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Enforcer Enlistment is Open! Previous Enforcers, I have some questions.
TheJackalMan
Bellevue, WARegistered User regular
Bellevue, WARegistered User regular
in PAX West
I've never been an Enforcer, but I have attended PAX Prime for about 8 years running. I've always had good experiences with Enforcers and thought that maybe this year I could join the fold.
Those of you who have had the pleasure of being an Enforcer:
Just looking to pick your brains. Answer One, none, or all of the questions at your leisure.
Those of you who have had the pleasure of being an Enforcer:
- What was your favorite experience of being an Enforcer?
- What would you recommend for a potential new Enforcer that might not be directly covered in your Enforcer directives?
- What was your least favorite part of past Enforcing?
- If you were in charge of recruiting, what kind of person would you feel you'd benefit most having as an Enforcer this year?
Just looking to pick your brains. Answer One, none, or all of the questions at your leisure.
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Honestly, make sure that if you get chosen that you get sleep, water, and a shower. If you're excitable, you will lay there all night. Depending on where you end up, it can be very distracting to the point where you can start to neglect yourself. Everybody jokes about the PAX pox but it's a real thing, you have to drink a lot of water and make sure you carry hand sanitizer and wash your hands a lot.
Least favorite part? Post PAX depression is real. At the end of the weekend you have to leave this amazing event with all of these amazing new friends you've made and it can get you down.
The last question I can't answer. You have to be friendly and willing to work hard. Most of what [E]s do is customer service so you have to be ready for that too...
Hopefully that helps some without spoiling everything!
[E] Passes [X] Hotel [X] Flight [ ] Waiting Patiently
About Me:
This coming Prime will be my 8th PAX 6th time as an Enforcer. Virtually all my experience has been working one of the Satellite theaters, outside of a single stint in line management, so all of my comments are coming from that perspective.
What was your favorite experience of being an Enforcer?
The people you meet. By far one of my favorite parts of being an enforcer. Everyone I have met while enforcing has been nothing less than an excellent individual, and as someone who typically has trouble meeting people, I have never felt more welcome among "strangers" in my entire life.
Additionally, this one's kinda hard to explain, but I really just like being in a position to provide something of value to a community I am very passionate about.
What would you recommend for a potential new Enforcer that might not be directly covered in your Enforcer directives?
Honestly, it's hard to really think of much here. If you are accepted, you will find there is a WEALTH of advice available on just about any Enforcing related thing you could think of. One big thing is, don't be afraid to admit you don't know something. The jobs are all pretty straight-forward on the surface, but there is a ton of little details that will come up now and then and you almost certainly won't have all the answers right from the get-go. You will rarely if ever be working alone, and this is part of the reason why. Ask your teammates. This is ESPECIALLY true for attendee questions, as whatever you say will generally be taken as fact, right or wrong (but don't say "I don't know" and walk away, find a person that does).
What was your least favorite part of past Enforcing?
Having to tell people "no". I get a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction from helping people out, having our theatre run smoothly, and just generally trying to make a fun experience for people. Other times, you are you're turning people away because the line is full, or breaking up <otherwise benign activity> that's causing a fire hazard. People are generally very understanding about it, but nobody likes to be that guy regardless.
Having to tell my non-[E] friends, "Sorry, I'll be on shift then.". It's weird that you always hear, "you'll see less, not more of PAX as an Enforcer" which is true, but this corollary never really occurred to me until I made the jump myself. It's sometimes hard to explain to folks who don't "get it" why you would want to go on vacation and then "work" a good chunk of the time when you could be hanging out, playing games, etc. It's definitely a tradeoff, one that is more than worth it for me, but it may not be for some.
If you were in charge of recruiting, what kind of person would you feel you'd benefit most having as an Enforcer this year?
Really in my opinion, it comes down to three things. Be hard working. Be friendly. Be enthusiastic. Everything else you can learn on the job. Prior customer service experience etc. is a "nice to have", but really if you can:
- Be pleasant and approachable to attendees (friendly)
- Do what you need to do, and actively look for ways to help out (hard working)
- Provide that energy you and your the rest of your team can feed off of when it's 11:00pm, you're exhausted, and your feet feel like they are going to fall off (enthusiastic)
You are golden in my book.- I love sharing knowledge. My favorite part when I used to enforce shows was doing a tour for all new enforcers Thursday before the show. Helping the ones that are afraid feel more at ease and helping those who were too excited to pace themselves.
What would you recommend for a potential new Enforcer that might not be directly covered in your Enforcer directives?
- Learn everything you can. First year start with your department, if you do the same department a second time, learn about other departments. That information could come in handy trying to help attendees, while doing random setup\takedown tasks, or to make sure your department does not step on toes of some other department.
What was your least favorite part of past Enforcing?
- ditto to @Malgaras on this one. Telling people No sucks, but making exceptions is poisonous to the show over time.
If you were in charge of recruiting, what kind of person would you feel you'd benefit most having as an Enforcer this year?
- My perfect enforcer would be someone who has cheerfully worked Tier 1 tech support or a Best Buy customer service desk for years, done a great job, and is always coming up with good ideas for improvement on how the support department operates. Customer service is a key component to every enforcer role, even for those few that don't interact with attendees, interact with other enforcers or media or exhibitors or someone. (disclaimer, despite my orange tag, I have nothing to do with choosing new enforcers)
For reference, I enforced 15 PAXes from Prime '07 to Aus '14
Honestly if you have attended 8 PAX's you should have a pretty good idea what the Enforcers are all about. It is work, usually with great people, that can be super rewarding. Also if you do not get picked don't take it badly, Prime especially often gets way more applicants then there are available slots, and so Kristin is often picking the best applications among many qualified people.
Best of luck.
Those of you who have had the pleasure of being an Enforcer:
[*] What was your favorite experience of being an Enforcer?
[*] Gotta go with the crowd favorite. The people are tops. Super welcoming. It truly becomes a second family. Even outside of PAX. Even though life has prevented me from enforcing since 2011, I came back this spring and it was life I never left.
Also, shield wall. Idk why. I I love the shield wall.
[*] What would you recommend for a potential new Enforcer that might not be directly covered in your Enforcer directives?
ASK QUESTIONS. Seriously, don't be afraid to ask. If you're unsure just ask someone. Just getting a second opinion will help. Other than that the folks in charge of the department's have such a good handle on how everything should run.
[*] What was your least favorite part of past Enforcing?
The trip home... @Jaym4n hit it right on. The post pax depression is real.
[*] If you were in charge of recruiting, what kind of person would you feel you'd benefit most having as an Enforcer this year?
As I personally have been out of the scene for 4 years. I don't feel qualified to answer this. So I defer to all the above answers. That.
Hope that will help!
7 PAX veteran
Hopefully that kind of made sense... Typing from my phone onto the forums is more difficult than it should be...
The one thing you'd get as an Enforcer is that it gives a whole 'nother set of people to either chip in and crash with, or let them crash with you and defray room costs.
PAX East 2012 Omeganaut. Awesomest. Time. Ever.
- Helping the lost souls who couldn't find that elusive booth or room, those seconds of enjoyment of helping someone is really priceless. The [E] community super chill folks!
2) What would you recommend for a potential new Enforcer that might not be directly covered in your Enforcer directives?
- Work hard play harder, patience lots of it.
3) What was your least favorite part of past Enforcing?
- Getting up early for the morning shift....I'm not a morning person by any means....sometimes you gotta take one for the team;
4) If you were in charge of recruiting, what kind of person would you feel you'd benefit most having as an Enforcer this year?
- Hard working, willing to do whatever it takes to make the attendees happy! Follow Peace Love Unity and Respect for all.
These are solely my opinion(s) and in no way represent the official enforcer answer to said questions.
https://pinnypals.com/pals/flashe
4 Year Pax West Attendee
Crowds waiting to enter are fun to interact with. The energy there is amazing. Welcoming crowds coming in is also cool.
> What would you recommend for a potential new Enforcer that might not be directly covered in your Enforcer directives?
Its in the instructions/recommendations to all the Enforcers, but: "Don't hurt yourself" and "It's about the attendees and not you" are basically the two focal points to your experience.
> What was your least favorite part of past Enforcing?
How sore I was after all that walking around. I had good shoes, but one must consider the whole body. Also whenever I have to tell someone to do something it makes me slighty sad. I had a bad incident at East that was all by the rules and everything was courteous and proper, but it still made me feel like crud.
> If you were in charge of recruiting, what kind of person would you feel you'd benefit most having as an Enforcer this year?
A happy person who's worked in retail. Rather an oxymoron in many cases, however, as retail seems to drain the life out of lot of people.
As far as hotel rooms go, this is a good recommendation: Unsure if you can get a refund, but to be honest, you should be able to sell those at cost easily. Really easily. I can find other Enforcers who want to buy spare passes.
PAX East 2012 Omeganaut. Awesomest. Time. Ever.
I thought there was a no refund policy? I heard in the past that they basically said give it to someone you know. Could be wrong though.
Hotel Booked: check!
Sitter for the kids: check!
Excitement level rising: check, check and triple check!
She's saying there is a refund, if and only if, you get selected as an Enforcer.
PAX East 2012 Omeganaut. Awesomest. Time. Ever.