From The List That Shall Not Be Named

[kevin_standlee]

Consider the words "amateur," "amateurishly," "professional," and "professionally." Note the subtle distinctions in meaning between the nouns and the related adverbs. Discussions about convention-running can get derailed when people use the terms meaning one of those senses to mean the other one.

I am an amateur convention runner, in that I do it for love, not money. (You really couldn't afford my professional rates.) I attempt to carry out my hobby professionally, in that I want things to work well and not look badly-organized.

Comments

[redneckotaku.livejournal.com]

That is one of my mantras in convention running. I am also not the best at that. I do have fanboy moments and it is why you will never see me as a Guest Relations person at a con. One thing I want to say to that list that shall never be named is what Christian Brock told me about Budgets, "You budget to Break even by Budgeting for a small profit." You put in a little extra to cover cost overruns (like emergency runs on Saturday for the Con Suite).

[cobrabay.livejournal.com]

Please, you should not be describing yourself as an

amateur

convention runner, but as

Kevin Standlee, Gentleman Convention Runner

.

[esmeraldus-neo.livejournal.com]

I still remember a conversation from high school during which the yearbook advisor (I was on the newspaper staff) embarrassed me for saying I was trying to do a professional job of something.

He told me I was using the word improperly. Now that I'm a teacher myself, I don't think it was right for a grown man to try to shame a teenage girl, especially when we're talking about the same distinction.

Yeah, I think that guy was kind of a jerk.

[(Anonymous)]

The problem is that some misguided people might still take these words out of context. If you say you tried to run a convention professionally, you are likely to get comments like "See! See! I told you Kevin was getting paid for running the convention!" even though that is nothing like what you meant.

--Joshua