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I've been coordinating PFS tables at a game store in Salt Lake City for 5 weeks now. In general we have somewhere between two and four tables a week, and we've been seeing a lot of growth. Unfortunately, it sometimes seems like I'm the only one doing any of the work for these sessions.
I recruit the GMs, inform the players, talk with the store employees, recruit new players, prepare the hand outs and chronicle sheets, help new players write characters, create the events online, report the events online, finish the chronicle sheets, hunt down GMs that haven't finished their paperwork, get missing chronicle sheets to players that never got them from their GM, put together folders for all the GMs, work the facebook page, do faction charts to show which factions are most successful in our area, and handle the logistics for getting everyone to the store on time if they don't have cars/licensees.
I love doing all this, but it takes a lot of my time and the amount of effort I put into this is only increasing. It's not sustainable, and the way things are going it looks like if I try to take a week off the whole thing will collapse. I need to get the project self sufficient before next semester, and that means I need to delegate some of this stuff.
The question is, what do I delegate? All of these seem like things only I can do, so I think I need somebody outside of the situation to tell me what I need to re-assign.
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In my experience gamers are not leaders and they lack initiative but they make excellent followers and will do their best to complete a task.
Pick a handful of people, those you know are reliable, self-sufficient, and friendly, and give them all tasks related to different aspects of what you do as a coordinator. Things should work themselves out from there.
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Well met Jarrod,
Welcome to the club. ;-) You'll find that there are a number of us around here who have dealt with the same frustrations (just look for a "Venture-Captain" after our names).
It sounds like you're doing everything you can, and I understand where you are coming from. You want your events to be perfect and you don't want anything left out. I too have this problem on occasion, and you are correct, delegation is the best thing you can do. You need to identify your "hard-core" players, and find a few who really are into it. Those who assist with GMing more than they play are always good choices as they've already decided to put in an extra level of effort. Once you do that, start directing them to help organize specific game days rotating out the position if you need to. You'll find that these "Venture Lieutenants" are invaluable to keeping you sane.
As for your specific delegation list, if you have somebody you can trust, a lot of that work (vetting character/chronicle sheets, working with new players, etc.) can be passed on. Same goes true for helping people get around. If you can set up regular car pools, they should start taking care of themselves since the people car-pooling will know who they need to call (and vice versa).
You are correct though, you need to delegate some, and those are the areas I'd start out with. Coordinators can't take on everything you know! Let your players know you need help though, and let them know why. I can assure you that if you've got that many players showing up regularly, some of them are going to be willing to help, they just don't know that you need it or what needs to be done.
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In my experience gamers are not leaders and they lack initiative but they make excellent followers and will do their best to complete a task.
Pick a handful of people, those you know are reliable, self-sufficient, and friendly, and give them all tasks related to different aspects of what you do as a coordinator. Things should work themselves out from there.
Plus send out a general request to the people gaming with you to see who would like to help. I bet that you will be plesantly surprised by the responce. Given another 6 months I would say that the old military saying "if you are indispensable your not doing the job right" would apply. Early on someone driving the bus is a requirement, but that doesn't mean that you have to do it all yourself. I would think that the GM's could/should be printing out there own chronicle sheets. I would think that you could also find volunteers to help the newest players create their character sheets. Doing what you can to plan ahead helps too. No one (well mostly no one) likes to be surprised with a request at the last second. Given time to plan or work on stuff as their schedule allows is better.
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It sounds like though you enjoy it you are also enabling them. Push hard for them to DM. When they make mistakes have them fix them. It will make them learn faster. Keep new DMs on low level games an let them grow in confidence. Make sure before hand they are prepared. Send them a check list for before leaving and after DMing.
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I am unsure that actually turning over the reins is the right way to go. You cannot be hamfisted or overbearing in your leadership - but passing on the torch to someone can as you said - collapse. In Vegas I've experienced this as well. I have several good GM's. I'll have them run for several months at a time, excited and doing what they can. Then job, wife, lack of a job, money or even skill seems to sap them of their ability to handle any of it. Thus you'll likely 'be stuck' doing 95% of the deed yourself. You will find on occasion someone that will handle 40% of the supporting and even running of the events for a few months - but again it will drop off and you'll be stuck back doing it all again.
Fostering those times that gives you a 'break' of only 55% of the work is what you need to aim for. When you get the person that is willing to have your back for much longer and be willing to take on some of the actual responsibilities - do your best to foster those times and people. I can't suggest that you blow your own money on 'gifts' but I know we VC's do exactly that. If the Evol WifeFIEND even had a clue she'd divorce me. At least buy them a soda or two during their games.
And remind them that they too can earn two, three and even five stars if they only run a bunch of modules.
Be Well. Be Well Overbearing.
Theocrat Issak of the Las Vegas Lodge of the Pathfinder Society
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My fellow VCs (and co-organizers of Colorado Springs events Todd) are giving you sound advice.
One idea I have not seen posted is the idea of "trading" mods. "I'll run those and you can run me through these." While not everyone will agree, many guys will step up and offer to run some if they get to play other events they particularly like.
On your question about what to delegate... That's a toughie. A real toughie. I say pick what you like best and coach others to do what you like least.
And (at the risk of angering my Paizo Overlord): SAY NO.
That's right. Say no. Limit the number of tables to X (with tables of 6. Not 7, 8 or 10) and create demand. Encourage the community to organize another event day (sans-you).
Hope that helped.
JP
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Two things I suggest is
(1) find a co-coordinator. That way you can miss a week without the whole thing falling apart. And the player-group will know s/he is your lieutenant. You can still be the one to report the events, but your LT can help with the mustering, etc and you will be more available to sell the game to new arrivals and help with rules questions or character builds.
(2) get as many GM's as you can and rotate them. Don't let them run every week unless you are 100% sure they are GM-psycho's ;-) like some of us. Running only 25-50% of the time lets them enjoy both sides of the game without burning out on either one. Even coordinators need a week off from GM'ing. I like the occasional week to just watch games even if i'm not playing or GM'ing. And it leaves me free to grab an overflow table if necessary.
Bob Jonquet, Chicago Lodge
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I recruit the GMs, inform the players, talk with the store employees, recruit new players, prepare the hand outs and chronicle sheets, help new players write characters, create the events online, report the events online, finish the chronicle sheets, hunt down GMs that haven't finished their paperwork, get missing chronicle sheets to players that never got them from their GM, put together folders for all the GMs, work the facebook page, do faction charts to show which factions are most successful in our area, and handle the logistics for getting everyone to the store on time if they don't have cars/licensees.
First, break your list down into requirement levels.
Vital, game day won't go off without these jobs being done:
Needed, but can be worked around:
Useful, but fluff:
Pure fluff, great for someone's spare time:
Yo also need to, as quickly as possible, find yourself an understudy. So far, you haven't run into any of the many things that can happen in real life that can cause you to not be available to do some of the vital things when they need to be done.
As Theocrat mentioned, illness (yours or someone you have responsibility for), job (OT, shift changes, new responsibilities at work), being unemployed (job hunt is more urgent than gaming, sorry), spouse (and kids, family time is important, too), money or lack thereof, relatives (my mom is dead, my oldest brother died a couple of years ago, and my dad and step-mom are both currently in seriously bad health, a co-worker's dad just got remarried, etc., as examples)
So, my advice, is make a To Do or Task list, then see what actually needs your personal touch, and what can be farmed out to your volunteers.
For instance, if you have a min/maxer or two, they might be a good helper (with a leash, of course) for helping new players create characters. At least that way they won't be able to complain that their character is ineffective. ;)
And, IMO, some of the things you say you are doing are not something that you should be doing at all. For one thing, organizing travel logistics is nice, but not something you should be doing. If something goes wrong on one of the rides you arrange, are you responsible for correcting it, or should the driver?
What you should organize, at most, is a ride board; and maybe introductions between the passenger-to-be and one or more people who live nearby with a vehicle. Let them make their own specific arrangements. You shouldn't have to worry about whether Kevin always runs late, or Bob gets lost even with detailed directions and never calls for help.
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Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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And (at the risk of angering my Paizo Overlord): SAY NO.
That's right. Say no. Limit the number of tables to X (with tables of 6. Not 7, 8 or 10) and create demand. Encourage the community to organize another event day (sans-you).
JP hit the nail on the head. Create demand, give them a reason to do their own thing, and it will happen. Then you can teach them everything you'll want to teach them, and they'll eagerly ask for more.
Besides, if you don't create demand then your game won't be as popular, and that would be a bad thing. If everyone always has access to everything they want then eventually they will have a "ho-hum, another game day" attitude and it won't be exciting.
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Wow. Thanks for all the advice. I'm glad that so many people are willing to help me with this issue.
The good news is that I found one person that I can trust on some this, and I handed off the project of making sure that my DMs have all of their stuff printed out and prepared before the game. Many of these people are just out of high school and don't have jobs and homes, much less printers, so I find that this is absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, I find that because many of them are young they are unwilling to buy books, which means that for the 30 of us that are regulars, we have 4 core rule books... I'm having a really hard time getting new characters written up for everyone.
I'm glad that people seem to agree that the DMs are responsible for chronicle sheets, not me. I still feel like, as the coordinator, I am in the best position to fix the missing chronicle sheets problem. Not worrying about carpools has also made things a great deal less stressful, even though one of my core players feels that it should be my responsibility and constantly bothers me about organizing it.
I like the idea of making the list and prioritizing the tasks. I'll probably do that, and as I find people who are really willing to work on this I'll spread those tasks out.