CAPTION

1998

Running conventions the CAPTION way

We want you to run conventions. We want you to find young, impressionable comics fans full of enthusiasm and energy and force them to set up comics events in your own home town. Why? Because we've been at it for seven years now and we want to spread the joy, because we love an excuse to visit other peoples' parties, and because we're getting tired of watching as conventions which look like they might just take over from us fizzle and die within the three-year. This is the CAPTION guide to keeping on going: seven golden rules, with comments from former and current committee members:

1. TELL PEOPLE ABOUT IT

The more people you tell about your event, the realler it becomes. It's not just a question of publicity: you're forced to live up to people's expectations.

Adrian Cox:

I actually attended a course on convention running for SF fans. It was... semi useful. At the beginning CAPTION was run very like an SF con, but we had to change lots of things. It's about half-way between UKCAC and an SF Con now, which seems to work fine.

2. KEEP COMMITTEE SMALL

Don't turn down offers of help (unless they'll be blatantly harmful) but keep the decision-making body as small as possible -- it helps speed up decisions and leads to less confusion over who's doing what.

Damian Cugley:

There's a SMOF web-page (Secret Masters of Fandom -- people who run SF cons) which gives some useful advice among the obvious stuff.

3. OPEN AN ACCOUNT FOR IT

Separate finances are relatively simple if you stick with being a non-profit making organisation -- no need to worry about taxes, some breaks on bank charges. But what this really gives is impetus to keep on going -- with the hundred or so left over from last year's convention, which of course isn't profit, as you're a non-profit making organisation...

Gideon Nisbet:

I've always found those WWII movies with German Submarines and people yelling 'Dive! Dive!' very inspirational when it comes to con-running.

4. MAKE SURE OF YOUR SITE

Sites make or break a convention. They should be your biggest expense and your biggest worry. CAPTION's success has depended heavily on its cheap and agreeable site.

Damian Cugley:

I'm boringly self-taught, except for some good tips from Alan Jeffrey's Style over Content credit-card sized micro-comic. I should do another one of them for CAPTION. Will I have time?

5. QUANTITY AND QUALITY

A guest rule. Guests are a good draw, but if they only talk and leave, you've missed out. Ideally they tell other people about it, bother their friends to come, perform well, and drag people along on the day. There are people who do this. We love them.

Jenni Scott:

I learnt my winning ways at my mother's knee -- and playing football as a little girl helped me learn to kick people to get them to do things. Persuading my school (aged 8) that girls should be allowed to play football at all was a good start too, of course...

6. HOSPITALITY MATTERS

The bar. Somewhere to have an evening meal. Enough to do. Somewhere comfortable to hang around and not do much. Members are guests and need to be treated accordingly, with respect and care.

Jeremy Dennis:

I'd like to say that my goose-herding skills prepared me for con-running, but getting cartoonists to do anything is more akin to herding cats... most other inspiration came from looking at what pissed me off at other events, and trying to figure out feasible ways to make things work differently -- the way I'd like -- with varying levels of success.

7.DON'T BE OVER-AMBITIOUS

With any event, there's always more you could do, with more people/time/effort/ whatever. Work out what's vital to do and focus on that. The rest can wait for next time, or be brought in later if you have time.

Jeremy Dennis:

Worryingly enough, I still refer to that episode of Sandman which is set at a Serial Killer's convention. It's full of useful ideas about all sorts: talks, events, guests, what to do if things go wrong....