#SDCC tips RACI Recap

We looked over some Risks, Assumptions, Constraints, and Issues.

Does it stop there?  No, you don’t want them collecting electronic dust.

You need to review them, and see if items need to be added or removed or modified.

Let’s take hotel rooms for example.

You have an assumption you will need a room AND that you will get a room.

Hotel rooms have a constraint on availability and price.

You hotel room Risks are getting a room, getting a room within your budget, getting a room that is convenient, and not being ‘lost’ in the system.

You try to mitigate your hotel Risk by booking a backup room or getting a roommate to split the cost, or you may rent a car to ensure you can travel to the convention center.  You may just accept the Risk that you will be lost in the system as you have no control over that and the likelihood is small.

#SDCC tips Assumptions – it’s NOT too early to plan

This isn’t a complete list of assumptions but it’s something to think about and help you prepare.

Over the course of these posts, I’ll be harping on some points endlessly.  That’s part of the methodology.  Preparation is only worth what you put into it and what you get out of it. You can be grossly underprepared and you can be over prepared.  Both will cause you to your waste time and money.

Assumptions are those things that should discussed to ensure everyone is on the same page. Level setting and sanity checks are part of it also.  False assumptions lead you down a dark path and if not caught soon enough you might not recover.

So you create your list and review them with your friends and fellow SDCC veterans.

Here are some easy ones to get your brain warmed up:

Tickets, Hotel, Travel Plans, and Budget – the first assumption is you will be able to obtain all of these.

The second assumption is they will not change.  The flight won’t be cancelled, or your budget won’t be cut or the hotel overbooked.  (Side bar – with American Airlines filing bankruptcy – what happens if they reduce flights or close up?  That is a new Risk – does your current handling plan cover that scenario?)

Language – English is the official language of the geek.

Monetary – all prices and sales are in US Dollars.

Large ticket items can be purchased with a Credit Card.

Dates – the convention will NOT arbitrarily change the date or duration of the convention.

You will NOT be dragging a Booth Babe back to the hotel.

Past SDCC has had free Wi-Fi - this year should too.

No matter how well you plan, you cannot see, do, or buy everything.

Some negative assumptions:

You can take your roller board bag into the convention center since you will be buying a lot of stuff. (You can’t. Every other convention allows this. In reality SDCC will not allow this.)

You cell phone will work to call friends and family. (In reality it’s spotty coverage.)

Everything on display at a booth is free to take home. (Many of the independent or small press tables do not have freebies or samples to hand out.)

The swag has value. (Remember, the swag that was handed out was free. They handed out tons of it. The swag has limited value and that value has a short shelf life.)

That should start you off on the right foot.

Good luck,

AH

#SDCC tips Issues – it's NOT too early to plan

This isn’t a complete list of Issues but it’s something to think about and help you prepare.

Over the course of these posts, I’ll be harping on some points endlessly.  That’s part of the methodology.  Preparation is only worth what you put into it and what you get out of it. You can be grossly underprepared and you can be overprepared.  Both will cause you to your waste time and money.

Issues are actually problems.  Sometimes there are Risks where the Handling Plan failed, unforeseen problems, or a sign you didn’t spend enough time preparing.

If you can foresee the Issues then they are Risks and you can plan for them and try to mitigate them.

It’s a subtle difference but a difference nonetheless.

Since you can’t plan for Issues you can use Lessons Learned from others to help plan your Risks and avoid Issues.

I’ll throw some out there some of the issues I’ve encountered over the years at various conventions.

#SDCC tips Constraints – it's NOT too early to plan

This isn’t a complete list of constraints but it’s something to think about and help you prepare.

Over the course of these posts, I’ll be harping on some points endlessly.  That’s part of the methodology.  Preparation is only worth what you put into it and what you get out of it. You can be grossly underprepared and you can be overprepared.  Both will cause you to your waste time and money.

Constraints and risks can be aligned but risks are things you can manage and constraints are things you have limited or no control over.  These are obstacles you need to be aware of and work around. Your Risk Planning should make you aware of these things. Your Mitigation Plan will help with workarounds. But remember you can’t change the laws of physics.  

Passes to the SDCC – Yes that is a constraint besides being a risk.  The constraint is the limited number of passes to the event, whether you are an attendee, press, or special guest.

Flights – Again, a limit to the number of seats on the plane. You have no control on the amount of seats on the plane and no control over the airlines to add more flights for the convention.  Don’t pack yourself into a box and have Fed Ex deliver you.

Hotel Rooms – while more rooms are added to the downtown area every year, there is a limit.  Your access to these rooms is also limited as you need to  work through a travel agency and not the individual hotels.

#SDCC Tips Risks - it's NOT too early to plan

Over the course of these posts, I’ll be harping on some points endlessly.  That’s part of the methodology.  Preparation is only worth what you put into it and what you get out of it. You can be grossly underprepared and you can be over prepared.  Both will cause you to your waste time and money.

Passes - The biggest risk is actually getting passes to ComicCon.  Over the years it’s been selling out faster and faster and in 2011 the 4 day preview night badges sold out before the end of the 2010 show. Ugh.

Mitigation – Information is power. Keep plugged in to when the tickets go on sale.

You can work with others to collectively pool your internet resources and work on buying passes when they go on sale.  Meaning that 4 of you are all trying to buy passes at the same time and when someone gets in you buy 4 passes. The best case scenario is all for buy 4 passes (16 sold). The negative is more passes are sold to people than they need and now more passes need to be returned and resold.  It’s a waste of time, energy, money for everyone.

You could work on getting a press pass or a panelist/special guest badge.  Both are hard to get and are becoming harder to get each year.