What to write on contact cards

[gement]

[FL x-post]

Apparently some people find contact cards relatively simple. You put your name (or your scene name if you're into that), an email address or phone number, and maybe a photo or a handle on the social network you'd most like to be contacted at. Maybe a logo that represents your primary interest.

I am about to go to a Doctor Who con where I'll go by my legal name and want people to contact me via email or LJ. The weekend after that, Seattle Boot Weekend, where I'll be introducing myself as Robin and only want to direct people to FL, unless I like them enough to give them my phone number. I go to events as boy, girl, and other. I don't want 50 different variations of contact card, and I'm easily swamped by contact requests, so I like controlling exactly how people reach me.

I have two full names that are just as validly me, and one handle (gement) which I use everywhere. I'm thinking of making a card that just says:

gement

And adding whatever contact info seems appropriate. @FL, @LJ, @hotmail, phone number, "Robin," "call me about your oxblood boots," whatever. Crisp white cards and my snobby fountain pen ink are a better signifier of my core identity than any other pile of data I could put on the card.

For super bonus more-visually memorable cards, I was thinking of putting 3-6 pictures of my different presentations on the back. My work suit-and-tie look, my super-glam rainbow Space Monkey Mafia femme drag, my srs bizness buzz-cut boy look, and one more femme one that I don't know how I'd distinguish without going into drag territory again. Still thinking about that.

I feel pretentious about this. Like I'm such a special snowflake that I can't have a simple fucking contact card. But I don't feel like I can put down more without separating my life into little boxes with checkmarks, and that itches.

Ponder ponder ponder.

Comments

[caladri.livejournal.com]

I've struggled with this, too! My solution is non-ideal: I simply don't bother. My loss, surely.

Identity matters!

[grum]

Actually, I really like the idea. Varied pictures on the back to be used either randomly with intent and one handle that will get specified as needed seems a much better solution than:

Gement

gement@hot...
bob on FL
georgie's_own on LJ
phone

But then sadly, while I use mine most places, the few that I feel I'd need to specify, I did actually make divergent handles (and use them to avoid obvious links between circles). So I'd just flat out need different cards. Wry.

[drakemonger.livejournal.com]

One thing to consider is that you can encourage people to seek you out in one medium and not another, but you can't really stop them from finding you on FL if you want them to find you on LJ, e.g. while still maintaining the consistency-of-identity that a cross-platform handle provides.

[gement.livejournal.com]

It's true! That is by design, more or less. I would rather let my friends find me cross-platform than practice perfect containment. Most people won't bother to try me on every network, and if they are a nuisance, I have a block button.

But if I write the name of every network on the card, I can't comfortably hand my card to a 15 year old (or guy with dubious vibes) at Norwescon.

[drakemonger.livejournal.com]

...why would you hand the card to a guy with dubious vibes?

Unless it was me, of course.

[mimerki.livejournal.com]

I feel this strong need to mock your supposedly dubious vibes, but it keeps coming across as far more mean-spirited than intended.

[gement.livejournal.com]

Not terribly many reasons, but I can imagine situations. If I am handing out my phone number, my creep-dar goes way more sensitive and limits who I'll make any connection with.

[tereshkova2001.livejournal.com]

I met a lovely woman at Worldcon whose card had ticky boxes on it.
*goes and looks for it*

The front says:
Tara O'Shea
(that chick you met at that con)
with her website and phone number

The back says:
Which Con? (Circle one)
with a list of cons and Other: _______
What did we talk about? (Circle all that apply)
comics Doctor Who web design Star Trek kit-bashing Barbies sushi Gosford Park 1:6 scale dioramas bourbon other:_____

I thought it was charming, because it gave a quick preview of many things she's interested in and lets me remember what we talked about. (Star Trek costumes, since I was wearing one.)


I do like the idea of photos or other descriptors, though. For one Norwescon I printed off slips of paper with my address, the day of the con, and what costume I was wearing to hand to photographers. I got a couple emails out of it, so it worked.

[gement.livejournal.com]

The costume-specific idea is great. I'll have to think about that for any particular photo-tastic costumes in the future.

[tcepsa.livejournal.com]

For practical purposes, I like the plain-card-plus-handwritten-details.

For super-geek-out-overload: I wonder whether it'd be possible to get one of those receipt printers and use it to print out card-sized receipts on demand. Have an array of buttons, and when you press one it spits out the corresponding pre-designed card. Of course, that probably negates the card-with-images option. And it would require a power source of some kind ("Here, let me give you a card--hang on... just gotta find an outlet...") Maybe for even more dynamic on-demand goodness you could somehow interface it with a smartphone and fill out whatever you wanted to be on the card through the phone, then have it print. Also, I suppose you'd probably need to use one that didn't take thermal paper, or by the time someone found it buried in their con-satchel it may very well have lost its record. Bonus round: get one that can do carbon copies, and you'll get an automatic record of all the cards you handed out! ^_^

Faster than just jotting some information down on a card? Maybe with the pre-designed ones. Classier than a note hand-written with a swanky pen? Certainly not! More legible? Depends on your handwriting vs. the quality of the printer. Worth a metric ton of geek cred? Oh hell yes.

[gement.livejournal.com]

Sadly, at Gally my pockets will already be full of sonic screwdrivers and novelty food items, while at Boot Weekend I should minimize what I'm carrying other than a toolbox of blacking equipment and the boss's coat. :)

[tithonium.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of mostly-blank-plus-writing, but you'll have to be cautious in choosing cards then. Moo cards, I know for a fact, do not take fountain pen well. Not unless you immediately laminate them, anyway. They're not that great with ball-point either. It occurs to me I haven't tried sharpie, but I expect it would have most of the same problems as fountain pen.

[gement.livejournal.com]

An excellent thought! I'm probably using Zazzle. They're cheaper than Moo in bulk, they do full color printing on both sides for a flat price, and J's came out just lovely, which gave me the opportunity to test their porosity against fountain pen ink.