Fan con vs. industry con

[roth14]

What is the difference between a fan con an a industry con?

[otakuapprentice]

Take Comic Con and compare it with Fanime

SDCC= Industry con
Fanime= Fan con

Hope that helps!

:D

[TC X0 Lt 0X]

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*Walks away from thread*

[otakuapprentice]

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*Walks away from thread*

Best idea I've heard in a long time, but I felt like replying.

[FanFicGuru]

Similar to what Otaku said, if you look at the San Diego Comic Con, it is basically an event where all of the major publishers of comics and other interests like the SCI-FI channel etc. decide to show off their latest hits. They unveil new shows, comics, revelations for beloved series and also look back and discuss storylines that have been covered in the previous year. Since they have industry backing, these conventions are generally on a much larger scale, another example being E3. These companies all decide on a place and a time and basically have a contest over who has the coolest stuff. They use their influence and money to bring in high-profile guests (thus the large and impressive guest lists that SDCC has boasted in the past), and can also rent much larger spaces and thus draw a much MUCH larger crowd. SDCC has maxed out their current location and in 2008 didn't even sell any at-con passes.

A fan-run convention, on the other hand, is pretty self-explanatory. Rather than industry leaders getting together and deciding when and where to show off their latest and greatest stuff, fans get together and pick a place (if it's a new convention, a low-cost place so that low registration count will still offset the costs). I would imagine that most conventions have started with at least one major guest of honor as a selling point, and sort of built around that as the preparation phase goes by and the convention grows closer. As the convention grows older and bigger, and hopefully the reputation grows (in a good way) more guests will be drawn to the convention, as well as industry representatives who will use the convention as an opportunity to release new information on a newly licensed series, or updates to release information and the like.

Of course many of the staff members of Fanime could probably explain it better, but those are some of the main points from my perspective.

[roth14]

Best idea I've heard in a long time, but I felt like replying.

Hey i'm a noob here. I just really wanted to know and couldn't find it anywhere else.

Similar to what Otaku said, if you look at the San Diego Comic Con, it is basically an event where all of the major publishers of comics and other interests like the SCI-FI channel etc. decide to show off their latest hits. They unveil new shows, comics, revelations for beloved series and also look back and discuss storylines that have been covered in the previous year. Since they have industry backing, these conventions are generally on a much larger scale, another example being E3. These companies all decide on a place and a time and basically have a contest over who has the coolest stuff. They use their influence and money to bring in high-profile guests (thus the large and impressive guest lists that SDCC has boasted in the past), and can also rent much larger spaces and thus draw a much MUCH larger crowd. SDCC has maxed out their current location and in 2008 didn't even sell any at-con passes.

A fan-run convention, on the other hand, is pretty self-explanatory. Rather than industry leaders getting together and deciding when and where to show off their latest and greatest stuff, fans get together and pick a place (if it's a new convention, a low-cost place so that low registration count will still offset the costs). I would imagine that most conventions have started with at least one major guest of honor as a selling point, and sort of built around that as the preparation phase goes by and the convention grows closer. As the convention grows older and bigger, and hopefully the reputation grows (in a good way) more guests will be drawn to the convention, as well as industry representatives who will use the convention as an opportunity to release new information on a newly licensed series, or updates to release information and the like.

Of course many of the staff members of Fanime could probably explain it better, but those are some of the main points from my perspective.

Ahhh. Thank you ^_^

Take Comic Con and compare it with Fanime

SDCC= Industry con
Fanime= Fan con

Hope that helps!

:D

thanks ^_^

Mod Edit: Powers that be grant me the magic of consolidating triple posts....

[Jerry]

wow, a triple post for a noobie, ah the good ol days.

my random 2 cents*

Indusutries usually are big time companies [usually corporate conglomerates] run and control everything, and like SDCC they usually have professional everything from staff to Executive big time budgets pulling the strings from a secret lair deep below the bowels of SD Convention Center.

With Fanime, Their mostly made of up local and dedicated Volunteers/Staff who tireless works ALL year [believe or not] to make Fanime what it is. They do as much as possible to make it epically awesome, without having the Evil Corporate feel of some conventions [cough cough *points at* 'blame AX' thread]

but again I'm just only mostly kidding. Fanime is pretty awesome and will continue to grow awesome. :)
Represent for the Bay area anime community.

Word.

Mod Edit: Majical mod linking powers

[Tony]

It's a bit complicated; there are spectrums of 'fan' conventions and spectrums of 'industry' or 'media' conventions.

Note that there are all sorts of conventions that fall under the Events category, from complex business meetings, to huge but dry industry conventions (like a members-only auto industry convention), to fan conventions (like Fanime), to the huge and exciting industry conventions (like E3... or how it used to be).

The primary distinction between fan conventions and industry/media conventions are how they're founded, how they're run, and how they grow.

Industry and media conventions tend to exist as a business, grow like a business, and pursue things to grow the bottom line. Some media conventions do this in a very obvious way: they pay lots of money for events  to occur or people to appear, and they charge lots of money for attendees to experience the events, see the people, or get autographs. (If you think Fanime is expensive at $55, you should see the prices some people are willing to pay to get close to certain Trek celebrities.)

Fan conventions are usually born out of the love of the subject, grow organically by volunteer support, and only occasionally and accidentally run as a business.

For example, take Fanime: it grew out of anime clubs and has been run by volunteers for over a decade. The driving force has never been money, but rather, "What would be really cool to do?" Seriously - a lot of what we do at Fanime starts with a question like that.

We have some business-like aspects - there's an actual company formed to oversee it with corporate-y responsibilities, like paying taxes, filing trademarks, purchasing insurance, and other boring stuff - but that's essentially a side effect. As far as I know, pretty much every convention out there has some sort of parent company or organization that acts as a shield to the outside world (i.e. the government, legal entities, etc.) Otakon has Otakorp, Anime Expo has the SPJA, and Fanime has ARG.










...pretty boring, isn't it? Well, it basically boils down to this: fan conventions are usually run by fans for fun, and industry conventions are usually run by the industry for profit.

[roth14]

Ah thanks ^_^ Makes much more sense now.

[Yunri-Chan]

Aah, I knew the difference but didn't know that Comic Con was industry-based. Learn something new every day. xD

roth14, there's nothing wrong with asking questions here :]

[roth14]

roth14, there's nothing wrong with asking questions here :]

Ahh thank you ^_^.