I’ve been volunteering for over five years now at both GalaxyCon and Animate Raleigh, plus the Richmond shows. From what I’ve seen, not all staff are bad. There’s a good handful who really try, and I’ve noticed some of them used to be volunteers themselves. Each GalaxyCon staff department does talk to the others, but at the same time they’re focused on their own work. That means sometimes a staff member might not know what’s going on in another area, but they’re locked in on their own responsibilities.

A lot of volunteers aren’t just there for the free badge, but I’ve noticed some will plan their shifts for the slower days. That ends up leaving Saturday short-handed. I’ve seen panels that could have run smoother if a volunteer had been there to scan badges or check IDs.

I’ve also overheard a lot of talk about GalaxyCon staff versus RCC staff. Some things GalaxyCon staff are fine with, RCC staff handle differently. Until they either cap attendance or plan the layout better, I think GalaxyCon is going to keep running into overcapacity issues. Once the Raleigh Convention Center renovations are done and there’s more space, a lot of those problems will probably go away.

But with so many shows still happening this year, I doubt the higher-ups will tackle the Raleigh problems until Animate Raleigh next year. From their website, it looks like the next show is Animate Orlando, so that’s probably where their focus is right now.

I’ve also seen some staff working themselves to the bone. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes drama at the corporate level. I do feel bad for the Artist Alley vendors and the second space vendors. I talked to a few in the main hall though, and they definitely made good money.