Group Cosplay 101

1. How to Build a Group 2. Setting Expectations and Goals 3. Scheduling and Organizing 4. Communication Expectations 5. Delegating Roles and Duties 6. Friendship 7. Q & A

Topics of Discussion

How to Build a Group – How did each of us join the group?

1 . How to Build a Group

How to Build a Group – Approaching People and Networking

Approaching People • Don’t be scared! We are all weirdos!

Networking • Meet people and find out their social media accounts.

Be a fan first! If you like someone’s work then give them a like or a follow to support them.

• Meet people in your local community. The best way to meet locals is at conventions!

• Join local online cosplay communities.

How to Build a Group – Finding the Right Members

Finding the Right Members Choose people that can work well with a group; not dictators or people

who demand “my way or the highway”. Choose people who have strong communication skills and don’t have a

tendency to “ghost”. Choose people who are willing to learn new skills. Choose hard workers with the time to dedicate. Choose people with skillsets that can help the group as a whole.

• Everyone doesn’t have to be a seamstress but everyone has to contribute with some sort of skill to the group such as:

– prop making – resin casting – managing schedules – social media skills – wig styling – photography/videography – graphics – etc.

How to Build a Group – Casting Calls

Casting Calls If you do a casting call:

• Don’t NOT ANSWER people inquiring or applying. • Do appoint a point person to make sure everyone is responded to

promptly and to notify all interested people when you are no longer looking.

• Do meet and spend time with potential members you are interested in from the casting call. Get to know them a little bit!

• If ANY physical traits are mentioned in casting calls (e.g., sizing), be transparent as to WHY • e.g., a previous member leaves a position and a completed

costume is available but it only fits up to X size, do not just say “up to size 8” with no reason of why.

Perils of Casting Calls You disappoint a lot of people vs. inviting people directly Lots of negative feedback from those who were not chosen

Setting Expectations and Goals – Structuring the Group

Structuring the Group– Set the expectation of how the group will be organized

Is it a group with one leader making decisions? Is it a democratic group where everyone weighs in on decisions? Is it a group with a handful of decision makers and the rest are volunteers? Is the group more informal and a “whoever shows up to the convention day is

in the group” group?

2. Setting Expectations and Goals

Setting Expectations and Goals – Time Commitment Expectations

Time Commitment Expectations Is this a “meet up at the con with everything done on each person’s own

time” group or a “work on everything together” group? Does the time commitment include group work and craft days? Is this a one con deal or a multi-con deal? What days and times of what cons are you committing to? Plan all dates as far in advance. Be realistic; not everyone will make all of the crafting days if you plan a

few, so plan on makeup days if people fall behind on their cosplay. Your Personal Time Commitment - Be realistic and honest with what you

yourself can commit to before joining a group with lots of time commitments.

Convention day activities and schedules • Contest day schedule vs. non-competing schedule • Photo shoots (there usually is a photo shoot set up on every

scheduled group convention day since it is rare that everyone is together dressed out fully)

Setting Expectations and Goals – Financial Expectations

Financial Expectations

What costumes do you plan on completing together? How much is it going to cost for each person? Is it a big build for each person or a small build for each

person? Is R&D involved? Remember: It usually costs more than you think so plan on

the high end of costs!

Setting Expectations and Goals – Setting Goals

Setting goals - Future Expectations Set goals for 1-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months

for long term groups Plan costumes and timelines for completion and

what conventions you are wearing them to Competitive Goals - What competitions will be

entered in as a group Other Big Dreams/Goals

• Being a Guests at cons? • Doing Panels? • Go to a big con out of state together? • Doing a massively huge build together?

Scheduling and Organization – Scheduling and Organizing Meetup Dates

3. Scheduling & Organizing

Scheduling and Organizing Meetup Dates Polls for finding dates when members are available to meet

• Allows for multiple date/time voting options • Voting tools: Doodle and Facebook polls

– Both are free to use – FB poll is limited in terms of options, so keep that

in mind – Select dates for members vote on based on their

availability • We go with the dates the majority of members can

make. If someone can’t make it to a meeting time, discuss make-up times and what can be worked on individually.

Create list of to-dos for crafting days so that time isn’t wasted by wondering what to do

Scheduling and Organization – Sharing Scheduled Group Events with Group Members

Sharing Scheduled Group Events with Group Members Google Calendar

• Include dates, times, locations, and agendas for meeting • Syncs to phones for reminders

Facebook Group Pinned Post with dates to remember • Gives people multiple outlets to keep up with dates • Constantly in forefront so no reason to forget or not plan ahead for

events

Scheduling and Organization – Organizing Documents: Google Drive

Organizing Documents: Google Drive House shared documents in Google Drive and share with group

members’ Gmail accounts • What to put in Google Drive:

– Brainstorming costume list – Panel outlines and presentations – Goals that have been set – To-Do lists

• Benefits: – Can share with all members of the group for

editing/viewing/commenting – Easy/intuitive – Mobile access – As long as you have Gmail, easily accessible

Scheduling and Organization – Free Scheduling and Organizational Tools

Free Scheduling and Organization Tools Voting

• Rally • Doodle • Facebook Poll • Meet (packaged with Sunrise)

Schedule Sharing • Doodle • Google Calendar • Cal • Tempo • Sunrise (packaged with Meet)

Organization/Storage • Dropbox • Google Drive • Trello • Evernote

Communication – Communication Expectations

4. Communication Expectations

Communication Expectations NO “GHOSTING”. No hanging around on social media and ignoring the team during a time

crunch. Members should keep in touch throughout the entire process of

building the cosplay. Breaks from group chats/conversations/etc. are okay if a member needs

a break but members taking a break should let the group know when they expect to come back to resume participation.

Communication – Tools and Mediums for Communication

Tools and Mediums for Communication Facebook Group - Polls, Polls for Meeting Dates and other schedule

planning, and time-sensitive goals/projects Facebook Messenger - Funsies, off topic stuff, non-important

(Important things get lost in chats. Keep important stuff to the group Facebook page)

Google Hangouts/Skype - Conflict Resolution, Emotional Discussions, Big Decisions

Phone Call - when it is important to convey emotion or situational cues but a video chat is not possible

In Person - huge decisions, big emotional conversations

Communication – Negativity

Negativity Do not let your group spiral into negative conversations. Hold each

other accountable to this. Venting is okay but know when to stop and when it has crossed the

line into a negative spiral. It’s okay to take a break! Breaks are good! Don't talk about members needing a break from group

communication. If they need to step out, let them have their space. Stay away from places and people that breed negativity There will always be people who do not like you so do not take mean

comments personally Disagreements within a group are completely normal but notice

when it goes from a disagreement into a fight and stop the train before it gets there.

Delegating Roles and Duties – Media Account Roles

Media Account Roles Choose one person to be point person for all of media OR Choose a different person for each account

• Gmail, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Social media point person(s) keep the group updated on any DMs sent to the

accounts and manages responses Everyone in our group can post on all social media accounts when they would

like but the point person is in charge of any account maintenance or big announcements.

The person(s) in charge of media accounts are also in charge of content upkeep • Great weekday hashtag ideas:

– Mondays: #motivationmonday – Tuesdays: #tutorialtuesday – Wednesday: #wipwednesday – Thursday: #throwbackthursday, #thankyouthursday – Friday: #followfriday

5. Delegating Roles and Duties

Delegating Roles and Duties – Other Role Ideas

Other Role Ideas Documents point person - maintains spreadsheets and documents for the group such as

brainstorming lists, finances spreadsheet, panel outlines, tutorial documents, etc. Public Relations point person - a person who is patient, eloquent, has a calm demeanor, and

strong communication skills who represents your group such as being the official moderator for panels, handling guest invites to conventions, handling outside relations with other cosplayers and organizations, handling complaints, etc.

Giveaways point person - monitors number of followers on accounts and composes giveaways and acquires the gifts

Dramaturge - person who collects reference images and other necessary information for group cosplays as well as progress photos. Essentially the group historian and researcher

Calendar and Scheduling point person - person who manages polls for meetup times and dates and posts schedules to group calendar and in FB group

Graphics point person - a point person who has digital skills and can create graphics for the group

Sewing Senpai - the strongest seamstress in the group who can be a point person to help for those who need it with patterning and sewing their costumes. May appoint other point craftspeople based on their skillsets (e.g., Becky is a designer)

Sponsorships point person - person who applies for and manages sponsorships Merchandise point person - if prints or stickers or other items are requested then this person

acquires them and sends them out.

Friendship – The Most Important Thing

Friendship – The Most Impor tant Thing Friendship should be your #1 priority

Never let a group cosplay get in the way of your friendships Maintain interpersonal relationships

• Make an effort to maintain a personal relationship with each member in the group

• It is important that all members have a friendship with one another It’s not all business, have fun!

• If you’re not having fun then what is the point? Spend time with each other outside of cosplay

• Nice way to maintain friendships and have fun outside of con crunch time • Use previously mentioned scheduling tools to select meetup times • Examples: movies, Pokemon Go hunting, have monthly meetups, get

dinner/coffee together, wine/anime nights, etc.

6. Friendship

Questions and Answers Regarding Group Cosplay

Thank You !