2015 Cosplayer Gatherings Department ~ 3/17

[BSaphire]

So I wanted to let some of you know about our epic first day's highlights, but I will just tell you about the surprise guests that showed up at the guilty gear blaz blue gathering. Daisuke Ishiwatari & Toshimichi Mori loved jumping in with all the cosplayers for some wonderful group picks!
I don't know who had more fun at the Fight games gathering, Guest of Honor Ric Meyers or the Fight Game cosplayers. It is my understanding that Ric even wanted a few photos of the fun for his followers on one of his sites :)
So that is just a taste of what you missed... though most of you are probably @ the FLOW concert right now... but tomorrow we will be running our raffles and be going full force both inside and out side the con center with 27 gatherings, six cosplayer events, protest background music and lots of other stuff all over the con. If I get a chance tomorrow night I hope to post back the fun things that happened on Saturday, but it would be much better if you were here and a part of all the fun that is Fanime.

Squidges
B

[maikiritori]

Hi guys! Just got back from FFAll gathering. It was awesome. Special Guest Hiroyuki Yamaga came and was apart of the magic. He gave away some of his Dinner Party Tickets and an awesome FF13 Elixir. We had a bit more than expected come, and some who said they would who didn't. :{
Sorry we missed you if you didn't make it. B was Siren from FF9. She looked GREAT!!

We'll check back in later.

Sara

[BSaphire]

I saw many ways to improve this department, but I really want your feedback. Please keep it clean and post or pm me with what was Great, what was Good, and what could be better about your Cosplayer Gatherings and/or Cosplayer Event experiences @ Fanime 2010!

Love ya all and going to bed...
B

[Aoi Memori]

Hnn... I was a newbie to Fanime so I don't know of this is how things go but to me it seemed like the cosplay gathering list seemed too small for me or not obvious enough. I saw a lot of people who didn't know there were gatherings or where and well, I guess it was a point that things should be pointed out more specifically because some people didn't know. Also, I know it may seem like a lot but a print out on the bags of the gatherings could be useful that way people know and can plan it a bit in time. I don't know. Just a thought x.x

[BSaphire]

Hnn... I was a newbie to Fanime so I don't know of this is how things go but to me it seemed like the cosplay gathering list seemed too small for me or not obvious enough. I saw a lot of people who didn't know there were gatherings or where and well, I guess it was a point that things should be pointed out more specifically because some people didn't know. Also, I know it may seem like a lot but a print out on the bags of the gatherings could be useful that way people know and can plan it a bit in time. I don't know. Just a thought x.x

Being new to Fanime and a cosplayer it can be overwhelming to find the info, especially if this is your first anime convention. I appreciate your feedback and I do like the idea of printing on the bags and will check into it, but I don't want loose gatherings if it to has an early print requirement.

Print dates are to way to early for Fanime items. To compensate I decided to add the Twitter option where we post hourly the upcoming hours gatherings and events. If you follow it next year you will know 1/2 to 1 hour ahead of time what gathering or cosplayer event is to happen in the next hour.

The Blue Gatherings Info boards will be back and I might create a few more boards to position around the convention. With the increase in numbers of attending and cosplayers the boards were not as easily seen at peak hours during the weekend.

As a new official department and the huge increase in attendance the department suffered growing pains so feed back will be helpful for next year.

Thanks again
B

[Eliteslayer]

Thank you, BSaphire and everyone who worked at the gatherings department. You guys were very helpful as always; I could check in to the things I was hosting quickly enough, and when I couldn't find the Pokemon gathering, the person working there pointed me towards it without even needing a second to think.

If I had to criticize anything, when I was looking at the list of gatherings, the events were located towards the middle of the page while the gatherings were on the side. Sometimes I missed the events while looking at all the gatherings. That's all I can think of right now.

This was my second year hosting a gathering at Fanime, and both years I've found the staff to be incredibly helpful. So thanks for your hard work.

[BSaphire]

Thank you, BSaphire and everyone who worked at the gatherings department. You guys were very helpful as always; I could check in to the things I was hosting quickly enough, and when I couldn't find the Pokemon gathering, the person working there pointed me towards it without even needing a second to think.

If I had to criticize anything, when I was looking at the list of gatherings, the events were located towards the middle of the page while the gatherings were on the side. Sometimes I missed the events while looking at all the gatherings. That's all I can think of right now.

I am looking into how I would like the set up for the info boards. One thing I would like to point out is that some people think the pages are out of order. They aren't, they are set up to be read like a manga, after all it is an anime convention and not a SciFi con. It will be easier to read next year, even with the large number of gatherings and events we might have.

I will let my staff know that they are appreciated and thank you for your feed back.
BTW.... How were the attendees, photographers, and protesters @ your gatherings & event?

[spookdy]

The pokemon gathering was a little unorganized at times, and we had to move quite a bit for such a large group(from the 2nd floor patio, marriott side) to the 1st floor outside), which was a little much for the group. We lost a few people on the way there, and a lot of people after the first major picture, because of how long the wait was, and not everyone was being super patient or helpful.

[BSaphire]

The pokemon gathering was a little unorganized at times, and we had to move quite a bit for such a large group(from the 2nd floor patio, marriott side) to the 1st floor outside), which was a little much for the group. We lost a few people on the way there, and a lot of people after the first major picture, because of how long the wait was, and not everyone was being super patient or helpful.

Thank you spookdy for your input :)  I would like the concourse patio Marriott side for JUST COSPLAYER GATHERINGS & COSPLAYER EVENTS next year.

With what happened to the Pokemon gathering and other events it has re-enforced why I would like the WHOLE patio for us and locked in the evening hours when we aren't running stuff. If the gathering had the side of the patio where the food vendor was there would have ben enough room to accommodate the 100 + cospeeps that attended the gathering.

Let's chalk this up to 1st year growing pains and I am trying to see what I can do on my end. Next year will be better so bring your Pokemon cosplay back ^^)

Thank you again
BSaphire

[Eliteslayer]

BTW.... How were the attendees, photographers, and protesters @ your gatherings & event?

Attendees were great; everyone at the Cosplay Battles seemed to have a great time, and the Negima Gathering was small but enjoyable. Can't complain about the people there. Would have been nice if they'd drawn in more photographers, but they've got their own schedules to adhere to, and people still got photos of everything. Plenty of them were at the larger gatherings, so there are some nice pics out there.

As for the protestors, they didn't cause me any trouble at least, but I can't speak for everyone. I think they drew a smaller crowd this year, but I hope no gatherings were interrupted by them.

[BrightHeart76]

Staff was very helpful and nice. 

If I had any problems it was that the check in table seemed very crowded, but there's not a lot to be done about that.  Also, the raffle thing confused me.  That may have just been me though.

All together the gatherings and events seemed great this year.  It seemed like there was always a gathering going on, and while they were all well controlled there was originality and creativity in each gathering.  It was fun as an organizer AND as an observer.

[K&K4ever]

The only problems I had for gatherings was that there were people who didn't show up who said they would (which is usual) And I had trouble getting four and a half gatherings organized.

For next year it's only going to be three for me.

[kimu]

Only negative thing that comes to mind isn't anything extreme.
The raffle ticket thing sounded like a good idea, but the fact you had to be present to win was one thing I'd suggest changing if possible?

[AbsolutelyCursed]

For the riser stage where the FMA gathering or any other gathering that takes place there would it be possible to have some kind of curtain to block out the light coming from outside the convention center. Or at the very least give a better looking background for the people taking pictures.

[BSaphire]

Thank you all for the feed back! I do appreciate it. Already working on changes, but right now I am so sore and tired that I will have to come back tomorrow and post my actual replies.

Thanxs
B

[BunofGovt]

For the riser stage where the FMA gathering or any other gathering that takes place there would it be possible to have some kind of curtain to block out the light coming from outside the convention center. Or at the very least give a better looking background for the people taking pictures.

I second this.  At one of the gatherings, someone was getting a photo shoot outside and the photographers had these huge reflectors to light up the cosplayer better, but it created a glaring light right into the riser stage area.  Plus now we've got photos of them in the background of our photos.

[BSaphire]

So after sorting through the feedback and discussions with my staff, my second, my higher ups.... There will be a few changes next year. I'm not announcing anything just yet because there is some ground work to be done first, but things to look forward to are:

• Gatherings Table
• Gatherings/Events Info Boards (adding a couple more)
• 2011 Word Search & other games
• Raffles on Saturday & Sunday
  
• Twitter will be back! http://twitter.com/BsGatherings (must join it to follow)
• Table signing/drawing
• 2009 & 2010 Scrap Book should be done so you can look at the memories from the past two years
• and there will be more!

If you still have ideas, comments, or suggestions feel free to post them! As for now... First post contains 2011 info so check it out for what's happening in the Cosplayer Gatherings Department.

Enjoy your summer and remember.... Any day is a GREAT day to COSPLAY!

Squidge
B

[maikiritori]

Yaaaaaaay I get to work on scrapbooks!  ;D

[BSaphire]

Yaaaaaaay I get to work on scrapbooks!  ;D

Yep! & I have a couple other slaves... *giggle* I mean volunteers :P

So I am looking for everyone's favorite memories from Fanime Con 2009 & 2010 to add in the Memories book(s). Just post here in about 50 words (or less) your favorite story, gathering, cosplay, event experience, etc. and if you have a reference picture or two include a link to it too. I will add as many as I can. PLEASE be sure and DATE which year your favorite memory is from so I add it to the right book/section.

If you just want to share your story and don't want it added just put that you don't want it in the memory book (s). I would love to hear your favorite stories.

Squidges
B

[maikiritori]

2010= Yamaga/BlazBlue gathering. 2009= KH gathering, swap meet.