Fanime 2009 Convention Feedback

Started by darkknightcecil, May 25, 2009, 04:42:12 PM

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heeroyuy135

Quote from: Steve.Young on May 26, 2009, 11:19:49 PM
BW and Musicfest at the same time = lame
More like Yamaga-san Party, BW and Musicfest at the same time = lame

Thisiskat

Quote from: salyu on May 25, 2009, 09:04:40 PM
this year has lacked much much more in comparison to all other years. there was nothing new or special that really caught my interest. I thought the new panel policies to be a bit more frustrating than organised and helpful. although i am glad panel descriptions were included in the booklet this year, which really helped me pick out what panels to go to, rather than wander in blindly, sit down, and then leave if i didnt like it.

the dealers room was pitiful this year- nothing at all caught my interest, and as usual, dealers let their prices run too high, and i wasnt able to buy a thing, unless it was something small. many dealers claimed that their goods were on "sale" at 30% off, but that 30% off was the same price as if i got it at a different store !

the arcade prices were ridiculous. sf 3rd strike was 50 cents a game, and that game is 10 years old !

the screening rooms had a really really poor selection of videos and anime this year. even the hentai screening rooms were boring and dated. hentai amvs with horrible music? UGUHhgh, never again.

i was staff this year, and another thing that really irritated me was the lack of organisation. i wasn't able to get my job done in proper order, and really do my best. everything was behind schedule (since i didnt even get a schedule for my duties til the middle of the second day) and thus, i ended up scurrying around and showing up late to many things .

uhhhhh hopefully next year will improve ! ???

I couldn't have said it any better myself! It was annoying going to the things I wanted to see, only to find out a completely different schedule was placed. Also I thought every game in the arcade was a dollar... So even games like the UFO catcher and really old games were priced higher than I thought they would be. I didn't really get to check out dealer's room, but the artist alley was amazing. This year wasn't as great compared to the last.

MordSith

i would have liked the armormaking panel to be longer, be more hands on, and more of this is how you make armor for cosplayers who don't know very technical terms. it was more of weeelll jargon jargon blah blah method you've never heard of yap yap yap.


hentaifreak

Con Pros
Pocket guide what more can I say? Awesomeness.
the booklet descriptions of guest, panels, and anime were a great help in making decisions on what to go to. Really amazingly put together.
James Currie from the Macaulay Foundry bring him back!
Artist Alley great stuff there this year!
Registration fast, smooth, efficient.
ReDeath really, thanks for moving this to a larger room. I had a panel to go to, and didn't get their 'till about two minutes before it started and was still able to find decent seating! In years prior if I hadn't gotten in line a half hour before hand I woulda been SOL.

Con Cons
Maid Cafe I'm sorry,  this seems to never have been run right, It's a great idea, but their prices are ridiculous, and the experience isn't all that worth it. Maybe if the maids had some more training, and they weren't leaving every two minutes to have pictures taken, they could actually spend time with the patrons. But their prices per portion and food selection were horrible.


OGIGA

Can I ask the headcount for this year?

PyronIkari

Well there's a lot of things to keep in mind. Your statements of "worse than last year" are extremely subjective. Most of the reasons given as to why it wasn't as good, are things like "MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE OF THINGS WERE NOT MET"... which is perfectly fine, but I wish you wouldn't say the *con was worse because they didn't have topics I liked*. Merely that you didn't like the content of this year. The reason why this bothers me is because the content didn't make the con worse, because for every one person who said "I didn't like the anime this year" or "I didn't like the panels this year" there is someone that will say "I loved the panels this year compared to last" "I loved the anime shown this year compared to last"... and there is nothing that can be done about hthis.

You stating that "I hated the anime this year" doesn't give staff anything to work with. They can't listen to you say this, and go "okay, we know how to improve it!" So please think about what you are saying... I can answer a lot of the complaints in this thread though.

Water- Water tanks were cut for the reason that, the budget wouldn't allow for it. Here's something to keep in mind. Those water tanks with the cups are just fountain water. Although having them all over the place is nice, walking an extra minute to a water fountain won't kill you. To put this in perspective, if there was water every where... they would have had to cut in other ways. So let's put it like this... would you rather have a few water tanks all over the place, even though you could just walk to a water fountain an no B&W ball? Or would you prefer to have events like B&W Ball and have to walk a little extra to a water fountain?

This one is only my opinion but-
Stage Zero. It's not hard to bypass stage zero. There is a bottom floor you can use if you don't want to get caught up in the crowd. There are two sets of stairs around stage zero you can use to avoid the crowd as well. Come on guys, you guys are complaining about something that you can avoid with... an extra 30seconds of walking. Just in case you guys don't know what I mean... The stairs on the South side of the wall that goes down into registration and then back up right where artist's alley entrance is. Or on the N side the two sets of huge steps that lead around stage zero that go to the front of the CC. Both of which are never blocked can easily be used to get around. 90% of the time, I took the first floor when I needed to get to the other side of the CC. There was NEVER a crowd and usually it was pretty empty outside of the line for reg, which was no where near the walk way anyways.

It sounds like you guys are complaining because "there are people there getting in the way of you being able to check out stage zero while walking by". Or in other words "WHY IS THERE AN AUDIENCE AT THIS EVENT THAT I WANT TO SEE WHEN I'M WALKING BY?!?!?!? There should be no audience, so I can check it out on my own leisure, and if I'm not interested, continue to get where I want with no one in any way blocking me".

The dealers hall:

I have been going to conventions for about a decade ago. The dealers hall hasn't impressed me since my 2nd con. Why? Because essentially, they are all the same. They are dealers selling the same things. They restock with the new stuff that comes out all of which I can buy on the internet. The only appeal of it is that, you can buy it right there, right then, and it's in hand... instead of waiting for it to ship to you... which is fine. I'm not saying the dealers room is bad, and people do love it, but there's no point in complaining about it. I usually stop by once just to see if there's any rare goods, but it's not worth complaining.

But for the uninformed... this year did have a lot of new things. Things actually rather rare for an American con. Touhou related stuff at Toylets booth, and a few booths had actual exclusive items from different JP-cons. It's just a matter of knowing.

Once more, just because something doesn't carry what you want, doesn't mean it's a bad thing. I hate Amber Combie and Finch... but I don't think it's a horrible store or anything.

I like complaints... that are legitimate. They help the con grow and become better. I hate when people complain about petty things though, especially when it's not legitimate to complain about. Think of it like this...

What if I complained about someone cosplaying as the same character as me, causing me to lose some attention? Or what if, I complained that the venues did not have RC cola. I don't like pepsi and coke, I only like RC cola and Shasta. You guys would say that is stupid, right??? A lot of your complaints are no different. Please put some thought about what you're complaining about.

The badge thing... is incredibly good. I actually brought this up with staff members and they are going to discuss this in the future.

The con itself cannot control the prices on food for the cafe. And you seem to not understand how restaurants work in general if you're complaining that the Maid had to do other stuff. The only time maids were pulled away from patrons for pictures was because of 2 things...

A staff picture was required, or for press. I was the one that pulled maids away from patrons, and I always ASKED the patrons beforehand to see if it was okay, and if any of them said they preferred not to, I would not have pulled her away. Most of the time, it was okay... maids were able to spend a lot of time with patrons, giving them some time to eat their food before talking/playing games etc. with them. I personally watched them, and there were very few times when maids couldn't do so.

Those times were, during shift changes which we've already thought about and will consider a way to do more efficiently, and during times when maids were short handed, if you happen to be one of those people during those times, I apologize, but there's really very little we could have done. It's the same as at a real restaurant. We were understaffed, realistically... because based on older numbers we believed that the cafe would not be filled to capacity 100% of the con. There wasn't a single moment where there was not a line, and where the cafe was not being filled. Our numbers were incorrect and we didn't have enough people. The maids actually put in up to twice as many hours as they needed to because of the popularity.

Food prices at the cafe were actually extremely reasonable compared to the rest of the con center. A sandwich, drink, and cake would only cost about 12-14$. Had you gone to any of the actual restaurants, the same thing would have cost you 28$. Sure, it would have been higher in quality, but you're at a convention center. Food is not cheap. But just to let you know... you'd be paying even more in Japan. 6$ cup of coffee? 14$ omlette rice that's the size of my hand?

Next year, I think we'll have more maids, and shift changes will be handled better, but even at real restaurants, shift changes are extremely difficult times. Having to organize it all and have each maid know where all their patrons are, to pass that on to the next maid, all while they're getting their things/packing their things is difficult.

PyronIkari

Quote from: OGIGA on May 27, 2009, 01:17:06 PM
Can I ask the headcount for this year?

Wait a week or two. Numbers take a while to process... and staff is on a commadore64 trying to crank it out.

FanFicGuru

Pyron,

I understand what you mean. At least from my end I wasn't putting the blame on Fanime for not having a good anime lineup. It's just the way the season turned out for me. I think that logistically, everything that i attended and watched was handled very well, so props to the staff for a great Fanime.

Fanime attendee since 2004
Swap meet staff - 2014
Swap meet co-chair - 2015

Barnes

I think all the big rooms (gaming, Artist alley, etc) need to have one exit door and one entrance door.
For some reason, only the Dealer's Room did that.
Also a Proud Fanime Con Attendee since 1998!
Yay, Haruko.
http://myanimelist.net/profile/CapeBarnes

Pimpstress Rei

To go off of PyronIkari's post which was very well worded - thank you - please give us a better idea of what type of anime you'd like to see and specific changes that you would find beneficial.

If the anime that was shown this year was not to your liking, please list specific titles you would like to see next year.

It is true that we were working off of a budget so we could not have as much water available as we had in previous years. Since we did have water fountains throughout the convention center as well as the hotels, we figured that rather than spending $10,000+ on more water bottles, we could put that money toward the actual programming for our attendees to enjoy such as MusicFest, Black and White Ball, etc.

We are in negotiations with the convention on the food prices, but what with the economy, you can only do so much to bring prices down or have special deals for the attendees. We're trying our best since the attendees and our own staff would benefit by not having to pay astronomical prices for food. Again, we're trying to negotiate on everyone's behalf but we cannot control the outcome.

Thank you everyone for the feedback and I hope to be able to provide additional programming that you all will enjoy in 2010!
Marie F.
Vice-Chair 2009-2011
Assistant Director of Marketing 2008
Publications Manager 2006, 2007
Con Mom forever o.O

Tony

Uh, I merged the two feedback topics and it came out half-baked. Sorry! Anyway please post your comments for FanimeCon 2009 in general here.
Retired.
Tyrannical Board Admin, 2003-2015
Webmaster, 2003-2007
Head of MusicFest, which has the best damn staff out there, 2005-2008
Convention Chair, 2009-2011
Director of Guest Relations, 2012
Something with Guest Relations, 2013
Father, 2014

FiliKlepto

@Tony:
For a second there, I thought the internets were flipping out!  :D

@hentaifreak:
PyronIkari's response to your statement was very well said, and I wanted to add a few more things:  Having been to several Akihabara maid cafes, I can honestly say that Fanimaid Cafe's maids spent much more time overall and interacted a lot more with their goshujin-sama than maids do in "real" Japanese maid cafes.  At every crowded cafe I visited in Japan (and even the ones that didn't have a line out the door), the maids didn't spend more than a few minutes with the patrons with the exception of special guests/regulars.  My party was usually left to chat amongst ourselves, eat, and watch the show on stage.  I've even had one maid called away from my table mid-conversation never to return!  I'm not quite sure what standard it is you're holding the Fanimaids to exactly, but I think they went above and beyond the goal of providing an Akihabara-style maid cafe to con-goers.

As for the prices, as stated previously Fanimaid Cafe had no control over pricing, but it was actually cheaper than the rest of the con (sandwiches $4.50/ desserts $5, whereas I paid $6.50 for a little 6-pack of sushi rolls down the hall).  Also keep in mind that at an Akihabara maid cafe everything would have cost twice as much.  Imagine paying $8-9 for an ice cream parfait that only has one scoop of ice cream, while the bottom of your parfait cup is stuffed with corn flakes for filler.  Not to mention that many of those maid cafes have door fees of $3 to 5 just to get in.  @_@
I want death to find me planting my cabbages.
-----------------------------------------------------
Hey, you know Mop Head?  At the Fanime '04 Saturday gameshow?  I so totally named her.  ^^"

KyraEnsui

My only problem during Fanime was the horrible lines of several people soliciting 'Hug Me' or 'Glomp' or other random signs and yelling they have. There was even one night that my friends (they stayed up late to finish their commissions) told me that there were people asking for their paper so that they can make signs and there's no way my friends will let them used their art paper for something that is going to used and tossed away. Even bad when I had to avoid a nice canal of those people to get through Artist Alley or Gaming Room.

I hope not to see this next year. It was utterly ridiculous and quite annoying.

jinnai_animexcalibur

From a DJ point of view (I played the Eurobeat music Sunday night at the dance BTW :D)

The Good:

- Hilton! WILL be back there again!
- Mini schedule guide!
- Artists alley! I spent a lot of money in there!
- The cafe in the Hilton! Loved your boxed lunches!
- Guy selling those out of print tenchi muyo/el-hazard concept art books for $5!! FREAKING WIN!
- Seeing a dealer cuss out a stupid annoying fanboy troll. Made my day.
- STAGE ZERO. Nuff said.
- Seeing people play the Ninja game in the dealers room.
- The dance. That strobe was soo crazy!

The Bad:

- I only found water dispensers near the dance. Would be nice to have it spaced out all over the con.
- Dealers room seemed smaller than artists alley. Still had some nice things tho.
- Drunks wandering in the con at 3am with no badges. Where was staff? o_o

The Ignored:

- Hug line: I just kept walking.
- Crazies protesting about something... ehh...
- Solicitors with signs. At least my signs were ">.>", "^.^" and "<3"

Good year! I missed having cool weather during an anime con!

Special thanks to Rob Miles, DJ Reign and Strider Hanzo for their help!
Official Katsuhiko Jinnai Myspace Page

Katsuhiko Jinnai "The Anime Convention Experience" - NEW ORIGINAL CD - COMING SUMMER 2009.

AnimE'xcalibur/Shinoda Sound Recordings

www.shinodasound.com

GokuMew2

Quote from: Xanreo on May 26, 2009, 08:14:53 PM
I'm thinking of trying the Marriott next year.
Elevators from Hell anyone?

Uh, the Marriott elevators SUCK.
They make you really dizzy and you feel like you're still on the elevator even after having gotten off.

I'd stick to the Hilton if I were you.
< Mew >
FanimeCon Guest Relations (2009 - Present)
Person who gets Japanese guests

Xanreo

Quote from: GokuMew2 on May 27, 2009, 07:24:10 PM
Quote from: Xanreo on May 26, 2009, 08:14:53 PM
I'm thinking of trying the Marriott next year.
Elevators from Hell anyone?

Uh, the Marriott elevators SUCK.
They make you really dizzy and you feel like you're still on the elevator even after having gotten off.

I'd stick to the Hilton if I were you.

Yeah, the Marriott elevators have a reputation of being horrible.

I've been hearing great things about the Hilton ever since I've gotten back from Fanime so the Hilton is an option too.
The only weird problem I have with the Hilton is that it's on the left side of the con as opposed to the Saint Claire & Marriott being on the right.
I'm just used to heading in that direction when returning to my room.
It's just me and my stupid nitpicky-ness.

Oh well, luckily I have almost a year to review things through.

Fanime 2017
Eromanga-Sensei | Digimon World: Next Order

Roguethe

I think this might have been my favorite con yet. C:
I experienced a lot more this year, and had a great time. The staff seemed to improve quite a bit this year too, but the people in front of E-gaming Friday night should have been more on top of knowing what to do and tell that Stand-By Swap Meet people, as we asked and they told us registration was ready and we could go in..
Only to find out that registration wasn't ready for us, and we ended up just swarming and clogging the room.
I felt bad for the lady who seemed to be in charge of Swap-Meet registration though.
It wasn't her fault that we were sent in before-hand, and she was shaking like a leaf as she did her best to sort it out. D:
Besides that, everything was smooth. And I thank the Rover who went out of her way to stop the Dealer's room line-up people from mashing into my waiting spot at the front of Swap-Meet. XD I know I was there really early and probabally a little obstacle, but I really appreciate it.

Besides that, the only other down-side I had this year was something that Fanime staff itself would have a really hard time controlling.
"Glomping" or in my own painful experience, "Unannounced Plowing"
:(
I was Crossplaying this year, and only doing lolita and stuff in the past, I had no idea how aggressive some Fan-girls of the character you cosplay could be!
Me and my Twin sister did a Crossplay pairing from Hetalia, and as girls, we wore 4-5 inch heel boots instead of combat boots.
Needless to say, after 8+ hours, the last thing I needed was to be tackled in a busy Dealer's room or Artist Alley.
My sister was nearly plowed right into a booth in the artist alley. I had to help steady her, as we didn't need to be paying for a bunch of ruined prints on top of everything else.
I was even pulled out of my car Sunday evening in the pick up line by a girl who wanted to take a picture with us.
D:
I was fine with people who asked for hugs, but yelling my characters name across the convention is not enough of a warning,
I don't really think there is much you can do, as I think 'No-Glomping' is already a rule.
But just my 2 cents.
:)

I draw sometimessss

Sen

Quote from: PyronIkari on May 27, 2009, 01:46:17 PM
Quote from: OGIGA on May 27, 2009, 01:17:06 PM
Can I ask the headcount for this year?

Wait a week or two. Numbers take a while to process... and staff is on a commadore64 trying to crank it out.

Yes, the commadore64 called Milton (jk). We'll have a press release on it soon. We actually had an idea right at the end of con but we just want to make sure.
Claudia

Chair Radio '15
Fan Services Division メンバーサービス共同本部長
   Member '15
   Director '10-'13
   Assistant Director '08-'09
Registration Staff '05-'07

heeroyuy135

I had a problem with the con not handing out lanyards this year compared to last year. I know that Nvidia sponsored last year's lanyards, but could there at least had been a plain black lanyard? I got lucky to bring mine, that way I didn't have to use the clip which I thought equaled a higher probability of losing my badge.

Lines just to get into the Maid Cafe discouraged me to go this year. I remember in 2007 the Maid Cafe was held on the Marriott side...maybe there should be two spots - the existing spot near the Hilton in addition to the old spot near the Marriott - where the Maid Cafe is so that more people can be part of the cafe without having to wait. And yes, the prices...my god.

PyronIkari

Quote from: HeeroYuy135 on May 27, 2009, 11:49:39 PM
Lines just to get into the Maid Cafe discouraged me to go this year. I remember in 2007 the Maid Cafe was held on the Marriott side...maybe there should be two spots - the existing spot near the Hilton in addition to the old spot near the Marriott - where the Maid Cafe is so that more people can be part of the cafe without having to wait. And yes, the prices...my god.

Sorry, but the amount of man power to do this would be way out of control. We had about 40 people working on just that one maid cafe, and it nearly killed Jun and Mizuki just managing that one. In addition to that, a Maid cafe loses a lot of its charm if it grows too big. I've really been thinking about a way to solve this, but I really can't think of a way. More maids will allow the venue to grow a little bigger, but I really don't think it should get too big, because it loses the comfort. If I find a way to make it bigger, I'll discuss it with Jun and Mizuki, but as for now, the three of us think that it should stay relatively the same size. At best, we'll only want it slightly bigger.

It'd be like turning a mom and pop store into a super market. Sure, it serves more and stuff, but it's not the same.