The Many Faces of Dragon*Con: The Support Staff

Pat Trammell is the sales and marketing director for the Hyatt Regency Atlanta

Trammell is the director of sales and marketing for the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.

This will be my fourth Dragon*Con. It’s probably the group that the hotel most looks forward to every year. They’re excited to be here in the city, and they’re genuinely happy, fun people.

It’s probably the event that brings the most bodies into the Hyatt each year, especially since Dragon*Con’s been in multiple hotels, so people who come in aren’t necessarily guests here. The biggest challenge is how to best control the crowds without negatively impacting the experience. The first thing is making sure everyone is safe and secure.

We set up remote bars in the lobby, we have extra security force, and an employee of the elevator service company is on property the whole time. Dragon*Con is around-the-clock. I don’t know of any other event where truly the people are up and about 24/7 — or 24/three-and-a-half.

Some of our bartenders and servers wear costumes for Dragon*Con, and we talked about having the managers dress down - to let them wear T-shirts with the hotel logo. But we thought it was more important to be able to distinguish quickly between management and staff.

Our staff enjoys seeing the people in costume, but all of our standard rules for employees still apply. They can’t use a camera or cell phone for an event when they’re on shift, and they can’t be on property when they’re off shift. They can’t partake in the festivities, although they can enjoy them as observers.

My favorite thing about Dragon*Con is how on the first day, there is a slight overlap between Dragon*Con guests checking in and our corporate guests checking out. It’s fun to watch their responses, to see the standard corporate travelers co-mingling with the Dragon*Con fans.

When it’s over, we have one of our largest cleanups, but it’s not unmanageable. Dragon*Con started in this building and grew in this building, so we can make adjustments easily. It’s a big cleanup, but I don’t think it’s bigger than New Year’s Day.