Are there going to be any more Guest announcements?

[DrScorpio]

I normally come to Fanime for the guests, but this year the guest list is lacking. Are there going to be any more guest announcements?

[echoshadow]

I'm pretty sure there will be a few more. Expect last minute announcements days before the con. Fanime is lagging, but they are tying really, really hard this year..so it seems.

[cutiebunny]

Question - Why is it like this with Fanime EVERY year?  It's not as if this is a fluke year.   Nor did some natural disaster happen in Japan as it did in 2011.  Every year, since I've been attending Fanime in 2010, your guest announcements do not happen until 2-3 weeks before the con.  And in the case of Yoshiki in 2011, it was the night before the con.

It's great that you started announcing a couple of guests in April this year, but by delaying your guest announcements until a couple of days before the convention, you're putting attendees who come for the guests in a horrible position of scrambling to make last minute arrangements to attend.  What about your attendees who travel from out of town and are staying in hotels?  Is it fair to them to make them wait until a point where they're going to lose money should they opt to cancel their reservation?

By now, the attendees should have a solid idea as to who is attending.  I can understand maybe having some special, last minute guest, but when a significant portion of your guest list has yet to be announced 18 days before the convention, it's time to start evaluating yourself as a convention, and perhaps, quite possibly, to get yourself some better guest relations staff.  It's great that your staff have their own lives and jobs to deal with as many of us attendees do as well, but they signed up for the job, and they needed to step up to the plate MONTHS ago.

[echoshadow]

Woh, glad some one else feels like I do.
I want to thank all staff for making Fanime possible, but
I don't want to sound a bit of jerk, point fingers or throw anyone under the bus but, it seems like the problem is staff that is overwhelmed, understaff, or just not doing their tasks.

I get most of the staff are volunters but sometimes you have to treat this like a business. I'm not saying management should get rid of any that doesn't meet a deadline but maybe John/Jane Doe would be best suited somewhere else, or could use extra help and not have one person with all the burden.

Then again that all means null if management is the problem, in that case like the saying goes "your going up the creek with out a paddle"

[Angelx624]

I have to admit, I'm anxious about Fanime's guests every year, and look forward to seeing who they get every year. However, I agree in that they should work on announcing/getting guests sooner. While they did seem to announce some of them earlier this year(I mean heck, last year we waited til May to hear about the first Music Fest guest, and this year they announced one earlier than that, *shrugs* ) they're still holding off on announcing the rest, it seems.

I mean, I'm sure they have someone great in mind still, but I just wish they wouldn't wait so long to announce them, if they know for sure that guest is gonna make it to Fanime.

[ewu]

Unfortunately, the timeline of the contracting process is not something we have full control over. It is not as simple as asking a guest to come and they agreeing, but their appearances must be negotiated and a contract must be signed. Depending on the agent and the guest, this can be fast and straightforward, or convoluted and complicated. Think: a bowl of skittles every morning, but no green ones....The green ones creep the guest out....

[cutiebunny]

I don't think that anyone believes that this is an easy job.  I'm sure we're all aware that you can't just call up someone in Japan, ask them what they're doing the weekend of May 24, invite them over and consider that a 'confirmed guest'.

But when you continually see large conventions like AX, Otakon, etc. year after year manage to announce big names several months ahead of the event, you end up asking yourself why Fanime can't do the same.  For example, Otakon announced T.M.Revolution at the end of January despite their convention being the first week of August.  And while several of these events may have full time staff who are dedicated to the event, once again, why can't Fanime?  Just because it's "For Fans, by Fans" doesn't mean that the person(s) working full time for your event can't be anime fans as well.

Perhaps this is just my opinion, but when I glance over at the Clockwork Alchemy site and see several more announced guests than those on the Fanime portion, I start to wonder if Fanime is starting to divert its energy to Steampunk and become less of an anime convention, and more of an "All things Otaku" convention.  And if that's where Fanime wants to go, that's fine, but I think your attendees need to be informed of this.  As it stands, they were badly burned in 2012 with the lack of a big name musical guest, and as this year is shaping up to be just as poor, I'd imagine that their blind loyalty is at its limit.

[Amanojaku]

But when you continually see large conventions like AX, Otakon, etc. year after year manage to announce big names several months ahead of the event, you end up asking yourself why Fanime can't do the same.  For example, Otakon announced T.M.Revolution at the end of January despite their convention being the first week of August.  And while several of these events may have full time staff who are dedicated to the event, once again, why can't Fanime?  Just because it's "For Fans, by Fans" doesn't mean that the person(s) working full time for your event can't be anime fans as well.

Perhaps this is just my opinion, but when I glance over at the Clockwork Alchemy site and see several more announced guests than those on the Fanime portion, I start to wonder if Fanime is starting to divert its energy to Steampunk and become less of an anime convention, and more of an "All things Otaku" convention.  And if that's where Fanime wants to go, that's fine, but I think your attendees need to be informed of this.  As it stands, they were badly burned in 2012 with the lack of a big name musical guest, and as this year is shaping up to be just as poor, I'd imagine that their blind loyalty is at its limit.

I agree with this first paragraph.  I disagree completely with the second.  It seems many people want to draw a conclusion that Clockwork Alchemy is diverting resources from Fanime Con, and I just don't buy it.  If they've got more guests announced, it is likely they are easier to obtain, being 1. more local to the US, and 2. an interest that is a smaller niche than anime and therefore less in demand, and likely less expensive if it is a paid guest.

As for being badly burned on music guests last year... big name by who's standards?  Most people in Japan seem to be familiar with Chiba and Sendai Kamotsu.  I saw his beaming face plastered quite a few places when I was over there last month.  We're never going to get an X-Japan level performer, that is unrealistic at this point for a con this size.

[DrScorpio]

As for being badly burned on music guests last year... big name by who's standards?  Most people in Japan seem to be familiar with Chiba and Sendai Kamotsu.  I saw his beaming face plastered quite a few places when I was over there last month.  We're never going to get an X-Japan level performer, that is unrealistic at this point for a con this size.

By who's standards? Id say the standards that Fanime has set over the last several years. Fanime isnt a no-name con and has quite a history of amazing guests and performers. I dont think anyone is expecting X-Japan, but then I dont think anyone was expecting what we got last year.

[Amanojaku]

As for being badly burned on music guests last year... big name by who's standards?  Most people in Japan seem to be familiar with Chiba and Sendai Kamotsu.  I saw his beaming face plastered quite a few places when I was over there last month.  We're never going to get an X-Japan level performer, that is unrealistic at this point for a con this size.

By who's standards? Id say the standards that Fanime has set over the last several years. Fanime isnt a no-name con and has quite a history of amazing guests and performers. I dont think anyone is expecting X-Japan, but then I dont think anyone was expecting what we got last year.

I feel Chiba was exactly in line with the standards of music performers over the last several years.  Let's go back to 2006's guest, Kamijo, as a solo act.  Lareine had long since been dissolved, Versailles hadn't been formed yet, and there were just as many "whoz dat gai?" looks on people's faces as people had for Chiba.  Same deal with Mari Ijima.  Frequently the musical guests we've had are kind of in the twilight of their careers or a downtime in popularity in the Japanese music scene -  and I am not complaining about this at all mind you; I've enjoyed them.  I'm just being realistic about them.  FLOW is arguably a bigger name than Chiba/Nightmare/Sendai Kamotsu, but that has not been typical if you compare Chiba to other guests we've had and where they're at in their careers when they've attended Fanime Con.  I feel like FLOW set the bar pretty high, and nobody remembers a time before FLOW.

[Rhornez]

You forgot An Cafe in 2008 -___- they are on hiatus and we were lucky to grab them before they went on so.

[DrScorpio]

I feel Chiba was exactly in line with the standards of music performers over the last several years.  Let's go back to 2006's guest, Kamijo, as a solo act.  Lareine had long since been dissolved, Versailles hadn't been formed yet, and there were just as many "whoz dat gai?" looks on people's faces as people had for Chiba.  Same deal with Mari Ijima.  Frequently the musical guests we've had are kind of in the twilight of their careers or a downtime in popularity in the Japanese music scene -  and I am not complaining about this at all mind you; I've enjoyed them.  I'm just being realistic about them.  FLOW is arguably a bigger name than Chiba/Nightmare/Sendai Kamotsu, but that has not been typical if you compare Chiba to other guests we've had and where they're at in their careers when they've attended Fanime Con.  I feel like FLOW set the bar pretty high, and nobody remembers a time before FLOW.

You are defending Chiba by bringing up an example from 7 years ago. 7 years is a very long time in the convention world. Hell, Fanime's attendance was half of what it was now in 2006. Its unrealistic to compare a 10,000 attendee size con to a 20,000 attendee size con. I expect more for Fanime as it is NOW, not 7 years ago.

I am hoping more guests are announced. Not like last year where everyone was hoping for the announcement of another Musicfest guest and were disappointed to learn that it wasnt going to happen about a week before the con. It would be great if some staff would just say something like "dont worry, there will be more guest announcements".

[M]

Locking this topic before it gets any more heated. It has been noted that we should announce guests earlier (for the past few years that I've personally been keeping track) and we've seen progress made towards that goal. Like all other feedback**, you can always post about it on these forums, Tweet it to us*, Facebook us*, or e-mail us and we'll hear it - because nothing publically is seen doesn't mean that we don't try to work on it.

As ewu said, there are many things that factor into running a convention and among them, I would personally rate "Guest Relations" as being one of the most difficult. As we continue year-after-year, we are continually refining the process and it seems that no matter who we get no one will be happy (for everyone that was happy with Yoshiki one year and FLOW another year, there were at least two comments with "omg dumb guest!"). We're in the tough position where we can't please everyone, which is why we try to pick a variety of guests and artists that may not be on everyone's radar. Comparing <us/our guests/etc.> to <another event (big or small)/another event's guest/our other guests> is a very big disservice to the things that you are comparing as each and every convention runs differently with different guests, staff, and processes and each convention gets their guests because they think it would be best for their event's attendees.

We have a few more guests announcements coming and all will be announced before next week. :)

*Unfortunately, you can't <whatever the verb for Google Plus> us as we don't have an official account.
**If you want to give feedback anonymously, you can also e-mail or PM me. When I take feedback from people that don't want to be known, I don't list your name or contact information on the form when you explicitly tell me not to (ewu has seen my feedback documents).