How was Autographs???????

[tifachan101]

I was working on the staff for Autographs and I was wondering how we did? Please give me all you input, the negative and the positive. Thank you!!!!

[SquallLHeart]

it was awesome!!  :D

[Touya no Miko]

I was really impressed this year. Some of the sessions from a few years ago were pretty strict, but this year they weren't so high strung. Not sure if it's Fanime's doing or the management of the guest of honor. The line moved really fast too.

[kookiekween99]

I remember on Sunday morning, my two friends were in line for Yuya by 9 AM just so they could be first. I remember how happy they were afterwards, so I assume that staff did their jobs well. :3

[Kuudere]

I went to the FLOW signing, and my only suggestion for an improvement would be air conditioning. Those rooms were too hot to cram that many bodies in. Also, narrow hallways are probably a bad idea for a line, especially when it loops back on the other wall. We kept getting told to make room for a walkway, but it was rather difficult when we were packed in like sardines.

I was happy that there were things to buy in the room for people to have to sign, and that they were donation items to help Japan. I was happy to buy a poster even though I was already going to have them sign my CD.

[SquallLHeart]

yea.. that particular room actually did have air conditioning.. but with the sheer number of people that were inside.. it just overpowered the a/c system  :(

it was only a problem for the musicfest guests when we had the large number of people lining up... but the amount of people for the FLOW line.. was very much just.. CRAZY. :-[

the smaller room just before getting into the actual room to get stuff signed.. was supposed to be another room to queue up the next guest following FLOW... but eventually had to be used just to make sure the hallways were more clear.. and even then.. we overflowed close to the bathroom area towards the convention center doors..  :o

in the end.. that room was kind of a relief area from the crammed san carlos room as i designed the taped line to be much larger to allow more breathing room... give you guys a sense of hope/relief as you're that much closer to get an autograph. :P

when it came to the actual autograph room itself.. how did you guys like it? setup was good? i tired to make sure to have it so we would only have a small group in at a time to make the environment more intimate.. but something like that sacrifices how many people we can push through... would you rather have a very large open space and just have everything done in there?

the posters were something that was donated to us, just so we could sell and further collect donations to support Japan. I'm thankful to all of those who helped by buying one... and even gave us extra towards the cause. :) and definitely also helped for people who didn't have anything to sign.

i am going to scout out different places to have autograph sessions.. and your input would be awesome. :)

[otaku_duckie]

lol yea A/C was an issue but i was wearing cool clothes so it didnt bother me much, there was a girl at the FLOW autographs in a pikachu outfit who kept whining it was hot. =.= seriously if it was hot for you then get out of that stupid outfit. I had to listen to her for 30 mins whining about that lol

[Kuudere]

Yes, I liked the intimate feeling of having only a few people in the room. If it were one huge room, I think that people would just be shouting stuff and you'd never get to have an opportunity to say something to FLOW because it'd be too loud. They actually were able to talk a little bit to me when I went up, which was amazing.

I think when looking for a good location for next year, it'd be good to mathematically plan it out. I don't know if you guys currently use a formula or just wing it, so I apologize if this sounds condescending, as I don't intend for that connotation. It's just a friendly suggestion.

Here's what I'd do: Figure that each person takes about 30 seconds to get through all five autographs and leave. If you have two hours allowed total for the session, you would plan for about 240 people to be standing in line (I think the total number was higher than this, but I think the autograph session also went longer than intended). Now that you plan for 240 people, you can estimate how much space you need for the line. You can figure that the average body takes up X amount of space while sitting (because many people did sit) and a few inches of space before the next person in line, multiply by the total number of people and that should show you how long the line will end up being. Also, it'll let you know when to cut off the line in order to end it at the appropriate time. Of course there's no way to perfectly plan something with this many people, but I think every little bit of preparation helps. At least, it might help to avoid any fire hazards like small hallways and the like. Hopefully this suggestion, even if you don't use it, gives you some ideas on what to do for next year.  :)

[SquallLHeart]

The layout of where the line was going to be routed had certainly been planned out.. and for the most part.. what was done was pretty much what I thought was the optimal method to be able to fit everyone.. which unfortunately.. did make it like packing you guys in like sardines... that small hallway.. yes.. we had planned to double down.. but totally did not factor.. "oh yeah.. they'll be probably sitting" aspect.. which would take up a little bit more room.. :-X

The San Carlos room (though designed to fit like 89 per the fire code.. sign.. thing).. was more close to 150-180 people depending on how crammed the attendees themselves decided to pack themselves in. I didn't force everyone to just scoot up so more people would be stuffy in there... just kinda happened.

With Yuya's line, the numbers we got through were close to 400 people/session... which means yeah.. close to 400 people/hr.
Add that there were two sessions and you got close to 800 people in those 2 hrs. It was also fortunate we were able to start early as well and it certainly relieved the congestion quicker.

With FLOW... it was crammed into one single 2 hour session.. and we only got close to 600 people through. Having 5 people in the group.. and a slightly more opportune chance to socialize.. the pace was significantly slower. You can certainly say I was slightly under prepared when close to 700 or 800+ people showed up to line up and ended up filling even the reserved area I was going to use as overflow..

Definitely the only time when we mathematically underestimated how many people.. as well as not realizing we needed to cap off the line sooner. We wanted to get though closer to 700 people through the line.. (which was about where we capped it off) but the pace was slower than expected, so when we cut off the line.. and reaching the end of their session.. the people that had still been waiting (before we capped off the line).. eventually had to be dispersed... yea.. about 100 people became very sad..  :'(

I FELT SO BAD... :(.. but alas.. there was really no way to plan it out perfectly. I don't have much doubts FLOW will be parting ways with Fanime anytime soon, so I'm sure there will be other opportunities in the future for folks who couldn't get their autograph this year.. to get it in the future.

I am grateful people were understanding about the rules and restrictions (i.e. 1 autograph, photo behind the line, etc).. which helped with allowing so many people to get at least the opportunity to get something signed. As mentioned, I am looking into other possible areas (at least for the expected large lines) to have sessions.. but that might sacrifice the small intimate room aspect. I'll certainly keep that in mind and find something that can be a good compromise.

[lurker9000]

I FELT SO BAD... :(.. but alas.. there was really no way to plan it out perfectly. I don't have much doubts FLOW will be parting ways with Fanime anytime soon, so I'm sure there will be other opportunities in the future

Do you know something you're not telling us :]

[ewu]

This is a good place to continue the discussion.

updated O:-)