Attendees:

Lauren, Matt, Nate, Socks, Finn Hamelin, John Dell, Jake Clayman, Michelle Gienow, Liz M, Brandon Celentano, Joel Gonzales, Tyler Gregg, Travis Faas, Grav, Steph

Agenda:

• Timeline
  • not a ton of opinions, we’re leaning 2 months

• Department Changes
  • Indie Retro
    • Moving to contractor status! Chosen solution to duplicating administrative work
    • Still run by MegaCat Studios
    • We may still be supporting them with staff, it just means the administration of that staff will be under our one banner.
  • Out of Event Hours (form link)
    • To match other departments after talking to STOPs - meeting time will not count as out of event hours anymore. All initiative specific work still does! Hope to focus our time on more initiative production and less time in meetings that aren’t quite relevant to you
  • Shift sign-ups
    • We would like to avoid the cluster that was last year’s shift opening, so we’ll be doing shift sign-ups differently this year. The general idea is to build a full schedule in advance of the shifts going live for the general staff and volunteers so that no one is having to do a mad dash to get hours where and when you prefer. We’re still refining the details, so more to come later.
  • Managers
    • adding a new Manager position this year.
      • primarily for on-site work and will operate similar to the Booth Manager position - second in command to keep operations running smoothly during the show.
      • DHs will work with Managers to create a set schedule ahead of the show so coverage is consistent.
      • The heads will be reaching out to individual staffers over the summer to recruit for this position.
  • New Gaming Expo Halls shifts
    • Pan-Expo-hall gaming setup shifts to help account for the flexible help we/arcades need during huge load-in pushes when trucks arrive, vs other downtime.
  • New Discord channel
    • Adding contractor communications channels
    • Adding role-locked categories/channels for curation
• Initiatives
  • Fill out Initiative Interest Form
    • descriptions: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NemEMTRu4Nx-7hq7ChPVW7EBVfo37A2cZuaAV088JbU/edit?gid=1927560467#gid=1927560467
  • These are Things that Require pre-event Work, that any staffer in the department can and should lead or contribute to!
    • Small teams focused on specific tasks!
    • Every small team has 1 lead responsible for delivery
  • Ongoing Initiatives - there’s a form! Fill it out <3
    • Beautification (Adding items to improve the ambiance of the space like the LED lollipops from last year)
    • Curation - IA & MIVS (Handle judging process and wrangle judges)
    • Documentation - Internal Training (Job descriptions and manuals to help volunteers)
    • Documentation - Maintenance Bible (Master list of how to troubleshoot or reboot each game. Mostly used for Indie Arcade, but could be expanded.)
    • Game Gallery (”art exhibit” space in the hall for more delicate or unusual games that may not fit elsewhere in the hall. Usually has a theme.)
    • Game Jam (summer game jam with an alt.ctrl mechanism and games are playable at event)
    • Games Outside the Expo Hall -
      • Giffinator, Quantum Jungle, Atrium Window?
    • Guests (reaching out to and wrangling guests. This could change a lot depending on who, etc.)
    • Indies Kiosk (interactive pc/map of space, could be other stuff like an attendee survey)
    • Layout (make the map of where the games go in the hall)
    • Line Wobbler (this is the blinky line game. set up and expand upon it)
    • Media - magTV (in-house MAGFest tv station. create content for it)
    • Media - Social Media (run the social media accounts and build the hype)
      • Formalize a brand kit for all accepted indies
        • The more we send up front, the more they can post for us
        • Build the brand kit as the assets get published by theme team
    • Media - Website (keep the website up to date and continue to improve it)
    • Merch Booth (merch booth selling indie merch in the hall)
    • Projector Screen Content (MIVSfit) (create the content that goes on the projector screens in the ops booth. and beyond to other screens in the hall???)
    • Steam Curator List + Sale (make stuff happen on Steam)
    • Suite Scheduling (content happening in the Indie Suite. This could be talks, outside groups, etc.)
    • Tournaments (organize the game tournaments held in the hall)
    • Zine (make a zine happen!)
    • School Groups or other External Groups (Booths or field trips for colleges or other school groups)
  • Potential New Initiatives
    • Jake - MAGTV Idea, indie hall ARG with daily live streams or daily pre-rec streams that we upload for broadcast
    • Travis - Top of my head, attendee interest/ game/ genre tracking. Maybe through kiosk? At the least would be interesting data
    • Liz - more badge-scan interactable features
• A big part of the goal of the initiative system is to give small teams something that they can control and can run and empower you to make cool things happen. DHs are here to help support teams and unblock them when you run into questions like “What is the resolution on the giant screen in the atrium?”
• Also want to drive home that this is a volunteer org and life happens. If life gets in the way and you can no longer get something over the finish line, reach out the the department heads. We’re here to help!