Arisia Convention

While we're *so* very close to Arisia 2015 (Yay! Two weeks away!), As Arisia 2016 Con Chair, I have been thinking about Arisia 2016 even as I support our Arisia 2015 staff in my role as assistant con chair. To that end, I have started putting together my leadership team for Arisia 2016.

I am looking for people who are interested in joining that leadership team at the division head level. If you haven't been heavily involved recently, or if we haven't had a conversation about next Arisia yet, I'd like to talk to you. Please send an e-mail to nchanter [at] arisia [dot] org to get the ball rolling. If you are interested in being someone's assistant, (a great way to learn the division head job for the future), I also would like to talk to you as soon as possible. I plan to announce a bunch of appointments on February 7th at the debrief. This would allow people who are interested in area head and other staffing positions to talk with the newly-appointed div heads on that day. (Yes, this is an accelerated timeline as compared to previous years.)

What if I’m interested in a position other than division head?

Please wait until after Arisia 2015 to talk to me. I’m also interested in new and interesting ideas for A’16. I will be happy to talk to people about those things as well, but ultimately it’s the decision of the division heads to staff the roles that report to them.

So what does being a division head mean?

Each division head role is different. All division heads must manage other staffers, but some have more hands-on work than others. If you are not good at managing other people, or yourself, a division head role may not be for you. Division heads are responsible for finding the staff for their division, participating in discussions and decisions that affect the convention as a whole, and attending convention committee and divisions head meetings. Meetings will occur approximately every 6 weeks until September, and monthly after that. I am also planning a div-head dinner and kick-off meeting at my house in March or April (likely to be more than a 2 hour commitment), and am still considering having an all-day div head meeting in the fall.

All division heads have communication responsibilities. We need you to share information with other division heads, and to train and inform your staff. Most divisions need to provide timely information for external communications, and you may also need to have specific communications with a subset of the attendees. Most of Arisia's communications happen via e-mail, so being able to stay on top of your e-mail and respond in a timely manner is a key skill that anyone wanting to be a division head for Arisia 2016 will need to have.

All division heads must be members of the corporation, but you may join Arisia Inc. after you accept a division head position. You do not have to go to all the corporate meetings in order to be a division head, but attending a few throughout the year is encouraged.

Depending on the position, and how you divide the actual work with those who report to you, the time commitment, not counting meetings, is anywhere from 5 hours per week to 30 hours per week. I’m not a big fan of co-heads, and prefer lead & assistant models, but am willing to talk with anyone who comes to me with a co-head plan that they think will work.

All division heads are expected to appropriately handle complaints or concerns from attendees at the convention or from staff at the convention or other times. This could include violations of the Arisia code of conduct. To that end, all division heads will be expected to make their best effort to attend anti-harassment training / workshops that will take place in 2015. If you are unwilling to make substantial efforts to help Arisia address these concerns, or think that we're making a bigger deal than is necessary about these issues, then I would prefer you took a smaller role for Arisia 2016.

My thoughts for the Arisia 2016 work process

In general, I will be approaching the div heads as a team that collectively makes decisions with me, and will encourage discussion and substantial input from as much of the staff and larger community as possible/practical. I plan on having a few community discussions in the spring to discuss topics that I believe are in flux within the Arisia community (for a past example, Arisia's move from a 3 day to a 4 day con.) That being said, I believe in being clear about who’s ultimately responsible for what.

As for working with me personally, I operate with a few guiding principles

• Be honest. This includes being honest with yourself and others about what you're capable of getting done in a finite amount of time. Additionally, I do not tolerate blatant lying.
  
• When possible, be kind. This is something I consistently work on, as I know I sometimes come off as mean when I'm stressed. This also covers "be inclusive" where possible in my book. Shutting people out is an unkindness.
  
• If you can't be kind, at least be respectful. I will not tolerate intentional or inadvertent abuse of my staff.
  
• Communicate, communicate, communicate. Let others know what's going on with you, both personally, and with your department. Tell people when plans change.
  
• When possible, be proactive. If you think something might go sideways, start figuring out how to mitigate it, and, to reference the above, let others know!
  

So if this sounds interesting and/or fun to you (it does to me!) please drop me an e-mail. I'm happy to set up in-person meetings, or Skype calls, or phone calls, or some sort of online text chat (IRC is my favorite, but I'm also on FB messenger and can hop on GChat) with people interested in working at the division head or assistant division head level for Arisia 2016.

Thanks!

Kris "nchanter" Snyder
Arisia 2016 Convention Chair