Totals for PAX East 2013Cookies - Over 11,000 cookies donated
Bakers - over 43 bakers
Distributors - 37+ distributors
Money - $17,420+
This year was a landslide success thanks to the hard work of our brigadiers and the stunning and humbling generosity of the PAX attendees. We also want to thank ThinkGeek for partnering with us and providing some awesome swag to give away to attendees and for running a fun raffle with tickets given out by brigadiers.
Special shout out to the awesome E's in Red, you're always there to yell for us, guide us, and give us a hand. And a big thanks to Jamie Dillion and Child's Play for their help and support. Even on nearly no sleep Jamie was a superstar.
Cookie Brigade East signing off, next up,
Cookie/Biscuit Brigade PAX Australia!
If you were looking for information regarding becoming a part of the Cookie Brigade for PAX East 2013 or you're just curious about what we're all about then you're in the right place. We're gearing up for PAX East 2013 and looking forward to trying to smash our record from last year!
If you will be involved with the brigade at PAX East 2013, please fill out this survey: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFh4di16VzR5bUtjVloyV1ZOS2JuZGc6MA#gid=0If you're not already registered on the Cookie Brigade website please do so ASAP and join our PAX East 2013 group.Current Announcements...03/12/2013 - Pax Information Email has been sent! - Please check your inbox for an email containing important Brigade information for PAX East 2013. If you did not receive the email please see the thread on the brigade website.03/11/2013 - Important Update! Communication at PAX! 03/07/2013 - Cookie Drop Off Locations posted to Brigade Website!02/04/2013 - Baker/Distributor Survey is live!
Hey guys! PAX East 2013 is now just right around the corner. Like last year we are going to collect information from bakers and distributors who plan to help out ahead of time so we can communicate information with you in a timely manner. If you will be involved with the brigade at PAX East 2013, please fill out this survey:[/b]
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFh4di16VzR5bUtjVloyV1ZOS2JuZGc6MA#gid=0
WHO WE ARE:
The Cookie Brigade is a ragtag group of Penny Arcade Forumers who have assembled since PAX 2007 to provide our fellow gamers with delicious baked goods! Cookies are baked by forumers, brought from afar by forumers, and distributed by forumers!
The Cookie Brigade does not sell cookies. We give cookies away for free.
Brigadiers also accept donations to Child's Play, which are entirely voluntary and greatly appreciated!
It's very convenient to get a cookie and give a donation at the same time.
Starting in 2008, the Cookie Brigade began a mission to give these cookies in exchange for donations to Child's Play, the charity started by Mike and Jerry that provides entertainment to kids in children's hospitals. Since starting on this mission, the Cookie Brigade has raised over $71,000 completely from the handing out of cookies and the reception of donations from the incredible, amazing, and generous PAX community! In 2012 alone we raised over $26,000 for Child's Play! Woooooot! Thank you everyone for your generous donations, you have helped an awesome cause!
WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?
Looking to Volunteer? Head to
http://cookie-brigade.com/ for more information!
Looking for some general information? Check us out on the
PAX Community Wiki!
Twitter: @Cookie BrigadeG+: Cookie BrigadeHashtag: #cookiebrigadeI WANT TO HELP IN THE BRIGADE!
If you're interested in
- Baking delicious cookies
- Distributing to people during PAX
- helping with Logistics
We can definitely use your help! Sign up at our website,
http://cookie-brigade.com if you wish to participate in the planning, baking, and/or distributing!
An important note: due to certain external pressures on the Brigade, we have to keep some of our more sensitive planning operations private. If you sign up at the Cookie Brigade website, an Administrator will contact you if you're not a known or frequently posting member of the Forums so that we can verify your identity. Thank you for understanding!
BASIC BRIGADE GUIDELINES- We give out cookies we do not sell cookies! We do happily pass donations along to Child's Play, so feel free to give us donations if you want.
- Keep it PG and family friendly. We love to give cookies out to kids and as such we ask all brigadiers to remain family friendly with their cookies (sorry no dickerdoodles) and distributing activities!
- Have fun and enjoy PAX!
Posts
http://s774.photobucket.com/user/SchoolGirlGoodness/library/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/VeronatheMad
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
TWDT '13: Hufflepuff OotP
Massive Crystal Cavern!
Last year I tried a couple times to 'page' a cookie brigade volunteer via Twitter and the forums. The time I remember most was during the D&D Next Playtest event, which was 3+ hours IIRC. There were dozens of tables of 6 players, and we were all engrossed for hours. About midway through the event, we started to get kind of hungry, but of course no one wanted to take any breaks, and I struck upon the notion that our savior could be a Cookie Brigadier bearing loads of chocolatey delights. Sadly, although someone did end up responded or retweeting, cookies never found their way over there. I think I actually ended up ordering a pizza and having it delivered to the BCEC (the driver just called me when he got there).
I fully understand that it was fairly late at night, and I was just being a whiny brat looking for some tasty cookies. Still, just like strategically setting up a table of girl scout cookies outside a head shop, you could make a killing if you sent 1 or 2 Cookie Brigade volunteers into the Tabletop/Card Game areas during the longer events and tournaments.
Was that the event where you had to wait in the queue and sign the waiver? b/c if so - then they might have been restricted from entering, since we were on lock-down to prevent info leaks.
I do, however, totally agree with the general point about the tabletop/card game area. I made rounds there one day for a little bit with my buddy, and we cleaned out our stock :P Definitely a spot I'm planning to frequent next year.
I think there may also have been a "Hot Spots" list that was circulated, but tips like those are definitely good to hear
You bring up another good point though, because I forgot about the line time entirely. Lines that form more than 30 minutes before an event are also a great place to scalp your delicious wares. Captive audience and all that.
If you factor in the part where we had to wait for 2 hours before the event to actually get a seat, we were at the D&D Next thing for more like 6 hours. The line was certainly open to everyone, and I don't *think* they were preventing people from wandering through the D&D/Tabletop area at that time? The WotC staff there couldn't possibly have policed the entire perimeter as they barely had enough GMs to run things and pass out materials.
I'm not sure about the schedule WotC has for the releasing the Next version of D&D (I know they have run at least 2 open beta/playtests so far). They may run another "closed" preview event at East this year, not sure. But they will definitely have other long events. If I recall, the DM Challenge is usually 3-4 hours yeah?
Things to put on the list for next year :P
Yeah, but I would feel bad. The Brigadiers are there to enjoy PAX too, not be at the beck and call of 30,000 nerds every time one of them forgets to eat.
AKA me.
True. I guess I was looking at it from the point of view of I'm a volunteer who's striking out where I'm trying to get rid of cookies, and I check the twitter and go 'oh hey look a bunch of people over at the Arachnid room line are hungry, let's go over there!' but it might be more of a pain than it's worth.
I do think that a cookie request hashtag could be useful, but I think that might exist already? Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, with the same problem of lack of distributors at PAX, even if they implement that (or already have it), there's no way to guarantee any sort of response time.
We can setup secret signals.. You walk up to a brigaider and go "C is for cookie", if they respond with "It's good enough for me" you know you've got the right guy. Opens up his trench coat or costume and you see a (perfectly sealed) collection of cookies. Maybe a secret handshake with your fingers in the sign of a C.
yeah, I think we need to share the hashtag with more attendees and distributors so people use it better
and hopefully get more distributors
TWDT '13: Hufflepuff OotP
All that said, suggestions for how we can improve are always welcome
Something easily identifiable that marks a person as an "In-Service" provider of cookies would be helpful though. Obviously you can't go around the BCEC shouting "COOKIES! I GOT YER COOKIES HEE-AH!!!" But if I 'page' a brigadier to the D&D area and @cookie_brigade says salvation is on the way, and then I see a girl wearing the Cookie Monster hat (as an example), then I know the goods have arrived.
We have discussed distributors wearing various identifiers. Right now the Cookie Brigade patch is what you want to look for. Beyond that, a dustributor's methods and outfit are up to them (some people do openly shout!).
Twitter/Internet overload -
It's common for messages to arrive late. Sometimes as much as an hour after the fact either due to issues posting or downloading updates. Its a big event and a lot of people using the networks.
Having someone available -
We always need one person manning our super secret HQ, so if there isn't a distributor available then we can't send someone
Being mobbed in table top -
So my ventures into table top generally always go like this:
First Table"
Me: "Hey guys I have cookies!"
Hungry Tabletop gamers: *suspicious look* "How much?"
Me: "Free, but I take Child's Play donations too."
Gamers: "OMG FREE COOKIES! NOM NOM NOM! Take all of my monies for Child's Play."
After about table 4 I generally have hungry gamers mobbing me and throwing fistsful of money at me for food.
I'm usually lucky to make it 1/4 of the way through the tabletop area before having to trudge back and reload on noms. We know you guys love food when gaming but its a massive area to try and cover with what can be carried.
That said we can ALWAYS use more distributors and people looking to help out, we had a lot of great helpers last year that made a huge difference at East, and we could definitely use more cookie bearers this year. It's better to have 50 people willing to each put in two hours then 10 people trying to cover everything all weekend.
I'll add the hashtags and links to the wiki page with CB info to the OP.
So, none.
If this is consistent, then when going to table top, why not just bring 2x as many as you normally would? Or if that doesn't do it, 3x.
I think this goes back to number of distributors available. People can't carry an infinite amount of cookies with them
From what I understand, most distributors take the *maximum* they can handle every time they go out.
Cookies are heavy.
We also can't be obvious at East. IE no carrying in massive tubs of cookies like they have done at Prime at offsite locations. So its really whatever the distributors can easily, comfortably and properly carry in their bag.
And yeah cookies are heavier then you think and that table top room is massive.
We'd love to have you on board. Make sure you register over on the brigade website. I'd also recommend following this thread as well for updates.
Regarding the twitter thing - like ransim said, we do watch twitter, but it can be AWFUL with updating. Last east I was trying to locate someone who had tweeted but because of the tweets delays we never did meet up for the cookies. We're always trying to come up with better communication methods, but as others have mentioned too we're usually very short on distributors at East (hint hint.)