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[Gyroplast]

Anybody know how to get around those problems - short of cloning? 

Try the next best thing: Get some help. It's not ideal, but technically feasible to find a helper to either a) watch your table for a while and handle business in the Den while you're gone, or b) go buy or bid for art on your behalf.

For dealers who basically only sell on-site commissions, option a) is a bit more difficult to manage, but a helper is still able to take names, the rough concept and contact info for later. It's not like you'd be drawing while sitting in the Auction, anyway, so those hours are lost either way for profit generation.

I understand that "getting a helper" is easier said than done, but frankly, even our full-time staffers (Mystifur, Nightfox, EosFoxx, TaniDaReal, Loewi, etc.etc.) somehow manage their Den tables, and I know for a fact I didn't share my cloning facility with them!

It really boils down to priorisation. By far, not every dealer actually *stays* in the Den until it closes! A consirable amount packs up much earlier, for example those who already have much more commissions in their queue than they can manage to finish, anyway. Or dealers who don't expect the profit of the few people trickling by to warrant the hassle of manning the table. Seriously, if you're so sure that nobody's going to be in the Den anyway while the auction is running... why are you?

Anyway, I do agree that the PPS and auction is positioned more problematically this year for dealers. However, that's not going to change, so I'd suggest to find methods how to deal with it, rather than contemplate how the schedule is problematic. The auction has been moved to this (earlier) slot to take a SERIOUS load off of our art show team's shoulders: Usually, we closed the Art Show and our runners had to catalogize and mark any auction pieces, and RUSH them over to the stage to let the auction start on time! This, frankly, didn't work too well for reasons beyond our control, mainly bidding wars being fought during the panel closing instead of during the auction. So we changed this to try our luck with a different setup.

Regarding the Art Sales.. those were running from 14-18 last year, fully in parallel to the Den. This year, you've got an hour extra, until 19:00, to fetch your art, for precisely the reason that Dealers HAD to decide between closing early, or getting someone to fetch their art for them! Seriously, that's an improvement over last year's schedule. Granted, the PPS could've just started an hour later, but then it's running quite long already, and we didn't want to shove it even further back in the schedule. Might be worth considering for next year, though, I'm personally not aware of the reasons for starting it at 19:00 as opposed to 20:00.

TL;DR: Get a helper, or close your table for a short while. That works.

Hope to help, and see you on EF!
  Gyro

[Blue_Panther]

1) Dealers with art in the artshow have to pick to either attend the auction, or run their dealers' den table. We can't be in two places at the same time! (More's the pity.) And having the auction then will pretty much kill the dealers' den for the first two hours on Saturday...

In addition to what Gyro said, I have a question out of curiosity: Why would Dealers with art in the Art Show be required to attend the Auction? The only reasons you would want to attend the Auction is to either bid 'n buy or to spectate. If you don't want to do either, then you aren't obliged to attend the Auction at all! You will be provided with a full review and receipt of your artwork once you pick up your art.

TbW

[Cairyn]

Regarding the Art Sales.. those were running from 14-18 last year, fully in parallel to the Den. This year, you've got an hour extra, until 19:00, to fetch your art, for precisely the reason that Dealers HAD to decide between closing early, or getting someone to fetch their art for them! Seriously, that's an improvement over last year's schedule. Granted, the PPS could've just started an hour later, but then it's running quite long already, and we didn't want to shove it even further back in the schedule. Might be worth considering for next year, though, I'm personally not aware of the reasons for starting it at 19:00 as opposed to 20:00.

One correction: The Art Sales are divided into public sales and artist payout. The public sales are supposed to run from 14:00 to 17:00 only, and hopefully we can sell all items until then - because we need to collect the money first before we pay any artist. You are supposed to fetch the art before 17:00.

From 17:00 to 19:00, artists are paid. Artists may pick up unsold art before that, though (for sale in the Dealers' Den, e.g.). If the payment period takes longer, we'll extend it. The Pawpet Show starts at 18:30 anyway, with the seating starting at 18:00(!) so these times will clash anyway.

If you absolutely need to attend the Pawpet show, you will need to become a runner at the Art Sales, then you get paid at 17:00 (or at least before 18:00, since there will be other runners). Of course this clashes with the Dealers' Den again, but with so many long-running events, this is unavoidable even with flying changes in the teams.

[Gyroplast]

One correction: The Art Sales are divided into public sales and artist payout. The public sales are supposed to run from 14:00 to 17:00 only, and hopefully we can sell all items until then - because we need to collect the money first before we pay any artist. You are supposed to fetch the art before 17:00.

Thank you for correcting this, Cairyn. I'm so oldschool, I still lump your meticulous planning into one big blob and call it "Art Sales". Shame on me, I didn't mean to confuse anyone.

[Cheetah]

Might be worth considering for next year, though, I'm personally not aware of the reasons for starting it at 19:00 as opposed to 20:00.

The not-so-simple reason is: We want the BBF dance to start as early as possible. We do our best to start the Pawpetshow with as little delay as possible, and we also do our best to plan for a managable running time. But with an event as complex, and with just one single on-site rehearsal, things are pretty much hit-or-miss, and if we don't have the time buffer, we are either going to die - or ruin BBF's party. So moving it later is out of the question until someone convinces me why e.G. you can't have a second round of artist payout on Sunday morning when things overlap.

[Cairyn]

why e.G. you can't have a second round of artist payout on Sunday morning when things overlap.

Just to clarify before anybody searches the timetable: There are no art sales or artist payouts on Sunday!

Art sales will continue until all items have been picked up. (The number of people who forget their pickup will hopefully be low.)

Artist payment will commence afterwards and last until all artists have been paid (before and, if necessary, in parallel to the pawpet show). If an artist is not able to attend the payout at the scheduled time because he/she participates in an event (read: pawpet show) at that time, the artist can approach me personally afterwards or on Sunday, or schedule a separate meeting in advance. This should, however, stay an exception, and does not constitute an additional official payout date.

[Rorschfox]

In addition to what Gyro said, I have a question out of curiosity: Why would Dealers with art in the Art Show be required to attend the Auction? The only reasons you would want to attend the Auction is to either bid 'n buy or to spectate. If you don't want to do either, then you aren't obliged to attend the Auction at all! You will be provided with a full review and receipt of your artwork once you pick up your art.

TbW

True, I don't have to attend the Auction. But in the unlikely event that any of my artwork does make it to the voice auction (which it has at other conventions), it's fun to watch what happens to it. And even if it doesn't, the Art Auction (and the PawPet Show) are the only two events I'd normally attend, other than running my Dealers' Den table.

Hope this answers your question!