Anyone else let down by this year's Fanime?

[Mayhem]

Na i think most of everything was done LAST min. The app that was out was Fan Made days before the con. Schedule was out late for it was made late. Not much time to print it out. I think the voulenteers who do this are doing a good job but everything needs to be set in stone sooner.

This seemed to be the running theme this year at the staff meetings was every one was talking about how "Behind" everything was, and how something wasn't done yet. Part of this problem is it seems the most stuff doesn't start get rolling until about 6 months before the con.

[Jelly Soup]

Dealer's hall prices seem to have gone up for certain things O_o or is it just me for this one?

I noticed this was especially the case for Japanese imports.  This is probably due to the exchange rate being as horrible as it's ever been (on our side, anyway) for the past year, like 80 yen to the dollar.

A lot of it is due to the things being sold just being expensive in general. Saw all the Kamen Rider stuff? Thought it was expensive? Look for the same stuff on eBay or Amazon, you'll run back to the dealers double quick and buy from them.

[Himeno]

Two big problems with Fanime (and most cons when they reach a certian size) seems to be the upper leadership is out of touch, and the ability to communicate between divisions/departments.

I've noticed. It generally isn't the 'upper leadership', it only takes one person in the upper levels to bring everything down. It is extremely annoying when (for example) the events team sends info to the promo team to get promoted and the promo team doesn't do it, or even acknowledge that the message was received, then the events team ends up doing their own promo because the people who are meant to be doing it aren't.

Its also almost imposable to pull or shift extra human resources from one. department to another on the fly.

This is exactly was they need to learn to do. Many of the problems I've seen could easily be mitigated if staff from one department went to help another department. eg, the reg problem on Thursday could have been much improved if one or two staffers each from Panels, programming and traders came down to help. By the time reg opened on Thursday, most, if not all, the work needed in some areas should have been completed and a few people from each department should have been able to be spared.

Except for maybe the rovers who seem to be the "Goto Guys/Gals"

I noticed a lot of rovers who either didn't know what they were doing or were 'drunk' on 'power'. I think better training and/or screening of rovers would be a good idea.

[SukebeStudios]

I noticed a lot of rovers who either didn't know what they were doing or were 'drunk' on 'power'. I think better training and/or screening of rovers would be a good idea.

I dunno if they're willing to train their staff much, since it'd be taking time out of changing their rules at the last minute, not printing schedules, losing pre-reg badges, and telling people to not wear costumes based on a non-existent rule. (SJPD told my friend they had nothing to do with the rule about  "no military or law enforcement" costume rule, and that it was stupid.) Oh well, I think it's fair to say that Fanime staff has lost control and it's going to spiral down.

[gsp113]

I noticed a lot of rovers who either didn't know what they were doing or were 'drunk' on 'power'. I think better training and/or screening of rovers would be a good idea.

I dunno if they're willing to train their staff much, since it'd be taking time out of changing their rules at the last minute, not printing schedules, losing pre-reg badges, and telling people to not wear costumes based on a non-existent rule. (SJPD told my friend they had nothing to do with the rule about  "no military or law enforcement" costume rule, and that it was stupid.) Oh well, I think it's fair to say that Fanime staff has lost control and it's going to spiral down.

You're kidding me SJPD told u that!? The more I think about it the more silly it sounded to me along with the threatening in todays political climate rule.

[FanFicGuru]

My one major gripe is the lack of schedules. I got the sense a lot of people were wandering around aimlessly because besides the big events they didn't have a solid idea of what was going on which is why so many people might have seen this year as a registration just to buy from the dealers hall or whatever. I will say that your con is what you make of it. you're not paying $55 to "pay for overpriced items in the dealers hall". It's on you to figure out what sorts of things you want to do at the convention. Find panels, attend gatherings, meet people, watch new anime, play games, go dancing, find deals at the swap meet, take pictures of awesome cosplayers...these things can easily fill your weekend with fun and memories if you have the initiative to do so.

Personally I wasn't exposed to any poor crowd management because I don't go to any of the really big events like Masquerade or MusicFest. I didn't see the line downstairs on Thursday or Friday but from what I could gather it was par for the course.

Anyways, this might have been my last Fanime, and I had a great time. I'm sorry to hear that others weren't as happy with their experience, but when you've got (probably) 20,000-25,000 people there are sure to be those who didn't have such a good time.

[True Fuschnick]

Regarding rovers; I only met/interacted with one, and she was pretty awesome.

This year's Fanime was no where as good as last year, but I still had a good time. I guess I got lucky and avoided the crap.

[Stythys]

yeah, last year's was definitely handled better. how come people always have to screw things up :-\

[hikari_midorichan]

My one major gripe is the lack of schedules. I got the sense a lot of people were wandering around aimlessly because besides the big events they didn't have a solid idea of what was going on which is why so many people might have seen this year as a registration just to buy from the dealers hall or whatever. I will say that your con is what you make of it. you're not paying $55 to "pay for overpriced items in the dealers hall". It's on you to figure out what sorts of things you want to do at the convention. Find panels, attend gatherings, meet people, watch new anime, play games, go dancing, find deals at the swap meet, take pictures of awesome cosplayers...these things can easily fill your weekend with fun and memories if you have the initiative to do so.

I totally agree with this. I told the exact same thing to my friend, but she didn't seem to understand. I don't believe just because you pay money for something, your expectations will be met automatically. For me, the best part of Fanime are the social events. Whether I see/meet awesome people or not is what makes or breaks my experience, and since I met a lot of really cool people, I was very happy at the end. I guess it all depends on what you're looking for in Fanime  :-\

Of course Fanime could've been much more organized, but I do think the good outweighed the bad. I don't normally go into panels or video rooms, so I can't say whether they were good or bad this year, but I did enjoy the dances, Black and White Ball, and concert. I don't know if it was just me, but Fanime seemed a lot bigger this year, and since staff seemed lacking, so hopefully they know what they're in for next year!

[Ryo_Hellsing]

I have to agree with everyone 100% on this. I only have two main problems with this year that kind of was a let down to me:

1) The bloody schedules. We had no idea what was going on everyday. My group was lucky that they had the phone app for the Fanime Online thing however most of the time it wouldn't work. bad connection or something/. It would only work for us when we where at the hotel. I understand the idea behind it and you know, it was epic of the staff of trying something new but however sadly it failed. I really hope that they return to the printed schedules, if not in a small handbook like in 2010 then in the huge booklet like the page for the Dance schedules (pg 25).


2) People where rude to no end on saturday. Crowd controle, where are you? The whole day I was humming the song "Class" by Chicago while walking down the hallways, trying my best to avoid the crowd, saying sorry every 5 seconds to anyone who I bumped in to. I wanted to scream at people, maybe even punch. I guess I shouldn't be complaining too much, I mean I didn't try to help out the staff or volunteer. I understand that it was under-staffed and I apoplogize to the staff memmbers for this.

I will go back this year because it was still fun and I enjoyed myself with the people.

[chifunii]

I'll keep my dissatisfactions short, as most people have already brought it up, or it's just a tl;dr situation. :/

Schedules: These bloody things...Would've really loved one like the small booklet we got last year, but seeing as things were really thrown together at the final stretch, it was pure chaos. I ended up just looking up the things I wanted to see online the previous night.

Organization: Again, because things were kind of thrown together at the end, it seemed rushed and unorganized. Even the website took a while to go up. I mainly went for MusicFest (and the Q&As/autograph sessions of the respective artists), only to realize that the times conflicted with each other like nobody's business. I know the artists must have their own agenda, but my goodness, what?! Good thing a few of my friends didn't mind waiting in line somewhere else while I ran to each one in total confusion.

But in general I had a great time at Fanime, though this is coming from the perspective of a girl who just wanted to buy some things and watch Yuya and FLOW...I'm sitting at home now, a little sad it's over. Definitely coming back for 2012 (already pre-reg'd), but also DEFINITELY DEFINITELY hoping things will be worked out a little more clearly, both for the staff and attendee's sake.

[AntiVonn]

Sorry you had a bad experience with the Rovers. I greatly appreciated their presence as this year. Quite frankly the majority of the attendees seemed to have no manners or common sense. And wtf is the deal with playing on the elevators and setting off the fire alarms? Really? Is your world so small and pitiful that destroying other people's property is what you do for fun?

[Jelly Soup]

Sorry you had a bad experience with the Rovers. I greatly appreciated their presence as this year. Quite frankly the majority of the attendees seemed to have no manners or common sense. And wtf is the deal with playing on the elevators and setting off the fire alarms? Really? Is your world so small and pitiful that destroying other people's property is what you do for fun?

I had a small problem with the elevators in the Merriot, but it was my fault. I'm used to staying in a different hotel and forgot that the Merriot elevators has the floor buttons on both sides. I remembered they were there when I unconsciously leaned against them, hitting a bunch of buttons.  :-\

[Tsu]

My gripes (might edit with moar detail later, using phone)-

Of course, schedules. Me and my buds missed a lot of things, not knowing when they were or forgetting to look them up online. Didn't realize swap meet was only 2 days, that the dealers room closed an hour earlier on Saturday and missed Redeath for the first time in ages. Also, some info was contradictory- the shiny booklet listed the masquerade and FMVs across the street when they werent ; said the fmv awards were on Monday when they were sunday; and even the map was somewhat out of date, listing things like starbucks at the con. Its Peets now. And I saw lollicup listed, but never saw them there, or was I just there at the wrong times?

At least some of the scheduling was off. I was looking forward to seeing some abridged series, as they were promoted before the con, but it seems they were mostly placeholders. I stumbled across death note abridged which wasn't listed on the schedule (not even generically as "abridged series") and then Nescaflowne started up_ an hour early. If I hadn't stopped in to see DNA, I would've missed Nesca, too!

Finally, registration. I realize we get bigger every year and the lines are bound to be bad, but the excuse of "we have the least volunteers/staffers on Thursday" is a tepid excuse. If you're going to offer pre and early reg pickup Thursday, which must constitute a huge portion of attendees (opposed to those who reg at the con), then make sure you have enough people to handle it. Waiting is a pain, sure, but to get up there and see that they only have like 5 people looking up the badges and handing over pre with a few more on the early print-out side is just bad. There's thousands of us... can't you russle up more people?

I think that's it for me. Didn't have issues with rovers, hotel problems or the like...

[Artemis.exe]

In my personal opinion, Fanime was exquisite, but the lack of schedules was a HUGE letdown. I mean, I had fun nonetheless, but the lack of schedules had me running around the con trying to find out times of supposed events through word-of-mouth which was REALLY annoying. though, I do concur about the gripes of the Dealer's Hall prices. Like, $60 for a Zero No Tsukaima artbook.... WTH!? It was an issue that prevented me from getting that "Ore No Imouto" artbook when I saw it, when I came back they were outttt! :(
I mean, I still had a blast, but those two minor nitpicks were kinda downers. :P

[Rhornez]

Masquerade,Cross Players,Cross Players Everywhere, and lack of organization like the above posts,lack of guests imo not alot of interesting things on the video rooms, the only ones i actually watched was madoka magica and kare kano the best years of the video rooms was 2009 :3 but yeah and my hotel drama as well :/

[Veriitas]

Its true what everyone is saying there was no schedule provided, i miss thursday friday and saturday this year!!!! blahh and yes i only got 1 magazine on my bag i was hoping for some cool stuff like last year like the SCHEDULES!. Anyways i cant say much about this year i was only there for Sunday and Monday. hopefully next year they will print out schedules.




P.S i miss watching people sing and those awesome costumes. I think the best one that i saw was the 2 pokemon characters THAT WAS AN EPIC COS!!!!

[cr08]

More tongue in cheek than anything: Prepare a more appropriate playlist of music to play around the con. It's not Christmas nor is it even July!  :P

[zeroelement]

Overall The main thing which made this Fanime less fun was the Staff not being well trained, and the lack of schedules. Lets head to the suggestion thread and tell them this.
Also Dealer hall prices cant be controlled they can ask them not to sell bootleg and that's about it. (don't forget its imported they use it as an excuse you use it as an excuse (so they don't have to ship it back to get it cheaper).

@army costume guy  Most people don't know it word for word. They guess and get it wrong like it did.

PS on the staff thing i was disappointed of the 2-3 guys checking badges outside 1 video room. Having one upper staff member walk around to see overmanned positions might of been helpful on the staff situation.

Musicale doors   There are like 6 doors on each side 2 should go in 2 should go out Easy

Overall i had fun and that was the point. Could i of had more fun HECK YES!!! But im happy with the fun i had.

[ice queen]

You know I had these feelings last year so This year i decided to join rovers. Personally I felt we were under staff. Also they do train rovers for fyi. We even have to take tests and pass before we can rove. Trust me its very hard to be the bad guy at a place were everyone wants to have fun. This year i can tell you ive been yelled at, spat at or curse while trying to ensure peoples safety while roving. While i really understand your fusteations on blocked areas on convention floor or even fustrating lines. But in the flip side its just as fustrating for us when no one wants to listen to you when you ask politely to stay in line or out of the way. Rovers cant do what sjpd do.