Kumoricon
Convention Events and Programming => General Kumoricon => Topic started by: Riceman13 on September 02, 2006, 04:51:31 pm
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Pros- Anime
Cons- Poorly organized... Pre-Reg should have been a seperate line. It's rediculous that I had to wait for 3 hours to get my gear when I preregistered. Furthermore, my friend HADN'T pre-registered yet got his packet a full 30 minutes before I did. That is rediculous, and makes me wonder why the need to pre-register really was. Sure, I saved 5 measley dollars. Great.
-Staff members need to be a bit more courteous to the guests at the con. There were numerous times where the staff members yelled specifically at me for a first offense, that I didn't really know about. To be more specific, I was standing in a hall for 15 seconds touching base with some friends, and the staff were coming, so I kindly moved out of the way for them, and they rather nastily told me to stay out of the hallway. Honestly, sure, they're under a lot of stress, and they've been repeating themselves a lot, but quite frankly, thats what happens when you staff a 4000+ member con. If they don't like having to repeat instructions, they shouldn't be staffing.
Anyways, I hope the next two days aren't nearly as disgruntling as this first day, but I must say I'm definately not impressed with the way the con has been run this year, as a returning member.
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Yeah, it my friends complained about that too. all of that, actually. I showed up pretty early, but had to wait over 2 hours and lost my hype *-*.
And I think once a staff told all the pre-regs to move to the front of the line, then another staff came up and argued with him, and everyone had to go back, which kind of puzzled and annoyed alot of people... At least the line went down, and I still ended up getting in.
Another thing; weren't we supposed to get maps and schedues at registering? 'cause none of my friends, nor me, got one -.- so we were pretty lost and going back and forth alot.
There wasn't much stuff to do either o.o... Sure, it may be a small con, and I may be complaining TOO much by saying this... But all we actually got to -interactively- do was the Dealers' room. other hours were spent going back and forth, watching random stuff... but still...
Ah well, tomorrow will be better We planned some things to get together and do, and hopefully we'll abide by them :wink:
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Something the planners/managers of this con really need to do...
lrn2hostananimeconvention
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You try.
Seriously.
Running even a SMALL convention isn't easy.
Everyone on staff was working their hardest to make it as easy on con-goers as possible.
This is a big convention. Big conventions = long lines.
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Sorry to hear about this.
Maps and schedules are in the little "pocket guide" that came in the con bag. Or they can be downloaded in PDF here:
http://www.kumoricon.com/?page_id=42
or here
http://www.kumoricon.com/files/kumoricon2006pocketguide.pdf
Hope this helps. Staff does take all coments like this seriously, so thanks for letting us know.
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-.- Darn, didn't get one in my bag, though...
And my computer's so stupid as to not let me view PDF files o.=... (downloaded the thing, it didn't work XK)
Ah well, I got a schedule written down, and we know the place inside-out now, so it's fine ^^ thanks anyway
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Pros: Anime, I made new friends waiting in line, I got a blue badge instead of a yellow, I got some sweet FFVII pictures and I got to hook up with other FMA cosplayers.
Cons: To put it simply, I wanted to go to KumoriCon, not LineCon and they lost my check so I had to pay again and lose some of my spending money.
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You try.
Seriously.
Running even a SMALL convention isn't easy.
Everyone on staff was working their hardest to make it as easy on con-goers as possible.
This is a big convention. Big conventions = long lines.
True, tough job. If you aren't cut out for it, don't do it. If your gonna be a jerk to the guests, don't do it. I don't care how stressful it is, I don't care if your spouse just filed the divorce papers, staff need show certain courtesies and respect to the guests. There is no excuse. I run events all the time, yes, they may be smaller, but I generally am the only one doing them, and yes, they are stressful, but I don't flip out and yell at someone for standing in a hallway for 15 seconds then moving out of the way. Thats rediculous.
To further this rant, later today I was walking to my room not as a guest at Kumoricon but as a guest of the Red Lion Hotel when one of the staff pushed us to the side. This was extremely rude, and really makes me wonder if the con would let any obnoxious jerk to run the convention. I'm sorry, your argument holds no value, nor does it have any real backing to it. Host a convention, do it right. There is no excuse.
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...Host a convention, do it right. There is no excuse.
That sums it up. Well said Riceman13! :D
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Okay, then you go and start up a convention.
I run one in Alaska. We don't even have 1/4 of the guests of Kumori, but it's still not any easier.
I'll be keeping my eyes out for a new Portland area convention. If you haven't tried it, you have no room to complain.
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Okay, then you go and start up a convention.
I run one in Alaska. We don't even have 1/4 of the guests of Kumori, but it's still not any easier.
I'll be keeping my eyes out for a new Portland area convention. If you haven't tried it, you have no room to complain.
Okay, so I guess being complete jerks to their guests is absolutelly okay. Great. \
FYI, I have every right to complain. I payed for THESE SERVICES. Please try and be a little more less ignorant then what your post makes you out to be. Continue thinking like that and your little con in Alaska will continue to remain small.
By your logic, I have never tried heroin. So obviously, I can't say it's really bad for you, if I've never tried it.
There are certain things you don't do to your guests. I don't care if its easy or hard. There is certain etiquette, and if you can't follow it, then you shouldn't be in the business. Sorry, try again.
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Well I would first start off and say that I appreciate all those who volunteered to put this con on. I understand it is alot of work and at times can be a thankless job.
To the one who says you should put your own convention on before saying anything. I think that it doesn't take the experience of putting one on to understand what works and doesn't work. Expecially from the point of view of a con goer sense that is who these are put on for.
Well things I liked. I loved the fact I know I'm not the only strange one out there :-p Its good to be around others like myself. I do think alot of things did run smoothly or at least I didn't see alot that left me wondering what was going on.
Now to the things I think could have been done better. But don't think of these as bad things but things that can be learned from and improved on.
The line of doom :-) I really think two things could have been done better. One those who pre-reg should have had a seperate line. Keeping them in a seperate line I would think makes it easier for you guys to hand out the info that those who have not need to have before getting to the registration desk. The second was that there may have been needed signs that explain to people what information they need to provide to get them through the lines quicker. For instance the two people in front of me in the Pre-reg line were not prepared with the parental consent forms and guardian forms. It took extra time to find this information which pushed the line back and took extra time from the person running the line trying to explain to them something that a sign could have easly have done.
Another thing that I think somebody had mentioned was a map. Maybe a couple of locations could have had a map up that tells you where things are and maybe a "you are here" on it. I think after a little time I knew where things were but it is always helpfull for the person just getting there.
In the viewing rooms. I don't know if this is something that can even be helped but when watching anime that is subtitled it was hard to watch unless you were in the first or second row. I'm not sure if those viewing screens can be made higher but if they could it would have helped a little. I'm not sure how much could be done but at times it was hard to fully appreciate the movie. That is unless you understand japanese and don't need the subtitles. (I wish I did :-) )
I don't really have much more to say about it. I hope it doesn't come out as being all negative. I would like to say I really enjoyed the time I was able to spend there. If anything from seeing the amount of work you guys put into this I would love to help out next year. If you would like to get in contact with me about that my email address is jasonqdavis@earthlink.net I would love to be part of the crew next year.
Thanks for putting it on for all of us.
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every department was understaffed, and the yojimbo were overworked. although you may be paying for a service, the con staff is not being paid to provide it. there were issues with reg, and i really think that the lines shoudl have been separated into pre-reg and door-reg, otherwise it was kinda pointless.
i wonder if it would be possible next year to have two printings of the badges and have a number of them mailed out (like people who reg before may or something) with special stickers son them so you know they arent copies.
also the hotel changed some of the con policies last minute which had everyone on edge. but the hallways really do need to stay as clear as possible, its a fire hazzard.
however, the staff members were specifically NOT supposed to make more and two finger contact with guests of any sort to move them. so riceman13 if you know who it was you may want to report them, cause that kind of behavior is really not cool.
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I agree with what jasonqdavis said. The lines were rather rediculous but it has to be kept in mind that running a con is a hard job and we were lucky to even have one in our area. That said, there is no excuse for the staff to be rude but frankly my experence was a positive one and the closest I even got to a reprimand was when we were sitting in the middle of the hall and told to "hug the wall" and when my friend was doing a fake makeout scene and acsidently smashed her other friend's head into the coffee table at the Ouran photoshoot and a staff member asked me if they were fighting. Since I was there all three days what this says to me is that rude staff was the exception and not the norm.
A lot of things could have been done better, yes, I'm not arguing there. But a lot of things were done right and all in all I had a great time at the con and thought it was much better than last year because our tiny little Kumoricon is finally growing. :3
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Just got back home from Kumoricon and overall I had a fun time. Here's my short list:
The negative:
Unclear room locations: More signs would have been helpful. Even when asking staffers where certain rooms were I couldn't get straight answers. Some would just say "I don't know" and then run away.
Updates on schedule: Day three I get up early to attend the Tiffany Grant panel. Myself as well as other fans had trouble finding the room since no one knew exactly where the 'psydo main" was. After a while we found out where it was and we waited for the panel. Eventually a staffer came down to post a sign that said it was canceled. I was a bit upset since we wasted all that time to find out it wasn't going on.
I made mention of this to the staffer and was told I should have gone to the other panel. Um, hindsight is 20/20. If I knew there wasn't going to be a panel today I would have gone to that other panel. I know we can't attend all the events we want to and you have to choose, but when you plan on attending something only to find out it is canceled it's hard not to be disappointed. I was probably a bit short with the staffer (I apologized if I seemed a bit put out) but telling me I should have gone to the earlier panel was like pouring salt on a wound.
This isn't my first con so I know it's best to check for updates. I checked the schedule online this morning, checked with Con Ops and even double check with the info both on this panel before heading off to wait for it to start. It wasn't until after the time the panel was to start did we find out it wasn't just running late but canceled all together.
Thus leading into the overall tone of the con:
General Lack of Communication: As mentioned before the long lines were very upsetting to the attendees. with the closing of the Main Events it seemed like no one knew where anything was going to be set up or taking place. It was a bit frustrating. The answer from most staff was "I don't know". I think a better way for staff to handle this would have been to at least try to find out. Say things like: "I'm not sure but let me see if I can find someone who does." Letting attendees know you are trying to help them is much better than just leaving them high and dry.
The Positives:
Con is growing: It is great to see that Kumoricon is growing and that Portland's anime community has a strong fan base. I know there were several attendees from out of state who made the trek to Kumoricon. I look forward to seeing the con continue to grow and prosper.
Friendly con goers: I found that many times fellow congoers were the best source of information. When trying to find a room there was always someone there to offer up directions. I myself gave many directions and information to fellow attendees.
Staff and Volunteers: You guys work very hard and I know you do the best. Every year you dedicate your time, talents and effort to putting the con together for the rest of the fans. Running on lack of sleep and fraying nerves you guys work very hard and your efforts many times go unsung. Despite all the snags you guys do a good job. There are many staffers who were very helpful and kind. Thank you.
Convention Friends: The overall mood of the attendees was a very friendly one. I had a great time posing for pictures with fellow cosplayers and visiting with staff. It was fun and in the end it was a good con.
Dealer's Room: I liked how wide the eisles were. There was room to move around and the selection of merchandise was a nice mix. This room has improved since my last visit to Kumoricon and I am sure it will only continue to gain more vendors with even more merchandise.
I want to make it clear that both the negative and the positives are there for the con to learn from. The negatives are not meant to put staffers and volunteers on guard or make them feel like they are under attack, it's put forth to educated as to what works and what doesn't.
In the end the hard work and dedication is very much appreciated. I'm sure next year will be better and the year after that better than the previous.
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Pro-
All the events were AWESOME
Con-
Needs to be more organized.... honestly FOUR HOURS IN LINEE??? T.T
And some certain people on staff need to replace their additude and watch their hands.....
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Pro's-
Buttons, The Moo room, and the awesome kindess of the Con chair and vice chair.
Con's-
The line, how spread out the hotel was, and some of the yojimbo's attitudes (it is probably stressful work, but people listen more when asked nicely).
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pro's:
-- everyone was so nice. despite being my normally cranky self I met so many cool people with so much to share with me about their interests in oddball anime, music and fashion. That was mega points there. And despite the cons people had I really want to thank everyone for being awesome :D /dork
-- cosplay. God damn, there was some good stuff! ... despite my being unable to really recognize half of it... but that's a good thing :P
... allright, allright. I was in the vendor's room with really few breaks where I often was headed somewhere and was glomped or grabbed off to chat before I made it. My negative gripes are somewhat similar as everyone elses:
- maps..... I don't really blame the good ol' kids at KC, I think the hotel was kind of confusing. I liked it better than other placeswe've had it because it wasn't as claustrophobic, but if I wasn't wandering aimlessly I really never found it. The only panel I really wanted to check out was jrock and I think I ran into most of the other jrock fans in the hotel trying to find the room and we all gave up. whoops. The maps were small in the booklet and I wouldn't've minded if the info desk maybe had a large easy to read version to peruse.
- schedule... just some feedback from me, who was a vendor and didn't understand what was going on. Posting on the website something like this might be helpful:
Exhibition Hall is open Saturday XX-XX
Sunday XX-XX
Monday XX-XX
Art Room open, etc etc.
I kind of ran with it when the room was open an extra hour or whatnot, but when the sched said that it opened monday at 8 and it really didn't open 'til ten I really wished I'd gotten that hour and a half back.
and last..
jpop/rock room.... was it in blocks all day or just when I wandered in? it seems like I ALWAYS stumbled in during a Morning Musume block and well... I like the hard stuff ya know ;) Setting up a shuffling playlist would've kept me in the room longer instead of running away when I realized it was MoMu followed by MORE MoMu. As far as jpop/jrock programming or events go, if assistance is needed with it next year I'd be more than happy to give a hand.
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Some of the stuff I have heard really sounds unfortunate--especially the volunteers being snarky, grabby, or otherwise rude to the con-goers. I understand it's time they're giving to the con, but that doesn't make it any less of a job (even if you don't get paid). It just seems to me they should keep that in mind when they're doing their job. I'd understand if it was for repeat offenders, but if it's the first time you've been doing something wrong I don't see what the point of grabbing, shoving, or berating someone is. At the very least, they should be following that good ole "do unto others" deal.
That being said, I had such a great time at Kumoricon. It was my first con, and out of every other one I know of in the entire world I don't think there's a place I'd have rather gone for my first one. All of the staff I dealt with were absolutely great, the people running the panels were awesome, and I don't think I've met a friendlier bunch of people than everyone who was attending.
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Greetings. I am one of the Yojimbo leaders and am posting this in regards to the numerous posts I am reading here about yojimbo being rude, forceful, and perhaps bullying. If you, as a congoer, see this sort of attitude then please report it to the staff. Sometimes situations call for a certain amount of rashness but we do not like to see such attitudes in our staff. If you have a complaint now, please send them to me in a PM so that it may be looked into.
We are, after all, here to provide information, comfort, and protection for the con-goers as much if not more than for the con.
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Greetings. I am one of the Yojimbo leaders and am posting this in regards to the numerous posts I am reading here about yojimbo being rude, forceful, and perhaps bullying. If you, as a congoer, see this sort of attitude then please report it to the staff. Sometimes situations call for a certain amount of rashness but we do not like to see such attitudes in our staff. If you have a complaint now, please send them to me in a PM so that it may be looked into.
We are, after all, here to provide information, comfort, and protection for the con-goers as much if not more than for the con.
There is no reason to be rash to the guests. A simple "please refrain from doing such" is fine enough, and if they don't obey, kindly ask them to leave. Raising your voice or being down right rude isn't the right way to go about it. Your right, the staff volunteered their time to this con, however, in any kind of job you do, be it volunteer or not, you must do your job correctly. Volunteer work means nothing if you don't do it correctly. To the person who said that the staff didn't see a penny of the money I payed to attend this convention, that may be, but the fact is, because I payed to be at this convention, I still retain the right to complain about what I saw as being wrong.
However, on a side note, I did think that a lot of the events were very well run, considering the amount of people that showed up. And not all staff members were jerks. Really, there was just a couple, of which I was stupid enough not to get their names. But there's always next year. I just want to make it a suggestion that it be stressed that being rude to con-goers is NOT the brightest idea, if you want successful cons in the near future.
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My point was that they are told not to be rude to con-goers. Constantly in fact. I was asking for people to inform me of cases when people were rude to them so they could be investigated
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I had a lot of fun!
I thought the events were great and thank you that the participants in the cosplay contest didn't have to waste their entire day sitting around. Though I suggest that no one ever EVER schedule a premeet at 8am. Contrary to popular belief, some congoers DO sleep and it was actually impossible to get our entire group to the pre-meet.
I also loved the space and quality of the dealers room. Great job.
I hated the venue. I never knew where I was, where anything was, or where I was going. The hallways could not hold the amount of people they needed to, and I didn't appreciate being yelled at constantly to get out of the way, or keep moving.
BakaZoku's stage antics did not impress me. While their skits were good and entertaining, I think that programming could have thought of something better to fill the time than to let them yell about yaoi and be inappropriate onstage for 45 minutes afterwards. They need to save that stuff for their late night 18+ panel. If I wasn't a participant in the contest, I would have left.
Thanks staff, congoers, for an otherwise great con!
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+ wider halls for the dealers room
+ a lot of panels
- a lot of panels my friends and I wanted to go to were canceled
- the art show was canceled (even though I sent e-mails AND posted a forum question about entering art 2 months before the con and they gave me slim to none info about it)
- pre-reg line on Friday
- lack of respect, politeness, and overall attitdue of the Volunteer staff
- the actual space of the con, maps or no maps the layout sucked
- the mini book compression was SO small you had to squint to read it
After pre-reg online, I started to look into things I'd be interested in doing at the convention. I noticed with maybe 4 months to go that they didn't have a lot of info about the con up yet.
So I started e-mailing the "proper"(meaning 1 person) people of the staff. Their e-mails were untimely(can we say 2-3 weeks?) and disorganized, not completely answering my questions and telling me they would get back to me and failing to do so. They also would chide in saying something along the lines of if you have something to say come to the meetings. Hi I live in South Everett Washington. I'm not going to make a day trip just to tell you how bad of a job you're doing at answering my e-mails.
I started to become really frustrated because any attempt to make contact with the staff fell on deaf ears, forgotten, or was never acknowledged. I began to think Oh great, so this is what the con is going to be like.
Getting closer to the con- BAM. Info began to flood the website, but in formats that are not friendly for ALL computers. Which was complained about heavily, which people only gave suggestions of downloading something to correct this. Well I'm sorry professional companies or organizations who ARE organized, take the effort to make multiple compatible formats for everyones use.
Besides that, I started downloading things necessary to do a walk on for the cosplay contest. Well they asked for your badge number. Well that's funny, why ask me for my badge number if I don't have it? So I e-mail yet again, and they get back to me within a week saying we do not have badge numbers. Well how am I supposed to fill out my form? I check the forums and responses turn out unofficially to just fill out the form the best you can and send it in. Ch'ya okay- WOW!
After all these months of complications I'm loosing faith. But I've spent the money, it's going to be great weekend time, I've got my costume ready, maybe the people and the panels will make up for it.
We arrive around 7:30 just in time for pre-reg. Notice there's a line, but Ohs wells, we stand anyways. For 30min we have moved maybe 10 ft. from where we originally started. All of us thought- oh well, maybe it's because it's just a lot of people at this time, in an hour there will probably be no one. So we leave the line to go bring our luggage up to our room. We wait around till 8:30 and go back down only to find the line doesn't appear to have slimmed down. We get in anyways and notice through the window that the people who were infront of us were now just getting their badges- after an hour. By 9pm we get into the actual hallway, and murmer is beginning about "it's time to close the line- are they going to close it?" They extend it to 9:30. They tell the tail end of people that and they disperse disappointed that they had waited so long to be told no come back tomorrow. 10 til 9:30 people are belching down the halls "closing in 10" only to come back down 5 til saying "extended till 10". Wow what about those people who might've had the chance? Which was a naive thought. 10 min before 10pm we all get our badges and then they just SHUT everyone else out. Not bothering just to take them after they've waited so long. Just - No sorry 10 pm closing up forget you even though you took the time to pre-reg- come tomorrow with the other mass crowd and wait summore.
WOW, not a good way to handle that! The polite thing to do is cut it at the doors and take whoever was brave enough to wait that long. I'm also flabbergasted at the fact that the guy looking for my badge was " Oh, the B's are always unorganized" WTF?! WHY ARE THEY UNORGANIZED?! I figure no wonder it's taken everyone so long.
I've been to two previous cons, and this is my first Kumori. I was disappointed. Unorganized and uneventful due to the constant closing of panels, which left the group of us to skip monday completely for fun on Canon Beach instead of hang around.
I don't think I'll be coming back next year. I'd rather spend my money on a con worth going to.
I would thank the staff if I was thankful, but I'm downright NOT thankful for ANYTHING the staff has done because they've failed me since the beginning. I payed to have fun and it was done horribly that I had none. So I did not get my money worth.
so yea that's my side of the story and rant.*shrug*
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+ The dealer's room had plenty of space to move around.
+ I enjoyed the Saturday night dance quite a bit. It's nice to be able to make requests.
+The showing of the winning AMV at the closing ceremonies was a good idea, I totally lost track of time and missed the contest.
+ Free water. Seriously, it may be a strange thing to be really appreciative of, but I've been to enough concerts and events without it to realize how important it is.
+ I personally had no problems with the staff. I lost my camera at the con, and everyone was very helpful in agreeing to assist me in getting it back. The lost and found organization was wonderful.
+ Thank you for the T-Shirt entertainment in the lines. I'm not sure if it was intended or not, but it aided a bit in keeping your mind off the heat. And thank you for the box. And the free water bottles.
- The dealer's room didn't have much variety. I was surprised to find that there was only one DVD vendor there. As amazingly nice as those people were, the booth was small and didn't have that much of a selection. There were lots of 'repeat' booths as well. Too much of the same thing.
- I didn't like the venue very much. I've been a bit spoiled by SakuraCon since it is so big, and I feel as though I may not really be entitled to complain too much about this, but I think we need someplace bigger. Too many hallways and not enough open space. The Red Lion was mostly hallways, which don't make for great photo-taking or relaxation.
- Directions and the program. The pocket guide was too small. The map was almost impossible to read, and you REALLY had to concentrate to figure out what was going on. It'd be nice if you posted maps and schedules here and there inside the hotel. And maybe a bigger guide next year. It would also have been good to clearly post what was going on outside each room. Something like a list of events that would be occuring in that room posted next to the door.
- Better panel organization?
- The lines. Yeah. I wasn't so much bugged by them, somehow I entertain myself too well. But it isn't great to have a bunch of people stand outside for hours on a hot day. It makes them grumpy. Everyone else has more to say about this than I do.
That's about all I can think of. Overall, I had a pretty good time. I hope for next year to be even better.
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Aside from the 3 hour pre-reg. (I guess i was 12 years old the hole con instead of 17 to) There was still alot of disorganization.
We arrive at the pool for the cat girl pool party, see about 11 or so people there. But no host. It seemed like it wasn't even planned. So we waited a good 10 minutes while snacking. Still, no one showed up that even planned this. So, we decided to jump in anyway and have some fun.
Bad idea.
About half hour later security/people from the hotel were on our butts. It was as if they didn't even know what was going on. With no host to explain ourselves, we get out of the pool to sun bathe with the the few people that didn't leave. The people that did leave were the ones that had no swimsuits and were eaten out royally by the hotel staff/officer.
(Not to be... odd, but there were some people taking pictures of us from there rooms that were going to the con, and were trying to get a peak of the catgirls/catboys :? )
Just to say, if your going to plan/host something, please be there for it, or atleast tell the hotel what you've planned to make sure its alright.
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Nekochi, I agree with you--I don't think the behavior of one rude staff member means that the whole staff was rude and unprofessional. I held conversations with many staff members in both the karaoke room and game room, and they were plenty nice, and I actually got to hear a lot about what was going wrong and right at the con. THEY were under a lot of stress, but I never once saw those people snap at any convention attendee.
Riceman, I'm sorry that you had that experience, but it's a bit out of place to judge the entire staff based on one incident.
Mars, the same thing happened with the Final Fantasy photoshoot--we all ended up migrating outside randomly. This has happened at Sakura Con before, and here's what I have to say about it--convention staff isn't responsible for these gatherings, and they're rarely the ones who come up with the idea. Whoever proposed the idea in the first place is the one who's supposed to be running the gathering. I'm sorry it was such a letdown, but I don't think staff is to blame.
And you know what? I've been reading a lot of complaints around the forums, and I want to say how lucky you guys are without realizing it. This was my first year at Kumoricon, as a 6-year native of Sakura Con. I was blown away; I thought the organization was amazing considering the lack of staff, and making attendees feel welcome was great. I've been in so many situations at Sakura Con where I've been treated (and others around me) as though it doesn't really matter that we're there. SC has also had huge organization problems, especially in '06. Honestly, you guys should try looking more at the positive aspects. I know stuff happens, and I know some of you were disatisfied, but I thought the staff did a great job in general.
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Pros and Cons of the con?
Pros:
The attendees. This is the biggest turnout the con has had. You guys ARE the con, and we can't have it without you. Well, we could, but it would be a lot of us spending lots of money to hang out for a weekend without anyone to entertain. We do appreciate you, no matter what a few bad apples may do.
The Staff and Volunteers. You can say whatever you want, but I am thankful for each and every one of our staff members. We didn't have enough people to do this right, and I really wish we had, but I don't take for granted even one of the people that did step up and help out with this con. There was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears put into doing this, and a lot of lost sleep. If you believe it's easy or that you can do it better, get involved. Come to meetings, and be instrumental in making changes. Volunteer. We need more people, and if you love this con and you want to see it survive, we certainly want to have you join us.
Guests and Panelists: We did the best we could with what we had to work with, and it seems that in the end a lot of people wound up having a good time, and that's really all one can ask, isn't it.
And, on a personal note, I'm also very grateful that even with the craziness no one specifically yelled at me or ripped into me. I tried to let everyone know I was sorry for their inconvience, and tried to ask people nicely to not block hallways by sitting or standing in the middle of them... Everyone was pretty understanding, probably cause I asked, and not yelled at them. The only time anyone gave me even the littlest bit of flack was when I was calling out to people stopping in front of me asking them if they could move because I had a heavy box in my arms that I was trying to run to one of the panel rooms as quickly as possible so I could start the Sailor Moon panel and one of the guys started going, "ooh you have a box you're so special" in a really mocking way. BTW, if I ever see you again, I'm dropping my heavy box on your foot.
But back to the positiveness, everyone was really understanding about stuff being off schedule, and realized that maybe it wasn't my fault and I was doing the best I could with what I had to work with. And I really appreciate 99% the con goers I dealt with. ^_^
Cons:
The Hotel: Never, ever, ever again. Never. The place was too small, which was obvious from the get go when it was announced... The layout was terrible. I was a staff member and I had a difficult time figuring out where everything was. Forget trying to explain it to another. There were a couple times when people asked me where something was, and instead of trying to explain the wicked confusing layout, I just walked with them across the hotel to their panel. Sure, in that moment I could have just given them the ultra confusing map and said "It's over that way" and gestured in some general direction, but I figured maybe that one person would appreciate the fact that I helped them not be totally lost.
Hotel management also did a lot of things that hurt the con, such as not telling us about certain rules until the last minute, or booking a wedding for the main events hall on the same day as closing ceremonies, totally screwing up scheduling for the last day.
Unless the directors are complete masochists, I don't think we'll EVER be using that hotel again.
Equipment (or lack there of): Many panelists had problems with being able to have the equiment they needed brought to the panel room and set up in time for their panels. In many cases, we were told we'd be given something, and it either didn't exist or was misplaced. I ran Sailor Moon live action two nights in a row and it started an hour late both times no matter how much prep I did earlier in the day because I can't run it if the necessary equipment isn't given to me on time. I wasn't the only one to have this issue.
Panels that run over their alotted time: My new pet peeve. This is my first year actually running a panel, and it was a learning experience. Here's a thought though: If panelists want to run their panel for an hour and a half - 2 hours, they should ask for that amount of time so it can be put on the schedule. But the half hour to hour buffer between panels is NOT so you can keep your stuff going. It's so you can take your stuff out and I can get my stuff in. If you're still running your panel up til 5 minutes before mine, I can't possibly have enough time to rearrange the room to accomodate my set up. One guy and I were able to arrange it so that he could keep running some amv's until I was setting up, and that was mostly ok cause he wasn't entirely in my way, but I still would have appreciated him being done on time. Another group though, I had to bring a bunch of stuff in, move tables and chairs around, and they were still sitting in there chatting and such for the buffer period and made it impossible for me to set up. So, please be kind and respect the time slots. Or at least keep an eye to clear out when the next group is ready to come in.
General Disorganization: I spoke about this at the rant and rave. We need to be a lot more co-ordinated next year. Not only do we have to have more resources for staffing, which comes from people like you, but we have to be organized enough to have a clear view of who needs to be doing what when. If we have five people just running around trying to find something to do, we're not going to have as much being done as if we have a clear staff schedule. A schedule of some sort would also help with trying to find out where the random grunt type people are at any given time. If they're scheduled to be somewhere at a particular time, they should be more easily found than if they're wandering around and looking for a place to help out. And the organization of getting volunteers for the con needs to start before the con. We didn't have a volunteer coordinator before the convention started and that cannot happen again.
Registration: WAS A MESS. It MUST change. We not only had an issue with being short handed, but we also had a lot of technical problems between people having paid and not being on lists or having the wrong ages listed on their badge so instead of 18, they were 14, and we had to make new badges for them. All the problems with pre-reg was a huge reason of why it went as slow as it did. If I could have just looked for a badge, looked at an id, and sent you on your way, we'd have been so much faster and wouldn't have had half of the issues we did. You're upset about it and you have EVERY RIGHT TO BE. And I'm right there with you.
As a last thought though, I want every single one of you to really think about something. It's one thing to list the pros and cons of something. You can complain about something all you want. But in order to really see something come out of it is to be proactive. I'm going to beat this horse to death, resurrect it, and then kill the damn thing again, but everyone who reads this thread should sign up to volunteer next year. Even if you just put in a few hours one day of the con as a gopher, you will be contributing to the con and becoming a part of the solution instead of just beating the issue of the problem to death.
Please come to meetings, especially the one that is happening in late October because we'll be electing people to RUN THE CON next year. If you want to see things change, get involved and help choose the directors that will shape next year's convention.
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That's awsome valliegirl! I agree.
PRO-
*Venders
Even if the vendings were small, I still loved it. I even bought over $700 worth of stuff. What can I say, I love my yaoi. ~_^
*Space
Even though I do think the spacing in the hallways were small, I liked the fact that I felt almost like a family. I was meeting the same people over and over and it was an awsome feeling.
*SOME lines
Okay, I didn't have a problem with lines because I got my badge the night before but I did have to wait in line for the cosplay and I met 2 AWSOME people who I am good friends with now. We even had dinner together and went together for all of Sunday.
*Cosplayers
I had the funnest time with all of you cosplayers. There was a particular person who made me angry but... Anyways, I was cosplaying Toshiya, if you all remember seeing me, and on the first day while I was starting to walk to the stairs to go in to Kumori, some TALL guy yells out "I LOVE YOU TOSHIYA!!" and I yell YEEEAAAA!! back to him but I had no idea where he was. All of a sudden this guy glomps me and PICKS me up about 2ft of the ground. I was in shock! :shock: Okay, I'm not the thinnest person so this was amazing. And he was so nice. But that made me happy. :D
CON-
*Panels
I was going to go to a lot of them and they were CANCELLED!! Ecspecially the JRock panel. No one even told us that it was not going to show.
*Viewings
I wasn't that happy about the third viewing room. Every time I went to go watch Jrock they said that it was moved to another time. Either it was earlier or I just missed it. I didn't have internet for this whole week so how was I supposed to get the updated version of it?
*Con Book
It was SOOO hard to read that thing
*Hotel
Even though I like the smallness to it, standing and talking to people in the hallways was a real b*tch. Every time I was going to talk to someone who I just saw or was meeting for the first time, the staff would yell at us for standing in the way. It's not my fault that the halls are so small.
*Rooms
I couldn't find the viewing rooms until later in the day on Saturday by a couple of nice con goers. Geez, I felt stupid. :oops:
*Dance
I was expecting there to be anime, Jrock/pop, and techno considering it's an anime convention. Not an american convention. I didn't like having it mainly american music. It just doesn't work. :(
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okay, here's my opinion... I'll start with the cons so it doesn't seem as pissy
xD
cons:
*the con book was pretty hard to read. The schedule was nice to have but some of the directions and layout of the rooms were crazy hard to read.
*the dance needed more anime, j-pop, and j-rock... I think I heard only about one anime song and that was really suprising... esp. from an anime con lol
*getting yelled at repeatedly from the staff for being in the way... I understand when you're just standing there but when I'm being shoved outta the way while walking through the hall and told to move to the wall (when there wasn't any main event going on either)... that's just... yeah >.>
*oh yeah and a specific person with a complex of being the only reno... dude why even cosplay if you have the need to be the only guy who cosplays the specific character?and a popular one at that... oh yeah and ruining other people's props over it, really mature (I've been told that you broke and/or scratched and bent other cosplayer's weapons... good thing mine was invincible and you had no effect on it SUCKA! *snicker*). yeah, um, someone's got a lot of growing up to do T__T good thing word got around and you got the boot from a few respectable yojimbo.
and the pro's:
yojimbo: despite the hallway incidents, I'm glad to have had you guys. Honestly, I'm so glad you guys listened to the complaints of that one guy being a total vanadlized maniac (there were a TON of complaints and all from the same character... coincidink? I think not xD).
music: I got to time warp, listen to sailor moon, dance to thriller... yeah, nuff' said.
dealer's room: wow, if I had more money, I'd would've definetly been one extremely content cosplayer. Good job!
and the cosplayers, as always, were quite rad be hang out with. I even had myself a little run-in with a few friends from last year! What can be better than that?... oh yeah, MORE new friends to look forward to next year. can't beat that!
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Okay, so I posted most of this in another thread, but just in case people want to see it here...
NEGATIVES:
Standing in line for three hours was VERY disappointing. I was in my Tsuzuki costume which consisted of a white shirt, black blazer, black pants/socks/tie, and black trenchcoat so it wasn't very comfortable in the heat (so I took the trenchcoat off, eheh).
Also, due to the lines, I missed my photoshoot which was supposed to be at noon...that was dispappointing, but I was lucky enough for a Yami no Matsuei group to come by the lines and be willing to have a picture taken with me, and for me to notify them that I was stuck in the lines...
Oh, and my first-con-goer brother missed his Soul Calibur 3 tournament also due to the lines, which was the #1 thing he wanted to do at the con. ._.
I'm all up for the "dividing the line into smaller, alphabetical lines (like at SakuraCon)" so it'll go much more smoothly next year. Oh, and changing the hotel, because the panel that I was hoping to go to was packed inside a small room like a can of sardines.
The map was SMALL. I couldn't find the Karaoke Room anywhere...randomly found it while exploring, and I never saw the Viewing Rooms.
Also, on the Bakazoku...at the cosplay competition, it was hilarious at first, but then it started to drag. Maybe my humor is just different from others, but I think a sexual joke here and there is funny, but if they're one after another for practically an hour it just isn't so funny anymore. And when I went to their daytime show, I thought it would be like Whose Line Is It Anyway? or something similar...not a talk show. Did they do anything besides talking after I left? (Just wondering if I missed out...)
POSITIVES:
On the positive, thanks for the water while waiting in-line! And the karaoke contest was AWESOME, especially since we were filmed...x3 But I'd REALLY like to know what the judges write down on how to decide if you pass the auditions or not. It would be great if each person could get a paper of what the judges thought on why or why not we should or should not make it to the finals.
Oh, and the Anime Dating Game was HILARIOUS. Much love for that, and I hope to see it again next year (along with other anime-themed game shows, haha)!
And the Cosplay Competition! The skits and walk-ons were love.
Dealer's Room was cool (got a lot of neat stuff), yet I guess I'm used to seeing a lot more dealers since I go to SakuraCon and this is my first KumoriCon...but that's okay since this is a smaller con. ;)
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Pros: The anime... found some nice stuff at the con. Met up with some great artists and got to give a nice panel.
Cons: The info in the pocket guide was usually wrong and the map was extremely hard to read.
No room to really move around. Felt like Sakuracon 2005.
Rude staff and rude cosplayers.
The whole info distribution on saturday morning reg and prereg line... the most common line from all of us in line was " what did they say about pre-reg?" They would yell something about pre-reg then when asked what they said they would deny it.
Fun...
Still out of all of this... I have to say that this felt more like my first anime convention.... I didn't know what to do... didn't have much fun... except on rare occasions.
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the dance needed more anime, j-pop, and j-rock... I think I heard only about one anime song and that was really suprising... esp. from an anime con lol
The DJ the 2nd night after the concert actually had a full J-Pop set, however, most people found it too slow to really dance too, so she kicked it up with some happy hardcore. BTW, she absolutely loves everyone who was at the dance, she's a huge anime fan, and is the northwest's biggest happy hardcore DJ, and she came down to Kumoricon because she wanted to have fun at an anime convention.
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the dance needed more anime, j-pop, and j-rock... I think I heard only about one anime song and that was really suprising... esp. from an anime con lol
The DJ the 2nd night after the concert actually had a full J-Pop set, however, most people found it too slow to really dance too, so she kicked it up with some happy hardcore. BTW, she absolutely loves everyone who was at the dance, she's a huge anime fan, and is the northwest's biggest happy hardcore DJ, and she came down to Kumoricon because she wanted to have fun at an anime convention.
really? Was that the midnight dance? if so I couldn't go sadly, due to being half of a year under age TT__TT It wasn't anything towards her, cause most of those were requests, I'm guessing. She was nice enough to even show up ^__^
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Wow, I'm actually surprised at all this hotel hatred. My group and I loved the place. After wandering around on Friday and noting where the panel rooms, vid rooms and main event areas were, we found stuff pretty easily. I'd much rather have the con at this place then downtown. Plus the nearby amenities, including a Michaels for costume emergencies and a Safeway and Target for basic supplies, were a godsend.
For those that asked, yes Bakazoku mostly just talk during their panels. It's not an act though, Brian will begin to discuss genitalia in the middle of a small dinner party, so I'm sure the others do as well :p
I think everyone realizes the pre-reg was overwhelmed and handled pretty badly. I was lucky on Friday just because I fall under M-R, so I was pulled out of line to get my badge, while the rest of my party barely made it in before 10:00pm. I think they just were not ready for this kind of turnout.
Overall, great great con. I saw some nifty panels on props and costuming, the amvs rocked, the cosplay skits were for the most part awesome, and the concert was a gang of fun.
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We know registration sucked ass. We know. We know. We know.
There are several ways we can make it smoother but none of them will matter if we don't have more people on those desks. We need more volunteers to run it next year. Any takers? Please? Without more people it simply will not get any better. The best you can hope for is we select a hotel with more space indoors so you can wait in the air-conditioned lobby instead of in the blazing sun.
As one of those staff members who were constantly trying to clear the halls, I'm sorry if we interrupted your talking with your friends, or if we hurt your feelings by not asking politely, but far too often when someone is telling you to clear a path, it's because someone has just collapsed or is bleeding. It's why we need those paths clear at all times, so our staff, hotel staff, and occasionally, paramedics, can get to where they need to go to respond to an emergency.
About the wrong info in the pocket guide - we were forced by the hotel to reschedule our events at the last minute when they informed us that we could not use our main events hall on Monday.
Obviously we never intended to provide you with wrong information, but our options for correcting information the day before the convention are extremely limited. We couldn't do much but we did have the correct schedule at the Infodesk and updated schedules on the doors to the event rooms.
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We know registration sucked ass. We know. We know. We know.
There are several ways we can make it smoother but none of them will matter if we don't have more people on those desks. We need more volunteers to run it next year. Any takers? Please? Without more people it simply will not get any better. The best you can hope for is we select a hotel with more space indoors so you can wait in the air-conditioned lobby instead of in the blazing sun.
As one of those staff members who were constantly trying to clear the halls, I'm sorry if we interrupted your talking with your friends, or if we hurt your feelings by not asking politely, but far too often when someone is telling you to clear a path, it's because someone has just collapsed or is bleeding. It's why we need those paths clear at all times, so our staff, hotel staff, and occasionally, paramedics, can get to where they need to go to respond to an emergency.
Well I'm one to raise my hand to help out. Just point me in the right direction and I would love to help make next year that much better. My email address is jasonqdavis@earthlink.net if you would like to get hold of me. :D
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Oh, about the wrong info in the pocket guide - we were forced by the hotel to reschedule our events at the last minute when they informed us that we could not use our main events hall on Monday.
Obviously we never intended to provide you with wrong information, but our options for correcting information the day before the convention are extremely limited. We couldn't do much but we did have the correct schedule at the Infodesk and updated schedules on the doors to the event rooms.
wow... that hotel is REALLY bad on informing you guys. First the weapons, then that? not very cool on their part
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Let's just say we are considering all our options for next year's location :D
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Let's just say we are considering all our options for next year's location :D
Is the Marriot from Kcon '04 available? (assuming we don't have to share the space again and it's big enough for the con now)
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Seriously, do I have to reiterate?
Code of Conduct for Kumoricon Forums
No Illegal Stuff
Do not do anything illegal. No solicitation, no harassment. If you are not sure if a post is going to get you in trouble, don’t post it.
Respect Those Around You
Follow the golden rule: do unto others as you would have done unto you. Or rather, do not do unto others what you would not have done unto you. Do not insult, harass, abuse, or otherwise hurt any of the other posters. Apologize if you posts are taken badly.
*All statements in the Code of Conduct are at the discretion of the Kumoricon site administrators and moderators, and may be altered at any time.*
Be kind.
Riceman13 has been banned. Anyone else? If you have a legitimate beef, then you may post it and be heard. I personally think Reg SUCKED. But that doens't mean my staff and posters needs to be harrassed. Anyone who posts here often knows I am always fair. There are just some things I will not tolerate, and belittling the VOLUNTEER STAFF is one of them. We do not get paid enough for this crap.
Please DO continue to tell us problems so we can fix them, but DO NOT be rude or inconsiderate.
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Sorry for the double post, but I wanted my say on good and bad.
Bad:
Registration...was it better on Sunday and after we separated the pre reg tables? We should have had that set up from the start. We have a lot of ideas to fix this. (I love the idea of mailing, but we'll have to see about the cost and logistics.) It was stupid that pre regs had to wait in a long line. This will not happen again.
The weapons policy/ wedding party...two things that got dumped on us at the last minute. I'm really sorry about that. We had saved the printing on the little pocket guides to the last minute to ensure a better schedule. Then came Friday afternoon and the loss of the main event room for Monday. I will give the hotel props for the effieciency with which they reorganized Live One. They were great on that. (They actually enjoyed having us there, contrary to the scowles. I believe they were also understaffed.)
Guests (part one) - It seriously was not happy that we didn't get to utilize the guests to the fullest. They were part of the scheduling issue. Lack of communication in this one. *Sound of ball dropping*
Hotel: Carpet. Ew ew ew ew ew....
Apologies to anyone treated rudely. I'm glad you all said something, or I wouldn't have known this was an issue. Yelling over a loud crowd is somewhat understandable, but pushing is quite bad. Did they at least say "excuse me'"? I have a very low tolerance for rudeness. (Constructive critism is good, but not outright flaming.)
Good:
Attendees - Most of you worked with us on the weapons thing, even though it was dropped on you last minute. I really hope that you were accomodated as much as possible. Most of you were happy to help, and very few of you were openly irritated. (Thanks for that!)
The random panel - will appear again, so long as they follow panelist guidelines and convention rules.
Volunteers - YEAHS! There weren't very many of you, but man you were awesome!! Please speak to me at the general meeting. I'd love to thank you personally.
Big attendance - I like a con with a lot of people. (Not just because of increased revenue. :P) It just seems like the attendees become part of the experience. I've been to cons where I didn't attend a single event, but had a great time just because of the people all around.
Guests (part 2) - When I did get to hang around the guests, they were quite awesome. It sounds like everyone loved A-Key-Kyo and Piano Squall's concerts. Kirk Thornton and Tiffany Grant were very sweet, and it was cool to have Bakazoku, Brad, Greg and Liz, and Toshi return. We had a great selection of guests this year! (Too bad most of you didn't see them...:()
There were lots of other things that were good. It really was a shame that these things were overshadowed by the slow reg process.
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For those that asked, yes Bakazoku mostly just talk during their panels. It's not an act though, Brian will begin to discuss genitalia in the middle of a small dinner party, so I'm sure the others do as well :p
>_>....giggity! lol
That's pretty much what our panels are though....us making people laugh with stories of our weekend exploits, taking questions from audience members, etc. I've already mentioned to Joe the possibility of adding some kind of game to future panels (I've already thought of one that has potential). But honestly, we'd rather not rip off the format of Whose Line, like some other comedy groups rely upon.
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There are several ways we can make it smoother but none of them will matter if we don't have more people on those desks. We need more volunteers to run it next year. Any takers? Please?
Is there any way to just volunteer at the con? I really can't make it down for meetings before the con since it's a really long drive for me (8 hours or so). But I would still love to volunteer to make Kumori Con better. I would especially love being stuck at handing out pre-regs and stuff since I usually arrive for Kumori Con a day early anyways. It's the kind of work I like to do...
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Cons,
All those that where bratty toward all of us yojimbo that where just trying to be pleasant AND do our jobs at the same time. I for one tried to say Please, Thank You, Excuse me and so forth. I know I did yell abit but, who is goina pay attention to a short 5'6" female if I don't raise my voice to be heard over the crowd? I did however try to approach all the people that blocked the way and ask them politely face to face to please move to the wall.
The wedding party. >< what a headache they where, trying to force themselves into events, harrassing cosplayers and staff. They sucked.
I have a few other cons but, I would rather post the Pro's more.
Pros
All those attendees that tried to make the most of waiting in line and Listened when we asked you to do something. You where all a great help.
The guys and galls that "Made Friends" with the wall, I thank you for your great sense of humor and for the laughs. I needed them :)
All those that partisipated in the Fun we Yojimbo tried to start while you all waited in line saturday, we tried to make it as fun as possible to help pass the time and your partisipation helped greatly.Thank You (Kudo's to the School Teacher that helped start the chating and singing :D ) I know it was hot and icky, (I should know, I was wearing all black with a trench coat ><) but at least you made the effort to have fun.
To all the random people that came up and either gave me a hug, told me how good a job I was doing or gave me a high five. I thank you so much, you made it worth it. *tears* You have no idea how much that boosted me up when I was so close to breaking.
To those that randomly handed out food to us poor underfed yojimbo, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! It is kindness like that that makes it worth while. *Plus to Crystal, who volunteered, watched my post while I was taking care of people face to face/other things and fed me while I was on duty, I bow to you, you where so a big help*
And, to all the Cosplayers, thank you for the awsome colorfull costumes (most of which I couldn't reconize because I'm such an anime noob *lol*)
Also, the dance. I haven't been to many but to me, even though I can't dance to save my life, it was fun.
The vendors I helped unload stuff for, thank you for being so nice when asking and directing.
(I know, this post turned into more of a thank you session than a pros/cons but, I think they can be counted that way if you think about it)
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Overall, I had a great time at the con. The little ups and downs didn't keep me from enjoying myself, but I'd like to address them here.
Cons (to get them out of the way)
-the website. Note really part of the actual con experience, but still. I simply couldn't get any useful information out of it. It would have been nice to see contests, like for the artists room (was there one?), or the mascot, included in a section on the front. If it was, and I missed it, then this complaint can be ignored, but in general I thought the website definately needed work.
-bakazoku. Seriously, I love these guys, but this year everything just felt overdone. Maybe I've just been to too many of the panels, so I hear stories told (differently) over and over again. But I was generally not impressed with the post-contest show. It was funny, yes, but it got old fast. On the same note, I thought the whole mystery thing simply didn't make sense. It was a cool idea, but did the clues actually connect to anything? I went to closing ceremony, and I saw the presentation, but I'm still trying to figure out how the clues had any relevency. Lots of love, and better luck next time!
-yaoi. Ok, we get it already. Enough. It's not -actually- funny any more. Here I mean mostly in regard to all the skits, because pretty much everyone included yaoi somehow, with the possible exception of the ones that actually placed (good call, judges!). Pulling the yaoi card just feels so cheap. Yes, the fan girls will squeal, but they're alot louder than the majority of the audiance, who are rolling their eyes. Give it up.
-scheduling. On monday there was an Ask the Experts of cosplay pannel, which I think could have been really useful to people, but less than a handful of people decided to show up. The reason was because said pannel was at 8:00am. On the last day of the con, who honestly is going to get up that early unless they have something seriously investigated in it? I certainly wouldn't have if I hadn't gone in support of a friend.
-anime. Nothing terribly interesting seemed to be playing in the viewing rooms. Sure, there were a few interesting titles, but mostly it just felt common-place. I mean, if I'm at a con, I want to see something special, not something I can watch for free on youtube, or easily rent at the local comic book store.
Pros (finally)
-the location. Actually, I was happy with where we were. It wasn't as conveniant as last year, and it was a bit confusing/cramped, but I thought the surrounding area was awesome. So many things were in walking distance, but the hotel itself could have been better.
-pannels. The ones I went to, which were mainly cosplay panels, were all really interesting, and most of them had good attendence.
-cosplay contest. Overally, a very entertaining show. I was mostly impressed with the acts this year, and some of the costumes looked really well done. It was running really close to on time this year, which I know the judges especually appriciated, not to mention all of us in the audiance.
Well, that's it for now, I think. Once again, I generally enjoyed by con experience, and can't wait until next year. Keep up the good work everyone!
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Is there any way to just volunteer at the con? I really can't make it down for meetings before the con since it's a really long drive for me (8 hours or so). But I would still love to volunteer to make Kumori Con better. I would especially love being stuck at handing out pre-regs and stuff since I usually arrive for Kumori Con a day early anyways. It's the kind of work I like to do...
That would be awesome! I'm going to start a list of people who want to volunteer next year and add you to it, and we will try to see how best we can utilize volunteers and stay in touch with them during the year. Finding a Volunteer Coordinator would be a good start...
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That would be awesome! I'm going to start a list of people who want to volunteer next year and add you to it, and we will try to see how best we can utilize volunteers and stay in touch with them during the year. Finding a Volunteer Coordinator would be a good start...
Maybe we should make a seperate thread for Volunteer issues... I would love to be Vice-Volunteer Coordinator maybe, but I won't take the title because I'm too young to be 'staff' and I can't go to any meetings. The Coordinator should be able to go to meetings and come in contact with the other parts of the Con.
Perhaps you could put together a Staff/Volunteer Kumori Con Newsletter every month and send it out over email/mail in order to keep in touch with volunteers over the year.
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Staff already have a mailing list and access to several hidden groups on the forums. If we can start the year with several willing volunteers this time we can definitely see about getting more of these things to the volunteers too. People who stick around year-round and develop an understanding of con polilcies will be essential at reg desk.
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Staff already have a mailing list and access to several hidden groups on the forums. If we can start the year with several willing volunteers this time we can definitely see about getting more of these things to the volunteers too. People who stick around year-round and develop an understanding of con polilcies will be essential at reg desk.
Add me to your list for volunteers!!
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Done!
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-bakazoku. Seriously, I love these guys, but this year everything just felt overdone. Maybe I've just been to too many of the panels, so I hear stories told (differently) over and over again. But I was generally not impressed with the post-contest show. It was funny, yes, but it got old fast. On the same note, I thought the whole mystery thing simply didn't make sense. It was a cool idea, but did the clues actually connect to anything? I went to closing ceremony, and I saw the presentation, but I'm still trying to figure out how the clues had any relevency. Lots of love, and better luck next time!
Which part of the post contest show? Our skit, the the filler after it, or both? We're thinking about having two or three skits ready to go (instead of just one) so there's less filler afterwards while the judges do their stuff.
To help reduce yaoi (which sadly, the audience always wants), an idea has been mentioned to get more girls onstage....finding ones with potential is the only real problem there. We may hold auditions for female extras onstage and such.
As for the mystery, it's something we had only been working on the last month or two, and that's around our work schedules...so at most we were only able to meet up once a week. The director of programming loved the idea, and had been looking for something to replace the aging scavenger hunt, so we decided to give it a go. The clues revealed that the ghost was indeed not a "ghost", and pointed to what the ghost was after....Grover Cleveland's treasure (random, huh?). We would have loved to add more clues to the list to lead to this, but time and money constraints hampered that (not to mention I was the one making all the clues, and even the ghost costume). Personally, I think we could have implemented it all better had we started planning earlier. It was a great idea with lots of potential, but even I'll admit we could have done better. Will we try it again and try to make it better? Don't know right now... We may just come up with something new for next year if we're invited back, and hopefully we'll have done alot more planning for it.
Thanks for your constructive criticism. :)
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I was only able to make it to Saturday for a few hours, which comprised of the line, the Dealer's Room and one panel, so I don't have a lot to talk about unfortunately =(
Pros:
Con attendees were very polite and in good spirits despite the heat and the reg situation.
Dealer's Room offered a much better range of items than in previous years. I was happy to see the all the clothing at one of the vendors, and I picked up some jrock at another vendor. Lots of great stuff to choose from! Great variety!
AMV contest was run very very well. Lots of ballots and pencils. Smooth entrance (with tickets) so there was no big long line like last year.
Water provided by the staff for those waiting outside. I understand this wasn't going on all morning, but the fact that it was offered later was very nice. Thank you.
Great Cosplay costumes! I saw a huge variety of really nice costumes this year.
Cons:
Pre-reg/reg line. nuff said.
Narrow hallways
Small/lack of signage
I was gonna list the small program with map, but from the sounds of that, it was the hotel's fault. =/
Hotel staff seemed put-off. I thought the Double Tree folks last year were nicer.
Suggestions:
As one attendee suggested already, a map printed on one sheet of paper (8.5 x 11) in each bag would be great.
Signage printed on a sheet of paper (again 8.5 x 11) in big bold letters for each panel taped near the entrance to each room would be great. Some of the hotels have holders for such signs so that you can put the entire day's panels into the holders. That way when a panel is over, that host can just remove their sign paper from the hold and the next panel's title will show, etc...
If they don't have holders, each panel host can tape their own printed title sheet near the door for the diration of their panel.
Where the tickets for the AMV contest used for other events? If not, we could print the ballots on them so that everyone who gets a ticket to see the show gets a ballot on the back. If the tickets are used in other events, the front can be pre-printed ahead of time, and then some of the sheets could have ballots printed on the back of them (before they are cut) at a later date.
Pre-reg - if we have enough volunteers, perhaps we can have pickups on both Thursday and Friday night before the con. Someone suggested mailing them, but I can see how that would be an issue (verifying ages, making sure no one tries to 'copy' the badges, etc...)
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Pre-reg - if we have enough volunteers, perhaps we can have pickups on both Thursday and Friday night before the con. Someone suggested mailing them, but I can see how that would be an issue (verifying ages, making sure no one tries to 'copy' the badges, etc...)
One way to get around this would be to have some type of bar code on the badge. That would be hard to fake and would be much quicker than normal, even if you did add an extra day. It's just an idea. I'll be the first to admit that I don't have much practical experience in this area so I really don't know how well it would work.
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Overall GREAT experience. Can't give enough love to the cosplayers and the cool people that I met during the con. Extra love if you gave me food! <3 I had so much fun just wandering around meeting you all and giving hugs!
Just to give some opinions/suggestions/shoutouts on various subjects:
Pre-reg Lines
I just wanna say thanks for extending the time limit on Friday night. I would have seriously cried if I waited an hour and a half just to have it all be for nothing.
Also, there is only so far people can squash against a wall. Yelling in people's ears every five minutes doesn't make them any happier to comply either. What needs to be done for next year is set up a rope that splits the hallway in half. Problem solved.
Furthermore, more staff needs to be registering people. More tables and further splitting up of the letters would be good. This is the same issue at every con, but I saw people still standing in line way late in the day on Saturday! What happened to the idea that pre-reg would save you time?
Hotel/Location
It was too tiny for that many people and their policies interfered with our cosplay.
However, I thought that the hotel beds were awesome, I had no trouble sleeping on them at all, which made my con experience better. I also liked the convenient location. No trekking through downtown on one way streets and tons of convenient food locations.
Communication
Looks like the hotel didn't really understand that they were hosting a crazy ANIME convention with 2000ish people! The miscommunications on the "leashing" and the masks were really annoying. Most of us just ignored those rules after awhile anyways, so it ended up being fine. I spent a lot of money on the handcuffs for my friend and I to have as Light and L (Death Note), I would have been distraught if I couldn't wear them.
Also, It seems like the cops showed up quite a few times, I assume because of misunderstandings?
If I was a regular person that wasn't into anime, I'd feel pretty gypped and annoyed that I paid for a nice hotel and there's a bunch of loud freaky people everywhere. (I love us! But from their point of view... that's what its like...) Some people were cool about it - I got some comments on my costume from an old lady.
However, there was the above mentioned drunkard. There were several kids around 10 or 11 yrs old that kept trying to get into the dance that I talked to for awhile. They were really cool, but since it was past curfew (but they weren't part of the con, so I guess it didn't apply to them?) I was hoping they weren't gonna walk in on any questionable activity. Also, the people eating breakfast in the cafe place kept acting like we were being intrusive, and honestly, when I am paying tons of money to stay there and be at the convention, I should not be made to feel intrusive.
Staff
I thought overall, the yojimbo did a great job. I was seriously glad they were there to take care of the drunk guy that wanted me to "sell my badge to him for 100 bucks" so he could "go to the pokemon party". >.>;
There was one point I saw one staff member be rude to another staff member. Me and my twin saw this and said, "Awww!" So we went up to her, gave her a hug, and told her we were glad she was using her time to help at Kumori-con. More people should definitely do this. It helps people a lot to know you're greatful... a lot of times we concentrate on the rude people that make us angry without thinking about all the people that are doing a great job.
AMV Contest
The videos were awesome AND didn't last forever and ever. It was just the right length! Thank you for making those tough decisions to cut a few to keep it within the time limit!
I was so ecstatic that Ouran won!
Creation Station
This place is just... woot. Keep it up!
Generalization
It seems like everyone gets together an act and if people don't think its funny enough, then they pull out the magic yaoi card for cheap entertainment. A little bit okay! But umm... *sweatdrop* it was overdone. People need to realize when something gets OLD.
Cosplay Contest -
Bakazoku is no exception to above generalization, though honestly to give them a break, I'm not sure what I would have done to entertain an anxious audience for 45 min. I thought some stuff like the gamer jokes, the scooby doo, and the cereal were funny.
HOWEVER, I found most of their performance... (to be very nice about it) completely and totally inappropriate. Seriously guys, save that for the 18+ panels. I did not wanna see the guy spanking the other guy's butt, while I'm kinda pretty much stuck there as I am waiting for the results. If I wasn't in the cosplay contest, I would have walked out. Furthermore, does anyone happen to know why Lauren Doster wasn't in the room to receive her future ninja award? If you guessed a) she was in the bathroom, you are wrong. If you guessed b) her mom had to take her out of the room because it was too inappropriate, then you are correct. I just think we need to do a better job of keeping the 18+ stuff in the 18+ panels or after curfew, while keeping the on-stage stuff relatively 13+ or 15+.
Also, as a disclaimer, although most of the people in our skit were yaoi fans, our skit was in no way yaoi, as the handcuffs are part of the manga (Death Note), and I (for one) still thought our skit was awesome, though we aren't expert level or anything.
Bringing me to another issue... I thought the cosplay contest was fabulous in so many ways:
People were great to work with, informative to the best they knew, it didn't take up our entire day, and we actually got to watch the skits after ours (unlike Sakura-con, which is why I refuse to be in skits there).
It was a little disorganized, but everyone did a great job winging it and it turned out great. The only slight complaint/suggestion I have is I was wondering why the categories were split up differently than normal and in the past? Usually, I am used to Novice, Journeyman, Expert, and Staff, but instead it seemed like everyone was pitted against everyone. I think we may have some disappointed noobs??? I thought there definitely should have been a prize for "Hey I'm a total noob, I've never been in a skit, but somehow it turned out, yay!" because some of the people that were obviously beginners, still had really funny skits, and I thought they could have benefitted a lot from just a little recognition.
I'm assuming my group would have been in the journeyman category had it been split up that way. I had so much fun and our skit was like, flawless. But hey, we come up with our stuff a day or two before the con at the most... not like people who build doors/props for their skit. (Btw that skit rocked!) I kinda felt like I had no chance of winning anything cause I was going against groups that were better than me, though.
OH, and WHY is the premeet at EIGHT IN THE MORNING? *dies*
Besides those two details which are just a personal thing to me, I thought it was great. I can't say THANK YOU enough for not running things the way Sakura-con does.
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Cosplay -
Yes there was some inapproperate things that happened. One of which I was too stunned to catch in time and will add to the cosplay rules for next year. But seriously - have you seen Sakuracon's cosplay? They're more family friendly than we are and they had two guys making out in one skit among other things. The truth is I was programming director (a 60 hour a week job) and cosplay manager (about a 30 hour a week job) and going to school full time - not to mention working. Overworked does not begin to describe it. You want to see cosplay better next year - you be cosplay manager or staff, volunteer, something to take some pressure off the rest of us so we can do our job.
Panels -
Yeah, there were a lot of changes and cancelations. Part of that was the hotel. Part of that was our relations director got screwed by his work and wasn't allowed to even come to the con. Also relations was understaffed and didn't have guest liasons to tell Guests when their panels were.
Also most of Programming was double, and triple staffing. My Video manager, karaoke manager were the same person as well as a panelists. My gaming manager was also the vice chair, hotel liasion and panelist. My panelist manager was also assitant video manager, assistant karaoke manager, and panelists. Most of the staff across everywhere signed up to do a panel and when there's not enough staff to go around something has to fall through and it usualy ends up being panels. When you havent eaten or slept for two or three days you stop wanting to interact with hyper, loud, and in my experiance often horribly rude con goes.
Something has to happen at 8:00AM Im sorry if you panel got pushed really early, but I never heard a complaint before con and you never specified a time. You want it at a different time, fill out the damned paperwork correctly and check up on it.
attendies -
There were many many good attendies. Many who volunteered and many who where like "I'll be 18 in a month, how do I become staff?!!?!" To all of you, thanks you. I love you all.
But there were a handful of bad attendies. not simply rude or inconciderate, but when I say "The panel is done, I need to clean up please leave" and I have to fight to get a hot glue gun out of your hand - that is not exceptable. When my assistant is working his ass off with huge blistsers, a sprained knee and nothing but smiles, I do not need attendies teating him like crud. Do note if I had been the one was verbaly attacked like that you would escoted to ops and likely lost your badge. My staff does not get paid enough to be sent into tears. Just because you paid does not give you license to be rude.
Reg
Again, partially a staffing issue (anyone see a pattern?) and partially and organizational issue as well as an inexperiance issue. Really reg in the past few years has been spoiled. It's one of the only department that has had a consistant leader over the years. Our current Reg master got the job late in the game and did a really good job, but with all the other problems inexperiance complied them and made it hard for us to jump back on our feet. Also Kumoricon's archenemie shows back up. When job titles change information, advice and experiance doesnt usually transfer. We're working on changing that, but the problem often stands of there's no one to hand it to and someone moves far away or is really busy etc and can't.
Schedule/info booth
I stayed up late to make sure that we had a fresh schedule each day up on the site and a schedule next to every room. Also I tried to make sure info booth knew what was going on. But when someone wants to take a food break the last thing on their mind is all the changes and protocall they need to tell the next person. Furthermore I cant force panelists to show up. I can threaten to take away their funding, and I can't even do that with guests.
Communication was a huge problem this year. Part of that was because we have some con staff vetrans who simply know how we do things at Kcon and others who are completely green and experiance isnt trickled down as much as we'd like.
Know that as staff we will be working very hard to fix these issues as we do every year and I personally will work my butt of the make 07 better but as it sits there simply isnt enough staff. Really we need more of you - we will always need more, but nothing will get better if we don't have help. Even if that help is agreeing to watch a viewing room when you'd already planned to, or helping out a couple of hours behind a reg desk it all adds up.
Nyco
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@ Kekame
As I've stated before and in other threads, we tend to cater to the audience demand...and sadly, the majority seem to want anything yaoi. We're looking for ways to severely reduce the amount of yaoi. Some constructive criticism has already been given to us, and some people have given us some good ideas, which we are discussing.
I personally can't think of anything we did onstage that would have been rated 18+. There was no cursing (we even went so far as to change Greed's "pierceable ass" line to "pierceable behind" and changed "hit me in the nuts" to "hit me in the junk"). Yes there was innuendo in the filler, but it still wasn't really 18+ by most standards. Humorous spanking such as seen onstage would easily be classified as pg-13 by the movie ratings board.
I'm sorry that you don't find yaoi entertaining so much, but the sad reality is that most of the people in the audience do. :? Granted, as I said, we are looking for ways to severely reduce it in our performances. We too, are getting tired of using yaoi jokes, despite it's demand from the crowd.
Anyway, thank you for your input. =)
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-bakazoku. Seriously, I love these guys, but this year everything just felt overdone. Maybe I've just been to too many of the panels, so I hear stories told (differently) over and over again. But I was generally not impressed with the post-contest show. It was funny, yes, but it got old fast. On the same note, I thought the whole mystery thing simply didn't make sense. It was a cool idea, but did the clues actually connect to anything? I went to closing ceremony, and I saw the presentation, but I'm still trying to figure out how the clues had any relevency. Lots of love, and better luck next time!
Which part of the post contest show? Our skit, the the filler after it, or both? We're thinking about having two or three skits ready to go (instead of just one) so there's less filler afterwards while the judges do their stuff.
To help reduce yaoi (which sadly, the audience always wants), an idea has been mentioned to get more girls onstage....finding ones with potential is the only real problem there. We may hold auditions for female extras onstage and such.
As for the mystery, it's something we had only been working on the last month or two, and that's around our work schedules...so at most we were only able to meet up once a week. The director of programming loved the idea, and had been looking for something to replace the aging scavenger hunt, so we decided to give it a go. The clues revealed that the ghost was indeed not a "ghost", and pointed to what the ghost was after....Grover Cleveland's treasure (random, huh?). We would have loved to add more clues to the list to lead to this, but time and money constraints hampered that (not to mention I was the one making all the clues, and even the ghost costume). Personally, I think we could have implemented it all better had we started planning earlier. It was a great idea with lots of potential, but even I'll admit we could have done better. Will we try it again and try to make it better? Don't know right now... We may just come up with something new for next year if we're invited back, and hopefully we'll have done alot more planning for it.
Thanks for your constructive criticism. :)
I was refering mainly to the filler, and I know alot of that is just you guys going and tyring to do your best to entertain a huge, tired, overheating crowd. I actually don't remember the skit at all...but I was pretty out of it by the end.
I think there should definately be more girls on stage, but then, you can't really help the way a group forms. I don't really have any useful ideas for cutting down on the yaoi, since the fangirls seem to like it so. Just bare in mind that not everyone squeals so easily :wink:
As for the mystery, as I said, it was a nifty idea, it just felt like it fell a little short. This time, anyway. I really liked the idea of having clues hidden around for people to find, and I'm sure with more planning and forthought it could really be a hit. Well, good luch for next con, hope none of my comments came off as too offensive!
@Kekame, about the levels in the cosplay contest. I can't be sure, since you'll have to ask a judge for the first-hand opinion, but a question similar to yours was brought up at the Ask the Experts panel. From what I remember the judges saying, when the contest is devided up the way you mentioned (Novice, Journeyman, Expert), there are often alot of contestents who end up in the wrong category. Everyone has a different idea of what fits these sections, and apparantly there can be alot of confussion. Since the judges can usually tell just by inspecting the costume, I think this year they took all that in to consideration individually, and judged with it in mind. From what I saw, the judging seemed pretty fair.
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For those that asked, yes Bakazoku mostly just talk during their panels. It's not an act though, Brian will begin to discuss genitalia in the middle of a small dinner party, so I'm sure the others do as well :p
>_>....giggity! lol
That's pretty much what our panels are though....us making people laugh with stories of our weekend exploits, taking questions from audience members, etc. I've already mentioned to Joe the possibility of adding some kind of game to future panels (I've already thought of one that has potential). But honestly, we'd rather not rip off the format of Whose Line, like some other comedy groups rely upon.
Argh, this is a pet peeve of mine... The 404's (who I am assuming you are talking about, since no other group does improv comedy at cons like they do) are NOT ripping off of "Whose Line is it Anyway?". They practice a style of improv comedy that came out of Chicago in the 60's and 70's, called Theater Sports. It is based on audience participation, short, fast moving skits, and comedy. There is another school of improv that developed at about the same time, that involves longer skits (sometimes full-play length) and tends to be more serious. This group puts on what are essentially improvised plays, rather than short comedy sketches.
The original Whose Line (the one aired in England) was simply taking the Theater Sports outline and putting it on TV. The one in America just made an American version of the English show. Whose Line did NOT invent Theater Sports, they just made it popular. The reason I suspect that the 404's say in their introduction that what they do is like Whose Line is because that's what people associate with improv now. If they asked how many people had seen a Theater Sports show, almost no one would know what they were talking about. Most large cities have at least one group that does improv comedy in the Theater Sports style. There's one that performs at Pike Place Market in my city of Seattle. Ryan Stiles actually does improv shows in Bellingham, I think. None of these groups are ripping off Whose Line. Many of them were around before the American Whose Line was even aired.
If you were referring to someone other than the 404's, then fine. I just get sick of people assuming that since they do short, skit-based improv comedy they must have gotten the idea from Whose Line, rather than, I dunno, one of the improv troupes that perform Theater Sports around the country.
Can ya tell I was a drama student?
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thhe audienc wouldnt let them get far from yaoi it seems it me (a over 21 female not obsessed withh yaoi) , it gets to a point get the people what they want
can openers!!
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@ Fizz
I wasn't referring to the 404's directly, though they are one of the groups I have seen over the years that use that style. I'm not talking about just at anime conventions, but regular, everyday, non-anime events and shows as well. I referred to it as the "format" of Whose Line because that's how people know the comedy style. Yes, I know the style has been around long before the creation of Whose Line, but as you said, if you ask someone about Theater Sports, nobody will know what you're talking about. The reason I say Whose Line is the same as why the 404's mention it in their introductions....because that's what people associate with that style of improv comedy now. Not that we have anything against the 404's, as we're actually friends and on quite good terms with them. At conventions both groups are at, we attend eachothers parties, hang out, talk, etc. While our styles of comedy greatly differ, we actually get along quite well. :)
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the audience wouldnt let them get far from yaoi it seems it me (a over 21 female not obsessed withh yaoi) , it gets to a point get the people what they want
can openers!!
This is true. x_x We really didn't want to resort to constant yaoi antics, but the crowd kept screaming for more. x_x
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Alright, I can understand why you wouldn't want to start another Theater Sports group (kinda. I love theater sports myself, and don't know why you WOULDN'T want to start a theater sports group ^_~), it's just a bit of a pet peeve of mine when people say the 404's are just ripping off Whose Line. It's like... I dunno, someone saying that Gundam Seed is ripping off of Evangelion, since both have giant robots, when they don't realize that there were Gundam series back before Eva came out.
Glad to have that cleared up, and I hope I at least educated a few people on the general history of improv comedy.
Cheers!
Edited because I while I have an idea what "leather sports" are, and I might like them, but they are not what I was talking about in this post.
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the audience wouldnt let them get far from yaoi it seems it me (a over 21 female not obsessed withh yaoi) , it gets to a point get the people what they want
can openers!!
This is true. x_x We really didn't want to resort to constant yaoi antics, but the crowd kept screaming for more. x_x
Of COURSE you didn't Captain Trouser Snake.
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Wah~! I don't mean to come off bluntly!!! I really love everybody!
@Kekame, about the levels in the cosplay contest. I can't be sure, since you'll have to ask a judge for the first-hand opinion, but a question similar to yours was brought up at the Ask the Experts panel. From what I remember the judges saying, when the contest is devided up the way you mentioned (Novice, Journeyman, Expert), there are often alot of contestents who end up in the wrong category. Everyone has a different idea of what fits these sections, and apparantly there can be alot of confussion. Since the judges can usually tell just by inspecting the costume, I think this year they took all that in to consideration individually, and judged with it in mind. From what I saw, the judging seemed pretty fair.
I see your point. ^_^
Not that this really applies to me at all, but I was just suggesting that maybe there should be a special award for first-timers? Like a beginner award? I guess I'm just a person that likes to encourage people to step up and try new stuff.
Anyways, I have absolutely no arguement with you. The people that won were fantastic entertainment and 100% deserved it!
@ Kekame
As I've stated before and in other threads, we tend to cater to the audience demand...and sadly, the majority seem to want anything yaoi. We're looking for ways to severely reduce the amount of yaoi. Some constructive criticism has already been given to us, and some people have given us some good ideas, which we are discussing.
I personally can't think of anything we did onstage that would have been rated 18+. There was no cursing (we even went so far as to change Greed's "pierceable ass" line to "pierceable behind" and changed "hit me in the nuts" to "hit me in the junk"). Yes there was innuendo in the filler, but it still wasn't really 18+ by most standards. Humorous spanking such as seen onstage would easily be classified as pg-13 by the movie ratings board.
I'm sorry that you don't find yaoi entertaining so much, but the sad reality is that most of the people in the audience do. :? Granted, as I said, we are looking for ways to severely reduce it in our performances. We too, are getting tired of using yaoi jokes, despite it's demand from the crowd.
Anyway, thank you for your input. =)
I might have done the same thing? I mean, it puts you in a really hard spot to entertain an anxious audience for 45 min as they are growing more impatient for the results... and yeah, you have to do what the audience wants, or else people are gonna go nuts... I dunno what to say really, except that the majority of people rabidly screaming "yaoi yaoi!!!" were far too young to buy it.
For the record, the beginning skit part and the whole scooby doo drama I thought was really funny and cute. Keep it up on that end. Inuendos are great fun, and I could care less how many times you say "ass" so long as no one's touching anyone else's while onstage.
I didn't mean to be offensive to you guys, and in general you guys are great as pleasing the crowd. I really appreciate the sacrifices you are making to keep things cleaner and more original.
Cosplay -
Yes there was some inapproperate things that happened. One of which I was too stunned to catch in time and will add to the cosplay rules for next year. But seriously - have you seen Sakuracon's cosplay? They're more family friendly than we are and they had two guys making out in one skit among other things. The truth is I was programming director (a 60 hour a week job) and cosplay manager (about a 30 hour a week job) and going to school full time - not to mention working. Overworked does not begin to describe it. You want to see cosplay better next year - you be cosplay manager or staff, volunteer, something to take some pressure off the rest of us so we can do our job.
I know all about it, as I was actually part of that cosplay contest at SC 05 when the guys kissed onstage. Those guys didn't TELL anyone what they were gonna do. Not that I can say this for sure, but if you ask Sakura-con, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't say, "Oh yeah, we condoned that!"
Anyways, I don't really think anything inappropriate happened in any of the skits I saw. I said I thought Bakazoku's spanking was inappropriate and that people pulled out yaoi any time they had nothing better to do. As a side note, I wouldn't cosplay the Ouran twins if I completely hated yaoi, I'm just saying I thought it was overdone. Or maybe the only reason it got old was that it seemed like an incessant amount of preteen fangirls sat behind me screaming "yaoi yaoi!" the entire time regardless of who was onstage or what was going on.
Kumori-con's cosplay contest I thought, was ran absolutely great. I liked the fact that you allowed us to sink back into the audience afterwards - a luxury denied at above stated con. People were totally cool about stuff even though we had a bunch of special requests for our skit. You mentioned in the morning, that everything was still in the process of coming together, but in the end, quality of entertainmentwise it was the best cosplay contest I've watched. I think you guys did a great job, and I much prefer the laid back atmosphere of Kumori-con than I did to the environment of Sakura-con 2005.
And way end of story: you guys did great! *mwah* it looked like you were stressed, but it turned out absolutely awesome I had lots of fun! Sorry if any wording made it seem anything otherwise.
Aside from that I forgot to mention:
WOOT DEALERS ROOM! WOOT ARTIST ALLEY!
Woot for the dance too, but... more slow songs please? I'm in a hot costume and its tiring so a slow one is a welcome break! <3
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WOOT DEALERS ROOM! WOOT ARTIST ALLEY!
Woot for the dance too, but... more slow songs please? I'm in a hot costume and its tiring so a slow one is a welcome break! <3
I agree with you on all accounts here.
I thought the dealers room really improved. Someone on the forum (I forget who) said they didn't like it very much and it had a lot of the same stuff but I think it all depends in what you're looking for. For example I'll talk about wall scrolls. Several booths sold wall scrolls but if you looked carefully there were different kinds at different booths. The 2 Negima wall scrolls I bought were only at one booth.
Then there were similar plushies but depending on when and where the price would be different. I bought one plushie originally $12 for $9 and saw another booth selling the same for $20 on the last day. If it's one thing I learned while walking around art fairs it's to look around, see something you like, and see if you can find something similar for a better price.
The artist alley was really cool. I liked looking around at all the different works and meeting the people there.
And yes on more slow songs. I only heard one while I was there (maybe two but you couldn't really slow dance to it). Plus I'm sure there are some slow Anime songs which would be kinda nice.