were getting off track this year but no one was comfortable taking charge and shifting gears.
-The Lazertag give away. I really like the idea of having prizes and merchandise to win (who doesn’t?) but the way we did it this year took too long and wasn’t that satisfying.

Here are my humble suggestions for next year:
-We should invite the scouts for the Friday event or the Sunday event and leave Saturday for Tag enthusiasts and their friends. I really want to have a day when it is just the real taggers playing their favorite games with their favorite gear. That is what we had last year and it rocked!
-We shouldn’t play larp games when the scouts are there. And finally, we need to progress from simple games to more complex games, one step at a time. Peter did a great job doing this last year.
-Who should run the games? This is a tough one and it is very subjective. I personally would vote for the people who have the most experience running games and using the gear. I would vote for: Peter, Gabrial, David R, Doug or any of the more experienced players.
-It might also be a good idea to put up a loose schedule at the event. The schedule might outline what types of games and what gear will be used at different times. With good event coordinators you wouldn’t need a written schedule but it still might help.

I hope no one takes offense to my comments. I’m only being so direct with my wants because I really look forward to Tagfest and I want it to be the best event it can be.

What do you all think?

"And finally, we need to progress from simple games to more complex games, one step at a time. Peter did a great job doing this last year."

It will be interesting to see how familiar people become with LTTO gear and games between now and next TagFest, as that will directly affect how much this issue involves me, but one of the big dissapointments for me this year was not being able to run through the more tactically complex LTTO games (which are of course the most fun) as we were able to do at BremerBattle-IV.

Just as gear such as the Steradian equipment has more complex games with conflicting goals for the teams and such to bring it beyond the simple "run and gun" level, so also LTTO has a number of advanced games that require ever increasing levels of team co-ordination and strategic thinking to win out. The Zone game we played on Friday was a good example, and had we been able to set up some of the games from the LTTO Yahoo! group we'd have had some outrageous fun with them, I'm sure. But there just wasn't enough time.

I think we need to schedule time for numerous things that poeple are interested in -- a specific time for pro-gear games from basic through advanced, a specific time for unlimitted gear and mods to be demonstrated, a specific time for LTTO games to be held from beginning level up through the most advanced, and time for experimentation with new game formats for whatever type of gear they are intended for.

If we had all day for this kind of thing and as long as the event is held late enough in the year for there to be plenty of daylight, we could devote something like 2 hours to each of these and still have time for meal breaks and the like.

One of the big questions which seems to be popping up is, "should we have an enthusiasts-only day?" or "should we have seperate events, one just for us and one for the public?"

A problem seems to be that the hardcore enthusists showed up on Friday, which was only a half day and much of that was consumed with set-up work. Some were not able to make it until late in the day as they had to finish work first. This left only Friday evening through Friday night as the time all the hardcore enthusists were present without the general public, who were there from Saturday morning on. Sunday most everybody had to be on their way home, so there was no time for anything but clean-up.

So it seems to me that we need to first figure out WHEN people can really be there, then we can figure out what to do on which days.

For me, I take the time off from work so I am flexible. I will either fly up or take the train up the day before, rent a car, and stay in Wilsonville the night before and the night after.

But what about everyone else? Is coming up to Wilsonville on Thursday night or the crack of dawn Friday completely out of the question for too many people? Or can we re-arrange the schedule so that we do the set-up on Thursday night, have the enthusiasts-only games run Friday morning through Friday night, and have the open-to-the-public games run Saturday morning through Saturday night?

Alternatively, what about taking Monday off so that we can have set-up late Friday night (with enthusisasts meeting and chatting and probably playing a night game or three once setup was done), all day Saturday and Saturday night for just us, and open the whole thing up to the public for Sunday through Sunday night? Monday would be a tear-down and pack-up day, with perhaps a few games without any barricades or such once all the non-tag gear was loaded up into the cars and the grounds had been policed up.

If taking any time off is a problem for very many people, then we should probably look at splitting this into two events, one weekend for us nutcases and another weekend for the general public. But I am concerned that this will result in a lot of the hardcore enthusists not wanting to travel long distances to be there for the open-to-the-public weekend. I think it is important to have a public event and have the most enthusiastic people there that we can get, because this helps to spread the sport and get more people involved in it.

Here are a few of the problems that should be brought to the forefront, as they are items that lead to alot of the issues that have been brought up on this an other posts.

The most biggest problem for throwing TagFest or any other kind of event like this, is until the day of the event (and maybe to a degree a few days before), I havn't a clue if 5 people or 50 people are going to show up.

There were about 15 people this year who were supposed to come that didn't show up.....at least 5 I didn't know one way or the other till the last minute and 5 individuals that I didn't know were comming.

Trying to get a definate yes or no from people if they are comming is worse then pulling teeth. This becomes especially hairy when you are trying to figure out how much food to purchase. The first year I came up short on food, last year I had tons of leftovers, this year I got lucky and just about hit it on the nose (although we somehow lost a bag of chicken for Sat's dinner, which made some confusion).

Brian is right also, I got so tied up in working on the food that I was for the most part oblivious to what was going on game wise - although to a degree this was a blessing as my back was out during the weekend and it healed enough for me to enjoy the Sat night games.

There were alot of issues developed due to unorganization...I felt that this year was a step out of the small get together, and a step into the larger TagFest that I'd like to see happen. There were alot of mistakes made on my part...that hopefully will lead to next year being better.

One of the hardest decisions for me was, when do we switch over from LTTO to useing Steradian gear. Originally, the LTTO was only going to be used for Friday's games. Saturday was going to be all Steradian....but when Wayne gracefully donated his time and all of that gear...I figured a few morning LTTO games wouldn't hurt. So that is an issue that I really need to work out for next year.

I agree totally with Gabriel on the prize give away...that was a mess...and it wasted a ton of valuable time. Next year, if there are any prizes, they will be given away on Saturday night at dinner.

Finally, I really feel that the event is too short. I think I need to use Thursday as my settup day the way Friday was used this year. I think Friday would be the best day for all Steradian games for the hard core taggers groups, as the kids will all be in school, Saturday will be a day for LTTO and unlimited class games, switching over to Steradian once the sun hits the horizon...

The trick is as Brian said, how many individuals would be able to get Friday off? There were many individuals there this Friday so I think it safe to say that will work.

Finally, back to the communications issue. I think the best form of communications will be to use a Yahoo user's group...that way you don't have to log on to any board to get the conversation...and yet there is a log of the conversation of how things are being developed.

Not to be condescending, but some of those who are complaining about the lack of organization, were the very individuals that I had the hardest time trying to get engaged with for discussing organizing the event. Hopefully, this year will serve as proof that a couple good discussions on organizing the event months in advance of the event are not only beneficial, but necissary. Getting the time zones together for a chat session is a waste of energy, hopefully with the email sessions that the Yahoo email/postings provide, things can be worked out better.

The more people willing to step forward and help with the event the better the event will be.

Peter is going to get a device that makes organizing the LARP style games alot more efficient, and he has volunteered to head up from noon on for one of the main days....and I fully intend on taking him up on that.

I just want to thank everyone who has been open and honest in these postings so far, even if egos get a little bit tarnished here and there - it is extremely important for this kind of discussion to happen if the event is to improve.

Being that 1SLT is paying the tab for the event, I reserve the right to pull in the reins or make final decisions when there is a split in opinion...and I hope everyone respects that - if not, tuff petuni!
However, my feeling has always been that TagFest is event for the taggers and by the taggers, and for the most part, I'll abide by what the taggers want. As the event grows I/we will all have to adjust to the situation.

Personally I had a great time, but the event could and should be better. Please help me be a next generation trekie.......and "Make it so!"

I know...but I just couldn't resist

I agree with all said above
My experince running Tagcon is It is so hard to determine who will really show up

The best way is to make a firm pre-payment policy, say $10 at least 2 week in advance
that will eliminate a lot of maybe people.

waive the $10 for people who are bring necessary items as you know they will be there.

Next is delegation of duties (to unpaid volunteers)
most people show up to play and not to run an event, but if divided well, everyone will have more "Tag" time and less "lag" time.

As the person running the tag games and larp, I want to play too, but then there is the accusation of you did well because you designed the game. I solved that at TAGCON by having my character switch teams mid game or between games or having an "Opposite/equalizer" on the other team. In that case it was John Haugland and it worked very well.

David is right on the organization
1 game master
1 team leader on each side with all the info
Team leader delegates to 2 "sargents" to help keep his team organized/informed/quiet at instruction time and to the start up location quickly so we can get to playing.
Once again this is the set up I had at tagcon and it worked well for very complicated games.

Game master gets details to team leaders 1 week before event and reviews questions on game day
Team leaders the teach sargents what they need to know.
sargents and team leader then tell their team right before the game in a 5-10 minute session, then go play.

Before lunch play some LTTO games, zone, kings, hide and seek, etc

Starting after lunch each game lasts 30-60 minutes
with 10 minutes for instructions, rest

Game 1 - one life, simple elimination
Game 2 - respawn x1 at base only and 1 objective
Game 3 - respawn multiple at many sites, 2 or 3 objectives, special weapons
Game 4-6 add objectives, special weapons and characters with hidden agendas

At dinner have awards and prize give away based on points earned

evening games replay the games we liked best, but now at night and maybe a few new twists

Peter

And one minor thing, that might help speed up the complex games at set-up time: I would call what we played at TagFest a SCENARIO game rather than a LARP game, as there were really no characters per se, just a couple of players with specific jobs to perform.

So it seems to me that there is very little need for a back story -- it can simply be stated "Your goals are to ______ (fill in the blanks). The other team will be trying to _______ (fill in their major objective), and also trying to accomplish a couple of goals that you don't know about, but need to try to figure out and stop them. They will be doing the same to you. Now let's get it on!"

Is it possible to have Saturday as the adult day and all Sunday as an "open to public" day?

My schedule is quite flexible but I know a lot of my friends would have a hard time coming to an all day Friday event.

Just two more cents.