Running a Worldcon filk track
This is a set of notes in no particular order which were collated by me (Lissa Allcock, should anyone be stumbling on this and not know) as a result of working on Loncon3's filk track in 2014.
I'm not kidding about the 'no particular order' bit - this is just as the memories struck me.
Decide if you want to run a full time filk track or to leave early evenings empty for people to attend spectaculars and parties. We deliberately ran 1.30 to 7pm in general, and the official open filk was scheduled from around 10 (though in practice usually started much earlier, just without official involvement).
Decide if you want the filk room to be available for people to filk in during early evenings even if you are not there to oversee it/you're not running active programme items, and if so then book it in the con's software so nobody else books it. Ditto if you want more than one room for evening filk - book it in so it can be in the programme book and so nobody else uses the rooms (or can avoid using adjoining rooms if they are going to be bothered by music).
While you're thinking about your room, remember that sound bleeds and that a room with all solid walls in a mildly inconvenient location may be better than a larger or more centrally located room that shares moveable walls with other programme rooms. Highlighting that when you are sorting out room allocation also scores you brownie points. It may be worth bringing a guitar and amp or a drum to a site visit to test this out.
People with big sets may like to have rehearsal time because they come together from far apart and don't have time before the con. Have some time when the room is not in use that you can set aside for them, or discuss a rehearsal room with the con. We used that for Seanan's set but Talis may also have done that and Gwen would have liked it if it were possible.
At least two months before the con ask your performers how many people will be on stage, who, what tech they want and what other stuff they want on stage (eg chairs or music stands) so that you can be ready to get these things on stage quickly when their set starts. Give this information to your tech person/people so they are prepared. You WILL have to chase up at least half of the people who have sets to get them to give you this info, hence starting to ask 2 months out. Some people don't decide until the con, but it does at least make them think about the question.
Unlike filkcons a Worldcon has to run to time because it's fitting in with so much other programming. Either tell your performers that their slots include time to get on and off stage (so a 30 minute slot gives 20-25 minutes of performance time) OR leave gaps between programme times for this.
Talk to Greenroom about how filk people get drinks - do they go to GR or do you manage this yourself? What about groats to use to reward people who work in the filk room?
You need time in the filk room to set up and take down the filk room's tech. You might need to arrange extra people for this - it depends on how you are managing your tech. UK filk fandom is very tech self sufficient so we used our people and not Tech Ops, but if you are getting your tech and its control from the con then your decisions will vary.
Can you get a supply of glasses and water jugs for the room?
Room size - you need a room larger than it's official size because you lose more audience space to the tech than a normal room does, plus you need a good spot for the tech desk and that eats up space too. Our room sat about 150 after we had the tech in, which was reduced a bit for Before the Dawn because we added tech. We put Seanan's concert into a 400 person room and it was a good thing we did even though it meant carting our tech across to that room and then back again (filk needs better tech than most rooms because we need proper mics for singing into, not just speaking mics, plus a mixing desk capable of balancing levels and so on at the very least). This was worth it both because the room was 95% full and also because it marketed filk to a wider audience, some of whom went on to attend other filk items.
Who is providing your tech? If the con is providing it then you need to know early on what you want so they can order it. You need kit for instruments plus up to about 6 people on stage (or tell your performers what the people count limit is) so need vocal mics, instrument mics and DIs for instruments that can take them, plus the mixing desk. If you don't already have someone in overall control of your tech then recruit someone.
Communicate, communicate, communicate. It helps to have a deputy who can share workload and who already knows at least some of what's going on so can take on more of that if needed.
If you find yourself having problems handling things then call on your deputy - that's why you have one and why they agreed to it. This worked well for us.
Communicate with your performers, making sure they have provided the information the con needs as well as the information you need, but also making it clear to them how you are running filk. This reduces the number of questions they will need to ask you and makes things run more smoothly on the day.
Some people arrive at the con the day before. Do you want to arrange a Filker meet up event on the Wednesday night for these people? If so then where/when? Restaurant? Any early available programme space?
Think ahead about what people you have in your community or coming to the con who have tech running expertise. You only need 4-5 people but it helps to be able to set up a rota. Here Deborah has a noticeable tendency to intend to run it all, but that's not necessary plus sometimes the con ran off with her for other things and if we'd planned better for that it would have made for smoother sailing at key points.
Planning this ahead of time gives you a chance to discuss what tech you have rather than throwing tech people in at the deep end when you haul them in at short notice. My tech support were all fabulous and very calm about all this late recruitage but it's the main thing I would do differently.
When planning think about real food for techies. They have a noticeable tendency to just keep on working and miss out on food, especially if food breaks are also being used as set up time for the next complicated set. This can also be true of whoever is running filk programming, so if you have someone making sure you are eating that's probably also good.
OUTSIDE OF THE FILK ROOM
Registration queues are often long and having something to entertain people waiting in them can be good. Do you have any filkers who will be arriving early who are good at busking style filking - good, strong voice, portable instrument, arriving early, happy to do it and to explain filk if necessary? You want to be elitist for this because the aim is to entertain all types of people, and it promotes filk as well as helping the con.
If you want to offer this, discuss it with Registration or Ops ahead of time so they can decide if they want it.
But I really mean it about being elitist. I love the inclusiveness of filk but the inclusiveness is for the filkroom(s) and circle(s). Make it clear you are doing this when you talk to the con to make the offer.
Remind anyone doing this that depending on where the queue is located sound may be challenging and only reach nearby people. This means that they can be repetitive as the queue moves along.
FINALE
Yes, I know a lot of this may only be helpful to UK cons, where we enjoy a very supportive relationship with the wider conrunning community and that things may be more challenging elsewhere. I have not addressed that side of things because I have no experience of it.
I'm not kidding about the 'no particular order' bit - this is just as the memories struck me.
Decide if you want to run a full time filk track or to leave early evenings empty for people to attend spectaculars and parties. We deliberately ran 1.30 to 7pm in general, and the official open filk was scheduled from around 10 (though in practice usually started much earlier, just without official involvement).
Decide if you want the filk room to be available for people to filk in during early evenings even if you are not there to oversee it/you're not running active programme items, and if so then book it in the con's software so nobody else books it. Ditto if you want more than one room for evening filk - book it in so it can be in the programme book and so nobody else uses the rooms (or can avoid using adjoining rooms if they are going to be bothered by music).
While you're thinking about your room, remember that sound bleeds and that a room with all solid walls in a mildly inconvenient location may be better than a larger or more centrally located room that shares moveable walls with other programme rooms. Highlighting that when you are sorting out room allocation also scores you brownie points. It may be worth bringing a guitar and amp or a drum to a site visit to test this out.
People with big sets may like to have rehearsal time because they come together from far apart and don't have time before the con. Have some time when the room is not in use that you can set aside for them, or discuss a rehearsal room with the con. We used that for Seanan's set but Talis may also have done that and Gwen would have liked it if it were possible.
At least two months before the con ask your performers how many people will be on stage, who, what tech they want and what other stuff they want on stage (eg chairs or music stands) so that you can be ready to get these things on stage quickly when their set starts. Give this information to your tech person/people so they are prepared. You WILL have to chase up at least half of the people who have sets to get them to give you this info, hence starting to ask 2 months out. Some people don't decide until the con, but it does at least make them think about the question.
Unlike filkcons a Worldcon has to run to time because it's fitting in with so much other programming. Either tell your performers that their slots include time to get on and off stage (so a 30 minute slot gives 20-25 minutes of performance time) OR leave gaps between programme times for this.
Talk to Greenroom about how filk people get drinks - do they go to GR or do you manage this yourself? What about groats to use to reward people who work in the filk room?
You need time in the filk room to set up and take down the filk room's tech. You might need to arrange extra people for this - it depends on how you are managing your tech. UK filk fandom is very tech self sufficient so we used our people and not Tech Ops, but if you are getting your tech and its control from the con then your decisions will vary.
Can you get a supply of glasses and water jugs for the room?
Room size - you need a room larger than it's official size because you lose more audience space to the tech than a normal room does, plus you need a good spot for the tech desk and that eats up space too. Our room sat about 150 after we had the tech in, which was reduced a bit for Before the Dawn because we added tech. We put Seanan's concert into a 400 person room and it was a good thing we did even though it meant carting our tech across to that room and then back again (filk needs better tech than most rooms because we need proper mics for singing into, not just speaking mics, plus a mixing desk capable of balancing levels and so on at the very least). This was worth it both because the room was 95% full and also because it marketed filk to a wider audience, some of whom went on to attend other filk items.
Who is providing your tech? If the con is providing it then you need to know early on what you want so they can order it. You need kit for instruments plus up to about 6 people on stage (or tell your performers what the people count limit is) so need vocal mics, instrument mics and DIs for instruments that can take them, plus the mixing desk. If you don't already have someone in overall control of your tech then recruit someone.
Communicate, communicate, communicate. It helps to have a deputy who can share workload and who already knows at least some of what's going on so can take on more of that if needed.
If you find yourself having problems handling things then call on your deputy - that's why you have one and why they agreed to it. This worked well for us.
Communicate with your performers, making sure they have provided the information the con needs as well as the information you need, but also making it clear to them how you are running filk. This reduces the number of questions they will need to ask you and makes things run more smoothly on the day.
Some people arrive at the con the day before. Do you want to arrange a Filker meet up event on the Wednesday night for these people? If so then where/when? Restaurant? Any early available programme space?
Think ahead about what people you have in your community or coming to the con who have tech running expertise. You only need 4-5 people but it helps to be able to set up a rota. Here Deborah has a noticeable tendency to intend to run it all, but that's not necessary plus sometimes the con ran off with her for other things and if we'd planned better for that it would have made for smoother sailing at key points.
Planning this ahead of time gives you a chance to discuss what tech you have rather than throwing tech people in at the deep end when you haul them in at short notice. My tech support were all fabulous and very calm about all this late recruitage but it's the main thing I would do differently.
When planning think about real food for techies. They have a noticeable tendency to just keep on working and miss out on food, especially if food breaks are also being used as set up time for the next complicated set. This can also be true of whoever is running filk programming, so if you have someone making sure you are eating that's probably also good.
OUTSIDE OF THE FILK ROOM
Registration queues are often long and having something to entertain people waiting in them can be good. Do you have any filkers who will be arriving early who are good at busking style filking - good, strong voice, portable instrument, arriving early, happy to do it and to explain filk if necessary? You want to be elitist for this because the aim is to entertain all types of people, and it promotes filk as well as helping the con.
If you want to offer this, discuss it with Registration or Ops ahead of time so they can decide if they want it.
But I really mean it about being elitist. I love the inclusiveness of filk but the inclusiveness is for the filkroom(s) and circle(s). Make it clear you are doing this when you talk to the con to make the offer.
Remind anyone doing this that depending on where the queue is located sound may be challenging and only reach nearby people. This means that they can be repetitive as the queue moves along.
FINALE
Yes, I know a lot of this may only be helpful to UK cons, where we enjoy a very supportive relationship with the wider conrunning community and that things may be more challenging elsewhere. I have not addressed that side of things because I have no experience of it.