Kumoricon
Convention Events and Programming => General Kumoricon => Topic started by: Bresslol on September 04, 2012, 09:46:38 pm
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Hi everyone!
Let's discuss what we liked and thought could be improved upon!
Keep it civil!
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I did notice that the lines this year were poorly managed. I know that it is hard to keep track and organize over 4000 people, but there must be a better way to fix the line problems.
Sadly this year I missed opening and closing ceremonies due to line issues.
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and i think lines need to be properly marked. i almost got in a line for something other then i wanted cuz i didnt know what it was for (and im sure people get tired of being asked what they are in line for)
also- i had a friend whose sword prop was almost taken away from him because he pulled it out of his sheath for a picture (it was made of wood). i've never heard of posing for photos being an issue before.... im not sure if it was the yojimbo getting confused or if it was us cosplayers not properly informed (either in the rules area or at the peace bond area)
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Fantastic job with placement... Switching Artist Alley and the Exhibitor's Hall was a genius move and worked out much better than last year.
The only complaint I really have is about the categories that were done for the Cosplay Contest. Because of how few people there were, it seemed like the judges were making up as many categories as they could just to give people awards. On the one hand, it does boost the self esteem of those who entered, but on the other hand, what's the point of entering something you worked that hard on if everybody is going to win.
The fact that it was done in categories was an amazing plus, though. I know the biggest issue some people were having the year before was that armor was being counting the same category as seaming work, and they two are totally different types of crafts, so this way was absolutely excellent.
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also- i had a friend whose sword prop was almost taken away from him because he pulled it out of his sheath for a picture (it was made of wood). i've never heard of posing for photos being an issue before.... im not sure if it was the yojimbo getting confused or if it was us cosplayers not properly informed (either in the rules area or at the peace bond area)
Policy goes as follows:
All bladed items must be kept in their sheaths at all times in the Convention Space. Weapons should never be waved around in a manner that may be construed as use of the weapon (this is considered brandishing).
I personally think this is a grey area; a wooden sword is obviously not a bladed weapon, but it was brandished. This is something that I'm sure the Yojimbo manager can weigh a decision on, and maybe something we can provide a smidge more clarification in the future.
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Yes yes, totally agree with the exhibitors hall placement. The only issue I had with it was the lack of vendors. At some point in the future it might be a good idea to have two different places for vendors to be at. Maybe categorize the more adult content in another part of the building than the general items. This would give us more options and section off many of the people who are confused where items are. The "Dungeon" aka the garage has a lot of room for plenty of vendors. The reg area is pretty empty by day 2 and can be moved to another room or even a booth for those who need to buy their badges on day 2-3. We all have seen the massive space that pre reg roped off, lets utilize that and figure out a way to create an effective line into their and not hinder the table top games area.
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Yes yes, totally agree with the exhibitors hall placement. The only issue I had with it was the lack of vendors. At some point in the future it might be a good idea to have two different places for vendors to be at. Maybe categorize the more adult content in another part of the building than the general items. This would give us more options and section off many of the people who are confused where items are. The "Dungeon" aka the garage has a lot of room for plenty of vendors. The reg area is pretty empty by day 2 and can be moved to another room or even a booth for those who need to buy their badges on day 2-3. We all have seen the massive space that pre reg roped off, lets utilize that and figure out a way to create an effective line into their and not hinder the table top games area.
While it's a great idea on paper, I'll tell you the reason why that will probably never happen:
Having the decorators (the folks who set up pipe and drape and carpet in the garage and in dealer's hall) stage something costs a pretty good amount of money. We pay for set up, and tear down, as well as rental of the equipment. What you are asking for us to do an additional setup and tear down in the middle of the convention. Not only would that cost us even more money, it'd mean having to re-stage registration, which would put more stress on that sub-department. it's easier and more cost efficient to not re-stage convention areas multiple times during the course of the convention.
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Whoa no... Please don't put the vendors back in the parking garage, Staff. Please, no. It was a hot chaotic mess when it was there in 07. It was dark and hard to see any of the items. However, putting the adult booths away from the others would detract from their potential sales because not all of the "adult booths" sell only adult materials. One of the booths I frequented looking at their wares and bought from was right across from an adult booth actually. And it seemed like a decent placement based on how many tables one vendor bought.
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Yeah a friend who was a vendor the year it was in the garage said it was terrible in there, so hot.
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While I am fully aware that this is a anime convention, shouldn't the non-anime cosplayers have the right to be fairly judged with the rest of the cosplayers in the contest? Kumoricon is the best 'con I've been to for cosplay, because the Workmanship portion of the contest is so well run.
That being said, the judging and 'who won what' was terribly confusing; but that may simply be because it was very difficult to hear in the Green Room, particularily in the back.
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I liked the dealers hall in the garage, but this other room works fine too. (:
I'd like to see a line of traffic set up in the dealers hall. People always try to go different directions and that ends up with a lot of people looking at the same dealer but trying to go opposite directions and such. It would just be a lot more organized with a flow of traffic in place.
I also agree with the lines thing. In 07 the lines went out the lobby and around to an empty lot next to the hotel. I think this may be a better place to loop the lines to. (:
Is there a costume repair area? I know many cons have those. They would have hot glue guns, band aids, duct tape, etc. Tons of people break their costume or need band aids for blisters and the like and I think this would be a great addition to this wonderful con! (:
Some things I really loved this year was how nice everyone was. I didn't find one person who was mean or rude in anyway! :D
Also the park is always amazing! It's so nice that the con will be there again so we have access to this wonderful park! (:
Also! The pokemon people in gaming place were so nice and amazingly awesome! I'd love to have them (and the little girl champion) back again next year! (:
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Sakura Con had a costume repair room set up for most of the days, though they had limited hours. I don't know if the volunteers from that group were planning to come down and run one at Kumori Con, but it would be nice. My group had to find a sewing machine STAT Sunday morning.
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Sakura Con had a costume repair room set up for most of the days, though they had limited hours. I don't know if the volunteers from that group were planning to come down and run one at Kumori Con, but it would be nice. My group had to find a sewing machine STAT Sunday morning.
You know i relate to this i spent a bit of time repairing other peoples cosplays XD maybe i should see about doing a cosplay repair booth next year my one rant would have to be .....the elevators ...... omg i waited for like 15 minutes to go down like 5 floors XD should have walked but was with people who couldnt do stairs. Yes i know every con has to be like that with elevators but still...lol
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I actually think the elevators were running much more efficiently than in past years. There were still people blatantly disregarding the 8-person capacity rule, but the wait time for me was a breeze compared to other years and hotels.
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Speaking of stairs. On day 0 we had to take the elevator from Floor 2 to Floor 3 which seemed stupid cause we tried to go up the stairs but they were locked on Floor 3. I understand the idea of not letting people up unless they had a key, but it was faster to get to programming and operations via walking then waiting for the elevators.
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Sakura Con had a costume repair room set up for most of the days, though they had limited hours. I don't know if the volunteers from that group were planning to come down and run one at Kumori Con, but it would be nice. My group had to find a sewing machine STAT Sunday morning.
You know i relate to this i spent a bit of time repairing other peoples cosplays XD maybe i should see about doing a cosplay repair booth next year
I also spent a bit of time helping people fix things. Not complaining about helping but getting an actual booth might be helpful. I was told that the info desk had a repair kit but I mean an actual area for repairs would be nice.
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Sakura Con had a costume repair room set up for most of the days, though they had limited hours. I don't know if the volunteers from that group were planning to come down and run one at Kumori Con, but it would be nice. My group had to find a sewing machine STAT Sunday morning.
You know i relate to this i spent a bit of time repairing other peoples cosplays XD maybe i should see about doing a cosplay repair booth next year
I also spent a bit of time helping people fix things. Not complaining about helping but getting an actual booth might be helpful. I was told that the info desk had a repair kit but I mean an actual area for repairs would be nice.
I would love to address this. There was in fact costume repair supplies offered to those that requested it, however due to spacial restraints we were unable to provide a separate area for this. A simple kit was available at the info booth and if any heavy fixes were needed a suitcase with more supplies was available at the Operations office. Unfortunately we did not advertise this very well and for that I apologize, but I did inform those I overheard needing them about such supplies.
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Oh, I forgot a rant about the lines at Rant and Rave.
The same issues as people have mentioned- that some lines intertwined or people weren't sure where lines were, etc. Also, the rule for lining up 30 minutes before events didn't really pan out this year... I would leave an event and get there 30 mins before an event, and there would be a huge looping line already.
We definitely need more line management, but at the same time I know we are down on yogi. If we get more, or if we could, we need to station some staff to disperse lines from forming if we're going to stick to the 30 minute rule. It's not fair to tell con about the rule, then have someone trust it, then end up being in the back of a huge line by following the rule and not getting in the event. Maybe the rule can be different for main events vs regular panels? And well advertised before the convention as well.
Just like how we had signs up outside rooms about not lining up 30 minutes before an event, maybe we can get some signs up about where lines will start forming for certain events, possibly not put up till more nearing the time for line-up? I also miss the huge signs on a stick we had a couple years back saying "Start of line" and "end of line" so people could see where the line was. Maybe we can get those back and add what the line is for on the sign.
And definitely- keep us people at the info booth informed of lines and their locations so when attendees ask we can tell them.
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Please don't put the vendors back in the parking garage, Staff. Please, no. It was a hot chaotic mess when it was there in 07. It was dark and hard to see any of the items.
Our Pipe & Drape contractor noted to me that the layout of the parking garage would allow for a temporary air conditioning system to be installed (toughest part is running the ducting). Sure it would be more $$ but there is a lot more space. Vendors could be provided with power outlets for lighting.
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I would leave an event and get there 30 mins before an event, and there would be a huge looping line already.
For some reason, people love standing in lines! In Main Events, even though we had dedicated seating times for the large events, people still would start lining up early. We chalked it up to people loving to stand in lines! :D
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My group got pretty lucky with lines this year, that I think that's mostly because three of us were on our fifth year... It was mainly the main events lines that there was worry about. We would walk by it an hour before seating or the start, then every 10-15 min after that until we saw that a line had formed. We try to abide by the 30min rule, but we knew from experience and didn't want to end up so far in the back we end up missing the event. So long as you watch your lines there's no issue... Unless you're in another event before hand.
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I did notice that the lines this year were poorly managed. I know that it is hard to keep track and organize over 4000 people, but there must be a better way to fix the line problems.
Sadly this year I missed opening and closing ceremonies due to line issues.
Probably the best way to fix line problems is to consider becoming a staffer. The yojimbo are frequently undermanned and overworked, and they would love the extra help.
also- i had a friend whose sword prop was almost taken away from him because he pulled it out of his sheath for a picture (it was made of wood). i've never heard of posing for photos being an issue before.... im not sure if it was the yojimbo getting confused or if it was us cosplayers not properly informed (either in the rules area or at the peace bond area)
Policy goes as follows:
All bladed items must be kept in their sheaths at all times in the Convention Space. Weapons should never be waved around in a manner that may be construed as use of the weapon (this is considered brandishing).
I personally think this is a grey area; a wooden sword is obviously not a bladed weapon, but it was brandished. This is something that I'm sure the Yojimbo manager can weigh a decision on, and maybe something we can provide a smidge more clarification in the future.
One thing worth noting on top of what Bresslol said: The yojimbo may ask you to take something out of convention space (i.e. back to your hotel room), but they should never take an item away. If they ask you to give up an item, please 1) ask to see their badge to make sure they really are staff, 2) get their name, and 3) come talk to someone in Operations - 'most any staffer can point you in the right direction.
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The only problem I had with this year was that I asked what the prize for Best in Show was this year at costume judging and I was told it was 2013 con badges as well as a few other things. When myself and bunny-jean won Best in Show we were given Joanns gift cards and the people at Operations didn't know what I was talking about when I asked about the badges.
Was this just a miscommunication?
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Sakura Con had a costume repair room set up for most of the days, though they had limited hours. I don't know if the volunteers from that group were planning to come down and run one at Kumori Con, but it would be nice. My group had to find a sewing machine STAT Sunday morning.
You know i relate to this i spent a bit of time repairing other peoples cosplays XD maybe i should see about doing a cosplay repair booth next year
I also spent a bit of time helping people fix things. Not complaining about helping but getting an actual booth might be helpful. I was told that the info desk had a repair kit but I mean an actual area for repairs would be nice.
I would love to address this. There was in fact costume repair supplies offered to those that requested it, however due to spacial restraints we were unable to provide a separate area for this. A simple kit was available at the info booth and if any heavy fixes were needed a suitcase with more supplies was available at the Operations office. Unfortunately we did not advertise this very well and for that I apologize, but I did inform those I overheard needing them about such supplies.
=^.^=
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The only problem I had with this year was that I asked what the prize for Best in Show was this year at costume judging and I was told it was 2013 con badges as well as a few other things. When myself and bunny-jean won Best in Show we were given Joanns gift cards and the people at Operations didn't know what I was talking about when I asked about the badges.
Was this just a miscommunication?
Email Programming, they handle the contests and prizes. If you are missing part of your prize they will handle it :)
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Speaking of stairs. On day 0 we had to take the elevator from Floor 2 to Floor 3 which seemed stupid cause we tried to go up the stairs but they were locked on Floor 3. I understand the idea of not letting people up unless they had a key, but it was faster to get to programming and operations via walking then waiting for the elevators.
This was really my only quibble with an otherwise 110% awesome con. I ran or co-ran three different panels this year, and Programming and Ops were on the third floor. Two of my panel rooms were missing equipment that I'd requested on the forms (the staff was super nice about getting the stuff to me once I asked - thanks, guys!). However, with only half an hour to set up, I had to spend several nervous minutes waiting for the elevator simply to go up from the second to the third floor and ask them. Since I wasn't staying in the Hilton and didn't have a guest keycard, the stairwell doors opening onto the third floor were locked - I could go down the stairs from third to second floor, but not exit the stairwell onto the third floor.
Since congoers can access the third floor via the elevator anyway, thereby nullifying the supposed "security benefits" of a locked stairwell door, would it be possible to speak to the hotel staff about leaving the third-floor stairwell doors (as well as any other floors hosting public events/staff rooms, depending on the 2013 layout) unlocked next year? Not everybody is a panelist, but plenty of congoers are legitimately in a hurry for one reason or another. It would be such a helpful way to smooth out the crowd flow and reduce elevator wait times...
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Speaking of stairs. On day 0 we had to take the elevator from Floor 2 to Floor 3 which seemed stupid cause we tried to go up the stairs but they were locked on Floor 3. I understand the idea of not letting people up unless they had a key, but it was faster to get to programming and operations via walking then waiting for the elevators.
This was really my only quibble with an otherwise 110% awesome con. I ran or co-ran three different panels this year, and Programming and Ops were on the third floor. Two of my panel rooms were missing equipment that I'd requested on the forms (the staff was super nice about getting the stuff to me once I asked - thanks, guys!). However, with only half an hour to set up, I had to spend several nervous minutes waiting for the elevator simply to go up from the second to the third floor and ask them. Since I wasn't staying in the Hilton and didn't have a guest keycard, the stairwell doors opening onto the third floor were locked - I could go down the stairs from third to second floor, but not exit the stairwell onto the third floor.
Perhaps panelists can call up to Prog at the Prog Booth next to Info Booth in the future? There is a hotel phone at the current location. The radios were a problem this year that was totally out of the con's hands, so trying to to hear details on those would have sucked. But, Info Booth/Prog Booth has a clear line right behind them. Perhaps that could become a thing?
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Please don't put the vendors back in the parking garage, Staff. Please, no. It was a hot chaotic mess when it was there in 07. It was dark and hard to see any of the items.
Our Pipe & Drape contractor noted to me that the layout of the parking garage would allow for a temporary air conditioning system to be installed (toughest part is running the ducting). Sure it would be more $$ but there is a lot more space. Vendors could be provided with power outlets for lighting.
It's not just a need for A/C. When it was there in 07 it was really dark and I recall having to go down literally every aisle and getting closer to the booths (waiting for more people to move) before I could see anything. Taller people won't see this issue, but I'm 5' tall and being unable to look from 20-30' away to see if the booth even has anything I'm looking for is inconvenient, especially when the issue could be resolved with better lighting, which doesn't exist in a parking garage.
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Speaking of stairs. On day 0 we had to take the elevator from Floor 2 to Floor 3 which seemed stupid cause we tried to go up the stairs but they were locked on Floor 3. I understand the idea of not letting people up unless they had a key, but it was faster to get to programming and operations via walking then waiting for the elevators.
This was really my only quibble with an otherwise 110% awesome con. I ran or co-ran three different panels this year, and Programming and Ops were on the third floor. Two of my panel rooms were missing equipment that I'd requested on the forms (the staff was super nice about getting the stuff to me once I asked - thanks, guys!). However, with only half an hour to set up, I had to spend several nervous minutes waiting for the elevator simply to go up from the second to the third floor and ask them. Since I wasn't staying in the Hilton and didn't have a guest keycard, the stairwell doors opening onto the third floor were locked - I could go down the stairs from third to second floor, but not exit the stairwell onto the third floor.
Perhaps panelists can call up to Prog at the Prog Booth next to Info Booth in the future? There is a hotel phone at the current location. The radios were a problem this year that was totally out of the con's hands, so trying to to hear details on those would have sucked. But, Info Booth/Prog Booth has a clear line right behind them. Perhaps that could become a thing?
Possibly, but I was not informed at all that I could use the hotel phone to call above (and what numbers the rooms were in). And if the panel I'm hosting is on Floor 2, it'd be easier to just go up there myself, rather then down to the Info Booth. Otherwise we're playing the game of "answer the phone~". It would also bring up the issue of not all panelists got a panelist badge this year. I kept my regular attendee badge and gave the panelist badge ('cause of the discount) to a friend of mine. I've never had issues in explaining I'm running a certain panel to someone, but with the onset of Panelist badges I could see that becoming a possible issue?
I'd also like to add... Was there a first aid station? I realize asking at the Info Booth would've helped me find one, but my Party needed bandaids constantly because of hangnails or our shoes. Luckily I always bring a small first aid box with me, but I don't recall seeing signs for one.
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Speaking of stairs. On day 0 we had to take the elevator from Floor 2 to Floor 3 which seemed stupid cause we tried to go up the stairs but they were locked on Floor 3. I understand the idea of not letting people up unless they had a key, but it was faster to get to programming and operations via walking then waiting for the elevators.
This was really my only quibble with an otherwise 110% awesome con. I ran or co-ran three different panels this year, and Programming and Ops were on the third floor. Two of my panel rooms were missing equipment that I'd requested on the forms (the staff was super nice about getting the stuff to me once I asked - thanks, guys!). However, with only half an hour to set up, I had to spend several nervous minutes waiting for the elevator simply to go up from the second to the third floor and ask them. Since I wasn't staying in the Hilton and didn't have a guest keycard, the stairwell doors opening onto the third floor were locked - I could go down the stairs from third to second floor, but not exit the stairwell onto the third floor.
Perhaps panelists can call up to Prog at the Prog Booth next to Info Booth in the future? There is a hotel phone at the current location. The radios were a problem this year that was totally out of the con's hands, so trying to to hear details on those would have sucked. But, Info Booth/Prog Booth has a clear line right behind them. Perhaps that could become a thing?
It's a good concept in theory, but I fear it could tie up Programming staff at con, and I don't know how the facility itself would feel about attendees using house phones.
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R.I.P. my armor.
The biggest rant and rave I could go into is that someone stole my armor as I went to grab a couple numbers and strike a pose. I won't bother going into it further as it was supposedly pretty big news day 3 already except that, of all places, I can't believe it was the safest place I thought I could be, Kumoricon, that someone would violate that kind of feeling and take my cosplay.
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I've got a few cons under my belt now as a vendor, and I remember talking to the folks in 07 about the garage as an AA/Dealer's hall. Hearing that A/C can be added does alleviate one problem, the horrendous heat they suffered. The other issue was credit cards. Those that did accept plastic back then had a heck of a time getting signals in the garage. Cell technology has gotten leaps and bounds better in 5 years, but even in the hotel I was having issues with my cellphone, so I imagine the garage is much worse. Now with so many people able to take a credit card using their cellphones and a Square reader, it could cause massive issues for them. Back in 07 I once spent about 15 minutes walking around with a vendor as she tried desperately to get a signal in the garage to complete my transaction. We had a lovely conversation, but I felt bad as she constantly apologized, while I apologized for not having cash on me.
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The only complaint I really have is about the categories that were done for the Cosplay Contest. Because of how few people there were, it seemed like the judges were making up as many categories as they could just to give people awards. On the one hand, it does boost the self esteem of those who entered, but on the other hand, what's the point of entering something you worked that hard on if everybody is going to win.
In previous years the categories at the Cosplay Contest were mostly determined by experience (novice, intermediate, journeyman, master), but this year there were just too few skits and the Workmanship novice category was taken over mostly by youths, which all by con rules get a prize. So the category thing really had more to do with who entered, not the judges trying to give everyone an award. Here's the breakdown for who originally signed up to be in the contest: https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=17217.0 Just remember that a bunch of those people did not compete. :/
While I am fully aware that this is a anime convention, shouldn't the non-anime cosplayers have the right to be fairly judged with the rest of the cosplayers in the contest? Kumoricon is the best 'con I've been to for cosplay, because the Workmanship portion of the contest is so well run.
That being said, the judging and 'who won what' was terribly confusing; but that may simply be because it was very difficult to hear in the Green Room, particularily in the back.
It doesn't have to do with anime, it has to do with whether the game/cartoon/show/etc. comes from Japan or not. Long discussion of this here: https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=16941.0 I don't think it's a good rule, but it's the rule Kumoricon has.
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Speaking of stairs. On day 0 we had to take the elevator from Floor 2 to Floor 3 which seemed stupid cause we tried to go up the stairs but they were locked on Floor 3. I understand the idea of not letting people up unless they had a key, but it was faster to get to programming and operations via walking then waiting for the elevators.
This was really my only quibble with an otherwise 110% awesome con. I ran or co-ran three different panels this year, and Programming and Ops were on the third floor. Two of my panel rooms were missing equipment that I'd requested on the forms (the staff was super nice about getting the stuff to me once I asked - thanks, guys!). However, with only half an hour to set up, I had to spend several nervous minutes waiting for the elevator simply to go up from the second to the third floor and ask them. Since I wasn't staying in the Hilton and didn't have a guest keycard, the stairwell doors opening onto the third floor were locked - I could go down the stairs from third to second floor, but not exit the stairwell onto the third floor.
Perhaps panelists can call up to Prog at the Prog Booth next to Info Booth in the future? There is a hotel phone at the current location. The radios were a problem this year that was totally out of the con's hands, so trying to to hear details on those would have sucked. But, Info Booth/Prog Booth has a clear line right behind them. Perhaps that could become a thing?
It's a good concept in theory, but I fear it could tie up Programming staff at con, and I don't know how the facility itself would feel about attendees using house phones.
I was thinking more that panelists could ask that a staffer at the booth use the phone right there to call up to the room. It might not be feasible, just something to think about especially if the Nextel issue isn't resolved in time for the next con.
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I've got a few cons under my belt now as a vendor, and I remember talking to the folks in 07 about the garage as an AA/Dealer's hall. Hearing that A/C can be added does alleviate one problem, the horrendous heat they suffered. The other issue was credit cards. Those that did accept plastic back then had a heck of a time getting signals in the garage. Cell technology has gotten leaps and bounds better in 5 years, but even in the hotel I was having issues with my cellphone, so I imagine the garage is much worse. Now with so many people able to take a credit card using their cellphones and a Square reader, it could cause massive issues for them. Back in 07 I once spent about 15 minutes walking around with a vendor as she tried desperately to get a signal in the garage to complete my transaction. We had a lovely conversation, but I felt bad as she constantly apologized, while I apologized for not having cash on me.
For what it's worth, T-Mobile has pretty good signal throughout the hotel, including the basement. AT&T has virtually zero signal in the basement and I was told that Sprint worked okay (I heard the Nextel walkie-talkies worked fine and they use the Sprint network).
Kumoricon should be able to set up a limited wifi access point for vendors that can contact payment processors only otherwise, that would probably resolve most of the concerns.
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I've got a few cons under my belt now as a vendor, and I remember talking to the folks in 07 about the garage as an AA/Dealer's hall. Hearing that A/C can be added does alleviate one problem, the horrendous heat they suffered. The other issue was credit cards. Those that did accept plastic back then had a heck of a time getting signals in the garage. Cell technology has gotten leaps and bounds better in 5 years, but even in the hotel I was having issues with my cellphone, so I imagine the garage is much worse. Now with so many people able to take a credit card using their cellphones and a Square reader, it could cause massive issues for them. Back in 07 I once spent about 15 minutes walking around with a vendor as she tried desperately to get a signal in the garage to complete my transaction. We had a lovely conversation, but I felt bad as she constantly apologized, while I apologized for not having cash on me.
For what it's worth, T-Mobile has pretty good signal throughout the hotel, including the basement. AT&T has virtually zero signal in the basement and I was told that Sprint worked okay (I heard the Nextel walkie-talkies worked fine and they use the Sprint network).
Kumoricon should be able to set up a limited wifi access point for vendors that can contact payment processors only otherwise, that would probably resolve most of the concerns.
2007 Dealer's Hall was so bad that some vendors would not consider coming again even after we switched hotels. If we found a way to fix the heat, air, lighting and security problems, we'd still need to talk some of the vendors into it.
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Speaking of stairs. On day 0 we had to take the elevator from Floor 2 to Floor 3 which seemed stupid cause we tried to go up the stairs but they were locked on Floor 3. I understand the idea of not letting people up unless they had a key, but it was faster to get to programming and operations via walking then waiting for the elevators.
This was really my only quibble with an otherwise 110% awesome con. I ran or co-ran three different panels this year, and Programming and Ops were on the third floor. Two of my panel rooms were missing equipment that I'd requested on the forms (the staff was super nice about getting the stuff to me once I asked - thanks, guys!). However, with only half an hour to set up, I had to spend several nervous minutes waiting for the elevator simply to go up from the second to the third floor and ask them. Since I wasn't staying in the Hilton and didn't have a guest keycard, the stairwell doors opening onto the third floor were locked - I could go down the stairs from third to second floor, but not exit the stairwell onto the third floor.
Perhaps panelists can call up to Prog at the Prog Booth next to Info Booth in the future? There is a hotel phone at the current location. The radios were a problem this year that was totally out of the con's hands, so trying to to hear details on those would have sucked. But, Info Booth/Prog Booth has a clear line right behind them. Perhaps that could become a thing?
It's a good concept in theory, but I fear it could tie up Programming staff at con, and I don't know how the facility itself would feel about attendees using house phones.
I was thinking more that panelists could ask that a staffer at the booth use the phone right there to call up to the room. It might not be feasible, just something to think about especially if the Nextel issue isn't resolved in time for the next con.
The phone issue is a good one to discuss, but in the meantime, I really think the problem would be solved for most people by just unlocking the doors. It isn't that long of a climb from the first or second floor to the third. :)
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For what it's worth, T-Mobile has pretty good signal throughout the hotel, including the basement. AT&T has virtually zero signal in the basement and I was told that Sprint worked okay (I heard the Nextel walkie-talkies worked fine and they use the Sprint network).
Nextel push-to-talk uses the iDEN network, which although owned by Sprint, is a physically separate network from the primary (CDMA) network that the vast majority of Sprint phones use. It only works in the basement because, I think, the hotel has repeaters for it. Also, the iDEN network is being shut down in less than a year.
Kumoricon should be able to set up a limited wifi access point for vendors that can contact payment processors only otherwise, that would probably resolve most of the concerns.
The problem is we need to provide connectivity to that wi-fi network, and that realistically means cellular again. We do run Ethernet up the stairs to the 3rd floor, but that still uses Clear on the 3rd floor which has similar spotty reception. Blanketing the entire exhibitors area might also need many access points. So no matter how it's done, there's some cost and difficulty.
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I don't really think this is a big enough deal to call a "rant", but I noticed some possible issues with the swag bags?
Mine barely had anything in it, other then the con guide, the pocket guide, magic cards, and the scavenger hunt thing. That's literally all I got in mine- I didn't even get the viewing room guide, which my friend DID get. After talking to a few of my friends, we all discovered that we seemed to all have gotten slightly different combinations of these things- or lack of, while some of my friends got extra such as ads and gaia promotions, etc.
Like I said, I don't want to make a big deal about swag bags, but I would have at least like to have gotten all of the things that were con related, such as the viewing room schedule. I know one friend didn't get any magic cards, so she was a bit disappointed. Any ideas what happened here? lol
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The Magic cards seemed like a random little bonus goodie. I thought it was pretty fun finding out which of us in my group got the cards (oddly enough, it ended up that all the males got Magic cards, and none of the females did...arbitrary sexism? lol). I can see how that could be upsetting to some, but I wasn't expecting it, so to find them in there was just a pleasant surprise. I gave mine away (since I don't play), so not getting them wouldn't have bothered me...but like I said, I can see how the inconsistency could have been upsetting.
I put my vote towards more random goodies though. Makes things fun in my opinion.
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The Magic cards seemed like a random little bonus goodie. I thought it was pretty fun finding out which of us in my group got the cards (oddly enough, it ended up that all the males got Magic cards, and none of the females did...arbitrary sexism? lol). I can see how that could be upsetting to some, but I wasn't expecting it, so to find them in there was just a pleasant surprise. I gave mine away (since I don't play), so not getting them wouldn't have bothered me...but like I said, I can see how the inconsistency could have been upsetting.
I put my vote towards more random goodies though. Makes things fun in my opinion.
I like random goodies too. ^_^ (I gave mine to a friend too who was ecstatic)
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Same could be said about the gaia bonus. Everyone in my Party have gaia accounts, but 2 of which don't care about the bonus from Gaia and weren't sure how to give the papers to people who would use them/want them.
I forget what we did with the magic cards but we were trying to pawn them off on each other lol
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Speaking of stairs. On day 0 we had to take the elevator from Floor 2 to Floor 3 which seemed stupid cause we tried to go up the stairs but they were locked on Floor 3. I understand the idea of not letting people up unless they had a key, but it was faster to get to programming and operations via walking then waiting for the elevators.
This was really my only quibble with an otherwise 110% awesome con. I ran or co-ran three different panels this year, and Programming and Ops were on the third floor. Two of my panel rooms were missing equipment that I'd requested on the forms (the staff was super nice about getting the stuff to me once I asked - thanks, guys!). However, with only half an hour to set up, I had to spend several nervous minutes waiting for the elevator simply to go up from the second to the third floor and ask them. Since I wasn't staying in the Hilton and didn't have a guest keycard, the stairwell doors opening onto the third floor were locked - I could go down the stairs from third to second floor, but not exit the stairwell onto the third floor.
Perhaps panelists can call up to Prog at the Prog Booth next to Info Booth in the future? There is a hotel phone at the current location. The radios were a problem this year that was totally out of the con's hands, so trying to to hear details on those would have sucked. But, Info Booth/Prog Booth has a clear line right behind them. Perhaps that could become a thing?
It's a good concept in theory, but I fear it could tie up Programming staff at con, and I don't know how the facility itself would feel about attendees using house phones.
I was thinking more that panelists could ask that a staffer at the booth use the phone right there to call up to the room. It might not be feasible, just something to think about especially if the Nextel issue isn't resolved in time for the next con.
This is a really good idea Rathany, even if the Push to Talk situation is much better next year, this could still solve a few problems, and heck it's never bad to have a back up.
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I was staff for the first time this year, and for the most part, it was a great experience. Everyone was really friendly and helpful, and I enjoyed the little perks that came along with staffing.
A few things:
1. I would have liked to be informed of what exactly all the staff perks were. I waited in a line for about an hour before someone told me I didn't need to.
2. Con Suite was a bit inaccessible in the Red Lion. First, few people could accurately direct me to the third floor; most simply told me there was no third floor. It usually took a lot of extra time to duck down there (when I was starving), and it was terribly frustrating to find nothing left but rice and cheese. I understand we have many more staff this year than was budgeted for, so hopefully this will be less of an issue next year :D
3. I didn't really know when or where I needed to be for certain tasks; I would have liked a bit more direction from my managers. Again, I understand staff is constantly growing, and many are probably learning right with me.
Aside from that, lots of fun, and I'll staff again! :)
P.S. I'm really bothered by the stolen armor. I, too, have always felt conspace to be a safe and respectful environment. I can only hope it turns up soon.
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2. Con Suite was a bit inaccessible in the Red Lion. First, few people could accurately direct me to the third floor; most simply told me there was no third floor. It usually took a lot of extra time to duck down there (when I was starving), and it was terribly frustrating to find nothing left but rice and cheese. I understand we have many more staff this year than was budgeted for, so hopefully this will be less of an issue next year :D
Going along with this, I've noticed that in various years that I've staffed, the information on where EVERY staff-related office is doesn't get out to the group as a whole. Though it could be argued that not everyone needs to know where every office is, there's no reason why they couldn't know, in the event that it is necessary. Perhaps this info can be given to staff once they've picked up their badges...?
Something else that I'd like to bring up is this: during the first rave, when the EMT's were called, there were a few staff members keeping a clear path for them. Two things: one, I've had some people, both attendees and fellow staff, who felt that the manner in which these few folks addressed the crowd was unprofessional and disrespectful; two, there was me, Chan_Highwind, and (as I understand it) at least two other staff members there, that could have been asked to help maintain the crowd rather than being herded off to the side like we were merely in the way - that's not very good teamwork, guys.
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I thought Artist's Alley was really awesome this year. The selection was great.
Exhibitor's Hall . . . I dunno. I just wasn't feeling it this year. This may just be that my tastes are changing, and I don't really follow a lot of the new anime. ^^ It did seem a little overcrowded the first time I went in, although this did improve upon subsequent visits. The one booth I really did want to check out, with all the plushies, was always crowded and in a very bad spot which caused more congestion.
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Artists alley was amazing, so much room to walk in and you could clearly see everyone's art. I might be setting up a booth in the future and if its like this when I do, it would be amazing. Everything was so open and clean, it was just a great set up.
Exhibitors hall was... Not so amazing. Waaay too crowded, the entrance and exit was confusing, I started getting claustrophobic while in there and had a hell of a time finding my way out. I think this is something that needs a bit more work, maybe a more open space? It was really hot in the room too because it was so crowded. I was walking with a friend and her mother and kept getting cut off by people trying to hurry through, it was extremely frustrating when I had to walk around everything to catch them again.
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I'm sure everyone noticed the lack of dealers this year. I was kind of let down since we had saved so much for it and couldn't find anything we really liked. Didn't like the set up either, Some booths were hard to get to. It was much better when the artist Alley was inside the Red Lion. The set up was annoying as well as how they set up the line up for the dealer's hall. I didn't like going into the hotel up to my room and have the staff members hassle us about the line when we were just going to our room.
Artist alley was good as always. Staff were friendly and nice, I didn't have any issues besides them freaking out when we were going near the line to enter the hotel to go to our room. It was kind that they (For the most part) kept a space for us to get into the hotel. I think it would be nice for the Red Lion to have some panels (Especially late night, 18+). The bags handed out during reg were awesome this year. My roomies loved their Magic cards.
So besides the line for the dealer's hall and the dealer's hall everything else was pretty good.
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Yeah. The dealer's hall was better than last year, but still very lackluster. :/ I just don't understand why dealers have such a problem with the "heat in the hilton garage" from '07, yet they had the console gaming down there this year, and those create a lot of heat by themselves. Doesn't make sense to me. :/ I just don't think that these two hotels are right for Kumoricon. I remember back in '04 when it was at the Marriott, and I swear the dealers' hall was bigger for less than 1300 guests! >:(
But I'm with other people who say they have a hard time finding things they want to buy. There was a lot more I wanted to buy at Sakuracon, but I didn't have the money, so I made sure to have enough for Kcon, and didn't find anything I wanted. :/
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I just don't understand why dealers have such a problem with the "heat in the hilton garage" from '07, yet they had the console gaming down there this year, and those create a lot of heat by themselves. Doesn't make sense to me. :/
The difference is the pipe and drape. Console gaming may produce more heat from the electronics, but there was nothing to block airflow, which pipe and drape does. It was much more open than a crowded exhibitors hall would be, which is why we placed console and tabletop gaming down there. Yes, the open space makes it feel like we are under-utilizing the space we have, but it comes down to comfort for our attendees and our vendors, who are stuck in the area for such a long time.
At this location, which is great in so many other ways, what to do with exhibitors hall is one issue we struggle with every year.
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oyos
as part of maid squad this year, i was sad when i found out that both the signs like "start of line", "end of line", etc had gone MIA as well as some various other helpful items used by the maids. i also learned an interesting dilemma this year which was the trays from the hotel and restaurant also going MIA. i am going to make a big effort to make sure the signs are found or remade for next year because it does make things a little easier when managing the lines. i am also gonna procure some trays that will become the property of kumoricon just so i don't have the same issue of the hotel not being able to provide any because they couldn't locate theirs either. it was like twisting an arm just to get one tray from the hotel and i could have really used at least 3 for any of the main events lines to get water out to the thirsty attendees (especially given that we had the line outside), not to mention needing one or two over at the red lion to help with some water service for the lines that happened there. if some of you noticed on the last day, i finally had it with the lack of trays that i simply used the thick posterboards as a tray to do the water service.
as for locations of the various areas, i think the layout was much better than the previous year and in '07. while there is more room in the garage, it can easily get super muggy down there if 'walls' of vendors were to fill in the area, not to mention the 'body heat' from the mass of people in there.
on the topic of the repair station, instead of the info booth, how about situating that down in the garage as well? we already have the cat ear workshop down there and even with everything else that was down there this year, it won't impede on much space. personally i think it would help having 'more room' to do cosplay repair instead of becoming a 'fire hazard' by parking in front of the info booth desk just to finish repairing the cosplay. the only thing that we need to figure out is who will 'man' that station that has some knowledge of how to sew and making simple props to help out the attendees with the repair. i wouldn't mind doing a few hours here and there but i also have to be everywhere else for maid squad too.
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I just don't understand why dealers have such a problem with the "heat in the hilton garage" from '07, yet they had the console gaming down there this year, and those create a lot of heat by themselves. Doesn't make sense to me. :/
The difference is the pipe and drape. Console gaming may produce more heat from the electronics, but there was nothing to block airflow, which pipe and drape does. It was much more open than a crowded exhibitors hall would be, which is why we placed console and tabletop gaming down there. Yes, the open space makes it feel like we are under-utilizing the space we have, but it comes down to comfort for our attendees and our vendors, who are stuck in the area for such a long time.
At this location, which is great in so many other ways, what to do with exhibitors hall is one issue we struggle with every year.
I accept that, but I still don't think that either space at the Red Lion were good. They were both extremely crowded and didn't have as many vendors as Kumoricon has had before. I thought Artist's Alley was in a great spot, and this suggestion would be odd for shoppers, but it might be interesting to see the dealer's hall in a panel space at the Hilton and move the panel space to the Red Lion? Logistics seem like they wouldn't work too well, but it might be something to think about.
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Here's a bit of a rant to throw in with talk on the Dealer Hall. Since 2007 I have come to Kumoricon looking for one thing: music. 2006 and 2007 were wonderful in that there was one massive, well-stocked music vendor. I realize the business has since dissolved, but dangit if I don't still hope for just one music vendor present in the DH every year. I feel like all the bases of the culture are covered except music. We have vendors with anime, manga, toys, accessories, food... all we're missing is music, and I would unload my wallet in a heartbeat if given just one jrock/visual kei vendor (not counting Kinokuniya, though, because their stock does seem rather sparse on the Jrock and visual kei fronts.).
So, a music vendor please?
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If we stay with the paper staff badges, can they be double sided next year? Far more staff know me than I can ever remember and I'd love to be able to read the names, but they are flipped half the time. Oh, yeah, and there are other reasons why readable staff badges are good :)
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Here's a bit of a rant to throw in with talk on the Dealer Hall. Since 2007 I have come to Kumoricon looking for one thing: music. 2006 and 2007 were wonderful in that there was one massive, well-stocked music vendor. I realize the business has since dissolved, but dangit if I don't still hope for just one music vendor present in the DH every year. I feel like all the bases of the culture are covered except music. We have vendors with anime, manga, toys, accessories, food... all we're missing is music, and I would unload my wallet in a heartbeat if given just one jrock/visual kei vendor (not counting Kinokuniya, though, because their stock does seem rather sparse on the Jrock and visual kei fronts.).
So, a music vendor please?
YES THIS!! I used to love picking up random anime sound tracks and other cgs and such but other then Kinokuniya not much.
Rant about the Yes Anime booth
Okay so my brother loves anime grab bags and we were looking at the grab bags at the different booths at dealer’s hall. When we were looking at the grab bags at Yes Anime booth the male staffer working asked if I had any questions so I asked if they had anime related stuff in the bags them because last year we had been disappointed when a grab bag we had purchased had non anime items, heck stuff that has no place at a anime convention
(last year's doris day doll comes to mind )
He assured us that while the things in the grab bags will not be the same as what’s on the shelves , they will be anime related. We decided to purchase one since he (had) seemed honest. We left the dealers hall and opened it and first thing was a “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” figure.
wtf?
What that has to do with anime we had no idea. So next time we were at the booth I asked the male worker there “what does ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ have to do with anime?” He seemed puzzled for a second, and then said “I didn’t say a 100% anime related,”again wft
At this point I just walked away.
I should point out that the reason this mifs me is not because there was a non anime related item in my grab bag, I understand the whole point of a grab bag is, not knowing what you will get, and he could have just said "can't say" or "its a mystery bag ya find out when you open it"
but he didn't
but because he basically lied to my face when I called him on the merch content that he fibbed about which was really dumb because we were gonna find out once its opened.
I too am doing less shopping in the dealers hall but I think that is because after 10 years of con ya run out of stuff you "need"
rave about the AA I love looking thu and finding neat things, I got a cute coloring book for my wee one, new location was great!
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Overall I had a great time.
Raves for tech for saving my bacon with bringing a mike to my Otaku over 25 panel. The hotel did a good job this year. I also liked the new location of the artist alley and manga library.
Minor rants: I think a few more waters stations are needed in the Hilton outside the panel rooms. While the Anime selection was good in the viewing room, I think it could be freshen up with a few more new titles. Is there a chance to work with Funimation for a few new episodes viewing? I like to use the viewing room to find title I may watch later. Finally the restaurant map needs to be checked out before the con, ether work with the Vancouver Liaison or take a drive before. Someplace were listed but closed for the holiday and Burgervile was no more.
The last minor issue was the Amv Contest NOT What The Anime Is About category. It did not work for me in the audience because to know “not what the Anime is about”, one need to know what the anime was about; having no familiarity with the Animes, the entries went over my head.
One major rat is how the main event lines were handled especially the opening ceremonies. I bet some who were waiting at the end to only not to get in. The staffed needs to take a head count not just at the door to determine a cutoff point and have the maid squad stand there with a sign. If possible the staff may want to see about setting up a remove viewing overflow room during the opening ceremonies.
Ditto with the rest: The dealers room was disappointing, Only one booth that had a sizable stash of manga but noting I wanted to read.
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If we stay with the paper staff badges, can they be double sided next year? Far more staff know me than I can ever remember and I'd love to be able to read the names, but they are flipped half the time. Oh, yeah, and there are other reasons why readable staff badges are good :)
I am actually trying to figure out a way to have important info (consuite location, staff info, who their manager is, etc.) on the back of staff badges, and have a penny taped to the back side of the badges on the bottom to prevent flipping.
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I thought that, overall, the con was a pretty good experience this year. Everybody was nice (except for whomever it was who stole that suit of armor, which really miffs me), and on the whole, it was a pleasant experience. I would like to see a bigger exhibitor's hall and more vendors, if that's possible in the future. My roommate was sad to see that there wasn't a booth selling art supplies at all, and overall, we'd like to see more art books, more manga, and more music and CDs. Also, would it be possible to have a mini-contest for cosplays and skits that aren't of Japanese origin? Also, a panel/space for the occasional AMV that's not of Japanese origin would also be cool.
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If we stay with the paper staff badges, can they be double sided next year? Far more staff know me than I can ever remember and I'd love to be able to read the names, but they are flipped half the time. Oh, yeah, and there are other reasons why readable staff badges are good :)
I am actually trying to figure out a way to have important info (consuite location, staff info, who their manager is, etc.) on the back of staff badges, and have a penny taped to the back side of the badges on the bottom to prevent flipping.
Or just clips instead of lanyards. I doubt a penny taped will do anything.
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If we stay with the paper staff badges, can they be double sided next year? Far more staff know me than I can ever remember and I'd love to be able to read the names, but they are flipped half the time. Oh, yeah, and there are other reasons why readable staff badges are good :)
I am actually trying to figure out a way to have important info (consuite location, staff info, who their manager is, etc.) on the back of staff badges, and have a penny taped to the back side of the badges on the bottom to prevent flipping.
In previous years we've talked about sticky labels with office location info that we could slap on the back, but that never came together.
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I have to say this year I have nothing really to rant about, I thought K*con was amazing, the group I was with had a newbie to con and I got to experience this one like it was the first time going to con all over again, which was amazing. Having been 5 years into attending now I have to say that this location is one of the best locations we have had. I love that we are going back and not moving again because each year you become more familiar with the setup. My biggest rave is to the staff you guys are AWESOME! Seriously each year you go above and beyond to make K*con a place of enjoyment and home. I know there is one staff member, I don't know his name we call him the autograph line guy, he is fantastic! I hope everyone can appreciate you staffers the way that I know my group does because you guys really are amazing! The other thing I have to rave about is the lines, I know some have said they had issues, but in my experience these lines were the fastest moving of con yet. I think that with each year K*con learns at little more and gets a little better. I can't wait until next year! Thanks you guys for making this one FANTASTIC year!
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I would leave an event and get there 30 mins before an event, and there would be a huge looping line already.
For some reason, people love standing in lines! In Main Events, even though we had dedicated seating times for the large events, people still would start lining up early. We chalked it up to people loving to stand in lines! :D
Yes, but if there is a rule, and people follow it, then find out it's not being enforced, it's not fair to those who actually followed it and counted on Kumoricon to uphold it's own rule- then get stuck at the back of a long line for following said rule. As a result- people who get screwed over by a rule will be less likely to care and follow them in the future. So the rule either needs to be enforced, enforced with a longer time allowed to stand in line, or demolished completely.
I was staff for the first time this year, and for the most part, it was a great experience. Everyone was really friendly and helpful, and I enjoyed the little perks that came along with staffing.
A few things:
1. I would have liked to be informed of what exactly all the staff perks were. I waited in a line for about an hour before someone told me I didn't need to.
2. Con Suite was a bit inaccessible in the Red Lion. First, few people could accurately direct me to the third floor; most simply told me there was no third floor. It usually took a lot of extra time to duck down there (when I was starving), and it was terribly frustrating to find nothing left but rice and cheese. I understand we have many more staff this year than was budgeted for, so hopefully this will be less of an issue next year :D
3. I didn't really know when or where I needed to be for certain tasks; I would have liked a bit more direction from my managers. Again, I understand staff is constantly growing, and many are probably learning right with me.
Aside from that, lots of fun, and I'll staff again! :)
P.S. I'm really bothered by the stolen armor. I, too, have always felt conspace to be a safe and respectful environment. I can only hope it turns up soon.
Yes, it was rather a bit annoying that to get staff rate we HAD to stay in the Hilton, but then to get fed we needed to go to Red Lion. I understand there was the Hilton one, but that was supposed to be a only if you really couldnt go to red lion option and an option for the disabled. I was also very dissapointed that ramen was my choice of lunch.... ramen I can get for .50 and did, I had a stash in my hotel room as a "just in case thing" but again I understand there was a huge surprise in staffing numbers this year which helped decline the types of food. And YES!! It took me asking many different staffers from many levels about what my staff perks actually were. >.>
Something else that I'd like to bring up is this: during the first rave, when the EMT's were called, there were a few staff members keeping a clear path for them. Two things: one, I've had some people, both attendees and fellow staff, who felt that the manner in which these few folks addressed the crowd was unprofessional and disrespectful; two, there was me, Chan_Highwind, and (as I understand it) at least two other staff members there, that could have been asked to help maintain the crowd rather than being herded off to the side like we were merely in the way - that's not very good teamwork, guys.
This was one of my big rants, which I brought up to Beau directly. I was treated horribly by other staffers when all I was trying to do was help the situation as well, instead I got yelled at to get out of the way... hello, I'm staff too and trying to help. -__-
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If we stay with the paper staff badges, can they be double sided next year? Far more staff know me than I can ever remember and I'd love to be able to read the names, but they are flipped half the time. Oh, yeah, and there are other reasons why readable staff badges are good :)
I love this idea.
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R.I.P. my armor.
The biggest rant and rave I could go into is that someone stole my armor as I went to grab a couple numbers and strike a pose. I won't bother going into it further as it was supposedly pretty big news day 3 already except that, of all places, I can't believe it was the safest place I thought I could be, Kumoricon, that someone would violate that kind of feeling and take my cosplay.
Someone overheard us talking about how awesome you were and they told us what happened... We couldn't believe it.
The Magic cards seemed like a random little bonus goodie. I thought it was pretty fun finding out which of us in my group got the cards (oddly enough, it ended up that all the males got Magic cards, and none of the females did...arbitrary sexism? lol). I can see how that could be upsetting to some, but I wasn't expecting it, so to find them in there was just a pleasant surprise. I gave mine away (since I don't play), so not getting them wouldn't have bothered me...but like I said, I can see how the inconsistency could have been upsetting.
I put my vote towards more random goodies though. Makes things fun in my opinion.
Everybody in my group got the same thing, and all got Magic Cards, just different packs.
The Maid Squad was a miracle sent to us by the anime gods, I swear. We were dying in the Main Events line because of the beautiful weather we had, and it was such a relief to have the Maids bringing water around to everyone. We needed it.
Of course, staff in general was amazing, like always.
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Most of the con was amazing, but one thing I was sorely upset by was the fact that con suite dropped the ball. When I head to con suite, I want a nutritious meal to keep me going, not ramen and hot water.
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The staff this year felt a little less professional than usual. The rave EMT business springs to mind... I was looking for a way around the blockade and was about to go outside when a staffer said "Oh, just dart across! It's totally cool! A bunch of other people did it!". So I tried to do so, and got totally chewed out by the woman blocking people off. I'm not mad at her, I shouldn't have even tried to run across, but I'm really frustrated with the guy who told me it was okay.
Also, more than half of the people breaking the elevator rules that I saw were staff. There were a pair of registration staffers on the last day riding the elevators who were telling people to just ride all the way up to go back down because it was so much faster. :/ But it was also frustrating to run into people being super strict about the elevator rules; I was in a party of three most of the con, and there were more than a few times that we had to wait for the next elevator or walk up to the fifth floor because having nine people instead of eight was somehow unacceptable.
Guh, and while I'm whining about the elevator, there should have been signs up from floors 1-3 that it's faster to walk down one or two floors than use the elevator. I know that there are people who can't use the stairs easily, and that's totally understandable, but if you can, you should really walk. It was annoying getting on a full elevator at floor 1, only for everybody to pile out at 2 or 3, knowing that there were people waiting back on 1 who needed to go higher.
The dealers hall was also disappointing! It was small and cramped, and the selection was pretty poor. The manga selection in particular felt like it was from five years ago! I came in with a list of manga I wanted to get, and nobody had any of the series I was looking for, let alone the volumes I needed. And I was disappointed with the panel selection this year as well, but I know that's a community thing, not anything staff can change. But seriously, there were what, two Homestuck panels and two Hetalia panels, and then a Homestuck/Hetalia panel? And the OTP debate was actually "wait in line to tell people about your OTP"! It makes me want to run an actual debate next year...
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But these are just my small complaints; the elevator situation actually was a lot better than in years before, and I liked the location of the AA/dealer's hall much better than last year (people have said why the dealers hall isn't in the parking garage, but dang, would it be nice if it could be in there). Tabletop gaming and the swap meet were PHENOMENAL as usual, and I'm so glad that Video Gaming had Persona 4 Arena, even if I didn't get to play it as much as I wanted.
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If we stay with the paper staff badges, can they be double sided next year? Far more staff know me than I can ever remember and I'd love to be able to read the names, but they are flipped half the time. Oh, yeah, and there are other reasons why readable staff badges are good :)
I love this idea.
I third this idea! Mine would always swing around.
The staff this year felt a little less professional than usual. The rave EMT business springs to mind... I was looking for a way around the blockade and was about to go outside when a staffer said "Oh, just dart across! It's totally cool! A bunch of other people did it!". So I tried to do so, and got totally chewed out by the woman blocking people off. I'm not mad at her, I shouldn't have even tried to run across, but I'm really frustrated with the guy who told me it was okay.
Also, more than half of the people breaking the elevator rules that I saw were staff. There were a pair of registration staffers on the last day riding the elevators who were telling people to just ride all the way up to go back down because it was so much faster. :/ But it was also frustrating to run into people being super strict about the elevator rules; I was in a party of three most of the con, and there were more than a few times that we had to wait for the next elevator or walk up to the fifth floor because having nine people instead of eight was somehow unacceptable.
Guh, and while I'm whining about the elevator, there should have been signs up from floors 1-3 that it's faster to walk down one or two floors than use the elevator. I know that there are people who can't use the stairs easily, and that's totally understandable, but if you can, you should really walk. It was annoying getting on a full elevator at floor 1, only for everybody to pile out at 2 or 3, knowing that there were people waiting back on 1 who needed to go higher.
The dealers hall was also disappointing! It was small and cramped, and the selection was pretty poor. The manga selection in particular felt like it was from five years ago! I came in with a list of manga I wanted to get, and nobody had any of the series I was looking for, let alone the volumes I needed. And I was disappointed with the panel selection this year as well, but I know that's a community thing, not anything staff can change. But seriously, there were what, two Homestuck panels and two Hetalia panels, and then a Homestuck/Hetalia panel? And the OTP debate was actually "wait in line to tell people about your OTP"! It makes me want to run an actual debate next year...
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But these are just my small complaints; the elevator situation actually was a lot better than in years before, and I liked the location of the AA/dealer's hall much better than last year (people have said why the dealers hall isn't in the parking garage, but dang, would it be nice if it could be in there). Tabletop gaming and the swap meet were PHENOMENAL as usual, and I'm so glad that Video Gaming had Persona 4 Arena, even if I didn't get to play it as much as I wanted.
I agree with a lot of things you are saying. The reason staff seemed, "less professional" this year is because we had a huge jump in new staff, and at the same time we had a huge jump in attendees, and a lot of things went down this year, like code adams and the EMT at the rave is an example. With staff increasing, me really do need to find a way to set a final word on what to do in situations, like the EMT rave event. It was a chaotic mess with lots of new staffers (much like my rant of the Kumoriball) and staffers were told different things to do by other staffers. We need more formal training, and the words needs to get out faster and to all of us staffers on how to handle things and what to do about things.
I know everyone is a volunteer, but that's no excuse for not doing your job right. I really do believe in it should be required all staff go through some formal training, and cannot staff unless they have checked in with their managers and received this training either sometime before the con during the last two general meetings, day 0, or very early day 1. This would also help resolve how people sign up for staff, then just dissapear on us.... -__- I can't believe people do that... especially something as important as being a yoji...
^ This would also mean that things need to be set in stone BEFORE the con starts! We've been to this location enough times now where before con all staff should be able to know- where will lines be- how will they curve- what time will lines be allowed to start- how willthe elevators run- etc etc so rules dont pop up in the middle of con and cause confusion among staff as far as "who has heard what and who has not"
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The one thing that I actually witnessed that was pretty messed up was with the dealer's hall line. We were asking a staff member what the line was for on Day 1 and he told us the dealers hall and that the end was on the other side of the hotel where Artist ally was. As he finishes telling us, a group of about 5 hop in line and we tell him. Apparently, a lot of people had been doing this from what we heard. We didn't bother to stand in line since it was way too hot and the line was too long for our tastes (mind you the hall hadn't been open for that long).
I didn't hear anything about it after that day, so I'm assuming they got things under control...
Inside, however, when we did get in on day 2, it was pretty crowded. One vendor (he was placed next to the slants and sakuracon and the exit) was overly crowded because he had the cheapest items when it came to plushies and whatnot. That was a bit annoying...
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I would like to personally apologize for the exhibition hall line; I was overseeing it for most of the con, and I understand that it was confusing, but we did the best with what we had. People who would bypass the huge line and wonder what it was for without thinking about it got what was coming to them, as they sulk to the back of the line. The front valet area could only accommodate about 100 people waiting, and so after that there was a separate staging area out back behind the exhibition hall. I admit, that part is way too confusing. Plus, the exhibition hall could only accommodate 300 at a time, so we could only issue people entry when enough had left. I tried my best to be expedient about that, to allow staggered groups of ten or more in at a time, to get you guys in as quick as possible.
Us exhibition hall staff received a fair bit of abuse; I told a guy to wait in line for about 15 seconds while the previous group (some of whom were in his party, and I split them up because 15 seconds ain't no thing) got all huffy and eventually spat on me. So us staff understand how that goes, but we're doing our best for you for sure. (edit: not anymore. We're not even running the exhibition hall line anymore. Not for no one. We're at home now.)
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People throw hissy-fits over the stupidest things...
And legit question: does the 300 limit include the vendors themselves?
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All bodies in the room, per the locally governing fire code.
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Rants:
People complaining about tiny things; if something so small ruins your con then you didn't want to come that much in the first place, or you're just ungrateful. I drive 300 miles for this. Not even not getting into the ball could ruin it for me.
Hilton room service missed us twice; no clean towels and our trash wasn't emptied after we asked them twice. Yes, they were busy but, still. : \
Also, jeebus this bugs me. I complimented a cosplayer while I was out of costume and she was a snob. Her friend smiled at me and nodded her head so that didn't bother me but the girl just scoffed and rolled her eyes. THEN later when I was with her friends and she found out whom I was cosplaying she hugn back like "oooooppssie I fluffed up"
Yeah, miss, you fluffed up big time.
just because you were in cosplay doesn't make you better than anyone. we're all here to have fun. thanks and nix the attitude
anyway now that thats out of my system, Gosh it was an amazing con. Lovely lovely time. The few things that bugged me passed within seconds and jeeze I had a great time.
can't wait for next year! Thank you staff!
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told a guy to wait in line for about 15 seconds while the previous group (some of whom were in his party, and I split them up because 15 seconds ain't no thing) got all huffy and eventually spat on me.
Holy crap! Did you pull their badges for that!? That sort of behavior is completely unacceptable.
:/ It's not like the dealer's hall is going anywhere, just come back in half an hour or something and you'll get in without a wait! I don't think I had to wait more than five minutes or so to get in there.
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Holy crap! Did you pull their badges for that!?
Nope, only nine people, the executives, can pull badges. Since he went into the exhibition hall and I never saw him again, I just changed and carried on with it.
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Holy crap! Did you pull their badges for that!?
Nope, only nine people, the executives, can pull badges. Since he went into the exhibition hall and I never saw him again, I just changed and carried on with it.
Staff are authorized to move and investigate in extraordinary situations like this, though, even though they cannot make the final decision to pull a badge. Your safety and the safety of attendees comes first.
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Holy crap! Did you pull their badges for that!?
Nope, only nine people, the executives, can pull badges. Since he went into the exhibition hall and I never saw him again, I just changed and carried on with it.
Staff are authorized to move and investigate in extraordinary situations like this, though, even though they cannot make the final decision to pull a badge. Your safety and the safety of attendees comes first.
Well, in the end it was just some hurt feelings and a dirty staff shirt. I did pursue an incident against an attendee who victimized another attendee, as that one had substantially more threat to it, and if I recall correctly, a badge eventually got pulled in that incident.
In the end, it's a matter of making judgment calls and making sure the executives only get concerned with what truly involves them; it's why we have things like the chain of command, for example. I resolved my incident by myself, since I was the only one ultimately hurt, but when it's an attendee's experience or the attendee themselves on the line, that's when it gets truly important. Mine's a story, hers is a case.
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Understood for your specific case, but an attendee who spits on another individual is a threat to everyone there, and that is absolutely worthy of the executives' attention.
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Also, I want to rave about all the attendees I didn't mention (you know who all 4,750 of you are), cause you're all super cool and stuff. Stay out of the hallways, keep moving, keep being cool, stuff like that!
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Rants:
People complaining about tiny things; if something so small ruins your con then you didn't want to come that much in the first place, or you're just ungrateful. I drive 300 miles for this. Not even not getting into the ball could ruin it for me.
For some folks the little things are all they can complain about because that's the only thing they saw or were involved with.
We still welcome this though because we want to make this the best experience for everyone.
With that said we did have a SNAFU with some things this year.
Towards the EMTs. Most of the team knows how to react for a normal issue with someone injured but communication didn't make it's way around. The hotel ask for for a clear path once medical showed and we took first reaction to make that happen. A clear area for training now that we know about it.
As for fellow staffers caught in the mix. As one of the people managing the lobby during all of this I'm sorry to you guys. Except for those who came out to me saying they were staff I only pull those aside that I knew.
For next year though signage is definitely a point that I want to bring up. While I was organizing the locker before con I know I saw the maid squad signs but they totally flew the coup I the mix or loading the truck. I will be finding them though soon. Another key point that I will bring up again after elections and once start planning is line control for major events so we have a clear plan of where the line will start and having it marked as such.
Thanks for all of the great feedback though guys. Keep them coming so we know where we can go to prepare better for next year :D
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Just as a quick mention RE: Maid squad signs -
They were all thrown away last year - a few of them were found and pulled out of the trash by my staff, but were mostly unsalvageable (gross stuff on them, ripped or broken). We saved the image and wrote down what was on them. We recreated them from the design Jen Cox used to create them and have a stock of ready PDFs for making new signs.
We just used up our budget unexpectedly early with the plethora of signs needed this year.
But rest assured it is first and foremost for replacement this year, and we already have concepts for neat ways to make the signs easily visible and comfortable to carry! (I'm sure the maids will like to hear THAT!)
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I feel silly saying I only had one thing to rant about and now I'm back but I suppose it should be said. I think we should have a hospitality office or something, somewhere where broke otakus can get free food that will keep them coming back and staying well fed at the con. Over the course of the four days of con with the exception of my embarassing and shameful breakdown I lived on handfuls of this and that already taken and shared around with what could be and five hour energy shots, none of which I could pay for cause well, I'm broke.
That said I've been over 12 years of congoing at things like Orycon, which has a successful Hospitality office all con long full of simple, cheap stuff to feed people like meat platters and sandwich stuffs as well as water and all. Boxes are put out for donations and Orycon normally gets a pretty good hospitality haul to allow it the next year and so on. I think it adds a necessary sustaining factor to a con to have a place where people can come to relax, maybe watch some movies or anime and enjoy a psuedo-free meal with like minded exhausted otakus.
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Orycon is substantially smaller than Kumoricon and food costs money. While it would be a nice idea in theory, it's not sustainable. Badge prices would have to increase $15 - $20 more, and ten to fifteen staff would have to be cooking for all these people. Plus, we'd run into the problem of impatient attendees, the question of hours for the room, location of the room, line control for the room, fire code for the room, a place for tables to eat the food...
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I feel silly saying I only had one thing to rant about and now I'm back but I suppose it should be said. I think we should have a hospitality office or something, somewhere where broke otakus can get free food that will keep them coming back and staying well fed at the con. Over the course of the four days of con with the exception of my embarassing and shameful breakdown I lived on handfuls of this and that already taken and shared around with what could be and five hour energy shots, none of which I could pay for cause well, I'm broke.
That said I've been over 12 years of congoing at things like Orycon, which has a successful Hospitality office all con long full of simple, cheap stuff to feed people like meat platters and sandwich stuffs as well as water and all. Boxes are put out for donations and Orycon normally gets a pretty good hospitality haul to allow it the next year and so on. I think it adds a necessary sustaining factor to a con to have a place where people can come to relax, maybe watch some movies or anime and enjoy a psuedo-free meal with like minded exhausted otakus.
I can't really speak towards cost being out weighed by donations but there is one thing I'm sure of. Hotel don't like when an event outwardly provides food to their attendees.
One of the ways a hotel makes its money is by the food they sell.
By opening up a hospitality that take away a good chunk of the exta they earn off the top.
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Just my ten cents, ALA down in Los Angeles does a con suite that's basically ten people in a poolside room manning a sparse buffet that's run on donations. They're about the same size as Kumoricon and it runs just fine, and their badges cost less than a Kumo badge. It probably saved my life at least once when I went down there for con because let me tell you what, if you don't want to walk ten blocks through downtown LA to a Denny's there is not much in the way of food at that con.
I'm not pushing for one at Kumo because there's the whole 'where the hell would we PUT IT' issue but I'm just pointing out that it can and has been done before without raising the badge price.
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Just my ten cents, ALA down in Los Angeles does a con suite that's basically ten people in a poolside room manning a sparse buffet that's run on donations. They're about the same size as Kumoricon and it runs just fine, and their badges cost less than a Kumo badge. It probably saved my life at least once when I went down there for con because let me tell you what, if you don't want to walk ten blocks through downtown LA to a Denny's there is not much in the way of food at that con.
I'm not pushing for one at Kumo because there's the whole 'where the hell would we PUT IT' issue but I'm just pointing out that it can and has been done before without raising the badge price.
Are you sure about them being cheaper? Their current registration tier is 40 bucks and our last registration tier is 40 bucks.
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I was unaware it went any higher than that, and I get the Student rate anyway so that knocks it down to $35.
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I feel silly saying I only had one thing to rant about and now I'm back but I suppose it should be said. I think we should have a hospitality office or something, somewhere where broke otakus can get free food that will keep them coming back and staying well fed at the con. Over the course of the four days of con with the exception of my embarassing and shameful breakdown I lived on handfuls of this and that already taken and shared around with what could be and five hour energy shots, none of which I could pay for cause well, I'm broke.
That said I've been over 12 years of congoing at things like Orycon, which has a successful Hospitality office all con long full of simple, cheap stuff to feed people like meat platters and sandwich stuffs as well as water and all. Boxes are put out for donations and Orycon normally gets a pretty good hospitality haul to allow it the next year and so on. I think it adds a necessary sustaining factor to a con to have a place where people can come to relax, maybe watch some movies or anime and enjoy a psuedo-free meal with like minded exhausted otakus.
Orycon is substantially smaller than Kumoricon and food costs money. While it would be a nice idea in theory, it's not sustainable. Badge prices would have to increase $15 - $20 more, and ten to fifteen staff would have to be cooking for all these people. Plus, we'd run into the problem of impatient attendees, the question of hours for the room, location of the room, line control for the room, fire code for the room, a place for tables to eat the food...
Tanis is absolutely right, but I'll do you one better and breakdown the numbers for you, because I don't want to tell you "no" and leave it at that, I want to tell you why we can't so maybe, one day, someone can look at this data, and see the way to combat it, and maybe one day we can offer something to all attendees. However, as most large conventions will tell you, once you get past 2k attendees, the thought of feeding them all becomes astronomically non-feasible.
So, lets imagine that each attendee of OryCon contributes ~$1 to the Hospitality Suite, some more, some less, and over the course of the 3 day event they would probably get about $2000 for the next year's Hospitality Suite - which is about $1.22 per person (as an estimate, based on their attendance of 1628 in 2001, which is the latest numbers I can get on the internet easily).
Feeding a little over 1.5k on $2000 doesn't seem particularly daunting, and a little bit of the cons budget probably supplements that. And you can estimate high that only 60% of attendees would use the hospitality suite. That brings the total needed to feed to ~960:
Average cost of
Meat platter: $12 (internet says it serves 6-8 so if we estimate high): $1440
Cheese Platter: $10 (internet says serves 10-12): $800
Fruit Platter: $14 (internet says serves 6-8): $1680
Taco Servings (2 tacos per person): $2400
Soda & Bottles of Water (~.25/per @ 6 per person): $1440
Now, that's just the basics, at cost, for 3 days - with high estimates of portioning (if you think most people only grab 1 or 2 sodas a day, you are crazy) and the total comes out to $7760. That is for about 1000 people, 3 days, and that isn't including bagels or cream cheese or milk or cereal or doughnuts and goodness knows what else. They have quite a nice spread. I am sure they get some donations, but trust me when I say that it is EXPENSIVE to feed people.
So lets pretend we take that same number, and we multiply it by the amount of people Kumoricon, at current numbers would have to feed. We are at 4750, so 60% is 2850 which is almost 3x how many Orycon would be required to feed. Which means almost 3x the food (giving for variants, because food doesn't become exactly more expensive as you buy in bulk, there are discounts) near $18k just for food? That's the price of 400 at con registrations. It's a lot of money.
If there was an easier way to feed that many people the basics, hell even keep attendees in pocky and ramune... we'd probably want to hear about it, and think about the feasibility. But there are other factors too:
The convention provides a great benefit to the city - we have a surplus of youth with dispensable incomes - which means we benefit the city as a source of commerce. It would be a great disservice to the city to offer something that they provide at an income for their citizens. It's difficult, but we have to think about the economic impact on all ends. However, we do do our best to impress upon the city the necessity of providing cheap, easy and convenient food options as well as nicer places.
I hope that helps people see a small glimpse of what it is like budgeting and weighing different potential expenditures. It can get really really complicated really quick.
Similarly, if anyone else has any curiosities about why we do things the way we do, feel free to PM me, while we try our best not to disclose the exact amount of money we have or use on any given line item, we aren't secretive, and we are always willing to hear peoples thoughts and new ideas... heck, that's how I got where I am!
UPDATE: As I wrote this someone posted about ALA which has just under 4k in attendance, and does a Con Suite for their staff and attendees. I am currently asking on a forum in which i am in contact with the Programming Director of ALA how they work the cost of that to see what the differences are. I'll let you know what I find.
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Why in the [REDACTED] is there no upvote button on this forum?
I am impressed, Ally!
(Hey, what if we were to sell a Food Badge, for $20 more?)
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(Hey, what if we were to sell a Food Badge, for $20 more?)
I like this idea.
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(Hey, what if we were to sell a Food Badge, for $20 more?)
I like this idea.
I can feel the Operations department just burning me to a cinder with their eyes. I mentioned the money and we mentioned the space, but one real hindrance is honestly staff. We have 3-4 really stellar con suite staff for our Staffers to get food, and that runs pretty well on a bare bones set up for 300 people... I'm not saying you need 37 staff to make our consuite run for the entire convention... but... even half of that wouldn't be out of the question... and we have Yojimbo who promise to be staff for 16 hours and then never show up... we have entry level staff who sign up and then never appear... leaving those who did commit and did agree to work filling more and more shifts... can you imagine the chaos it would cause if some of those staff set to be our Con Suite staff didn't show? How ragged those poor people would end up? I shudder the thought.
Until we have a consistent and reliable amount of staff for the current positions we desperately need staff in, I'm not banking on any new features that require a plethora of staff.
That's not saying no, it's just saying... that right now our infrastructure couldn't handle the pressure.
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One thing I noticed is that the longer a staffer is working a given year of the convention, the more the rewards seem to ramp up. A staffer who shows up and works his shift is treated to a nice meal at the end of con. A staffer who completes the unload on day 4 is treated to an amazingly incredible party at [DATA EXPUNGED]. If we were to publicize staff rewards a bit more, would this result in a higher staff retention rate?
Then again, I stuck it out for the sake of the con, and the rewards surprised me...
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(Hey, what if we were to sell a Food Badge, for $20 more?)
I like this idea.
I can feel the Operations department just burning me to a cinder with their eyes.
You have NO IDEA how much that made me lol. xD
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(Hey, what if we were to sell a Food Badge, for $20 more?)
I like this idea.
I can feel the Operations department just burning me to a cinder with their eyes. I mentioned the money and we mentioned the space, but one real hindrance is honestly staff. We have 3-4 really stellar con suite staff for our Staffers to get food, and that runs pretty well on a bare bones set up for 300 people... I'm not saying you need 37 staff to make our consuite run for the entire convention... but... even half of that wouldn't be out of the question... and we have Yojimbo who promise to be staff for 16 hours and then never show up... we have entry level staff who sign up and then never appear... leaving those who did commit and did agree to work filling more and more shifts... can you imagine the chaos it would cause if some of those staff set to be our Con Suite staff didn't show? How ragged those poor people would end up? I shudder the thought.
Until we have a consistent and reliable amount of staff for the current positions we desperately need staff in, I'm not banking on any new features that require a plethora of staff.
That's not saying no, it's just saying... that right now our infrastructure couldn't handle the pressure.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
(https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ash3%2F576945_10151212307209434_33919207_n.jpg&hash=37dec61ce53e2eb52386b71517fd8df43bf24adf)
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Bringing back up the topic of badges being two sided, my group and I talked about this briefly for a while at con this year. And we came to the understanding that if a circle, square or triangle of the person's badge color could be used on the flip-side of the badge could be used?
I would like to further that thought to: the white back of the badge being a matching solid color of the front of the badge? A minor's back of their badge would be the same shade of yellow/green that what is on their front -without including the picture/information and such. That way if someone out of their badge tier saw it they'd know more readily if they could flirt with them or not or to stay away (you don't mess with reds if you're a blue under any circumstances, for example. but some yellows look older then me, and i'm well into blue)
I realize it's more use of ink for the badges, and we'd probably be asked to turn them over anyway to reveal names and the fancy stickers or whatnot, but just having that color present should make it easier for the badge-checkers and normal attendees to see?
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I think double-sided badges in general should be a thing. Both for staff (why is your badge white?) and for attendees (who the heck are you anyway, lemme see that so I know if I have to throw you out of this line)
(cute guys with blue badges = me buenö)
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One thing I noticed is that the longer a staffer is working a given year of the convention, the more the rewards seem to ramp up. A staffer who shows up and works his shift is treated to a nice meal at the end of con. A staffer who completes the unload on day 4 is treated to an amazingly incredible party at [DATA EXPUNGED]. If we were to publicize staff rewards a bit more, would this result in a higher staff retention rate?
Then again, I stuck it out for the sake of the con, and the rewards surprised me...
Food rewards are complicated. As I stated in the elections thread I am one of 8 staffers that I know of who are on a special diet. Even when I was a Director, the con was unable to accommodate me more often then not. It kinda sucks when other staff are chilling/bonding over various meals I am off to scrounge by my lonesome.
If I was the lone special snowflake I wouldn't give a plop. But, it's far from just me now.
... I could go on about this topic, but will spare you ^.^
Though, on a total tangent, that multiple-allergy-friendly food cart right next to con this year? That we SO good for me and some other staffers.
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I think double-sided badges in general should be a thing. Both for staff (why is your badge white?) and for attendees (who the heck are you anyway, lemme see that so I know if I have to throw you out of this line)
(cute guys with blue badges = me buenö)
I'm sure Brian and Chris will LOVVEEEE this suggestion!!! xD
We're definitely going to need another badge printer if this is the case, meetings will be double long... @__@
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It would've been nice if the at-door reg badges were more obvious on whether or not someone was a minor vs. an adult, at least making sure that ALL staff knows the difference, assuming that there is one. I know that there's a letter that gets written on them, but can't there be different prints, or colors, or something?
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I think double-sided badges in general should be a thing. Both for staff (why is your badge white?) and for attendees (who the heck are you anyway, lemme see that so I know if I have to throw you out of this line)
(cute guys with blue badges = me buenö)
The reason we can't do it with the plastic attendee badges is because our printer can't print both sides at once so we would have to do a batch on one side (which in itself takes forever because these printers are SLOW AS HECK) and then place the cards individually in the hopper and reprint the opposite side. So if there is a mistake, we'd have to start the process all over again and just printing one side for 500-800 badges a meeting is a full day job.
Maybe we can do a color sticker or tape on the blank side instead? That could be something we can look into next year.
The staff badges are all logistics so I have no say in if they can or not.
It would've been nice if the at-door reg badges were more obvious on whether or not someone was a minor vs. an adult, at least making sure that ALL staff knows the difference, assuming that there is one. I know that there's a letter that gets written on them, but can't there be different prints, or colors, or something?
I'm currently talking to some other reg managers about different age color paper badges like the Pre-Reg/Will Call plastic ones for at door with the check off boxes for days, for next year so we can get rid of the color coated sharpie system which failed on Saturday night this year and make sure it doesn't happen again.
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I personally like the idea of colored stickers for the age. The problem is that we're trying to not waste thousands of paper badges at the end of con, so we've always used a marking system for this.
Now that we've seen the boxes for weekend/sat/sun was successful, we'll be able to see if trying different colors for at the door can work again.
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It would've been nice if the at-door reg badges were more obvious on whether or not someone was a minor vs. an adult, at least making sure that ALL staff knows the difference, assuming that there is one. I know that there's a letter that gets written on them, but can't there be different prints, or colors, or something?
I'm currently talking to some other reg managers about different age color paper badges like the Pre-Reg/Will Call plastic ones for at door with the check off boxes for days, for next year so we can get rid of the color coated sharpie system which failed on Saturday night this year and make sure it doesn't happen again.
(https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fiambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de%2Fmlp%2Fgif%2F558__safe_princess-luna_animated_happy_clapping_artist-mihaaaa_applauding.gif&hash=1ab406508b53585e46c1ec46ca7266e7c5eb8e05)(https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi171.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu314%2FPhotogenic_012%2FEmotes%2520Animations%2520and%2520Extras%2Fclappinggirl.gif&hash=c555492f0e780addb104b681a971f4b2b13e222e)(https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.snowbuni.com%2FYaBB_misc%2FMISC_anime_clap.gif&hash=d4711033e25ecd6f8fed8d55695e5495b1eba3c4)(https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_lxeblmUqn31qdlkgg.gif&hash=d203c91beb6c3e0e724a5c3ce320900d28ee4bf2)
(https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages1.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20110818164857%2Fcanonpairings%2Fimages%2F8%2F83%2FClap-zbr07.gif&hash=e0a8638f8dff841d99d030de4ac86e4adb99a107) You've made us all happier!
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Cant believe i almost forgot about this, but...
Major rave for photobooth. The line may take forever to get through, but it is definitely worth the wait. The photographer is hilarious, and the photos are always amazing. A really nice couple, and i hope they'll be coming back next year.
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While I am fully aware that this is a anime convention, shouldn't the non-anime cosplayers have the right to be fairly judged with the rest of the cosplayers in the contest?
I bristle at this being a matter of "rights" - people may have, if not a right to try things, then at least an opportunity to do so, but they do not have a guarantee to succeed nor even a guarantee to be recognized. If an organization decides to hold a competition of French poetry readings, that does not create some kind of 'right' that if I show up with a poem I wrote in German, they somehow must allow me to participate.
I had fun dressing as "Mr. Monopoly" because I presented on a Japanese method of trading commodities (...made around $440 today trading silver (SLV) (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SLV) and oil (USO) (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=USO) using this method!) But I would not expect "Mr. Monopoly" to win anything in cosplay rather than at another general costuming event.
What *might* be fun as a Kumoricon skit would be if Lawrence and Horo of Spice and Wolf are planning their next trades or business deals, and "Mr. Monopoly" joins them to talk capitalism with them... because we would be judged as a skit.
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Let's not get into this again, shall we? The point is that most of the people at this con are nerds in costume, and it really shouldn't matter what country the costume's source material comes from because no one source is any better than any other source. The people that think that Japan and its media are better than any other country and its media just by merit of their being Japanese are, to be quite frank, crazy racist weeboos and I really wouldn't want to have anything to do with them even on a level of vague association.
I don't mean that as a personal attack, by the way, in case someone wants to jump in and blue mod-text all over me.
PS: if you hate people having rights so much, then give them that opportunity to be judged so they'll shut up about how they have a right to have their craftsmanship judged the same as anyone else.
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The people that think that Japan and its media are better than any other country and its media just by merit of their being Japanese are, to be quite frank, crazy racist weeboos and I really wouldn't want to have anything to do with them even on a level of vague association.
It's a good thing nobody in this thread has said anything like that.
and it really shouldn't matter what country the costume's source material comes from because no one source is any better than any other source.
Somebody might think that a costume contest should be limited for a different reason: Because they want to focus on one thing, and think that allowing other things dilutes that focus.
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When what appears to be 50% of the con is made entirely of Homestuck (feel free to run those numbers if you can, by the way- I'd love to know what the actual ratio is) you can't really argue that judging someone's Dr. Doom cosplay will dilute the focus of the con. Andrew Hussie has already facilitated that dilution plenty.
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you can't really argue that judging someone's Dr. Doom cosplay will dilute the focus of the con.
You can if you make the distinction between attendee costumes and official programming, and make a distinction between different rules (or topics) for different events.
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This was brought up at Rant and Rave also- repeating what was said-
We are indeed, an ANIME convention, and we don't want to lose our roots as such. Sure there are panels and things for Dr.Who and Homestuck, or whatever and etc, because the con also caters to make the fans happy, but if we completely let those panels and kind of things take over- we might as well turn into something like a sci fi con or something of those sorts, maybe just a cartoon convention, a nerd convention, etc... this IS one of the reasons, one of the main events of the con STICKS to anime and anime/Japanese related costumes. No one is saying those are better over anything American, German, etc, but again, we ARE a JAPANESE ANIMATION/ANIME convention. This is a grey area and is balanced every year.
Adding to that- For anyone thinking we are too anime and not enough cultural- any more cultural Japanese panels and such like Taiko Drumming/Sake Tasting/ etc that are Japanese related but not anime are more than welcome to be submitted to panels- people need to just that- submit them and be willing to run them.
*ends flashback to Rant and Rave*
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Ponies and Homestuck trolls and Gallifreyans love anime and can come to our con, too! (Homestucks are trolls, right? IDK)
We had as much anime/manga/Japanese culture panels as were available to us this year. If you want more panels on bentou, tea ceremony, how to draw manga, et cetera help us out by doing panels or asking your Japanese language teachers if they will come in and do cool stuff for us. A lot of our really solid Japanese culture panels have come from PSU's Japanese profs and other language teachers. If you go to PCC or something and take Japanese, please do talk with your teachers in case they have an awesome talent like being able to demonstrate tea ceremony.
In terms of what people cosplay, trying to restrict that would be ... ridiculously uptight.
In term of programming, we can't pull anime/manga/Japanese panels out of thin air. Panels come from our guests and attendees. If you want panels we don't have, the answer is to submit to run a panel or to help us network with the people who can run those panels.
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I was a little annoyed with the way the Karaoke contest auditions were handled. They intermixed the auditions with the open mic and to pass the time I signed up for the open mic. I did my song and then i found out they counted THAT song as my audition. I never actually sang the song I was planning to for the contest. I feel if you're going to have auditions there should be a set time when open mic is closed and all that goes on are the auditions. I'm sure the regular attendees would understand. Then the auditions wouldn't be spread out in the span of two or three hours. It would just be one audition after the other until all of them were done and if people didn't show up that would be their problem.
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Sakura Con had a costume repair room set up for most of the days, though they had limited hours. I don't know if the volunteers from that group were planning to come down and run one at Kumori Con, but it would be nice. My group had to find a sewing machine STAT Sunday morning.
The costume repair room at Sakura is ran by the UW costume club. If you want to try it out for Kumori con, I would look them up and Facebook and see how they went about getting that set up. You might also try looking at the local colleges and seeing if they have a costume/anime club that would be interested in volunteering to do a repair station.
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Ponies and Homestuck trolls and Gallifreyans love anime and can come to our con, too! (Homestucks are trolls, right? IDK)
We had as much anime/manga/Japanese culture panels as were available to us this year. If you want more panels on bentou, tea ceremony, how to draw manga, et cetera help us out by doing panels or asking your Japanese language teachers if they will come in and do cool stuff for us. A lot of our really solid Japanese culture panels have come from PSU's Japanese profs and other language teachers. If you go to PCC or something and take Japanese, please do talk with your teachers in case they have an awesome talent like being able to demonstrate tea ceremony.
In terms of what people cosplay, trying to restrict that would be ... ridiculously uptight.
In term of programming, we can't pull anime/manga/Japanese panels out of thin air. Panels come from our guests and attendees. If you want panels we don't have, the answer is to submit to run a panel or to help us network with the people who can run those panels.
I ran the Otaku over 25 panel. One attendee had made a very good observation noting the video rooms were sparely attended while (I am adding ) event like the My little pony and who's line is it and the park were packed. The issue is many young attendees are more interested in hanging with their friends and getting into what is in for the peer group, think Homestruck, than anything to do with Japanese culture. There is a bigger issue of the problem here beyond the scope of anime. We had even had a 18 year old attend, telling of her frustration of none of her fired were interested in older anime.
I wound are say most in the younger demographic are interested in Anime but not in Japanese culture; such panels would be sparely attended.
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I realize lines have been mentioned a number of times before, but if that means it gets attention, I'm fine with that. Lines lines lines lines.
I paid full at-con registration for Kumori Con this year, $45, and the sum total of things I did which required a badge was:
1.) attend some small panels,
2.) visit Exhibitor's Hall/Artist's Alley once, and
3.) stop by the gaming hall, quickly realizing they didn't have the game I was hoping for (Soul Calibur 2).
...I spent about 2-3 hours, tops, in rooms that required a badge for entry.
There were only two things I truly hoped to attend:
1.) the Doctor Who panel, and
2.) the Masquerade Ball.
Both of these had lines so long that the majority of each event would be about 3/4ths over by the time I worked through the line, if I got in at all. I eventually abandoned both lines. The Doctor Who panel was obviously much more popular than expected, and I suspect it'll be moved to a bigger panel room next year (if a bigger one is one available)...
But the Masq Ball?... It was only 90 minutes long. That's why everyone mobbed it at once. Con Staff cut off the Masquerade Ball line right after me, and there were around 100 people in line behind me. So many people dressed in fancy clothing and masks were turned away, that they clogged the elevators on their way back to their hotel rooms to change clothes. The Ball really should be 2.5 to 3 hours long.
I'm not going to say the con was entirely unenjoyable, because I get so much enjoyment out of cosplaying and socialization. But I feel the money I spent on con registration was wasted.
If lines and line management continue to be this bad in future years, many cosplayers like me may just visit the con location, but not register. That will lose revenue for the con and reduce the number of people who book hotel rooms. I don't want that to happen, but I can't afford to spend $45 on a badge that serves practically no purpose.
I ran the Otaku over 25 panel. One attendee had made a very good observation noting the video rooms were sparely attended while (I am adding ) event like the My little pony and who's line is it and the park were packed. The issue is many young attendees are more interested in hanging with their friends and getting into what is in for the peer group, think Homestruck, than anything to do with Japanese culture. There is a bigger issue of the problem here beyond the scope of anime. We had even had a 18 year old attend, telling of her frustration of none of her fired were interested in older anime.
I wound are say most in the younger demographic are interested in Anime but not in Japanese culture; such panels would be sparely attended.
I question whether this is a "problem." There may have been one 18-year old frustrated about her peers not wanting to watch older anime, but I'm 33, and I have no illusions about the fact that old shows are eventually going to lose their audience. With all due respect, I attended your panel, but I left the room about the time it turned into an "everybody complain about the younger generations" panel.
The fact that viewing rooms are empty is not some tragedy. It just means that there is little need for them anymore. In 2000, I went to my first anime con and had access to lots of anime I had no way of watching before. These days, people download it, or watch it on YouTube, or stream it on Netflix, or if all else fails, check out DVDs on Netflix. This is GREAT! It's so much better than driving for hours to watch it at a con.
But getting back to the actual running of the convention: If we want better use of space, I say we shouldn't cut out the non-Japanese panels. We should cut out some of the viewing rooms.
I heard lots and lots of talk this year about how the anime industry is waning, and how Kumori Con is shifting toward a more general "geek" focus. Personally, I am totally FINE with that. After spending 15+ years on anime, watching Sakura Con grow and Kumori Con materialize, and earning a degree in International Studies with a Japanese minor in the meantime, I'm tired of hyper-focusing on one small country.
I would be happy to see Kumori Con officially become a broader sort of convention. It is the very nature of geeks to want to share their hobbies and cross over between them, and anime doesn't exist in a vacuum. (Actually, Japanese conventions don't limit themselves to Japanese material, either.)
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All-out thumbs-up for the AV crew in Main events this year.
Had a great time working with them and we were able to put on a great AMV event.
Every year I get nervous about equipment failures or glitches* but nothing went haywire this year...
That doesn't happen by accident, but because you have a team of people who know their stuff and know what back-ups and contingencies are available...
Thanks again, gang.
*This includes my worry about ME doing a fumble-fingers during the AMV contest.
One year I had THOUGHT that one entry out of the 6 in a category had been SKIPPED.
The playlist had actually played correctly, but it was like a hot flash, and inside
you're going oh-crap-dammit-frggtt-nrwl-gignmmrv-mumbble...
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I have to agree with the "there's less need for viewing rooms". Most people in my group have seen most of the anime that is shown, and those who haven't and want to will watch it some other way, some other time, because they would rather do something else while they are at the convention. I imagine it's that way for a lot of people. We don't go to con to sit around and watch anime, we go to interact with our people, who we may not otherwise get a chance to, and definitely not in the number that we get at con.
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I have to agree with the "there's less need for viewing rooms". Most people in my group have seen most of the anime that is shown, and those who haven't and want to will watch it some other way, some other time, because they would rather do something else while they are at the convention. I imagine it's that way for a lot of people. We don't go to con to sit around and watch anime, we go to interact with our people, who we may not otherwise get a chance to, and definitely not in the number that we get at con.
I’d like to say something in support of the viewing rooms. While it’s true that nowadays otaku get to watch pretty much everything they want online, and for most people the viewing rooms aren’t needed, there are many other folks who do NOT have all-access to all anime. I think the viewing rooms provide important exposure to a wide variety of anime, and I think that newcomers to the con and to anime in general benefit from the viewing rooms. We should be promoting anime at Kumoricon, right?
Some number of years ago I had given up on the anime viewing rooms because it seemed all that were shown were commercial releases. I thought that maybe the cons got pressure from industry to stop showing fansubs. But I was surprised and impressed last year to return to the viewing room schedule to see that many current/recent series were being shown. This year continued with the impressive slate of shows.
I want to praise the organizer(s) of the anime viewing schedule for the following:
- Making the sample set the first three episodes of a series. As is often said, one should give every series three episodes before deciding whether to follow a show or not. I think the first three episodes is the perfect sample size.
- Organizing the schedule into genre blocks of three or four shows. There was variety and throughtfulness in the packaging. Adventure, Romance, Magical Girl, Action, Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Mecha, Harem, Horror, Slice of Life, Genderswap – and more – one couldn’t ask for a better selection.
- Bringing in current / very recent shows - lots of them.
- Keeping a mix of old classic shows such as Dirty Pair, Cowboy Bebop, Kodocha, and Clannad. Newcomers to anime probably haven’t seen those. Heck, there are some current day otaku who haven’t seen some of those. Anime has a long, glorious history, and I’m glad that our con pays homage to that.
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I have a 20-year history with anime viewing rooms – going back to AnimeExpo. (I attended AX from 1992 to 2002.) I discovered a lot of great anime series through them. (Back in the day, the viewing rooms only had fansubs plus a tiny number of commercial releases.) And, sure, today I get most of my anime online. I have a premium subscription to Crunchyroll, and I can watch shows through Viz/Funimation/Hulu. But I’ve been trying to stick to series that are licensed for streaming in the U.S., and I’ve stopped downloading fansubs. So I was delighted to see that Acchi Kocchi, Hyouka, Ben-To, and AKB0048 were being shown in the Kumoricon viewing rooms. None of those series were streamed in the U.S. I spent some time in the viewing rooms this year. Sometimes the rooms were nearly empty; other times there were quite a few people watching.
So I will always vote that we show anime at our anime convention. Thanks again to the Kumoricon staff for doing a great job organizing the anime viewing rooms and schedule.
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I have to agree with the "there's less need for viewing rooms". Most people in my group have seen most of the anime that is shown, and those who haven't and want to will watch it some other way, some other time, because they would rather do something else while they are at the convention. I imagine it's that way for a lot of people. We don't go to con to sit around and watch anime, we go to interact with our people, who we may not otherwise get a chance to, and definitely not in the number that we get at con.
Are you the majority of people who go to cons?
I'm 100% fine with Anime viewing rooms, just because you and your friends have seen an anime doesn't mean the 4750 other people have, too.
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I never even found out where the viewing rooms were...
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The last minor issue was the Amv Contest NOT What The Anime Is About category. It did not work for me in the audience because to know “not what the Anime is about”, one need to know what the anime was about; having no familiarity with the Animes, the entries went over my head.
Joke answer: Aren't *real* fans supposed to have watched EVERY SHOW that has EVER come out?
Even Laserdisks only available in Japan? ;-)
I just started a new thread for next years AMV contest here:
https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=17370.0
and I look forward to tuning up to make sure we are as entertaining a contest as we can be.
Also, a panel/space for the occasional AMV that's not of Japanese origin would also be cool.
Well we'd need to replace the [A] in AMV for that category - any ideas what? I've seen 'GMV' used for game-footage only. Also the previous rules allowed up to 10% non-anime content in any given enty, so you could have a Code Lyoko or an Airbender character or even Mr. Magoo show up and play with the anime characters for a while. If there are ONE or TWO very popular non-anime shows that we could, um 'invite' to participate in the next contest, that might be a cool way to pull this off. Kind of like a 'guest' show for the year! Legend of Korra?
Anyways, please go to the thread above to discuss.
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Touching on the Viewing Room subject, I'm not worried about the rooms disappearing from the con schedule. The Anime Viewing Room and the Anime Convention seem inseparable, so I'm not worried about that.
What I would offer for consideration is instead of having two rooms, perhaps having one viewing room, and putting additional viewing content on the hotel's open channel. I don't know about the Red Lion, but I was delighted beyond description when I was checking channels in the Hilton and stumbled across the Hilton open channel... playing Anime Hunters! I then proceeded to not change the channel for the whole weekend (basically). I thought taking advantage of the open channel was awesome. I loved it in the past, and I was looking forward to it and glad to find it.
I would say playing anime through that channel (if legal... I don't know the technicalities) would be a fantastic alternative to the viewing room. I know for myself this year, I had made it a point to come down and check out the viewing rooms because there was much that I was excited about seeing (most of what was played was unfamiliar to me). I never actually made it down though due to schedules and whatnot. So, for the attendee like me, having anime playing all weekend through the Hotel open channel would be both a time-saver and still highly engaging. I would feel no less part of con watching this programmed anime in my room than if sitting in a panel room.
Just a thought that came to mind.
Also, in further support of the Viewing Rooms and just the general screening of anime at Kumoricon, the first year I came here was 2006. I stumbled in on a viewing room playing Azumanga Daioh, a title I was completely unfamiliar with.
That is now one of my favorite anime which I own and watch regularly.
I know I'm not the only one with stories like this, so... keep on with the anime screening. In whatever capacity.
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My problems with the viewing rooms is just that, my problems, I generally don't have time for them between dances and panels, but they are still a nice option to have, late at night, down time and nothing to do? I love sticking my head in there and find a new anime to watch, it's so hard for me to get into a new anime online, when I'm "forced" to watch something, I'm more likely to get into it and want to continue to watch more. So maybe lower the viewing room down to one room, but I personally will be sad to see them go. That's how I got into a few anime's, was the viewing room at Kumoricon.
I would also LOVE to go to more traditional Japanese panels. The Sake panel was sold out and GREAT!! Not just tasting sake, but that's of information, and historical info as well! I'd love to see Tea Ceremony demonstrations or some kabuki!!
I've been going to Kumoricon since 2004, missed 2003 by one lame week (grrr...) and I love it, but if it really did switch from an Anime Convention to a General Nerd Con, got to say... I'd stop going, and make Sakura-con my home con instead. The whole purpose of Kumoricon was to create an ANIME convention for Oregon....
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I don't know about the Red Lion, but I was delighted beyond description when I was checking channels in the Hilton and stumbled across the Hilton open channel... playing Anime Hunters! I then proceeded to not change the channel for the whole weekend (basically). I thought taking advantage of the open channel was awesome. I loved it in the past, and I was looking forward to it and glad to find it.
I would say playing anime through that channel (if legal... I don't know the technicalities) would be a fantastic alternative to the viewing room.
As the head of the Department in charge of CCTV, thanks for noticing! It's still a work in progress, which is why it wasn't advertised very much, we still weren't sure it was going to work all weekend. Hopefully moving forward we'll be able to provide even more content, a more cohesive schedule.
The one thing I will say is, I can't guarantee it will be possible to get Anime on our CCTV. I know it has been done, but we have to provide a lot of security for the distributors and owners in order to make it work. We have had one company give us permissions. However most of the episodes were of the 18+ variety and the rest I wasn't 100% sure of and did not have the time to filter. We'll be repeating our requests for CCTV useage I am sure and will use everything we got/get to our full advantage. But CCTV is hard for companies to get behind... so it may take many years before we have the permissions for things people would stay in their rooms to watch.
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...but if it really did switch from an Anime Convention to a General Nerd Con, got to say... I'd stop going, and make Sakura-con my home con instead. The whole purpose of Kumoricon was to create an ANIME convention for Oregon....
QFT. When I think about local cons, general geekery cons are plentiful, and seem to only be getting more so as time goes by. Thinking on strictly anime and Japanese culture-oriented cons... I can only think of two major ones, and the other is in Seattle. Kumoricon's Japanese focus is what drew me and is what has kept me. I don't worry about that changing. Even with varying elements from the other corners of nerddom, I am confident Kumoricon will remain an anime convention first and foremost. There is just an air to the Kumoricon atmosphere that makes me think of anime, a feeling I definitely don't get when thinking on Comic-Con or the myriad other general geekery cons. I like that. There's nowhere else locally like it that I've found.
As the head of the Department in charge of CCTV, thanks for noticing! It's still a work in progress, which is why it wasn't advertised very much, we still weren't sure it was going to work all weekend. Hopefully moving forward we'll be able to provide even more content, a more cohesive schedule.
The one thing I will say is, I can't guarantee it will be possible to get Anime on our CCTV. I know it has been done, but we have to provide a lot of security for the distributors and owners in order to make it work. We have had one company give us permissions. However most of the episodes were of the 18+ variety and the rest I wasn't 100% sure of and did not have the time to filter. We'll be repeating our requests for CCTV useage I am sure and will use everything we got/get to our full advantage. But CCTV is hard for companies to get behind... so it may take many years before we have the permissions for things people would stay in their rooms to watch.
Ah, I was expecting something like that. I will definitely be keeping an eye out and hopefully the right permissions come your way. Even without the anime though, CCTV was a pleasant thread in the Kumoricon tapestry. Whatever ends up happening, I'll be content.
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I'm not against the viewing rooms atball, dont get me wrong. It just seems like everyone i talked to knew that the one place they werent going to go was the veiwing rooms. My first two years at kumoricon, the vr were a great place to chill between panels and they introduced me to some good shows i hadnt seen or hadnt heard of. I would just be curious to hear how many people actually took advantage of the rooms.
The in-house channel would be a great way to cut down on congestion for opening/closing cermonies, cosplay contest, and cosplay chess.
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I'm not against the viewing rooms atball, dont get me wrong. It just seems like everyone i talked to knew that the one place they werent going to go was the veiwing rooms. My first two years at kumoricon, the vr were a great place to chill between panels and they introduced me to some good shows i hadnt seen or hadnt heard of. I would just be curious to hear how many people actually took advantage of the rooms.
Sure... most people will skip the viewing rooms... but remember that there will always be people who are attending the convention for the first or second time. So they'll get to go through the same process you did, exploring the con and discovering new anime.
I'm a 21-year con veteran, and I'm still dropping in on the viewing rooms and learning about shows I didn't get to see earlier. And after doing a lot of walking in the sun in the park and between hotels, the dark, cool rooms are a great place to take a break.
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Back on the topic of non-anime things at kumori-con, if no one minds my input:
I agree that Kumori-con is an ANIME con. Panels and official events should be weighted to more japanese things. The only official totally homestuck panel that was there this year was a amazing panel. I love the multi-fandom aspect of k-con, but speaking as someone who went as a character from something non-anime, as long as there is at least one panel per non-anime fandom that applies for a panel and gets one (based only on the fact that it will be a good panel and was planned well, not the fact that it's non-anime) then I'm a happy con goer.
Kumori-con was established as an anime convention. As long as theres still a multi-fandom feel to it outside the official events, we can make our own fun : )
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It just caught me by surprise this year when my group (3 fifth yrars, 1 second year, and 1 first year) didnt so much as glance at the viewing guid or mention the rooms at all.
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I want to stick up for the viewing rooms: I would never had found punkin scissors , Death note and Hetalia without them. The problem with the using the Hinton's CCTV is not many of us stay at the Hilton. I do not because I only 20 miles form the con.
As for the Kumoricon content outside of Japan's culture, I say we do not need to become an elitist fandom life some in the Science Fiction fandom. Initially I started to attend Kumoricon because I am a furry con geek rather than interest in Japanese culture. I also Would throw another wrench into the gear in how much Japanese produce Anime setting is in Japanese culture, for example Last Exile , Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star setting are off world, Punkin Scissors seems to be in an alternate Europe. etc. Some panels wold be nice to better understated anime but not necessary a Japanese Culture panel.
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I have a minor rant: our panel was scheduled in oak and the panel had about 40 people waiting to get in before it started, with that many, the line was actually snaking DOWN THE STAIRS into the lobby. Perhaps having a staff member on hand to edge the line in a different direction as it starts so attendees aren't standing on steps or leaking out into the lobby with their lines would be a good idea. line management: kind of dropped the ball on that one.
We felt it looked kind of hazardous, so we ended up letting the line in about five minutes early. good thing, too. overall we had about 80 people in that room. :O
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Making a quick point to the viewing rooms: They're really nice for people who arrive earlier in the morning or stay later at night or are just waiting for some time to pass. My Party and I ended up watching Air one year at a con without even realizing what it was, but we had stayed for the whole movie. Another time I went and sat down to watch some anime, and another viewer seemed irate that my laughing was loud and I had to keep making remarks that there's nothing wrong with actually laughing during a funny scene between their talking and enjoying the anime that way. After that irate person, I haven't gone back, mostly because I haven't had time, but it was a downer. There seemed to be no staff around at all to monitor to make sure the episodes were running properly (as one friend had experienced at one con a hentai-ep went on the fritz at the wrong moment). I realize it is hard to spare staff for these rooms, but if they're all in one location shouldn't it be a good idea for at least one staff member to be hovering in the area?
By the way, did the Red Lion have an open channel? Cause we weren't informed of it, and my Party ended up watching Toy Story 2 during some down time when one had a headache.
And another note: the screenings of Trigun and Badlands Rumble in the Red Lion lobby was very nice :)
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I was disappointed with the format of the silent auction.
*disclaimer know money is for a great cause and I have nothing against the con having one thats not the issue*
I was at the silent auction and an item I had bid on had been out bid, but the card was full I asked how I put in a new bid but was told I needed to pay the buy it now or it would go in the live auction (which was annoying as buy it now was a bit more then I wanted to pay and I was not going to be there Monday)
it was really strange (as to my understanding of what was explained to me)
Items had cards with a min bid and 4 blank spots to write bids and once full that's it, and a buy it now price.
if the items had been bid on 4 times then it is sent to the live charity auction with the last bid starting it off (if they are there)
or you pay the buy it now price (which were about the retail price of the item if it was at a store)
So whats the point of a silent auction if the items aren't won there?
I was told if a card was filled that meant there was interest in the item which is why it would be sent to live auction but
Lots of cards would have 2 people out biding each other once and then automatically sent to live auction, unless you paid the buy it now.
The 4th bidder spot seems pointless to me, some one can only use it to make the 3rd bidder not win the auction, while still not winning it themselves.
So it felt like the 4th bidder was only the chance to be a jerk (not saying they are just how it felt)
*once again I know the money is going to a good cause and anything to earn more woot, that said it just felt pointless*
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There seemed to be no staff around at all to monitor to make sure the episodes were running properly (as one friend had experienced at one con a hentai-ep went on the fritz at the wrong moment). I realize it is hard to spare staff for these rooms, but if they're all in one location shouldn't it be a good idea for at least one staff member to be hovering in the area?
There really isn't staff (as far as I am aware) to spare for sitting inside the room the entire con. If something goes wrong with playing the episodes, you can always come find someone at Info Booth and we'll get a hold of the right person to get in there and fix it as soon as they can.
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I would like there to be a regular karaoke room as in English speaking songs please!!! I know it's not Anime related but watching cosplayers singing songs would be entertaining. Also it could be done at night as well when the party starts ;)
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As far as Japanese-culture-related panels go, I've thought about doing panels on a few different subjects before, but wasn't sure how they would be received.
I'm a nut for Heian-era literature (Tale of Genji, Pillow Book, etc.) and would love to do an upbeat modern panel on the classics - though some of the subject matter is a bit adult! ;) Sei Shonagon's eleventh-century diary reads more like a snarky society blog at times (her comic lists of "Annoying Things" and "Cute Things" wouldn't be out of place on Tumblr), and the romances in Genji would be a hoot to recap - the story of Kashiwagi the cat-stealing stalker prince alone is a schadenfreude-laden tragicomedy of errors.
I also lived in Hokkaido for three years, and picked up a healthy interest in the Ainu tribespeople, an indigenous population similar in many ways, and possibly related, to the Emishi people of Princess Mononoke's Ashitaka. I would love to do a panel on the history and culture of the Ainu, and it might be especially interesting considering the similarities between their culture and the cultures of some First Peoples of the Pacific Northwest.
And, finally, I'm going to try and debut a Japanese cosplay culture panel at Akicon this fall, covering similarities and differences in Japanese and American cosplay cultures, resources, and attitudes. If it goes well, I might submit it for Kumoricon 2013, too!
Do any of these sound interesting, or like they might be well-attended? : )
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^ I like the Ainu idea, myself, and Tales of Genji (what I recall) was pretty good.
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I would like there to be a regular karaoke room as in English speaking songs please!!! I know it's not Anime related but watching cosplayers singing songs would be entertaining. Also it could be done at night as well when the party starts ;)
I think that would be pretty awesome. I would totally belt out some 80s Bon Jovi while dressed up as Auron.
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I would like there to be a regular karaoke room as in English speaking songs please!!! I know it's not Anime related but watching cosplayers singing songs would be entertaining. Also it could be done at night as well when the party starts ;)
I think that would be pretty awesome. I would totally belt out some 80s Bon Jovi while dressed up as Auron.
As someone who loves singing with Karaoke but has gone out of the Anime/Manga phase, I would love for this to happen.
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I would like there to be a regular karaoke room as in English speaking songs please!!! I know it's not Anime related but watching cosplayers singing songs would be entertaining. Also it could be done at night as well when the party starts ;)
I think that would be pretty awesome. I would totally belt out some 80s Bon Jovi while dressed up as Auron.
As someone who loves singing with Karaoke but has gone out of the Anime/Manga phase, I would love for this to happen.
As someone who loves singing with Karaoke but isn't very good at doing it in Japanese, I would also love for this to happen.
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I'd like to say this about costume judging. If our focus is supposed to be on Japanese media and *only* Japanese media, then why include non-Japanese characters in the cosplay contest? Costume awards should be about workmanship, and that isn't limited to a single nation's media. Shouldn't it really be the other way around if we're going to pull the "Japanese things only!" card, have everyone able to be judged for their costumes but have only Japanese sources for the staged contest? As it is right now, it's just unfair, simply put.
(disclaimer--I have no personal stake in this, since I've cosplayed Pokemon characters for the past many years straight. I just think it's incredibly unfair that people can win a contest for a skit but not for a costume)
Also, regarding lack of space for a cosplay repair station, how about the basement? There was lots of room by the tabletop gaming.
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As I understand it, the "Japanese animation only" rule has always been there, since this is an anime convention we're talking about, but it's been ignored for the sake of more skit entries. I actually prefer having this restriction, myself. As for the fashion show part, that was (again, to my understanding) a compromise for those that cosplay non-anime characters.
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So then why have non-Japanese characters in skits? It honestly seems unfair. Even a "best Non-Japanese costume" category would be *something*, but don't dangle a bone in front of people.
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:-\
Well, I like everything this year's kumoricon had to offer, but I have a few gripes about it that should be fixed next year:
1. Only two voice actor guests - I'm glad I got autographs from Lauren Landa and Sonny Strait, but the staff could've contacted Yuri Lowenthal, Monica Rial and some other great voice actor/actress and fit them in the con, as well! Hopefully they put Monica Rial (who voices Shiro, Konoka, Mei Chang, Momoka and Stocking) and Yuri Lowenthal (who voices Ben Tennyson, Sasuke, Patroklos Alexandra, Lagoon Boy [from Young Justice] and Super Omega Ranger [from Power Rangers Super Legends]), along with Steven Blum (who voices Orochimaru, Wolverine, Mugen, Amon and Yamaki] and Ashleigh Ball (who voices Rainbow Dash), into next year's Kumoricon, alongside veteran voice actor guests [Tiffany Grant, David Vincent, Sean Schemmel, Laura Landa, Kirk THornton and Todd Habberkorn].
2. Vendors need more in many ways and at less costs on some stuff - I like the stuff the vendors have to offer, but I think it needs more stuff to offer and sell, like more actions figures and some stuff from shows like Deadman Wonderland and .hack//Legend of the Twilight. Plus, I think they should sell certain stuff, like a certain Human Rainbow Dash figurine, for affordable range, so no one would be ripped off. And of course, the vendors should be open until at least 8:00 PM, that way, I'd get to the vendors at no problem.
3. More Games at the Game Room - I like the games in the game room. They're really good, but I think they should have more for next year. In fact, they should bring back old favorites like Pokemon Battle Revolution and Kingdom Hearts II. Plus, they should continue bring Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition, Soul Calibur V, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and then some. Plus, they should also bring Games never brought to the con before, like Street Fighter X Tekken, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Dead or Alive 5, Dragonball Raging Blast 2 and Batman Arkham City Game of the Year edition. Also, the one Playstation 2 with a hard drive should have more games added, just to bring on a lot of PS2 fun.
4. New, good freebies - I like the freebies that I got, but I think they should have more. Also, I don't like how I got Magic the Gathering cards as freebies, because I don't even play Magic the Gathering at all. The new, good freebies I'm suggesting for the Kumoricon 2013 bag in Kumoricon 2013 are the following: 1. A DVD featuring the works of Yuri Lowenthal, Monica Rial, Steven Blum, Ashleigh Ball, David Vincent, Cynthia Martinez, Laura Landa and Sean Schemmel.
2. A poster with Shiro (from Deadman Wonderland) and Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto)
3. A Sasuke Keychain
4. A CD with songs from Naruto, Deadman Wonderland, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Bleach and more
5. A Rainbow Dash figure
6. Either a Pokemon Black or White Nintendo DS game (for those who want it) or Pokemon Card Game Booster Pack
Plus, there should be some free food samples passing around in the con, just to give a taste of what food has come out before they go to purchase it. But that's only a suggestion. And the Esther Short Park should have a free picnic/BBQ for Congoers on the last day, which is also labor day.
That's all I gotta say on the rants. I hope that's all understandable.
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As I understand it, the "Japanese animation only" rule has always been there, since this is an anime convention we're talking about, but it's been ignored for the sake of more skit entries. I actually prefer having this restriction, myself. As for the fashion show part, that was (again, to my understanding) a compromise for those that cosplay non-anime characters.
The rule is as follows:
"While we appreciate costumes from other genres, Kumoricon's Cosplay contest will be limited to those of Japanese origin including: Japanese anime, Japanese manga, J-rock, J-pop, Lolita, Japanese live-action cinema or TV series, Japanese religious or cultural garb, Japanese-origin video games or Japanese school or state uniforms. If your costume originates from any other country, it does not qualify. (Please feel free to enter non-qualifying costumes in the Hall Cosplay Contest)."
Although this is stated under a section for both the Skit and Workmanship categories it only applies to Workmanship. To be judged for workmanship a costume must be of "Japanese origin" as stated above. It doesn't even have to be from anime! It could be from a game, a woodblock print, a Japanese musical, etc. etc. But yes, until this year the rule has generally been ignored, or at least overlooked.
I personally think we should at least allow costumes of "Asian" origin (Asian would have to be defined, since some people consider the Middle-East to be part of Asia and others don't, I personally don't like the word, but that's another discussion), but I'm not going to argue with Kumoricon's decision to make it only of Japanese origin.
I think that they don't apply this rule to skits because it severely stifles the creativity of skit developers. Also, since it doesn't apply to skits skit developers can write skits that give more references to American pop-culture and connect with the audience better.
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:-\
Well, I like everything this year's kumoricon had to offer, but I have a few gripes about it that should be fixed next year:
1. Only two voice actor guests - I'm glad I got autographs from Lauren Landa and Sonny Strait, but the staff could've contacted Yuri Lowenthal, Monica Rial and some other great voice actor/actress and fit them in the con, as well! Hopefully they put Monica Rial (who voices Shiro, Konoka, Mei Chang, Momoka and Stocking) and Yuri Lowenthal (who voices Ben Tennyson, Sasuke, Patroklos Alexandra, Lagoon Boy [from Young Justice] and Super Omega Ranger [from Power Rangers Super Legends]), along with Steven Blum (who voices Orochimaru, Wolverine, Mugen, Amon and Yamaki] and Ashleigh Ball (who voices Rainbow Dash), into next year's Kumoricon, alongside veteran voice actor guests [Tiffany Grant, David Vincent, Sean Schemmel, Laura Landa, Kirk THornton and Todd Habberkorn].
2. Vendors need more in many ways and at less costs on some stuff - I like the stuff the vendors have to offer, but I think it needs more stuff to offer and sell, like more actions figures and some stuff from shows like Deadman Wonderland and .hack//Legend of the Twilight. Plus, I think they should sell certain stuff, like a certain Human Rainbow Dash figurine, for affordable range, so no one would be ripped off. And of course, the vendors should be open until at least 8:00 PM, that way, I'd get to the vendors at no problem.
3. More Games at the Game Room - I like the games in the game room. They're really good, but I think they should have more for next year. In fact, they should bring back old favorites like Pokemon Battle Revolution and Kingdom Hearts II. Plus, they should continue bring Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition, Soul Calibur V, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and then some. Plus, they should also bring Games never brought to the con before, like Street Fighter X Tekken, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Dead or Alive 5, Dragonball Raging Blast 2 and Batman Arkham City Game of the Year edition. Also, the one Playstation 2 with a hard drive should have more games added, just to bring on a lot of PS2 fun.
4. New, good freebies - I like the freebies that I got, but I think they should have more. Also, I don't like how I got Magic the Gathering cards as freebies, because I don't even play Magic the Gathering at all. The new, good freebies I'm suggesting for the Kumoricon 2013 bag in Kumoricon 2013 are the following: 1. A DVD featuring the works of Yuri Lowenthal, Monica Rial, Steven Blum, Ashleigh Ball, David Vincent, Cynthia Martinez, Laura Landa and Sean Schemmel.
2. A poster with Shiro (from Deadman Wonderland) and Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto)
3. A Sasuke Keychain
4. A CD with songs from Naruto, Deadman Wonderland, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Bleach and more
5. A Rainbow Dash figure
6. Either a Pokemon Black or White Nintendo DS game (for those who want it) or Pokemon Card Game Booster Pack
Plus, there should be some free food samples passing around in the con, just to give a taste of what food has come out before they go to purchase it. But that's only a suggestion. And the Esther Short Park should have a free picnic/BBQ for Congoers on the last day, which is also labor day.
That's all I gotta say on the rants. I hope that's all understandable.
That's all...really outrageous. About the vendors, Kumoricon can't control what vendors carry to the specificity you're expecting ("you are invited to sell at our convention, but only if you carry that DW figure that doesn't exist. Oh, you should make it do you can sell it by the way." kind of unrealistic, yeah?). We also have to remember the vendors are also people, paying attendees who should be able to enjoy the con to some capacity. Being open until 8, even being only 2 hours, cuts way too far into their time, I'd say. They are open from 10-6 after all, those are shift hours for any job.
Not to make this one big "No", but your suggestions for the swag bag and BBQ in the park are ridiculous. I think you may severely be overestimating the resources of Kumoricon. These things you suggested, the ones that actually exist and wouldn't need to be made up out of nothing just for a swag bag, are way too costly to give away by the thousands. Would you want your registration to go up 20-30 dollars to have a $100 swag bag? These things always have opportunity costs, and yeah Kumoricon could give out packed-to-the-gills media swag, but pretty much every other facet would have to be cut back to make it happen, and that's a sacrifice most attendees would not opt for. A few nice, albeit random, things in a bag will be just fine. General items will always be preferable to specific expensive ones when dealing in the thousands. You don't like Magic the Gathering. There are others who don't like Deadman Wonderland, probably more than didn't like Magic this year. Just saying, tastes vary and you can't pretend like yours are the majority's because they are yours.
Anyway, not saying your suggestions are invalid, just... severely unrealistic.
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Big Quote from Tanis And Ally... >.>
Ya thanks a bunch on settin me straight with things like that. Ya I understand the financial situation involved. Honestly I've never really done the head count too specifically at Orycon, I just thought it would make a good idea. Ya... finances get difficult. Just thought it would be something nice to throw out there but thanks very much, Ally and Tanis, for bringing me intro a bit of perspective on that ^^
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:-\
Well, I like everything this year's kumoricon had to offer, but I have a few gripes about it that should be fixed next year:
1. Only two voice actor guests - I'm glad I got autographs from Lauren Landa and Sonny Strait, but the staff could've contacted Yuri Lowenthal, Monica Rial and some other great voice actor/actress and fit them in the con, as well! Hopefully they put Monica Rial (who voices Shiro, Konoka, Mei Chang, Momoka and Stocking) and Yuri Lowenthal (who voices Ben Tennyson, Sasuke, Patroklos Alexandra, Lagoon Boy [from Young Justice] and Super Omega Ranger [from Power Rangers Super Legends]), along with Steven Blum (who voices Orochimaru, Wolverine, Mugen, Amon and Yamaki] and Ashleigh Ball (who voices Rainbow Dash), into next year's Kumoricon, alongside veteran voice actor guests [Tiffany Grant, David Vincent, Sean Schemmel, Laura Landa, Kirk THornton and Todd Habberkorn].
2. Vendors need more in many ways and at less costs on some stuff - I like the stuff the vendors have to offer, but I think it needs more stuff to offer and sell, like more actions figures and some stuff from shows like Deadman Wonderland and .hack//Legend of the Twilight. Plus, I think they should sell certain stuff, like a certain Human Rainbow Dash figurine, for affordable range, so no one would be ripped off. And of course, the vendors should be open until at least 8:00 PM, that way, I'd get to the vendors at no problem.
3. More Games at the Game Room - I like the games in the game room. They're really good, but I think they should have more for next year. In fact, they should bring back old favorites like Pokemon Battle Revolution and Kingdom Hearts II. Plus, they should continue bring Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition, Soul Calibur V, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and then some. Plus, they should also bring Games never brought to the con before, like Street Fighter X Tekken, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Dead or Alive 5, Dragonball Raging Blast 2 and Batman Arkham City Game of the Year edition. Also, the one Playstation 2 with a hard drive should have more games added, just to bring on a lot of PS2 fun.
4. New, good freebies - I like the freebies that I got, but I think they should have more. Also, I don't like how I got Magic the Gathering cards as freebies, because I don't even play Magic the Gathering at all. The new, good freebies I'm suggesting for the Kumoricon 2013 bag in Kumoricon 2013 are the following: 1. A DVD featuring the works of Yuri Lowenthal, Monica Rial, Steven Blum, Ashleigh Ball, David Vincent, Cynthia Martinez, Laura Landa and Sean Schemmel.
2. A poster with Shiro (from Deadman Wonderland) and Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto)
3. A Sasuke Keychain
4. A CD with songs from Naruto, Deadman Wonderland, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Bleach and more
5. A Rainbow Dash figure
6. Either a Pokemon Black or White Nintendo DS game (for those who want it) or Pokemon Card Game Booster Pack
Plus, there should be some free food samples passing around in the con, just to give a taste of what food has come out before they go to purchase it. But that's only a suggestion. And the Esther Short Park should have a free picnic/BBQ for Congoers on the last day, which is also labor day.
That's all I gotta say on the rants. I hope that's all understandable.
I agree with the post above, most of this is completely unrealistic. To your first point, voice actors do not come to cons just to hang out. They are paid to be there. The con normally provides them with a hotel for the con, a plane ticket to wherever the con is being held from where they are, food for them for the weekend, and paying them to just be there. Some voice actors charge thousands of dollars to show up at a con. You can't have everything.
You're second point is actually very typical. As a vendor myself (I was not vending that con by the way) I know how expensive this industry is. If you have a problem with the prices then all means, go find a place cheaper. Chances are you won't, or you'll be buying bootlegs. In regards to you wanting it open until 8:00pm that is fairly rude. Vendors aren't treated like guests. Vendors show up a bit before the room opens and then they have to stay at their booths until it closes. You are basically asking the vendors to work 10 hour days without any breaks in between. The con can't close the vendor room for an hour so the vendors can go eat either. It's been tried and it doesn't work.
About the games I don't really have much to say other than having RPGs is kind of hard considering most are one player and the game room has a time limit so everyone can get a chance to play.
Finally your freebies. You have to realize that Kumoricon needs swag bags for almost 5,000 people (and that's just this year) The Magic cards were in there because Wizards (the company that makes them) gives them out for free. I don't think you comprehend how much money goes into a convention. Compared to the bigger cons, Kumoricon is pretty cheap to get in. The cheapest "freebie" you listed is probably the poster (that doesn't exist. Posters don't do crossovers) which is most likely $2 to $3. The things in the bags are things that companies give the con to advertise their product. It's free because it was most likely given to the con for free. Are you serious about the DS game? That's a $40 minimum used.
The BBQ goes back to my original statement of just how many con goers are at the con. Plus, the park generally has that labor day thing going on and putting something related to the con into the mix is just too crowded. The park isn't for the con, it's still public property that you can't reserve for the con.
I'm not saying any of this to be mean or offensive, I just think you should consider the con as a whole and the people you're talking about affecting before you start talking about very costly changes.
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Glad I wasn't the first one to see that post and then have to respond to it... Totally agree with the 'being unrealistic'... We're lucky to have Kumoricon, and just imagine if they did try to do that... They would end up destroying themselves.
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^ Agree completely. 'Nuf said ;D
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I know the staff in charge work hard to pick vendors the con will like and there are bunches of factors that into it
That said maybe some year including a survey or short questionair about the vendors, which you like which you didn't why, which had fair prices
otherwise posting here
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I know the staff in charge work hard to pick vendors the con will like and there are bunches of factors that into it
That said maybe some year including a survey or short questionair about the vendors, which you like which you didn't why, which had fair prices
otherwise posting here
Although I don't know anything about how the vendors are selected, that sounds like a great idea from where I'm standing. I'd be willing to through my vote behind the guy selling the $9 Gundam box kits (and anyone who wasn't charging sales tax...).
If the staff are taking suggestions, last year (2011), there was a booth that I'm fairly sure was called "Half-Price Manga" that had a huge selection for $5 each, and I was really hoping they'd be here this year, but alas, they were not. If there was some way they could be invited back, that would be amazing!
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And another note: the screenings of Trigun and Badlands Rumble in the Red Lion lobby was very nice :)
thanks i appreciate it, traffic was low at the time so i decided to have a marathon, luckily another person was also working the info booth so it was still easy for us to do our jobs.
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Not that Kumoricon isn't a great convention, but I think it would be even better if we could get President Obama and Angelina Jolie as guests - after all, he's been featured in comic books, and she played a video game character! Also, it would be nice if the dealer's hall handed out 75%-off coupons to all congoers, and if all Kumoricon attendees could receive free gourmet room service and a gold-plated PlayStation 3 engraved with their badge name. These little changes would make the convention much more enjoyable, in my opinion!
The only question is how we would pay for them. ;D
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Not that Kumoricon isn't a great convention, but I think it would be even better if we could get President Obama and Angelina Jolie as guests - after all, he's been featured in comic books, and she played a video game character! Also, it would be nice if the dealer's hall handed out 75%-off coupons to all congoers, and if all Kumoricon attendees could receive free gourmet room service and a gold-plated PlayStation 3 engraved with their badge name. These little changes would make the convention much more enjoyable, in my opinion!
The only question is how we would pay for them. ;D
Easy. $1,500 base registration price. Includes two nights of hotel stay. Contact the registration department -- they're the ones grinding axes in your general direction -- for more details.
Big Quote from Tanis And Ally... >.>
Ya thanks a bunch on settin me straight with things like that. Ya I understand the financial situation involved. Honestly I've never really done the head count too specifically at Orycon, I just thought it would make a good idea. Ya... finances get difficult. Just thought it would be something nice to throw out there but thanks very much, Ally and Tanis, for bringing me intro a bit of perspective on that ^^
No problem. Con is expensive, after all, and often times the attendees just don't know how many stray zeroes get attached to the ends of the budget.
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but I think it would be even better if we could get President Obama and Angelina Jolie as guests - after all, he's been featured in comic books
Just want to put this out there
I am in a manga and am really easy to book, like my friend wants to hang out, done! Tho ya need to talk to my hus---I mean manager.
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I think it would be even better if we could get President Obama and Angelina Jolie as guests - after all, he's been featured in comic books,
...I didn't know about comic books (thought I'm not surprised...), but I do know that he was in (at least) one manga. *gasp* SOMEONE NEEDS TO COSPLAY BARACK OBAMA NEXT YEAR!!! :D
and she played a video game character!
Yeah... poorly...
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I really had no cons, everything was great. I'm just glad the majority of the idiots that were there last year weren't here this year, thank gosh.
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I know the staff in charge work hard to pick vendors the con will like and there are bunches of factors that into it
That said maybe some year including a survey or short questionair about the vendors, which you like which you didn't why, which had fair prices
otherwise posting here
Although I don't know anything about how the vendors are selected, that sounds like a great idea from where I'm standing. I'd be willing to through my vote behind the guy selling the $9 Gundam box kits (and anyone who wasn't charging sales tax...).
If the staff are taking suggestions, last year (2011), there was a booth that I'm fairly sure was called "Half-Price Manga" that had a huge selection for $5 each, and I was really hoping they'd be here this year, but alas, they were not. If there was some way they could be invited back, that would be amazing!
I will say again; vendors are not like guests. They're not "invited" to the con (the majority of the time) Vendors fill out registration forms and the con chooses who to let in. They also have to pay to attend. Another thing that really urks me about what you said is your reluctance to pay sales tax. Washington has sales tax. The vendors are running a business just like the subway across the street or the cafe in the hotel. They are still required to charge sales tax on their product. Occasionally people from the IRS go to cons (not always) and make sure the vendors are charging sales tax. If they're not then the sales tax is built into the final price anyway. As to reasonable prices, it really does vary between products. Sometimes if you see something what you would call outrageously pricey, it's probably been imported and has to be like that for the vendors to make money off of it. It's a very expensive industry and they make do with what they can.
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Occasionally people from the IRS go to cons (not always) and make sure the vendors are charging sales tax.
Well, it would be the Washington Department of Revenue, in this case, as sales tax is state, and IRS is federal.
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I understand the sales tax argument, but I would also like to point out that I have been to conventions in a few other states and a lot of the dealers do not charge sales tax! Though it may be built into the prices cleverly and people just do not know they are paying it, which I think is a fine way of doing things. I am all for being tricked! I can SO deal with that. Then I have no idea I am paying what I usually don't. WIN WIN! :D
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Personally I disagree with the sales tax thing but *shrugs* whatever... If they won't accept my Oregon ID, I just don't buy as much items then and factor the tax into my budget.
On the subject of guests- Is there really no way we can get anyone, more well known? Half of the guests I usually have no idea who they are- some random person who works at some company- I don't want to sound like I'm dissing them, I appreciate them coming in and giving information on their company- or talking about the world of dubbing- but a lot of the dubbers that come in, I don't know, I generally don't watch dub, and if I do they're never from one's I have. I know we're a small con- but we're not off the radar anymore. Svetlana in 2009??!! That was AMAZING!! Getting Funimation in- also amazing! A couple others as well too- so can we try for more guests up to that level? Maybe even actually finally getting a Japaneeeesseee guest in there? Japanese manga-ka, voice actor, singer, band, anything?
As the guest list comes out each year I just think..."Oh. Okay. Sounds Cool." or "Is that it?" Only a couple times have a I truly gone, "HOLY CRAP REALLY??!!!"
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On the subject of guests- Is there really no way we can get anyone, more well known? Half of the guests I usually have no idea who they are- some random person who works at some company- I don't want to sound like I'm dissing them, I appreciate them coming in and giving information on their company- or talking about the world of dubbing- but a lot of the dubbers that come in, I don't know, I generally don't watch dub, and if I do they're never from one's I have. I know we're a small con- but we're not off the radar anymore. Svetlana in 2009??!! That was AMAZING!! Getting Funimation in- also amazing! A couple others as well too- so can we try for more guests up to that level? Maybe even actually finally getting a Japaneeeesseee guest in there? Japanese manga-ka, voice actor, singer, band, anything?
As the guest list comes out each year I just think..."Oh. Okay. Sounds Cool." or "Is that it?" Only a couple times have a I truly gone, "HOLY CRAP REALLY??!!!"
Much agreed. I am by no means a stranger to the world of anime, and yet every year I do find myself more than not at a loss with who the guests are. I'll look up their bodies of work and go "ooooh... that's cool....", knowing I don't know them enough to care to meet them. There are other aspects of the fandom that can have a broader range of interest (music being an obvious one) that I am sure could be explored. I won't pretend like money isn't the issue. I know it is. I did just want to put in a word on the guest issue. Perhaps more well known voice actors or contributors to the fandom. I know I can't say that without essentially popping out dollar signs, but, just a thought.
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On the tax thing many vendors if you should them your Oregon ID they won't charge tax. But either way you're in Washington and it's the law so suck it up. (:
It's rather minimal anyways. (:
Also! I would love to see a Japanese guest at the con! That would be really amazing!
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My rant is towards some of the press people and some of the under-informed staff (though they could have been volunteers)
Waiting in line for the Slightly Anime Dating Game, Staff kept trying me to push (verbally) me towards the general line while I had a VIP pass. regardless, someone asked for a picture of my mascot cosplay (Excalibur), and I said yes. When I take my head off, I see people walking into the panel EARLIER than when the staff said I could get in. I saw the front row was mostly full except one seat, occupied by a press/photographer's equipment. I asked if I could sit where his stuff was sitting, as I was VIP, he said no. I respected that, and looked for another spot. A well respected member of Bakazoku, said I could sit on his lap, who right was next to the press's seat. I said yes, and sat.
About 5 minutes into the panel, the photographer left and took all his equipment, saying I could have his seat. It took me a minute to actually move to the seat.
When I walk out of the panel, I get pulled aside by a staffer for 'stealing the seat' and 'harassing everyone' (Yes, I admit I accidentally threwing a soft foam die at the ninja, and hitting the ninja in the head. But a lot of people were throwing things as bribes. (I at least didn't throw a book) and I apologized immediately, and was forgiven(I think. I was just groveling and saying "Oh, my God, I am so sorry" over and over.)) (And if anyone has ever been to a Slightly Anime Panel, everyone is harassing everyone just about. Playfully in the Slightly Anime way) anyway I got a warning. But that night I was crying for 3 hours and didn't have the heart to go to the con until noon the next day.
The Second Anime Dating Game, I did get to enter first because of my badge. But I was told to sit in the far corner, and the staff wouldn't listen to me. I couldn't choose a decent seat, and barely saw anything. Even when someone was kind enough to switch me spots so I could sit with someone I knew, Chuoji (whose armor was stolen the next day, hope it gets found), I could hardly see. I got that Prizes sit in the first row on one side of the room, but VIP should have had the choice to sit in the first row where they wanted, not a corner, where the view was blocked by a tall speaker.
I know that VIP don't get free reign over con, and that Slightly Anime was not a Main Event. Yes, we get SOME special treatment, but I'd like a little respect. This was the only year I got to be VIP, since I'll be broke forever. Only Reason I got the funds to go to con this year is because the government found my mother, and I got a few years of unpaid child support. I spend most of it on a school loan and the rest for a little treat. I felt other than hanging with Sonny Strait (a father figure in my life via online), my VIP badge was sort of a wast in money. Day two was Horrible.
I do admit the water bottle in the VIP swag bag was a lifesaver, though I would have managed my funds to buy a Kumoricon water bottle regardless. And winning best mascot maid me a little happy.
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Personally I disagree with the sales tax thing but *shrugs* whatever... If they won't accept my Oregon ID, I just don't buy as much items then and factor the tax into my budget.
On the subject of guests- Is there really no way we can get anyone, more well known? Half of the guests I usually have no idea who they are- some random person who works at some company- I don't want to sound like I'm dissing them, I appreciate them coming in and giving information on their company- or talking about the world of dubbing- but a lot of the dubbers that come in, I don't know, I generally don't watch dub, and if I do they're never from one's I have. I know we're a small con- but we're not off the radar anymore. Svetlana in 2009??!! That was AMAZING!! Getting Funimation in- also amazing! A couple others as well too- so can we try for more guests up to that level? Maybe even actually finally getting a Japaneeeesseee guest in there? Japanese manga-ka, voice actor, singer, band, anything?
As the guest list comes out each year I just think..."Oh. Okay. Sounds Cool." or "Is that it?" Only a couple times have a I truly gone, "HOLY CRAP REALLY??!!!"
Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts with some of the guests (Like Todd Haberkorn was already booked for a con that weekend) But I would love to see a Japanese guest. It would be very pricey, but I'd be okay with having just one guest at Kumoricon if it was a good Japanese guest :) I would die happy if we got bands like T.M.Revolution or Gackt to come. Unfortunately we probably have to be a much bigger con to get Japanese guests. The only cons with Japanese guests are cons like Anime Expo and Acen. I'll continue to hope though
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Personally I disagree with the sales tax thing but *shrugs* whatever... If they won't accept my Oregon ID, I just don't buy as much items then and factor the tax into my budget.
On the subject of guests- Is there really no way we can get anyone, more well known? Half of the guests I usually have no idea who they are- some random person who works at some company- I don't want to sound like I'm dissing them, I appreciate them coming in and giving information on their company- or talking about the world of dubbing- but a lot of the dubbers that come in, I don't know, I generally don't watch dub, and if I do they're never from one's I have. I know we're a small con- but we're not off the radar anymore. Svetlana in 2009??!! That was AMAZING!! Getting Funimation in- also amazing! A couple others as well too- so can we try for more guests up to that level? Maybe even actually finally getting a Japaneeeesseee guest in there? Japanese manga-ka, voice actor, singer, band, anything?
As the guest list comes out each year I just think..."Oh. Okay. Sounds Cool." or "Is that it?" Only a couple times have a I truly gone, "HOLY CRAP REALLY??!!!"
Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts with some of the guests (Like Todd Haberkorn was already booked for a con that weekend) But I would love to see a Japanese guest. It would be very pricey, but I'd be okay with having just one guest at Kumoricon if it was a good Japanese guest :) I would die happy if we got bands like T.M.Revolution or Gackt to come. Unfortunately we probably have to be a much bigger con to get Japanese guests. The only cons with Japanese guests are cons like Anime Expo and Acen. I'll continue to hope though
Sakuracon had a TON of Japanese guests last year. Yes, they are a bigger con (but still less than 20,000), but it doesn't seem to get as much press or attention as Anime Expo or Acen. Even though Kumoricon is a small con, I still think it would be possible to get small-time Japanese guests. Just need the connections and the money. Money is the big thing.
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Random rant about the dealer's room.... Not enough of those mini mystery-box figures. I only recognized 3 series, and the rest looked cool and cute, but I had no idea or way to judge what they were from, so no interest in buying them. I realize they're a particular item, and dealer's have limited amount of stock and carrying space between cons as they travel, but it's just a small point on my part. Those mini-figures are one of my favorite things to buy at cons, and seeing that the series I like or watch are not present is kind of sad.
Mini-figures like:
Zelda, Tales of, Kuroshitsuji, Vocaloid, Sonic, Disgaea, ect..
Maybe I didn't look hard enough, but I didn't find a whole lot of things I could recognize. Likewise I saw a lot of Madoka for some reason (is it being dubbed now or some ad campaign?).
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On the tax thing many vendors if you should them your Oregon ID they won't charge tax. But either way you're in Washington and it's the law so suck it up. (:
It's rather minimal anyways. (:
You must live in Washington. I live in Oregon, and I am not used to sale tax and I hate it- I'd much rather have the stupid thing factored into the price if I have to pay it. I "suck it up" like you said, by just walking away from an item or factoring it into my budget- therefore buying less. Oregon citizen- at an Oregon convention though in Washington= does not like sales tax.
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@Kimiski I know that most of the times the con has been in WA many vendors (if they don't have tax factored into the item) will let the tax slide if you show them your id. They have to write up a report sort of thing and it does take maybe 5-10 minutes but it can be well worth it. (: Just ask next time. (:
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The only complaint I had was about the Kumoricon Ball this year. My entire group got dressed up for it, and by the time we had gotten there and such, it was about a half hour into the dance, so we figured that people would have had their chance to dance, would have gotten bored, and left. What we got instead was someone telling us we couldn't even wait in a line, on the off chance that enough people would leave for us to give in. It actually really upset my date, and I had to spend a while calming him down afterwards.
When we had it in 2010, it seemed to go really smoothly (I can't say for sure, however, I was helping host that year.), so it was just a bit frustrating this year.
Luckily, there was a group of people singing so we could dance in the park, but... yeah.
The rest of the con was fantastic, though! Dealers room was a bit terrifying, but that was my fault for going in while in my heels. Artist's alley was absolutely amazing! Good panels, all that fun stuff.
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Maybe I didn't look hard enough, but I didn't find a whole lot of things I could recognize. Likewise I saw a lot of Madoka for some reason (is it being dubbed now or some ad campaign?).
Madoka has been dubbed, but you don't really see the DVDs a lot because they are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive (but that's Aniplex for ya) It's also very popular in Japan and America. It won a bunch of awards in Japan. There's a lot of Madoka because it sells. Simple as that.
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The only complaint I had was about the Kumoricon Ball this year. My entire group got dressed up for it, and by the time we had gotten there and such, it was about a half hour into the dance, so we figured that people would have had their chance to dance, would have gotten bored, and left. What we got instead was someone telling us we couldn't even wait in a line, on the off chance that enough people would leave for us to give in. It actually really upset my date, and I had to spend a while calming him down afterwards.
When we had it in 2010, it seemed to go really smoothly (I can't say for sure, however, I was helping host that year.), so it was just a bit frustrating this year.
Luckily, there was a group of people singing so we could dance in the park, but... yeah.
The rest of the con was fantastic, though! Dealers room was a bit terrifying, but that was my fault for going in while in my heels. Artist's alley was absolutely amazing! Good panels, all that fun stuff.
We apologize for the ball, and will be working on better logistics to get people into the ball beforehand (perhaps a ticketed event would be in order...)
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On the tax thing many vendors if you should them your Oregon ID they won't charge tax. But either way you're in Washington and it's the law so suck it up. (:
It's rather minimal anyways. (:
You must live in Washington. I live in Oregon, and I am not used to sale tax and I hate it- I'd much rather have the stupid thing factored into the price if I have to pay it. I "suck it up" like you said, by just walking away from an item or factoring it into my budget- therefore buying less. Oregon citizen- at an Oregon convention though in Washington= does not like sales tax.
Yeah, it's definitely the worst thing about having the con in Washington, IMO. Does showing your Oregon ID actually work? The one time I tried it (the first time Kumoricon was in Vancouver), the vendor literally laughed in my face, so I haven't tried it since.
And Bopie98, all the vendors I bought from except Kinokuniya weren't charging sales tax, or had already factored it into their prices (and the woman at Kinokuniya SAID that tax was included in the price, but then charged me the sales tax anyway, which was really frustrating, because another vendor was selling the same thing but cheaper, and I had chosen to buy from Kinokuniya instead because of what she said... whine whine, complain complain). It's a bit facetious to say "Oh, they're running a business, you can't complain!" when not everyone does it.
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I've had it work once. I am from Washington, but had someone who was willing show their id to get me off tax free (the vendor also offered).
I'd suggest asking them next time. (:
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Yeah, it's definitely the worst thing about having the con in Washington, IMO. Does showing your Oregon ID actually work? The one time I tried it (the first time Kumoricon was in Vancouver), the vendor literally laughed in my face, so I haven't tried it since.
And Bopie98, all the vendors I bought from except Kinokuniya weren't charging sales tax, or had already factored it into their prices (and the woman at Kinokuniya SAID that tax was included in the price, but then charged me the sales tax anyway, which was really frustrating, because another vendor was selling the same thing but cheaper, and I had chosen to buy from Kinokuniya instead because of what she said... whine whine, complain complain). It's a bit facetious to say "Oh, they're running a business, you can't complain!" when not everyone does it.
Vendors are not required to remove sales tax for Oregon residents, it is optional. As an Oregon resident, you used to be able to request a refund from the Washington State Department of Revenue, however new regulations no longer allow refunds if the seller had the option to make the transaction exempt from sales tax.
Sales to Nonresidents: http://dor.wa.gov/Content/FindTaxesAndRates/RetailSalesTax/Nonresidents/default.aspx (http://dor.wa.gov/Content/FindTaxesAndRates/RetailSalesTax/Nonresidents/default.aspx)
Apply for a tax refund (see note under "Consumers"): http://dor.wa.gov/content/fileandpaytaxes/applyforataxrefund/ (http://dor.wa.gov/content/fileandpaytaxes/applyforataxrefund/)
Personally, I vote with my wallet. If a vendor chooses not to make my transaction tax exempt when it can apply, I choose to go elsewhere.
It should be noted that a lot of people don't understand what can be made tax exempt for Oregon residents, for example, if you buy Ramune or snacks, these are considered "meals or refreshments for immediate consumption" and cannot be made exempt.
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I know the Kinokuniya in Seattle will take off the sales tax if you show them your ID, so it's odd that the OREGON one at con wouldn't do that. :/
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The only complaint I had was about the Kumoricon Ball this year. My entire group got dressed up for it, and by the time we had gotten there and such, it was about a half hour into the dance, so we figured that people would have had their chance to dance, would have gotten bored, and left. What we got instead was someone telling us we couldn't even wait in a line, on the off chance that enough people would leave for us to give in. It actually really upset my date, and I had to spend a while calming him down afterwards.
When we had it in 2010, it seemed to go really smoothly (I can't say for sure, however, I was helping host that year.), so it was just a bit frustrating this year.
Luckily, there was a group of people singing so we could dance in the park, but... yeah.
The rest of the con was fantastic, though! Dealers room was a bit terrifying, but that was my fault for going in while in my heels. Artist's alley was absolutely amazing! Good panels, all that fun stuff.
We apologize for the ball, and will be working on better logistics to get people into the ball beforehand (perhaps a ticketed event would be in order...)
For some more info on it, check out my post here: https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=17297.15
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If lines and line management continue to be this bad in future years, many cosplayers like me may just visit the con location, but not register. That will lose revenue for the con and reduce the number of people who book hotel rooms. I don't want that to happen, but I can't afford to spend $45 on a badge that serves practically no purpose.
I agree, and I know many people who did just that. I barely went to any programming at all this year, simply because lines were too long and space in panels was too limited. It's kind of hard to justify spending $40+ on a badge just to wait in line and not actually get to do anything. Honestly, I think Kumoricon has outgrown hotels. If there was a larger venue it could accommodate the rising number of attendees so we aren't crammed together in hallways, trying to stay out of the way so we don't get yelled at. Might be enough space to approve some new panels too. I understand there are contracts and nothing can be done about this for a couple years at least, but it's something to consider. Most people I have talked to about this would be willing to pay a slightly higher badge price for breathing room and new content. Unfortunately, next year I'll probably just hang out at the park, since that's pretty much all I did this year.
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The Oregon Convention Center is inevitable and looming in the distance. While it's critically expensive, it'll basically eliminate line and space issues.
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The Problem is, as I said 3 years ago before I joined Kumoricon as a staffer is that we have to get there first. And that is really the hard part.
What we *really* need are good panels from a lot of people! Have an idea for a panel? Start talking it up now, find people who want to run good programming and start working on your ideas THIS INSTANT. We have seating in panel rooms for a lot of people, with some estimates lets break it down:
Main Events: 900
Live Events: 300
Panel 1: 150 180
Panel 2: 100 140
Panel 3: 100 140
Panel 4: 60 100
Panel 5: 50 100
Workshop: 30-40 90
Karaoke: 25+
Viewing: 40x2 = 80 80x2 = 160
So, at any given time we can have (approximately, these are numbers I'm making up because it's late and I am a lazy Publicity Director) for somewhere close to 1800 2100+ people That leaves 2,600 people based on this year's numbers not in a panel room. Now, if you add in people mingling in the halls, taking naps, out at the parks, doing photo shoots, at the dealer's hall when it's open, people who are only there for one day and not every day, people who spend their lives in Console and Tabletop... well... There is a great deal of potential for us to make the space work... but ONLY if we have panels in EVERY room that are awesome, fun and demanding. The lines for a few panel rooms were consistently long, but I went into other panel areas that were sometimes very lack luster in attendance, or just didn't have anything going on... so we need you guys as attendees to step up your creativitiy and tell us what YOU want to see at con, and help us make the Fan paneling that really sells this convention a reality!
Because you are all absolutely right, if there is nothing to do, people wont pay to come, and if people don't pay to come, we never move forward as a convention - and if you WANT us to move forward, and if you think we can get big enough to safely move to the OCC, you gotta help us bridge that gap, because the staff need each and every one of you attendees to make this con the best. Without you, we are just a bunch of people in Purple shirts with walkie talkies.
Edited numbers to more like we actually had ;) ~ Jamiche
Edited: Wow? Really!? We had lots of space! And that's not even including the manga library and people who went to the Red Lion for the Art Show and stuff... we really just need your content folks! FUN CONTENT MEANS EVERYONE WINS! :) - Allykat
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A three-day staff meeting is a bad thing, and I am still not gonna attend any panels called "Good of the Order".
Seriously, we need attendees! We love you guys! And we're here to help you hammer out really good shows!
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Speaking of panels and the amount of attendees attending them, one of my biggest issues I've always had while hosting panels is when is a good time to have the panel at?
I've found panels at almost any time have issues of when's a good time to host your panel. Most panelists opt for their panels to start at 10am and end before 1am (between Sakura and Kumori). However, I'm one of the oddballs who's always waking up at 4-6am at con and have nothing to do at breakfast time other then see if anyone else is awake around the con. Photoshoots like being between that 10am and 6pm range generally, and most primetime is noon-4pm... Panels themselves seem to compete for that time with the guests, main events, attendee events (photoshoots) and other panels.
I have to say, most panels this year just didn't look interesting to me. I'd be happy to some for history of some kind, hands-on cosplay panels (demonstrations, not just descriptions), and the panels about LED cosplay lighting (that looked really cool but I missed it) and any panels explaining cosplay photography (not a software lesson on PS, but a camera lesson) would get my attention.
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I have no idea if this is the right place to ask this, so if it isn't, if someone would re direct me to the right place that'd be awesome.
I've heard a lot about people talking about con moving?
I'm kind of freaking out over it because I haven't been able to get any answers. This con center is so lovely just because of the park. It's gorgeous and my favorite part- so much room for photos.
can someone please tell me if con is moving to a new place this year or in the coming years? We start planning our tip in two months (yeah, we start early, it's a mess to get it planned I can't image how staff must feel) and I really need to know where it will be next year so I can figure out our hotel stuf.
Thank you!
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According to the official release online at the Kumori website, it'll be at the same location from 2007, 2011-2012 and in 2013. If it does change location, the staff usually is notified and gets all that hammered out before Closing Ceremonies so they can announce the next year's location at the CC.
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Speaking of panels and the amount of attendees attending them, one of my biggest issues I've always had while hosting panels is when is a good time to have the panel at?
I've found panels at almost any time have issues of when's a good time to host your panel. Most panelists opt for their panels to start at 10am and end before 1am (between Sakura and Kumori). However, I'm one of the oddballs who's always waking up at 4-6am at con and have nothing to do at breakfast time other then see if anyone else is awake around the con. Photoshoots like being between that 10am and 6pm range generally, and most primetime is noon-4pm... Panels themselves seem to compete for that time with the guests, main events, attendee events (photoshoots) and other panels.
I have to say, most panels this year just didn't look interesting to me. I'd be happy to some for history of some kind, hands-on cosplay panels (demonstrations, not just descriptions), and the panels about LED cosplay lighting (that looked really cool but I missed it) and any panels explaining cosplay photography (not a software lesson on PS, but a camera lesson) would get my attention.
Most panelists prefer to have their panels between 11am and 6pm or so, and to not compete with any major events. It can be quite a puzzle to fit everyone in at a time that works, and some don't get the timeslot they would like.
Personally, I wish we had more early morning panels, and it's for the exact reason you mention: while there may be a majority of people that are up late and sleep in, there are people that up early in the morning, and I would like to have content for them, as well. So, if you ever want to run a panel... ;)
We did have some cosplay photography panels this year. Brian, one of our staff photographers, ran one each day, and they were in the morning so that he could take care of his staff duties later in the day. I hope we will see them again next year :)
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Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts with some of the guests (Like Todd Haberkorn was already booked for a con that weekend) But I would love to see a Japanese guest. It would be very pricey, but I'd be okay with having just one guest at Kumoricon if it was a good Japanese guest :) I would die happy if we got bands like T.M.Revolution or Gackt to come. Unfortunately we probably have to be a much bigger con to get Japanese guests. The only cons with Japanese guests are cons like Anime Expo and Acen. I'll continue to hope though
I just wanted to mention that Ushicon 2012 in Round Rock, TX was able to get Junichi Sato, the director of Sailormoon and Princess Tutu, and the character designer and creator of Princess Tutu, Ikuko Itoh. It's a FAR smaller convention than Kumoricon...to be honest, I'm not even sure if it hit a thousand attendees? At the time, I had no clue about costs and difficulty obtaining guests, so I didn't ask how they managed to get such legends to show up! :)
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Just on the subject of guests in general, I would rather see one B-lister than two C-listers that you have to Wiki before you even remember their most popular role.
My two cents.
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Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts with some of the guests (Like Todd Haberkorn was already booked for a con that weekend) But I would love to see a Japanese guest. It would be very pricey, but I'd be okay with having just one guest at Kumoricon if it was a good Japanese guest :) I would die happy if we got bands like T.M.Revolution or Gackt to come. Unfortunately we probably have to be a much bigger con to get Japanese guests. The only cons with Japanese guests are cons like Anime Expo and Acen. I'll continue to hope though
I just wanted to mention that Ushicon 2012 in Round Rock, TX was able to get Junichi Sato, the director of Sailormoon and Princess Tutu, and the character designer and creator of Princess Tutu, Ikuko Itoh. It's a FAR smaller convention than Kumoricon...to be honest, I'm not even sure if it hit a thousand attendees? At the time, I had no clue about costs and difficulty obtaining guests, so I didn't ask how they managed to get such legends to show up! :)
Texas is often pretty lucky... you have a ton of big name conventions, and big name Anime/Manga companies calling your state home.
What makes it really easy to book a Japanese guest (or a Japanese band)? If they are already coming to America! If you can piggie back your convention onto another appearance or a guests need to be in town, the cost goes down a ton. I am not saying this is what Ushicon did, but it's how a lot of smaller cons in a dense area of conventions get difficult to get guests.
We have to be VERY careful about booking a Japanese guest, but did you know that we have already had one? Dark Horse has brought Toshifumi Yoshida, a cracker of a manga translator, to a couple Kumoricon's and we are always excited to have him. That's kinda the secret to getting awesome Japanese guests (although, to be fair to Toshi-san, he lives pretty much full time in the US working hard!) I'm not sure cause I didn't check the bar, but he may have been lurking even this year (you never know!).
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Just on the subject of guests in general, I would rather see one B-lister than two C-listers that you have to Wiki before you even remember their most popular role.
My two cents.
Agreed
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I have no idea if this is the right place to ask this, so if it isn't, if someone would re direct me to the right place that'd be awesome.
I've heard a lot about people talking about con moving?
I'm kind of freaking out over it because I haven't been able to get any answers. This con center is so lovely just because of the park. It's gorgeous and my favorite part- so much room for photos.
can someone please tell me if con is moving to a new place this year or in the coming years? We start planning our tip in two months (yeah, we start early, it's a mess to get it planned I can't image how staff must feel) and I really need to know where it will be next year so I can figure out our hotel stuf.
Thank you!
To directly answer your question Kumoricon is going to be back in the Vancouver Hilton/Red Lion agin for a 3rd year next year so you don't have to worry.
After that though it does come down to factors like the size of the con, the cost of the hotel contracts,what deals can we get else were, etc, etc.
As stated though except for major malfunctions the announcement for the next year's hotel is made at closing so you have a year to plan.
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Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts with some of the guests (Like Todd Haberkorn was already booked for a con that weekend) But I would love to see a Japanese guest. It would be very pricey, but I'd be okay with having just one guest at Kumoricon if it was a good Japanese guest :) I would die happy if we got bands like T.M.Revolution or Gackt to come. Unfortunately we probably have to be a much bigger con to get Japanese guests. The only cons with Japanese guests are cons like Anime Expo and Acen. I'll continue to hope though
I just wanted to mention that Ushicon 2012 in Round Rock, TX was able to get Junichi Sato, the director of Sailormoon and Princess Tutu, and the character designer and creator of Princess Tutu, Ikuko Itoh. It's a FAR smaller convention than Kumoricon...to be honest, I'm not even sure if it hit a thousand attendees? At the time, I had no clue about costs and difficulty obtaining guests, so I didn't ask how they managed to get such legends to show up! :)
Texas is often pretty lucky... you have a ton of big name conventions, and big name Anime/Manga companies calling your state home.
What makes it really easy to book a Japanese guest (or a Japanese band)? If they are already coming to America! If you can piggie back your convention onto another appearance or a guests need to be in town, the cost goes down a ton. I am not saying this is what Ushicon did, but it's how a lot of smaller cons in a dense area of conventions get difficult to get guests.
We have to be VERY careful about booking a Japanese guest, but did you know that we have already had one? Dark Horse has brought Toshifumi Yoshida, a cracker of a manga translator, to a couple Kumoricon's and we are always excited to have him. That's kinda the secret to getting awesome Japanese guests (although, to be fair to Toshi-san, he lives pretty much full time in the US working hard!) I'm not sure cause I didn't check the bar, but he may have been lurking even this year (you never know!).
Toshi is an American citizen and has been been for a very long time. I think his family moved here in 1981? He is ethnically Japanese and was born there, but I think when people talk about a Japanese guest they don't mean someone who lived there as a young child.
Toshi is awesome, yes. He was last here through Bandai while working on one of the first experiments on simulcasting. To call him a Japanese guest is ... technically true but fairly misleading.
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Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts with some of the guests (Like Todd Haberkorn was already booked for a con that weekend) But I would love to see a Japanese guest. It would be very pricey, but I'd be okay with having just one guest at Kumoricon if it was a good Japanese guest :) I would die happy if we got bands like T.M.Revolution or Gackt to come. Unfortunately we probably have to be a much bigger con to get Japanese guests. The only cons with Japanese guests are cons like Anime Expo and Acen. I'll continue to hope though
I just wanted to mention that Ushicon 2012 in Round Rock, TX was able to get Junichi Sato, the director of Sailormoon and Princess Tutu, and the character designer and creator of Princess Tutu, Ikuko Itoh. It's a FAR smaller convention than Kumoricon...to be honest, I'm not even sure if it hit a thousand attendees? At the time, I had no clue about costs and difficulty obtaining guests, so I didn't ask how they managed to get such legends to show up! :)
Texas is often pretty lucky... you have a ton of big name conventions, and big name Anime/Manga companies calling your state home.
What makes it really easy to book a Japanese guest (or a Japanese band)? If they are already coming to America! If you can piggie back your convention onto another appearance or a guests need to be in town, the cost goes down a ton. I am not saying this is what Ushicon did, but it's how a lot of smaller cons in a dense area of conventions get difficult to get guests.
We have to be VERY careful about booking a Japanese guest, but did you know that we have already had one? Dark Horse has brought Toshifumi Yoshida, a cracker of a manga translator, to a couple Kumoricon's and we are always excited to have him. That's kinda the secret to getting awesome Japanese guests (although, to be fair to Toshi-san, he lives pretty much full time in the US working hard!) I'm not sure cause I didn't check the bar, but he may have been lurking even this year (you never know!).
Toshi is an American citizen and has been been for a very long time. I think his family moved here in 1981? He is ethnically Japanese and was born there, but I think when people talk about a Japanese guest they don't mean someone who lived there as a young child.
Toshi is awesome, yes. He was last here through Bandai while working on one of the first experiments on simulcasting. To call him a Japanese guest is ... technically true but fairly misleading.
Yeah, you are right. I originally had the word "Technically" in there, since he is actually a Japanese-American, but I wasn't sure if that is disrespectful to him or not. I don't know how he prefers to be cited, as there have only been a few times where I have met him.
We will just have to keep working hard for a Japanese guest!
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Aren't they hella expensive, what with the airfare and all?
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Yup. I've heard that some prefer having a personal translator going with them, too; if this is the case, then their airfare and such would have to be calculated, as well.
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As far as interpretation goes, give me another year or two to really polish up my skills there (I mainly translate), and I'd be happy to serve as a part-time interpreter for Japanese guests, if needed. ;D
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I mentioned this in another thread somewhere, but I will say this in this thread too.
I feel like the rule "No lining up more than 30 minutes before a panel" wasn't taken seriously this year. On Day 1, I was going to line up for Slightly Anime Dating Game. I get there 45 minutes before the actual event and there is already a LINE. Not even a small group, but an actual LINE of about 30+ people. I lined up then, thinking that the staff WAS letting us line up. I luckily made it into the panel, but I didn't feel like it was fair for people to line up BEFORE you're even supposed to.
Other than that, I didn't have any problems with anything else during the con.
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Speaking of stairs. On day 0 we had to take the elevator from Floor 2 to Floor 3 which seemed stupid cause we tried to go up the stairs but they were locked on Floor 3. I understand the idea of not letting people up unless they had a key, but it was faster to get to programming and operations via walking then waiting for the elevators.
This was really my only quibble with an otherwise 110% awesome con. I ran or co-ran three different panels this year, and Programming and Ops were on the third floor. Two of my panel rooms were missing equipment that I'd requested on the forms (the staff was super nice about getting the stuff to me once I asked - thanks, guys!). However, with only half an hour to set up, I had to spend several nervous minutes waiting for the elevator simply to go up from the second to the third floor and ask them. Since I wasn't staying in the Hilton and didn't have a guest keycard, the stairwell doors opening onto the third floor were locked - I could go down the stairs from third to second floor, but not exit the stairwell onto the third floor.
Perhaps panelists can call up to Prog at the Prog Booth next to Info Booth in the future? There is a hotel phone at the current location. The radios were a problem this year that was totally out of the con's hands, so trying to to hear details on those would have sucked. But, Info Booth/Prog Booth has a clear line right behind them. Perhaps that could become a thing?
It's a good concept in theory, but I fear it could tie up Programming staff at con, and I don't know how the facility itself would feel about attendees using house phones.
I was thinking more that panelists could ask that a staffer at the booth use the phone right there to call up to the room. It might not be feasible, just something to think about especially if the Nextel issue isn't resolved in time for the next con.
This is a really good idea Rathany, even if the Push to Talk situation is much better next year, this could still solve a few problems, and heck it's never bad to have a back up.
So I guess I am little confused at the moment. Being that the radios are all controlled by the con. I have heard that we didn't have enough radios this year but I am unaware of any other problems with them. Would you please enlighten me to the problem of which you are referring to?
Also we had a different set-up with the radios this year. With two different radio systems. These two systems weren't able to speak to each other directly however their were resources available to help mitigate that.
To follow up on the option of using the phone line. I would like to be able to say this is completely possible it simply isn't. We have to keep certain lines of communication open for the hotel to use as that is one of their primary ways of contacting us. However I shall try to find out what the problem was with the info booth radio and see if we can build a solution around them this year.
To address the issue of the stair well. In the past we have asked the hotel if they can open it up for general use. The hotel has come back and said no in the past as I recall. The reason being is that it isn't patrolled by security and it becomes a problem if their is an emergency inside the hotel to have the emergency exit path already filled.
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Thanks. I thought they weren't opening up the stairwell due to there actually being rooms on that floor and not just public locations like on 1F and 2F. However, in that sense, could we take possibly, one of the two elevators and limit it to just 1-3F usage and the other for those actually using the hotel itself?
I can see how it'd be limiting one way or the other, but it could potentially work better then people just riding the elevator up and coming back down and blocking off other people from getting on who want up or down to either the 3F or their room.
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Well right now their is a elevator that goes to the Garage first and second floors. which is the one most of our attendees should be using in the first place. However it will quickly spill over to the other elevators. Part of what probably needs to happen is that attendees need to be encouraged to use the stairs more than they use the elevators to free up the traffic.
Unfortunately this is the situation we are stuck in for the time being.
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There was a rule instated part-way through Kumoricon this year that people had to get off of the elevator at the 7th floor (ie. they could not ride up just to go down). Not everyone followed this rule, but I noticed that the elevator situation got a little better once the rule was put in place. If that rule stays in place next year there will most likely be better signage and more consistent enforcement, which should go a long way in reducing elevator wait time.
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Oh, I had totally spaced about this earlier, but I just now remembered: The cosplay scavenger hunt flyer this year was really poorly done, image quality-wise. I know that the info booth has full pictures of everyone on the list, but the flyer itself was nearly illegible. It looked like whoever made it didn't have access to professional-quality image editing software. Is there an official place to volunteer to do it next year? I'm a professional image editor and totally wouldn't mind helping out.
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Speaking of that flyer, nevermind the actual images of the characters- I could hardly make out the text of their names. It was so blurred and contorted that I just didn't bother.
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Oh, I had totally spaced about this earlier, but I just now remembered: The cosplay scavenger hunt flyer this year was really poorly done, image quality-wise. I know that the info booth has full pictures of everyone on the list, but the flyer itself was nearly illegible. It looked like whoever made it didn't have access to professional-quality image editing software. Is there an official place to volunteer to do it next year? I'm a professional image editor and totally wouldn't mind helping out.
The publicity department handles most of the Kumoricon publications and graphic design and we would love to have you on our staff. We are currently in the process of electing our Board of Directors, with elections being held on September 29th. Kumoricon staff signups usually open up at the general staff meeting after elections, which should be in October or November. The specific date and location of the staff meeting will be announced on the Meetings Board, as well as the www.Kumoricon.org home page, Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about staffing or signups.
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Hey everyone, yoji 1 here
I know I took enough time off of con to cool off, and here are a couple of things people might not have known.
1. We have enough yoji to keep con sane. That's about it. We're trying to keep 4800 people happy and not moving too much, and out of the sun, and organized, and from being confused, as well as handle some behind the scenes issues, as well as... Well the list continues.
2. I'm sorry we cant fix everything. I know that you want to go to your panel, but here's our catch. We can:
a. Tell the 50 people that have magically appeared to go away for 10 minutes. (they will mill about the line start area anyway)
b. Let them stay, because its close enough and there will be upset con goers, but we wont have to worry about 50 people who wont move anyway.
[addendum] We're stuck in a catch 22 here. Tell them to move and be called rude and the people who would have shown up (on-time/late) wouldn't have noticed. Or get the rants we've heard here. Sorry, its like making the decision between shooting yourself in the left or right foot.
3. Training every yojimbo to be up to the standard of the multi-year veterans is really, REALLY hard. There are a lot of lessons that are learned from experience, sometimes just blasting instructions on how to handle 100 different situations that can be each handled 10 different ways isn't going to stick.
4. We had about 15-20 (sorry I cant remember the exact number) yoji that actually stayed on. That's 15-20 people who are doing the following:
a. watching your lines for the dealers hall
b. handling behind the scenes situations so they dont become the convention as a wholes problem
c. keeping hallways clear
d. watching the dances to keep them sane
e. watching the adult panels
f. so tired none of them can think (trust me, i've been there)
5. That number of yoji? Yea, that's not for the shift. Thats for the con. Try getting enough sleep into them. How about food? Water? Not the easiest task ever.
I'd now like to take the time to address the issue now commonly referred to as the "EMT situation"
I apologize that your feelings may have been hurt, but a con-goers safety and health were on the line if the emt's couldnt get to her. WHEN SOMEONE INJURES BONE OR JOINT ONLY EMTS CAN MOVE THEM.
Oh also? SHE WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DANCE. So yea, i/we yelled, but her permanent health may have been on the line and that was infinitely more important to me than that we were a little rude.
So... Sorry.
We're always trying to make con a more positive experience to the vast majority of the con goers. We're really trying to fix issues that have cropped up in the past as well as prepare for things that might happen in the future.
Wanna rant-rave toward me or my yoji? Public or private i more than welcome it, it will help me to get my guys (and gals) better prepared for 2013.
BTW: YOJI ARE THE BEST DEPT AND THE BEST PEOPLE I COULD HAVE EVER ASKED FOR TO WORK FOR ME AND CON (not in that order). I LOVE ALL OF YOU AND HOPE VERY DEARLY TO SEE ALL OF YOU NEXT YEAR! KEEP FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT!
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Arriving at 5:00pm for a panel that starts at 5:30pm and being the 110th person in line is more than a handful of ten people wanting to line up a bit early, 10 minutes, before the line up time.
While I completely understand the under-staffing and stressful position of the yoji, I still say that if there's going to be rules, they either need to be enforced, or demolished, or changed somehow (to maybe an hour wait limit) or it's not fair for people who follow the rules on their end, but then get well, "screwed over" by the one's who set the rules to begin with. You can't just set rules then not enforce them. It just adds to a lack of faith for people to follow the rules in the future. I know as an attended- it has for me in the past as well.
"Oh they SAY no one can line up 30 minutes before, but you know they will let people, so let's go do it."
I'm not putting this all on the yogi- some other things (like the time limit) may need to be changed around so these types of things can actually be upheld so attendees don't have to worry about it. We did so well with the 30 minute rule line one year, why the big difference this year?
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I want to imagine the 30 min line rule was fine in that one year because of the staff size, attendee size and the hotel size, however it is one of those rules that needs to be addressed. It's fine if people want to chill against a wall and aren't in line, but when people are clearly forming a line for a panel that doesn't start for another hour or so, staff should be aware of this and ask them to move because of the 30 minute rule that is currently in place.
Having a rule in place and then not enforcing it is like a suggestion or a piece of advice. You can't make it a rule that people ask for hugs or photos before them- it's a well-suggested piece of courtesy given nowadays. But the 30-min line thing is a rule and can be realistically enforced, and has been at smaller locations.
Like Kimiski said, there are a lot of attendees who have the thought or mindset from past years/cons that "oh they say, but they'll let us" and will attempt to line up anyway. However, there are those who might not even be aware that there is a 30-minute rule in place, or even think that there could even be a possibility for a line rule.
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We have had the 30-min lineup rule for a few years now (since the downtown Hilton, I believe), and it is something that we have not always enforced to the best of our ability. It is something that we are trying to, however. Better communication of it (to our staff, posting signs in the area, bigger font in con-book/pocket guide, perhaps) is something we will definitely work on for future con.
I know it's frustrating... I've experienced it myself as both staff as an attendee... but we are trying make it work, and we very much appreciate your patience with the process.
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I totally agree with Jamiche, and we (yojimbo) are trying to do better year after year, but with how little manpower we have to the size of the con, we had to focus priority on other areas. Again, I'm sorry that we couldn't make it happen like we had hoped, and I'm sorry you may have missed your panel.
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So yea, i/we yelled, but her permanent health may have been on the line and that was infinitely more important to me than that we were a little rude.
Thank you for speaking my mind Tank.
I would also like to point out that it is also a matter of priority for the Yoji. At the same time that lines were forming would also be about the same time that Code Adam's would start coming over the radio. Now if you are one of the few the proud the Yoji. You have a decision to make, you can either go stop the line from forming so everyone feels like they were treated fairly. Or you can go help find the missing child and have some feelings hurt because attendees underestimated how popular a panel was going to be.
I really hope this isn't a hard decision to make in your head.
Also massive kudos to the Yoji team this year 16 code adam's with a 100% success ratio. For what the Yoji had this year they did a excellent job.
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It think if the line up rule was changed to an hour as opposed to 30 min. more people would be more likely to follow it. As a con-veteran I've noticed that an hour seems to be the point that most people start lining up anyways. Especially first time con goers who don't know the "this is what they say, but this is what happens" and who try to follow the rules because that's all they know, get frustrated with it not being enforced. The rest of us know that people tend not to follow this rule and we know to at least check to see if the line is forming early. With an hour being the standard start time (that I noticed) anyways, and the shortness of staffing not being able to disperse lines that form to early, I don't see why moving line up from 30min to an hour would hurt.
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I don't see why moving line up from 30min to an hour would hurt.
Overlap of panel times. If we have two or three popular panels starting at the same time, in the same area, then that is a lot of people waiting in line. For example: Panel A starts at 1pm, Panel B starts at 1:30pm, and they are right next to each other. If we allow people to line up 1hr ahead of time, then there is a half an hour when both panels have people waiting in them. And that's in addition to people just moving through the space to get somewhere else: think of the second floor of the Hilton. In some areas, we just don't have the room for it.
Sometimes it happens that panels start at the same time, but we try and schedule things so the start times are a little spread out, which in turn allows us to stagger the lines.
There is no perfect solution, but we will keep trying our best to improve the situation.
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I totally agree with Jamiche, and we (yojimbo) are trying to do better year after year, but with how little manpower we have to the size of the con, we had to focus priority on other areas. Again, I'm sorry that we couldn't make it happen like we had hoped, and I'm sorry you may have missed your panel.
With that being said, there are cases in which Yojimbo could ask other staff for assistance, instead of dismissing them. I've also heard of a couple of cases where some Yojimbo would have 12+ hour shifts with no breaks, and had been denied a conclusion to their shifts because they had to watch one more panel room. I understand that Yojimbo is one of the most busiest positions our con has; I was Yojimbo once before. I do think that many of the problemsduring the past few years have been a case of (no offense intended) poor management. Some of these problems could be avoided with proper scheduling, and better training. Obviously, there's going to be countless situations that can't be trained for, but many can, including recognizing fellow staff and asking them for some help.
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I totally agree with Jamiche, and we (yojimbo) are trying to do better year after year, but with how little manpower we have to the size of the con, we had to focus priority on other areas. Again, I'm sorry that we couldn't make it happen like we had hoped, and I'm sorry you may have missed your panel.
With that being said, there are cases in which Yojimbo could ask other staff for assistance, instead of dismissing them. I've also heard of a couple of cases where some Yojimbo would have 12+ hour shifts with no breaks, and had been denied a conclusion to their shifts because they had to watch one more panel room. I understand that Yojimbo is one of the most busiest positions our con has; I was Yojimbo once before. I do think that many of the problemsduring the past few years have been a case of (no offense intended) poor management. Some of these problems could be avoided with proper scheduling, and better training. Obviously, there's going to be countless situations that can't be trained for, but many can, including recognizing fellow staff and asking them for some help.
The main problems that Yoji has are 1. not all the people who sign up for Yoji actually SHOW UP to con, and 2. There are consistently new Yoji staffers, and with such a small number of Yoji to begin with, especially multi-year vets, it's difficult to even find the time to give a proper training session to all the new Yoji. If there were more staffers that signed up to be Yoji, and all of them committed to showing up to con, then it would be a different story.
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I have been curious if there are any specific intentions that the organizers have regarding the overall size of K-con. It does certainly seem that the number of Yoji and other staff, as well as the venue, are not quite sufficient to keep things from getting chaotic at times given the number of people. I personally don't find that going to programming at Kumori is usually worth the current level of hassle and wait times, so I've been more focused on enjoying other parts of the con instead, such as gaming. Has there ever been consideration of trying to limit the size of the con until there is more staff or a bigger venue in place (not that there necessarily is a way to do this that won't upset at least some people) or would the organizers prefer to see the con attendance continue to grow regardless?
As a matter of personal taste, I love smaller, more laid-back conventions, but obviously bigger attendance has advantages in terms of revenue, which can be used to further improve the con. K-con seems to be stuck in the middle right now. On one hand there are more than enough attendees that events are often uncomfortably crowed, things like lines and elevators are rather problematic, and the yoji are spread too thin and often have to be uptight to get their job done as a result. However, Kumori is not big enough to get any of the nice big-con perks such as the high-profile/Japanese guests, big facilities, and professional security that you get with an event like Sakura-con.
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I can understand the idea behind limiting the size of the con, but how freaking bad would that be?
I know if I was one of the people who didn't get in I'd be really upset and super mad.
People who sign up to be staff need to be kind and keep that promise, not limit the con size!
Thank you to the staff who stuck through with it and work so hard for us! If I wasn't so far away, I'd love to staff, but alas 300-somthing miles is pretty far.
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We've limited the con in size before, but we've had such a terrible venue those years that people were okay with it, and didn't want to show up! But yeah, in attempts to look away from caps, we're starting to dwell on occupying the OCC, maybe. In a few years. Perhaps. Maybe. Not for certain. And not the whole thing, if we do.
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I have been curious if there are any specific intentions that the organizers have regarding the overall size of K-con. It does certainly seem that the number of Yoji and other staff, as well as the venue, are not quite sufficient to keep things from getting chaotic at times given the number of people. I personally don't find that going to programming at Kumori is usually worth the current level of hassle and wait times, so I've been more focused on enjoying other parts of the con instead, such as gaming. Has there ever been consideration of trying to limit the size of the con until there is more staff or a bigger venue in place (not that there necessarily is a way to do this that won't upset at least some people) or would the organizers prefer to see the con attendance continue to grow regardless?
As a matter of personal taste, I love smaller, more laid-back conventions, but obviously bigger attendance has advantages in terms of revenue, which can be used to further improve the con. K-con seems to be stuck in the middle right now. On one hand there are more than enough attendees that events are often uncomfortably crowed, things like lines and elevators are rather problematic, and the yoji are spread too thin and often have to be uptight to get their job done as a result. However, Kumori is not big enough to get any of the nice big-con perks such as the high-profile/Japanese guests, big facilities, and professional security that you get with an event like Sakura-con.
I would suggest you post this as a question to candidates in the elections forum.
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This is some great feedback folks. Keep it coming.
Towards line control and folks lining up before the 30 minute time. At this point its kind of been beaten to the ground and the team knows its a thorn in folks side. I've started a thread for folks to start posting some suggestions for fixing the issue so lets move that topic to there.
https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=17430.0 (https://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=17430.0)
Another topic I think was touched on was Yoji asking other departments for help to alleviation the amount of work on them.
Its a nice idea but it requires taking into account the fact that some departments have their staff requirements fulfilled before con to the point of actually dwarfing the amount of time the Yoji team puts in within the 3-5 days that Yoji are asked to work during con.
Because of this, except for emergencies, its not right to ask/require them to do more at con. They've worked hard to.
Now anyone who wants to help the Yoji team is always welcome to check in and ask if their is anything they can do or, if they're itching for even more, sign up to be Yoji before con so they can be added into the tally. I wouldn't recommend the latter of the two options though for those of the feint of heart or just unsure because it becomes a problem if you want to stop being Yoji mid con cause we have to change our staffing requirements.
So truthfully its a nice idea but it isn't something that can be asked on top of what they do but instead needs be something that person wants to do.
Towards loosing Yoji because they don't show up. Coming from someone who staffs other volunteer events there is actually an expectation that only about 1/2 to 2/3rds of your signed up volunteers will show. There are exceptions and some of our other departments are great examples of that. When you're pulling from just regular walk-ins though its what is there. We could change this around by instilling a better screen of those who volunteer but that brings its own problems. Considering most of the newer Yojis I saw this year were part of that walk-in crowed I would hate to get rid of that.
Another possibility though of helping with this though would be to instead plan for only 50% of the ones who sign up and add in the extras when they get there.
Towards the last topic I'll hit on for now. Limiting the size of the con.
As Tanis said in years past this has been something that has come up.
Never because we didn't have enough staff though to handle the size of the con but instead because the con space couldn't handle more than the limit.
To elaborate on why here are two points:
1) With every year of growth our staff as increased. This is because with new attendees we get more, for lack of a better term right now, stock to increase the team's size. If we capped we would be missing out on this increase.
Now there is the argument that there are attendees who have been coming for years who would become staff. Being one of those people myself its a valid point.
So maybe gearing ourselves to improve our recruiting methods instead to try and bring more veteran attendees in would be a better plan.
2) Limiting a con size also kills expansion of the con in the sense of what we have to offer. Remember, Kumoricon is a Japanese cultural convention that is powered by the attendees. With each new attendee we get we have that one extra possibility of adding another event/panel to the list of things to do. So capping the attendance for the convention can actually take away from the experience of not just those who couldn't register but also those at the convention.
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Now there is the argument that there are attendees who have been coming for years who would become staff. Being one of those people myself its a valid point.
So maybe gearing ourselves to improve our recruiting methods instead to try and bring more veteran attendees in would be a better plan.
As far as recruiting more staff goes, I know for myself, there were several reasons I hesitated to become staff (as a veteran attendee):
- At Opening/Closing ceremonies, there was a brief announcement stating "we need more staff, so please come volunteer if you're interested." This addresses the need for volunteers during con, when people likely have their schedules planned out already and their con time booked. Though, granted, we get many volunteers in, so this still certainly helps. However, it does not help our staff count much, as I don't see many efforts toward staff recruitment for the subsequent year. It's a passing mention, if spoken of at all.
- When mention of staffing was forthcoming, it was always in the form of "we need more people in this department, so come speak to me if you'd be interested." I was already interested in becoming staff, so I dug deeper to see which jobs this actually entailed, but it still took me an extra year to sign up as staff. I believe if some of the jobs were more clearly outlined (something verbal at con - not everyone is on the forums/website), something specific would spark someone's interest enough to get him/her to sign up as staff. For me, I had the interest; I simply didn't know what to sign up for.
- Staff perks. Coming in, I had no idea the benefits that actually came along with being staff, eg: you get fed, you don't have to wait in any lines, reduced/free admission to con, the summer BBQ and party after clean-up. Knowing these things ahead of time would entice more people to volunteer their time.
- The biggest deterrent was giving up my con time. I love attending con, and I didn't want to be stuck staffing it the entire time. However, I found with enough staff, schedules can be flexible, and I was able to attend the panels I wanted to anyway. If more people are aware of this, the position of staff would be more attractive.
I think overall, if the position of staff was better advertised, we would have many more sign-ups :D
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The biggest deterrent was giving up my con time. I love attending con, and I didn't want to be stuck staffing it the entire time. However, I found with enough staff, schedules can be flexible, and I was able to attend the panels I wanted to anyway. If more people are aware of this, the position of staff would be more attractive.[/li][/list]
Ha, attending stuff. I got to see ten minutes of closing ceremonies, and that was it! Nothing more than that!
Maybe we do need more staff.
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^/^^ If it helps explain the discrepancy between Tsukinya's and TanisNikana's experiences, staff are always welcome (but absolutely not required) to work more hours than the minimum. One of these days, though, we hope to have enough staff that (like TanisNikana said) no one needs* to work an insane number of hours.
* - But I'm pretty sure there will always be people who want to work an insane number of hours anyway. That's just how some folks are wired.** (^_~)
** - says the guy who stayed glued to the info booths most of the con, despite having an awesome staff who kept them running just fine.
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The biggest deterrent was giving up my con time. I love attending con, and I didn't want to be stuck staffing it the entire time. However, I found with enough staff, schedules can be flexible, and I was able to attend the panels I wanted to anyway. If more people are aware of this, the position of staff would be more attractive.[/li][/list]
Ha, attending stuff. I got to see ten minutes of closing ceremonies, and that was it! Nothing more than that!
Maybe we do need more staff.
Hahaha please! I was at the Red Lion ops room when closing ceremonies was happening. Didn't even know con was over until someone told me at 6pm haha. But it's all good cause I knew what I signed up for when I became a staff member.
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The biggest deterrent was giving up my con time. I love attending con, and I didn't want to be stuck staffing it the entire time. However, I found with enough staff, schedules can be flexible, and I was able to attend the panels I wanted to anyway. If more people are aware of this, the position of staff would be more attractive.[/li][/list]
Ha, attending stuff. I got to see ten minutes of closing ceremonies, and that was it! Nothing more than that!
Maybe we do need more staff.
Careful Nai talk like that will get you promoted in my department lol.
Hahaha please! I was at the Red Lion ops room when closing ceremonies was happening. Didn't even know con was over until someone told me at 6pm haha. But it's all good cause I knew what I signed up for when I became a staff member.
Careful Nai, comments like that will just get you promoted under me :P lol.
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I know one thing that deters me from staffing is how many hours are required and how flexible the schedule to work can be since I am never at the hotel and have to drive in. Staffing's fun, but if I'm not there during the normal hours I would be for attending (usually 9am-1am) then I can't help with staffing at all since I'm either limited with rides in cars, as either the driver or the passenger.
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I know one thing that deters me from staffing is how many hours are required and how flexible the schedule to work can be since I am never at the hotel and have to drive in. Staffing's fun, but if I'm not there during the normal hours I would be for attending (usually 9am-1am) then I can't help with staffing at all since I'm either limited with rides in cars, as either the driver or the passenger.
There is always the option of having a position that entails primarily before-con work. Publicity has a lot of these positions, and even some that can be done remotely (though it's still nice to attend meetings if you can). I'm not as familiar with the other departments, but I know Relations has a few as well. There is usually a small time commitment at-con, but there is a fair amount of flexibility as to when as long as you make your time restrictions known early on.
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It also depends on which department and what job you are doing-
If you are interested in something, some help is better than none, so even volunteering is good, I'd talk to the director of the department you may be interested in staffing during one of our meetings, and see what they can do with how much you can put into staffing/volunteering hour wise.
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We did expect to lose yoji between sign up and con. However, the rate of loss was higher than we've been used to. Normally its about 2/3 will show and work at least 1 shift. Pretty sure this year it was even lower and we had a higher dropout rate even after that.
That said, i love my vets to death. Gluttons for punishment, each and every one of ya! ^-^
-Tank
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The biggest deterrent was giving up my con time. I love attending con, and I didn't want to be stuck staffing it the entire time. However, I found with enough staff, schedules can be flexible, and I was able to attend the panels I wanted to anyway. If more people are aware of this, the position of staff would be more attractive.[/li][/list]
Ha, attending stuff. I got to see ten minutes of closing ceremonies, and that was it! Nothing more than that!
Maybe we do need more staff.
Careful Nai talk like that will get you promoted in my department lol.
Hahaha please! I was at the Red Lion ops room when closing ceremonies was happening. Didn't even know con was over until someone told me at 6pm haha. But it's all good cause I knew what I signed up for when I became a staff member.
Careful Nai, comments like that will just get you promoted under me :P lol.
Ginger please! I'm taking over if anything and you'll be my grunt :)
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The biggest deterrent was giving up my con time. I love attending con, and I didn't want to be stuck staffing it the entire time. However, I found with enough staff, schedules can be flexible, and I was able to attend the panels I wanted to anyway. If more people are aware of this, the position of staff would be more attractive.[/li][/list]
Ha, attending stuff. I got to see ten minutes of closing ceremonies, and that was it! Nothing more than that!
Maybe we do need more staff.
Careful Nai talk like that will get you promoted in my department lol.
Hahaha please! I was at the Red Lion ops room when closing ceremonies was happening. Didn't even know con was over until someone told me at 6pm haha. But it's all good cause I knew what I signed up for when I became a staff member.
Careful Nai, comments like that will just get you promoted under me :P lol.
Ginger please! I'm taking over if anything and you'll be my grunt :)
FINALLY!!!!!! I am free from the managment side of things :o