Announcements and updates specifically from the 2007 convention year.
The last day to pre-register at the price of $25 is Monday, December 31. To get this rate, pre-register by the end of Monday (midnight). Once Tuesday starts, the rate goes up to $30. To pre-register online, follow the instructions here. If you are pre-registering by mail, your registration must be postmarked (not necessarily received) by Monday, December 31.
The general meeting on Saturday, January 12 will take place at our 2008 hotel, the Portland Doubletree–Lloyd Center, in the St. Helens room on the second floor. The time is 1pm-5pm. The full details, address, and map are located on the calendar entry.
The remaining general meetings until Kumoricon 2008 have been scheduled. They are as listed below:
All meetings are from 1pm to 5pm. The locations of the meetings have not been determined yet, but they will be announced once they are set. The calendar contains an entry for each meeting and will be kept up to date with details for each meeting.
There is no general meeting in December or April. In April, there is a weekend staff retreat, but the details and dates have not been determined yet.
All general meetings are open to the public. They are intended for potential and current staff and volunteers. The meetings provide an opportunity to give news updates on the progress of planning for the convention, and for staff to meet in small groups to plan work and projects.
You can now pre-register online for Kumoricon 2008!
Pre-registration for the full weekend is only $25 until December 31. You can pre-register until August 15, 2008, or register at the door, but the earlier you register, the lower the cost.
In addition to online pre-registration by credit card, you can pre-register by mail and pay with a check or money order.
Please review the full registration and convention policies, and all registration options, on the registration page.
Those of you looking for the royal treatment can opt for our special VIP Registration. Only a limited number are available. For $200, you will receive no line at the door, priority seating to all events, a ticket to the limited admittance guest dinner, a free Kumoricon 2008 T-shirt, and a special VIP-only badge.
The location of the November General Meeting has now been set as the Salem Public Library. This meeting is on Sunday, November 11, from 1pm-5pm. See the calendar entry for full details.
Second update: The street address of the library on the calendar entry was incorrect and has been corrected. If you already viewed the page and wrote it down, please check it again. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Welcome to the new Kumoricon 2008 Board of Directors!
Board-elected
Membership-elected
We’ve already been working hard to make the next convention the best yet. We will also be hosting smaller events during the year so keep checking back to stay informed on current happenings!
The first general meeting will be in the Salem area on Sunday, the 11th of November. We will announce the exact location here shortly. General meetings are open to the public and intended for potential and current staff and volunteers. On this date, we will open online pre-registration for Kumoricon 2008, and open staff registration at the meeting.
The October general meeting and elections will be held at the Doubletree Portland-Lloyd Center, Multnomah Room, on Sunday, October 7.
10:00am - 12:00noon
12:00noon - 2:00pm
2:30pm - close
Attendance at the general meeting and elections is open to the public. Anybody may participate in discussion, but only staff for Kumoricon 2007 may vote.
Nominations are currently open. Nominations may be made, and discussion of the candidates may be held, in this forum area.
The hotel address and map are available on the calendar entry for this event.
Thank you to our attendees, volunteers, and staff for making Kumoricon 2007 the most exciting year yet. From the new registration system, to the wonderful support we received from the Hilton, to our larger gaming room and new manga library, we’ve come a long way in five years.
A few facts demonstrating our growth:
In 2008, Kumoricon will be returning to our most popular past hotel: The Portland Doubletree at Lloyd Center, our home in 2005. You, the attendees and staff, asked for this, and we heard you. We were very happy with the Hilton in Vancouver this year but we’ve already outgrown it and the Doubletree will nicely accommodate our expected growth for 2008.
General elections for the 2008 officers will be scheduled and announced shortly on the front page right here, and the nominations will be posted in the forums.
Look forward to the Kumoricon 2008 website, opening in less than a month featuring a new design and our 2008 mascot as voted by the staff and announced at closing ceremonies.
Kumoricon will have a booth at the Uwajimaya Festival Japan this weekend, located at the Beaverton Uwajimaya store. This festival runs for two days: Saturday and Sunday, September 15-16, from 11am to 5pm each day.
We’re selling registrations for 2008 at the lowest pre-reg rate of $25! If you register at this event, we’ll mail your badge no later than just after the end of the first tier of pre-registrations (roughly the end of 2007).
A-Key Kyo, a guest of honor at Kumoricon 2006 and 2007, will be performing here. Come see them again! Their two performances are scheduled for Saturday, Sep. 15 at 3:15pm, and Sunday, Sep. 16 at 1:45pm. Each is about one hour long.
The festival also features Japanese cultural activities including taiko drumming, koto, martial arts, and Japanese children’s games.
We need volunteers to help with this! If you are interested in volunteering, please post in this forum thread, and please specify which days and times you are available.
We’ll see you there!
If you lost (or found) any items at Kumoricon, please email lostandfound@kumoricon.org with a description of the item. We have several items, many with no personal identifying features, waiting to be claimed. If you found any items and didn’t turn them in to Lost and Found at the convention, please let us know with a description of the item as soon as possible so we are able to confirm to the owner that we can return it to them when they inquire. Thank you!
Update: An itemized list of the lost and found items will be available at the next three general meetings.
Just in time for the con, we have the second and final issue of KumoriContent—the Kumoricon newsletter—for con year 2007.
Download it here [PDF], and browse past newsletters here. This issue features tonight’s kickoff party at Backspace, a sampling of Kumoricon 2007 expectations, a look back at Mini-con (with photos!), and, of course, news on our favorite snack—and more! Enjoy it while you wait the remaining two days for Kumoricon to start!
With Kumoricon check-in starting in just three days (four days for at-the-door registration), please be sure you have everything you need when you arrive at the con.
If you pre-registered, and opted to have your badge mailed to you, then you need to bring it! We will charge a fee for replacements.
Regardless of whether you already pre-registered, or are registering at the door, you need:
If you are under age 13, then you must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian who is also a paid attendee of the convention.
We’ll see you in a few days!
Kumoricon and Backspace have teamed up to put on a special party the Thursday night before the con!
Backspace, Portland’s entertainment hub, presents a night of nerdcore, with performances by three local artists featuring techno and hip hop set to otaku and Japanese themes. While there, check out previews of Kumoricon content playing on a large screen along with open Wii gaming—plus the usual LAN gaming and cafe at Backspace.
See performances by Ultraklystron featuring otaku ryhmes, Rai with nerdcore/electro in Japanese, and Gradual Meltdown featuring Wii-mote/Guitar Hero-controlled techno.
The party runs from 8:00pm to around midnight, and is open to the public with free admission. Kick off Kumoricon early at this special party. For con staff who will be showing up for prep on Friday, this party is the perfect gathering the night before. We’ll see you there!
As a special incentive, we’re offering one last opportunity to pre-register for Kumoricon. From 8:00pm to 10:00pm only at this party, you can pre-register for a weekend membership at Kumoricon for the $35 price.
Please refer to the entry on the Kumoricon calendar for full details, performer details, and maps.
With the con approaching, we’ve now posted the full schedule online, plus details on nearly all events, including registration, con, and room hours! Plan out the three days of your con in advance, and no longer lament “I would have attended that if only I had known…” With that said, schedule changes can and will occur, but they will be updated on the web, even during the con if possible, so keep checking back.
On the schedule page, you will find: A download of the pocket programming guide; con hours for each day; a list of always-open rooms (things to do between scheduled events); Exhibitors Hall and Artist Alley hours; a quick reference for times for major events and concerts; the entire event and video schedule; a hotel map; and descriptions of nearly all scheduled events. These pieces of information will be in the program book and pocket guide, but the latest, most up-to-date information will always be on the web site.
Important check-in information, including registration hours on Saturday-Monday, and pre-registration check-in hours on Friday, has been added to the registration page.
We’ve also posted a map of local restaurants including approximate open/close times for some of them. See the hotel page for this information. It will be included in the printed pocket guide for your convenience, so you don’t need to print it out.
We promised the galleries for the mascot and cover contests before the con, and here they are! Mascot, program cover, and pocket cover. Staff have voted on the entries in all three contests. The cover winners are revealed; the mascot is still shrouded in mystery until Closing Ceremonies. View the gallery, get your hopes up for your favorite, let the suspense build, and find out if your favorite won on the last day of Kumoricon 2007!
We’ll see you in 9 short days. And the clock is ticking down…
Kumoricon pre-registration is officially over 1500! We look forward to welcoming all of you, including the 34 members who’ve opted to attend as VIPs.
There’s still time to register! You can do so online until 11:55 PM tonight, or at the Kumoricon Minicon Event tomorrow. If you register now, you can receive your badge in the mail next week!
VIP slots are limited, so be sure to act now if you’d like to receive your invitation to the guest dinner, free tee shirt, priority seating, and NO LINES!
The official end count will be posted shortly after pre-registration closes to give us time to count the remaining mail-ins.
Mini-con, our one-day event on Saturday, August 11, is now starting at 10 AM. It was previously scheduled to start at 8 AM, but this was too early for most people and especially the staff who would be setting up. Full details are further down on the main page and in this forum thread.
Note: Staff or volunteers involved in Mini-con setup or the envelope stuffing may still need to arrive earlier.
Pre-registration is still open, and we are now just past the 1200 mark!
If you haven’t pre-registered yet, you still have time! Pre-registration closes this Friday, August 10th, at 11:55 PM.
Anyone who registers before this time can receive their badge via mail. The final tier mail out is scheduled for this Saturday, so if you purchased your badge at the $35 price, you should receive it the next week.
Don’t delay! The con will be here in 24 days!
Kumoricon is pleased to announce Sean Schemmel, best known as the voice of Dragon Ball’s Goku! For more information, please head on over to the guests page.
Just a friendly reminder that there are less than 2 weeks left to pre-register for Kumoricon 2007. This is your last chance to join at the $35 rate and to have your badge mailed out.
We have received over 900 pre-registrations so far, which is more than 50% higher than at the same time last year. This number includes the 28 who have chosen our special VIP membership.
Pre-registration closes on Friday, August 10, at 11:55 PM for online registrations. Mail-in registrations must be postmarked by August 10. (Those received by August 10 will be mailed slightly sooner than those received afterward, but postmarked on time.)
After pre-registration closes, registration will be available at the door for $40.
Kumoricon is just a little over a month away. We look forward to seeing you!
Saturday, August 11th, we are going to put on a little shindig to complement our next general meeting. We have three rooms of space, all day Saturday, and—besides using one of the rooms for stuffing the envelopes for the tier 3 prereg badge mailout (8AM-2PM) and for the general meeting (same time as usual, 2PM-5PM)—we will fill the space with video games, karaoke, AMVs, anime viewing, and whatever you guys feel like trying to cram in! Everything starts at 10 AM [note: updated start time] and continues through 10 PM at least, although we will stop things for general meeting formalities.
For us this is a chance to to work the kinks out of our untested systems before the con, so please be patient if anything goes wrong. For you, we hope this will be a chance to relax and have fun and enjoy what we can offer.
Anyone who already has a badge or is registered as staff can attend this little event for $5. Anyone who doesn’t have a badge or isn’t signed up as staff as of before the meeting can get in for $10. We are accepting manga for a generous discount of $5 off your entrance—that means if you have your badge and you have a manga you get in at no additional cost, or if you don’t have a badge but you brought two books, you get in free!
(We are only accepting manga to supplement our library for Kumoricon so please bring some cash just in case we already have too many of whatever manga you bring and cannot accept yours. Please no NewType or Monthly Shonen Jump.)
We will be deploying our new registration system at the door, but we will only be able to accept cash or checks (or manga).
You can attend the general meeting and the envelope-stuffing at no charge, but we will be asking to see your admission at the doors of any other room.
Please see this forum thread for news, updates, and questions.
We hope to see you there! Bring your DS.
If you are an anime club in the Oregon or Portland area, we’d like to hear from you!
We’re featuring local clubs in the Kumoricon program book and on the web site. If you are nonprofit, meet regularly, and your membership or at least some of your events are open to the public, then you’re eligible to have your name and blurb printed in the program book, and we will feature your meetings in the Kumoricon web site calendar.
Please contact us soon, as the book must be printed shortly. Email us at publicity@kumoricon.org.
As a special gift to all the dedicated Kumoricon fans, we have made available in complete form every single Kumoricon program guide since the beginning in 2003! We also have pocket guides from 2005 and 2006 online. We will continue to post additional publications from previous years as we locate and/or scan them.
We’re still working on our schedule for 2007, but until then, if you haven’t attended Kumoricon before and want to get an idea of what it’s like, this is a great way to explore what we’re all about.
Enter this page in the Kumoricon gallery to begin browsing. Enjoy!
Separate reminder: The mascot and cover contests have only a little bit over a week remaining until entries are due, which is at July 15, 11:59:59 PM. Please see this forum thread for complete rules and instructions for entry.
The location of the Saturday, June 16 general meeting has been changed to our hotel, the Hilton Vancouver and Convention Center. All four of the remaining general meetings until the con will now be held at the hotel. The calendar and other areas of the web site (including the newsletter PDF) have been updated to reflect this change.
The date and time of the meeting have not changed. The meeting remains on Saturday, June 16 from 2pm to 5pm.
Announcing the launch of three contests: The mascot 2008 contest, the program book cover 2007 contest, and the pocket programming book cover 2007 contest!
Artists, here’s your chance to make your work a part of Kumoricon. The winner of the mascot contest will receive a free Artist Alley booth at Kumoricon 2008!
The mascot will be prominently used in Kumoricon art and publicity material for the 2008 convention year, including but not limited to the web site, promotional flyers and posters, advertisements, merchandise, and badges/membership cards. It should be an immediately attractive, original, anime-style character or characters reflecting the “cloudy” theme of Kumoricon, typically with an umbrella. We need two versions: one adult or teen, and one chibi.
The cover of the 2007 convention program book introduces attendees to the convention upon arrival; every attendee receives one. It is full color and letter size. Fully detailed, colorful backgrounds and foregrounds work best.
The cover of the 2007 pocket programming guide is a smaller, simpler design. It is grayscale, possibly with lower resolution than the main convention book. Lightly detailed and shaded or all-white backgrounds, with strong, contrasting shades, lines, and geometric patterns work best.
Entries must be received by Sunday, July 15, 2007, at 11:59:59 PM, Pacific Daylight Time. [Update: This has been extended by one day so that entries can be turned in at the July 15 general meeting.]
Please read the entire rules and instructions for entry in this forum thread.
We have also just posted galleries of entries from the last two years’ mascot contests, and last year’s cover contest (as well as photo galleries from recent events at which Kumoricon has appeared).
Good luck!
Kumoricon welcomes A-Key Kyo and Kirk Thornton as guests of honor for 2007, both returning for a second year.
A-Key Kyo is a J-pop and anime cover band formed in Portland, who plays at Japanese cultural festivals and events.
Kirk Thornton has voice acted in over one hundred roles for anime and video games and has voice directed many series.
Please visit our guests page for full bios and photos of all our guests!
The Northwest Film Center, a part of the Portland Art Museum, is showing several anime and Japanese live-action movies including Paprika and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence as part of their Japanese Currents film series. These showings run from May 3-6 in the Whitsell Auditorium. Kumoricon flyers and posters will be displayed at the venue!
Please visit our forum thread for detailed information and showtimes and to discuss meet-ups with other forum members.
You can also visit the NW Film Center’s website for information. Here is a Google Maps link to the Portland Art Museum.
Quick reminder: On a separate note, the current tier of registration ends tonight at midnight! Until then you can pre-register for $30. After that, the price goes up to $35.
We’ve performed a software update and made a few improvements to the forum, as listed in this post. However, as a consequence of one of these changes, some users may experience trouble logging in the first time after these updates.
If you are immediately logged out after trying to log in to the forums, please return to the www.kumoricon.org home page, click the “Forums” link in the left bar (this ensures you are using kumoricon.org rather than kumoricon.com to access the forums), and try logging in a second time.
In our testing, logging in a second time always worked. If you experience problems after a third login attempt, please contact webmaster@kumoricon.org. Thanks for your patience.
That’s right: you have 6 days to register before the price goes up to $35. If you pre-register after Monday, you will not receive your badge until August (or at the Convention if you opt for Will Call).
We’ve just passed 400 preregistrations. With so many registrations at Sakura-Con, Sakura Fest, and online in the past few weeks, we can see increased excitement this year over last.
So register today! Let’s shoot to get 600 registrations by Monday, 11:59 pm!
Update: The day of week was previously incorrectly stated as Sunday. The last day of the tier is actually Monday, April 30. We apologize for the error.
Announcing the first issue of the KumoriContent newsletter for 2007! Intended for current and future attendees and staff, the newsletter keeps up interest in the con throughout the year and highlights special aspects of Kumoricon. Our dedicated staff and volunteers have written several articles with a special emphasis on the fan-centered activities of the con.
As a special surprise, two new guests of honor are announced in the newsletter. We’ll post their info in the guests area of the web site shortly, but until then, the newsletter is the only place to find out the new guests we have planned for Kumoricon!
The newsletter is primarily distributed online. Here is the direct download/viewing link [PDF].
We’ll have sample printed copies on display at our booth at the Uwajimaya Sakura Festival on Saturday, April 21. Stop by to take a look! (Due to printing costs, we can’t hand out copies, but you can read it at our table.) Along with the articles, the newsletter features important details about Kumoricon including the dates, registration details, location, and a general meeting schedules, so those browsing at the festival can quickly learn the important info.
Kumoricon will have a booth at the Uwajimaya Sakura Festival at the Beaverton location on Saturday, April 21.
We will be selling memberships at our table with your badge printed on the spot. This is a great volunteer opportunity to help out Kumoricon. Earn volunteer hours by manning the table, helping with registrations, and answering questions. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact volunteers@kumoricon.org.
The festival runs from 10am to 5pm on Saturday, April 21. If you are volunteering, setup starts a bit earlier. For the address and directions, please see the event in the calendar.
That’s right folks! This weekend, our big sister up north is celebrating 10 fan-tastic years of anime conventions. This year promises to be the best, with exciting new guests, over 1000 hours of programming, and all the old standards we’ve come to love.
Kumoricon will be in attendance, with at-con registration. Those who register for Kumoricon at Sakura-Con will have their badges printed on the spot! Be sure to stop by, as the $30 tier will end April 30th.
We wish great attendance, round-the-clock fun, and all the best to Sakura-con. Special thanks as well for their cooperation in our April Fool’s fun. The color may be in jest, but the con is no joke! Follow the link in our sidebar for more information.
Update, April 2: If you missed it, see our gallery for screen shots.
Our first musical guests for 2007, Kumoricon welcomes The Slants to come and perform! Head on over to the Guests page for more information!
The Kumoricon convention policies have been posted. These are subject to change until the con, but will likely remain much the same. You can read them and ask questions at the March general meeting on Sunday.
The staff area of the web site has now launched. Officially registered staff members have each received an email message containing a username and password to access the area. You can log in by clicking the “Staff” button on the left sidebar.
If you have not received this email, it might be because of one of the following reasons:
If you have not received the message about your staff account but are registered staff, please email webmaster@kumoricon.org and include your name and the email address that you want to use with the staff account (if you don’t specify, we’ll assume it’s the email address from which you sent the message). If you know that your email address has changed, please include the old address also. Thank you!
The date of the March general meeting has changed. It is now Sunday, March 11 instead of Saturday, March 10. The time of day (2pm to 5pm) and location (Salem Public Library) remain the same. Please view the calendar link for full details.
Update: The room is Anderson B.
This post brings you three news updates:
Kumoricon had a successful booth presence over the last two weekends at two Asian-themed events: The Asian Celebration in Eugene and the Chinese New Year Cultural Fair in Portland. These were great opportunities where we reached out to new audiences and promoted Kumoricon to potential attendees and vendors. Thank you to all the staff and volunteers who manned the booths over these two events. Kumoricon extends a special thank you to Copic Marker for sharing their booth with us at the Asian Celebration.
Visit our gallery for photos of the Chinese New Year Cultural Fair.
The information page has been updated with our new Kumoricon 2007 promotional article, written by Maura Lydon, the winner of the contest to re-write the info page.
An update on general meetings: All previously-announced general meetings that were to take place in the Salem, OR area have now had an exact location set: The Salem Public Library, which was the location of the January meeting. (The Salem general meeting are those in March, May, and June. All meetings after this until the con are at the hotel.) Please refer to the calendar for full details on meeting dates, times, locations, and maps.
The exact location of the February general meeting has been set:
DIVA classroom (Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts)
110 W Broadway
Eugene, OR 97401
The meeting will be from 2pm to 5pm and is open to the public.
Thanks to Copic Marker for arranging for us to use this space! The meeting directly follows a manga character drawing class from 12noon to 2pm.
Update: Those interested can attend the Manga Character Drawing for Teens class from 12noon to 2pm before the meeting. The cost of the class is $25.
Kumoricon will have a booth this Saturday at the Chinese New Year Cultural Fair Year of the Pig, produced by the Portland Chinese Times.
We will be taking registrations at the booth. As a promotion, badges will be mailed out on Monday for registrations taken at the Chinese New Year Fair!
Any staff are welcome to help us behind the booth, and volunteers will earn hours by doing so.
The fair is located at the Oregon Convention Center, Exhibit Hall C (address and maps). Admission to the fair is $3. Last year, this fair had 10000 attendees, so this is sure to be a popular event. For more information, including a floor plan and event schedule, please visit the official web site by the Portland Chinese Times.
Please note that this is the same day as the general meeting. If you aren’t able to make it down to Eugene for the meeting, you can visit us at the fair in Portland…or vice versa. 🙂
Update: Kumoricon is booth 225 (floor plan [PDF]). There doesn’t seem to be a booth 225 on the floor plan, but it’s probably near booth 223 and 227. 🙂
The creators of Applegeeks will be attending Kumoricon 2007 as our Webcomic Guests of Honor. Head on over to the Guests page to read more about them!
The first tier badges have been mailed! If you’ve already registered, you will soon have in your possession one beautiful letter containing information about check in, programming, convention features, and…your Altonimbus Membership Badge. This PVC card will be your entry pass to the Kumoricon Convention. (A picture of a sample card will be posted later this week.)
The registration list has also been updated. Just a note - only the first tier badges have been mailed. If you ordered after Dec. 31st, 2006, you will receive your badge with the next mailout, shortly after April 10th, 2007.
If you do NOT receive your badge by Saturday, February 3rd, please contact chair@kumoricon.org. Use the words “Badge not received” in the subject line for faster service.
All of the general meetings until Kumoricon 2007 have now been tentatively scheduled, including the February general meeting.
The February general meeting will be in or near Eugene, OR on Saturday, February 10. The exact location will be determined shortly.
Here are the future meetings for 2007:
All general meetings are from 2pm to 5pm. The meetings have been entered into the calendar displayed on the right sidebar and on the calendar page.
All meetings, except for the staff retreat, are open to the public.
Those of you who registered during the first tier were in fact asked to supply additional information. Our ISP does not allow bulk mailing from kumoricon.org addresses. (We tried, really. 🙁 ) Rather than writing over 100 emails separately, I used my personal account to send out the requests. If you do not reply with the missing information, your badge will not be processed. I personally apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but the birthdate/ emergency contact information requested is vital to proper registration.
Those of you who are still leery of replying, please send the information to chair@kumoricon.org.
This is our first year mailing out badges, and our first year not requiring Convention Guardians. We really appreciate your patience as we smooth out the bumps in our registration process. In the end, you will be able to walk through the door with a simply flash of your badge and ID.
The registration form is now correct, so this only affects those who received an email. Again, I thank you for your assistance and patience.
Meg Uhde
Convention Chair
Kumoricon 2007
Happy new year! Kumoricon would like to thank the 108 people who registered in the first tier price range! This tier garnered 55 registrants last year. Today begins a new tier, so member registrations now run $30 until April 30, 2007.
The first tier registrants can look forward to seeing their new badges in the next few weeks, as we complete the printing and mail them to their expectant owners. The list of registrants is now available in the Registration tab.
We hope for the best for you and yours in the year to come.
