Fanime 2008 Feedback thread.

[Reikon]

Also, I heard through the grapevine that a lot of staffers just showed up for their badges and not to actually staff. I rather hope that was exaggerated.

This was not exaggerated at all for e-gaming, which is why we were extremely short staffed. We were supposed to have 30 people in our department, but I only saw maybe 15 (and I was there at nearly all hours of the day). Of those 15 who showed up, only about 10 actually worked.

I think we should set up a system where staff have to pay in advance and then get refunded only if they actually do all their hours. This would have made more staffers actually show up and not make our department so short-handed.

[Kaura117]

Actually, a Butler Cafe might be an interesting idea on its own right, wouldn't it? I have to say, the concept intrigues me. A glance at FanimeCon's floor shows a very strong female presence- this has long since stopped being an event for only geeky male fanboys. I'd even go so far as to say that the gender representation is getting close to equal.

[Zee]

As for denying entries, that wouldn't be fair.

I probably worded that badly.  What I meant was, if you're in charge of the people signing up for masquerade, and a group comes along who wants to do something that two other groups are already doing, instead of just saying nothing and signing them up, it'd be better to say, "Look, two other groups are already doing that.  You can still be in the masquerade, but you need to come up with something different."  Heck, they could even help those cosplayers get in touch with the other groups who had the same idea and they could team up or something.  But it's sad when there are so many Haruhi dances that people coming onto the stage are greeted by groans.  That never should have been allowed to happen.  I know it's not a serious stage production or anything, but the masquerade should be entertaining for everyone, not repetitive for the audience or embarrassing for the performers.

Oh and ban a Rickroll after only being done twice [I think it was twice, I know I was in the 20th group] ? (the first one wasn't much of one since it was a ringtone.)

I counted three times including the ringtone.  You don't think that's a little much for a joke that's only funny because it's unexpected?  Not to mention outside of the masquerade where you had the internet guys walking around with the boombox rickrolling everyone, and whoever was in charge of the music rickrolling everyone over the PA system two nights in a row...  It's overkill, and it's ruined everything that used to be great about rickrolling.  I just think it's time for someone to put their foot down and say "stop killing the meme!"

[raltga]

One of the best in my 9 years of going to fanime.

Pros:
Registration on Thursday took like 30 minutes top; got there at 7:00 got badge just before 7:30, talk about awesome.
Video rooms (esp. on sunday) were fantastic: eva rebuild, stranger, dororo.  
Anime hell was a lot of fun (loved the use of "Ninja Master Theme Song" from MST3k).
Artist Ally was huge and full of great artists.  More dojin, original comics and crafts would be preferable to the dirth of print booths, but everything that was there was great.
Arcade was a lot of fun, picture booth and esp.2 took some of my food money ><
General atmosphere of fanime remained intact: enthusiasm, nice folks, great cosplay and a fan focus.

Cons:
Dealers room was as a lot of people said not great.  Not really the con's fault as the dealer's fault.
Q&A Sessions (H.Kiuchi's excepting, he was great) were the same old questions to Yamaga-san and crew ('what do you think about fansubs,' 'what's the deal with drills,' 'have you ever hired/accepted a story proposal/etc from a foreigner' should just be off limits, esp. the last one, i mean how can you answer that honestly and not sound like some xenophobic dream crusher?)
Only problem I had with the video rooms was some of the volunteers running them had no clue how to run the (actually quite nice) mac minis.  On more then one occasion members of the audience had to intervene and take over playing the videos.  

[Graduisc]

Also, I heard through the grapevine that a lot of staffers just showed up for their badges and not to actually staff. I rather hope that was exaggerated.

This was not exaggerated at all for e-gaming, which is why we were extremely short staffed. We were supposed to have 30 people in our department, but I only saw maybe 15 (and I was there at nearly all hours of the day). Of those 15 who showed up, only about 10 actually worked.

I think we should set up a system where staff have to pay in advance and then get refunded only if they actually do all their hours. This would have made more staffers actually show up and not make our department so short-handed.

yeah, i noticed that, a whole bunch of staff and a manpower shortage problem, but its like whatever, i dont know whos actually working and who isnt. then again  all i remember is helping out door guards the whole time for no other reason than laughs not even the hours involved. meh theres more to it but im lazy. it was fun though.

[Kazuko]

KAY

well so far the con was good, an cafe concert was amazing! keepin it NYAPPY. It was a nice reception for them and sure it was all fun. Dance was amazing

Cons:
-Dear jesus when they say no pushing during the concert please DONT PUSH like the whole middle section fell down and a girl had to be pushed out because she was hurt. I have minor bruises and well my left boob got a punch. some girl tried to be smart and shove her way by punching. you aint gonna get closer that way, but I got her back Oh it was victorious. but you know despite the crowd shoves and pushing It didnt bother me that much to get to see An cafe in a way that I thought was magical. Met some sweet cafeko girls they were sweet =)

-Dealers room seemed small this year, I didnt spend alot since some things didnt catch my interest.

-Dance: what happened to the hip hop yo! I was really hoping for variety not just techno
-Masq: It was a bit weak, the only good act was the Marvel V.S Capcom bit

[Mordyan]

I thought the con went really well this year. I really enjoyed it. I thought overall the atmosphere was much calmer than last year.

Pros:
Late night programing on stage zero - this really kept the concourse lively and meant there was something to do at odd times. Bored people often end up being stupid people.

24 hour Starbucks and the 4 am snack bar - it was nice to get a late night somethin without having to walk to MacDonalds. Yeah its con pricing but I was down.

Reduction in signs and glomping this year - I saw less of them than any of the cons I have been to before.

Expanded size of the Video Main room - It was freakin huge! Redeath was great it was easy to get a seat for a change.

Registration - Went really fast on Thursday. Awesome.

An Cafe - They were great. And winning the ticket to the autograph session was a nice bonus.

Cons:
Early starts on video rooms- Some video rooms started to show stuff before the scheduled time. This sucks. I posted on this in the Video programming forum.

Poor info regarding concert and autograph sessions - the no camera rule caught me off guard. I know on the ticket it said "no photo/no video". I carried my camera strictly out of habit in my messenger bag so I had to get mduo to run over and rescue my bag. I watched a girl cry in line for 20 minutes because she couldn't take a photo during the autograph session. Ticket pick up was also poorly communicated. I saw people trying to figure out where to get the tickets (this included me). Also times and location for autograph events need to be posted better. People at the information booths couldn't even tell us were to get tickets or where/when the gainax panel even was. Same for the autograph session with An Cafe. One info person told me it was on Sunday at 2 pm. They were mistaking the ticket pickup times with then actually session.

Ummm... that's it really. I don't have any other complaints. Everything else was fun and I had a good time. For me the dealer room was actually better this year than last.

[Sunara Ishi]

Cons:
-Dear jesus when they say no pushing during the concert please DONT PUSH like the whole middle section fell down and a girl had to be pushed out because she was hurt. I have minor bruises and well my left boob got a punch. some girl tried to be smart and shove her way by punching. you aint gonna get closer that way, but I got her back Oh it was victorious. but you know despite the crowd shoves and pushing It didnt bother me that much to get to see An cafe in a way that I thought was magical. Met some sweet cafeko girls they were sweet =)

I had a similar problem except the girl elbowed me and pushed forward in front of me despite me trying to resist. At least it was towards the end of the concert but it was rather annoying. Especially because I was trying to protect my fallen ribbon between my feet and she pushed me and stepped all over it and on my feet. Unfortunately, these kinds of things happen while being up close to the stage. I doubt staff can do too much about it. But it would be nice if they can catch the people trying to push others down.
Maybe they can have rope lines between sections of people? I dunno.
Also, maybe have the front of the mass not on the steps near the stage. I think people might have been pushing more than they might have if the steps didn't make the people in front block everything.

[Kazuko]

Cons:
-Dear jesus when they say no pushing during the concert please DONT PUSH like the whole middle section fell down and a girl had to be pushed out because she was hurt. I have minor bruises and well my left boob got a punch. some girl tried to be smart and shove her way by punching. you aint gonna get closer that way, but I got her back Oh it was victorious. but you know despite the crowd shoves and pushing It didnt bother me that much to get to see An cafe in a way that I thought was magical. Met some sweet cafeko girls they were sweet =)

I had a similar problem except the girl elbowed me and pushed forward in front of me despite me trying to resist. At least it was towards the end of the concert but it was rather annoying. Especially because I was trying to protect my fallen ribbon between my feet and she pushed me and stepped all over it and on my feet. Unfortunately, these kinds of things happen while being up close to the stage. I doubt staff can do too much about it. But it would be nice if they can catch the people trying to push others down.
Maybe they can have rope lines between sections of people? I dunno.
Also, maybe have the front of the mass not on the steps near the stage. I think people might have been pushing more than they might have if the steps didn't make the people in front block everything.

Yeah this guy held me and my friend and prevented us from falling, I have yet to thank him =( but well people were pushing from the back and being pushed back from the front = OH DAMN. Im sorry about your ribbon though D:

props to the crowd surfing!

[Sunara Ishi]

Cons:
-Dear jesus when they say no pushing during the concert please DONT PUSH like the whole middle section fell down and a girl had to be pushed out because she was hurt. I have minor bruises and well my left boob got a punch. some girl tried to be smart and shove her way by punching. you aint gonna get closer that way, but I got her back Oh it was victorious. but you know despite the crowd shoves and pushing It didnt bother me that much to get to see An cafe in a way that I thought was magical. Met some sweet cafeko girls they were sweet =)

I had a similar problem except the girl elbowed me and pushed forward in front of me despite me trying to resist. At least it was towards the end of the concert but it was rather annoying. Especially because I was trying to protect my fallen ribbon between my feet and she pushed me and stepped all over it and on my feet. Unfortunately, these kinds of things happen while being up close to the stage. I doubt staff can do too much about it. But it would be nice if they can catch the people trying to push others down.
Maybe they can have rope lines between sections of people? I dunno.
Also, maybe have the front of the mass not on the steps near the stage. I think people might have been pushing more than they might have if the steps didn't make the people in front block everything.

Yeah this guy held me and my friend and prevented us from falling, I have yet to thank him =( but well people were pushing from the back and being pushed back from the front = OH DAMN. Im sorry about your ribbon though D:

props to the crowd surfing!

well... it was more like a bulk a fabric but it wasn't too damaged as far as I can tell. I protected it most of the concert.

I will not condone the crowd surfing. D: Even if it can look cool. I heard a girl got kicked in the head by one of those guys.

[Nyxyin]

Oh, also. Is it just me, or was the enforcement of the weapons policy a bit more lax this year? I wandered around half the con with a black, hard plastic baseball bat before a friend finally reminded me that it might be prudent to have it tagged. Completely escaped my attention then- as well as, apparently, every staffer at every door I passed.

I think there's a difference between staff and volunteers.  I noticed the door guards tended to have the "volunteer" ribbons, so I don't think they're staffers, and they're probably not trained/qualified to comment on weapons.  I got the impression that the real staff tended to be the ones rushing from place to place without enough time to inspect the crowd for weapons.

I miss the days of $1 and $2 manga tables

I bought a bunch of $2 manga from Dr. Master.  I heard from a friend that, near the end of the convention, they were actually giving away manga for free!

[Kazuko]

Cons:
-Dear jesus when they say no pushing during the concert please DONT PUSH like the whole middle section fell down and a girl had to be pushed out because she was hurt. I have minor bruises and well my left boob got a punch. some girl tried to be smart and shove her way by punching. you aint gonna get closer that way, but I got her back Oh it was victorious. but you know despite the crowd shoves and pushing It didnt bother me that much to get to see An cafe in a way that I thought was magical. Met some sweet cafeko girls they were sweet =)

I had a similar problem except the girl elbowed me and pushed forward in front of me despite me trying to resist. At least it was towards the end of the concert but it was rather annoying. Especially because I was trying to protect my fallen ribbon between my feet and she pushed me and stepped all over it and on my feet. Unfortunately, these kinds of things happen while being up close to the stage. I doubt staff can do too much about it. But it would be nice if they can catch the people trying to push others down.
Maybe they can have rope lines between sections of people? I dunno.
Also, maybe have the front of the mass not on the steps near the stage. I think people might have been pushing more than they might have if the steps didn't make the people in front block everything.

Yeah this guy held me and my friend and prevented us from falling, I have yet to thank him =( but well people were pushing from the back and being pushed back from the front = OH DAMN. Im sorry about your ribbon though D:

props to the crowd surfing!

well... it was more like a bulk a fabric but it wasn't too damaged as far as I can tell. I protected it most of the concert.

I will not condone the crowd surfing. D: Even if it can look cool. I heard a girl got kicked in the head by one of those guys.

D: I know but it happens at various rock concerts, Everyone gets either kicked in the head or the person gets dropped and Im glad that no one was dropped cause that would have ended badly. Sorry for the girl who got kicked though, Im used to it since like I have been to lives and bleeh

I didnt realize it now but my purse is like totaly torn from the handles jesus my purse ;___;

Oh man someone had spikes on like on their wrist...It was a bit scary cause you know the whole close bodies thing

all I know is I shouldnt have worn a low cut top to the concert

now on the DVD it should be retitled TITS AHOY

btw, some girl pulled out her cell phone during the concert and she was recording, one of the staff members was next to her and didnt do anything and I was too far to say something

[Sunara Ishi]

Well... I'm not too sure what the bands are prepared for here.. I'm afraid that we might accidentally offend a band/guest by not having proper behavior. I don't know what they consider proper or rude. X.x;

I wonder if they can give us a list of basic DOs and DON'Ts in the future; like stuff that isn't obvious.
I rather hope we did good.

[Kender]

Also, I heard through the grapevine that a lot of staffers just showed up for their badges and not to actually staff. I rather hope that was exaggerated.

This was not exaggerated at all for e-gaming, which is why we were extremely short staffed. We were supposed to have 30 people in our department, but I only saw maybe 15 (and I was there at nearly all hours of the day). Of those 15 who showed up, only about 10 actually worked.

I think we should set up a system where staff have to pay in advance and then get refunded only if they actually do all their hours. This would have made more staffers actually show up and not make our department so short-handed.

If they weren't showing up for their shifts then their department head should have been pulling their badges.  If specific shifts weren't assigned then this is a lesson for next year that either the department head or the department second needs to do one.  And those who flaked this year should not be welcomed back.  It's not fair to the rest of those working the con.

[Reikon]

Also, I heard through the grapevine that a lot of staffers just showed up for their badges and not to actually staff. I rather hope that was exaggerated.

This was not exaggerated at all for e-gaming, which is why we were extremely short staffed. We were supposed to have 30 people in our department, but I only saw maybe 15 (and I was there at nearly all hours of the day). Of those 15 who showed up, only about 10 actually worked.

I think we should set up a system where staff have to pay in advance and then get refunded only if they actually do all their hours. This would have made more staffers actually show up and not make our department so short-handed.

If they weren't showing up for their shifts then their department head should have been pulling their badges.  If specific shifts weren't assigned then this is a lesson for next year that either the department head or the department second needs to do one.  And those who flaked this year should not be welcomed back.  It's not fair to the rest of those working the con.

They never showed up for any of their shifts. We can't pull badges of people we've never seen. Specific shifts were assigned, but since many people did not show up for shifts, we were short-handed and many people stayed overtime or came even when it wasn't their shift to make sure we always had at LEAST one person there. For example, we were supposed to have 5 people working Sunday morning starting from 6, but when I came in at 7, there was only one person there. I had to help even though my shift didn't start until 12.

[Reikon]

-The check-out for game consoles was a bit too long for me...  but that might have just been my experience with it.

The check-out process was indeed a bit long at times. We didn't have our systems set up so two computers could be used to check-out people at once, so sometimes the person at the computer was flooded with requests, especially when people weren't forming lines. People also didn't read our sign, so sometimes we had to waste time explaining how to check-out items (which sometimes took quite a while).

Next year, there might be a system that allows multiple people to check-out at the same time if we continue use that system.

What did people think of the check-out system? We know it was a bit annoying to come to us when you wanted to play, but you have to understand all the equipment is personally owned by the staff, so we needed a method to deter stealing.

[Raydere]

Pros:
- My first time going to Hentai Night. HILARIOUS. Can't say the same for Yaoi Night though.
- First time going to a cosplay gathering. Spent longer than expected with the group, then regrouped later for dinner.
- Speedruns on Stage Zero.  I don't really care for AMVs, so I was impressed to see speedruns in the wee hours. 
- The dedicated shmup screen over by the consoles was pretty cool (Blazing Star and Radiant Silvergun FTW!)
- Maid Cafe was in a much bigger area this year.
- Lots of water stations.
- At least 3 areas for wifi this year.  It's great to have at-con wifi when the Fairmont charges $14 for it and MetroFi makes you install this annoying sidebar thing to connect.
- As usual, the sense of familiarity and community when you're at a con attended by 10,000+ nerds. I feel like I belong for once. And as someone mentioned in the post-closing ceremonies feedback thingy, it's easy to make friends at a con as opposed to say, school or college.

Cons/Things that could've improved:
- Arcade was expensive.  $0.75 for Point Blank 2, $1.50 for WMMT3 and ID4 (ID4 I can understand, but WMMT3 at every other place in the South Bay, including SJSU where 2 of the machines came from, is only $1)
- At-con food was expensive...$3.00 for a kid-sized juice bottle, and 25 cents more for water.
- It's a bit unclear where the wifi hotspots are--unless you know what the routers looked like you wouldn't be able to know where they are.
- Masquerade was horrible. Cheesy voice acting, 9,001 renditions of H*** H*** Y**** (yes, it's so overdone it deserves to be censored), and only a few good skits (such as the Marvel vs. Capcom one). Being in PictoChat with 15 other people made it slightly better.
- We were supposed to get Pop'n Music 14 Fever (well, according to the marquee), but instead, we got Animelo 2. What do I have against it? You need a code to put in Hi-Speed, as opposed to just pressing 2 yellow buttons on Fever to bring up the modifier menu.
- Maid Cafe seemed pretty empty compared to last year (less maids, for instance). 
- I was a little confused when I tried to play IIDX 3rd Style on one of the PS2's--this is my 3rd year going, and until now I didn't know that you had to check out games, and I had to wait for the person playing to return it to the front desk to play it.

[Kender]

Also, I heard through the grapevine that a lot of staffers just showed up for their badges and not to actually staff. I rather hope that was exaggerated.

This was not exaggerated at all for e-gaming, which is why we were extremely short staffed. We were supposed to have 30 people in our department, but I only saw maybe 15 (and I was there at nearly all hours of the day). Of those 15 who showed up, only about 10 actually worked.

I think we should set up a system where staff have to pay in advance and then get refunded only if they actually do all their hours. This would have made more staffers actually show up and not make our department so short-handed.

If they weren't showing up for their shifts then their department head should have been pulling their badges.  If specific shifts weren't assigned then this is a lesson for next year that either the department head or the department second needs to do one.  And those who flaked this year should not be welcomed back.  It's not fair to the rest of those working the con.

They never showed up for any of their shifts. We can't pull badges of people we've never seen. Specific shifts were assigned, but since many people did not show up for shifts, we were short-handed and many people stayed overtime or came even when it wasn't their shift to make sure we always had at LEAST one person there. For example, we were supposed to have 5 people working Sunday morning starting from 6, but when I came in at 7, there was only one person there. I had to help even though my shift didn't start until 12.

Did anyone try to contact them?  We all had to provide contact information for how we could be reached during con for reasons such as this.  And also do we know for sure their badges were picked up?  Maybe they just completely flaked on the whole con?  Just a thought for the department head to check into if it hasn't been done already because that's a different offense than getting the badge and just not showing up to work scheduled shifts.

We were short-staffed with Panels as well, but that wasn't due to staffers not showing up for their shifts thankfully.  That was due to it being a new thing having a staff for the department and not knowing just how many people would really need so we weren't stretched so thin.  Many of us who could were pulling longer shifts than we had scheduled.

Anywho, my only suggestion at this point is to figure out who didn't show up (and picked up a badge) and not allow them back as staff for any department.  Create a black name list so to speak.  And if they didn't pick up their badges then they need to give a good reason for bailing on their volunteer commitment, but certainly not as high offense as abusing their badge.

[Reikon]

- I was a little confused when I tried to play IIDX 3rd Style on one of the PS2's--this is my 3rd year going, and until now I didn't know that you had to check out games, and I had to wait for the person playing to return it to the front desk to play it.

It was like that this year because we had many more games/systems and allowed people to choose what they wanted to play. You could always take turns instead of checking it in and out. The system was made to make people responsible for not losing it or to ID someone who stole something. We had a sign in the front, but most people seemed to ignore all of our signs.

[AMKestrel]

Just for reference, I captured notes on the live feedback session held at the end
of the closing ceremonies; here is the list of (Q)uestions raised, and where applicable,
the (A)nswers given to those questions, so that people here in the forums are
aware of the issues that have already been called forth to the FanimeCon management
team:

(pulled from my full transcript of the closing ceremonies...)

Former con chairs are called to the front
for the fan feedback/constructive criticism
section.

We do welcome your comments on how we can
improve.

If you're staying for the constructive
criticism, form a line up front, and we'll
make a note of your feedback.


========= begin fan feedback panel notes =============

Q: First up: last year, there were lots of easy
places to sit down and do things; there's a
lot more food, which was good, but all the
tables were taken up by food stuffs; no easy
place to sit down and just plan schedules and stuff.

Q: The games could be cheaper for the amount of time
you have for the games in the arcade.

Q: Are we planning to put the black and white ball
into a bigger room next year?  Or a faster way
to get people in and out.
A:We'll make it bigger and longer next year, yes.

Q: Would like to see a better improvement in the
schedule; wanted to go to panels but had to
go to masquerade practice instead. 
A: We try to make things work for everyone; there's
always going to be counter-programming; there's
so much to do here, it does require making some
tough decisions.

Q: Can we get an improvement on training for volunteer
and some staff, there's some staff that go on power
trips when it comes to weapons and the like.
A: It's tough, we're a volunteer organization, we'll
do our best to train them, but it's hard to force
people who are just volunteering their time; it's
not an easy task.
Making mistakes is part of learning; let the staff
know when they've made a mistake, help them learn
as well.

Q: Whose line is it anime was great, but would have
been nice to rotate through more people.
A: Jonathan was looking for more actors at the same
time; Dan and Reuben were supposed to be a
part of it, which would have also helped.  We'll see
what he can do about it next year.

Q: The arcade games need to be cheaper! 
A: (from the line: "they're standard arcade prices.")

Q: We have a huge area, could we get more machines
to help fill the area?
A: We went out on a limb with the number of machines,
and were suprised at how they were full.

Q: Can we put a permanent schedule at the info
desks that can't be stolen easily out of the
pockets?

Q: ld we have a public microwave for people
who bring ramen?
A: Someone must have requested a microwave, it
showed up in Casey's room.  Those are controlled
by the hotels, so it's not something we can easily
do.

Q: One complaint about the starbucks here not
taking starbucks cards; not something we have
control over, unfortunately, so the person will
address their complaint to starbucks directly.

Q: Is there a way to show who the winners of
the FMVs are?  Maybe at Stage Zero?
We'll hit Sean Barber up about that.

Q: At Fanime2005, we showed the winning
AMVs, that was a good way to end the con; can we
bring that back?

Q: This year's e-gaming, sad there were no
PC games.  Can we get PC games back?
A: Consoles are relatively cheap; but to get a
beefy PC to run games, and asking people to
donate it for a time, is tough.  So we're
limited on how much we can do for PC gaming.

Q: What was up with the lack of group
registration? 
A: It's a wonderful thing for the
members when it works.  we ran into a lot of
problems with it; it took more work than it
was worth for the staff, but we can look into
it again in the future to see if there's a way
we can do it that will be less labour intensive
on the staff side to make it happen.

Q: People are on a budget for food; could we maybe
get a breakfast buffet for early morning, 7-10
or 7-11 for cheaper (as a buffet?)

Q: Jesus suggests we get a bit tougher set of badge
holders; his badge holder broke while he was at
dance; can we have more on hand and have
replacements, if it's going to be considered a
mandatory item for being considered a paid member?

Q: The no-camera policy at MusicFest was a problem
with people who waited in line and then were
rejected at the door and had to go put it away
and then get back in line.

A: The city got freaked when they saw the an cafe
videos from Europe, with mobs and near-riots at
concerts; so when Sony said no videos, the city
enforced it *very* strongly.

Random hater comes up in line...we can't really
figure out what he's upset about.

Q: Neil had a pretty good con, thanks for the good
work.  There was a bit of confusion on the badge
holder policy; needed better communication about
the need for cheap plastic badge holder and the
lanyard.
And the AMV winner announcements could have been
handled better.

A: We'll work on better badging in the future.

Q: 3 questions from next person.  Why do we need an
ID to rent the gamecube controllers in the arcade
hall? 
A: That way they know how to contact you if
you don't return it.
Q: Can we get a freezer and/or microwave in public?
A: The hotel reserves fridges for those who need to
keep their insulin cool, as medical needs trump fan
snack cooling.

Jason has to duck out; if you have additional
complaints/feedback for him, send email to
[email protected]

Q: Could they get more space around the people playing
brawl so it's not so tight around the area?

Q: Game room, checking out consoles, he had to wait
for the previous person to return it before he
could check it out.
He liked the speed runs at Stage Zero, bring
that back for 2009.

Q: We need to be able to figure out how to control
drugs and alcohol coming into the con--what can
we do to control the substances going into the
official dance (rave).
A: We had over 13,000 people, it's definitely a
challenge; right now, we're short on staff for
covering issues like that.  With SJPD on site,
if you see stuff that's illegal, definitely get
word to the Safety on Site staff members, and they
will make sure it is passed along to the authorities
for enforcement.

Q: Is there a way we can get the online signups a
bit more streamlined (for staff and volunteers?)
A: We had too many people drop out when we made it
too easy, but yes, staff and volunteer recruitment
is very high on our list of priorities.

Q: No synopis about the anime being shown?  The live
action ones have synopsis?  It was in the program
guide; some panels didn't have entries in the
program guide; look to the newsletters for late
updates.

Q: Web site was much more confusing this year; had
to go to the forums to get info.

A: We've started using twitter for real-time updates
on scheduling, which helps!

There are also other websites that do updates, you
can email [email protected] for more info on
changes you'd like to see implemented.

Q: First, on the website, it said you weren't allowed
to sleep at the con, but there would be a dedicated
sleeping area? 
A: Uh, no, there's no loitering allowed
by law, so that wouldn't be true.

Q: A few times when he was at the end of line, staff
people were harrassing him about having a weapon, even
though it was just part of his costume, and not actually
a weapon at all.
A: We can look into options, but we do have to be
strict about our weapons policy and peace bonding.

Q: Next up, asks about the online hotel registration,
it looked good having it on the website but it seemed
to have failed a month before, and never seemed to come
back.  It provided a phone number to call, so you weren't
totally out of luck, but would be nice to have a way
to report issues more easily.
A: We weren't aware of the webite having issues, as we
still had hotel registrations coming through; if you see
issues, feel free to report them, don't just assume we
know when there's an issue on our own.

Q: He worked for nvidia, apparently there was
supposedly some type of cross marketing
arrangement with nvidia and that we had the
name on the lanyards and bags; concerns that
there were rumours that nVidia dropped the ball in
a joint marketing effort?

A: They sponsored the books, bags, and lanyards
to market the nvision conference, and that joint
effort was carried out successfully, and was limited
to the sponsorship of the lanyards, bags, and program
guide as noted.

Q: Good job with the water, and good job having
a photo booth there this year!

Q: Only people who brought their own controllers
seemed to be playing in gaming area; could that
be clarified better ahead of time so people would
know to bring their own controllers?

Q: At con reg for 2009, she went to go reg at around
12:00, wasn't sure what happened, but she wasn't
able to finish checking out of her hotel room
at noon and still make it down to prereg in time
for 2009 prereg; can we have longer hours for that
on Monday next year that extend past room checkout
time?

Q: Sean was running the speedrun panels at stage
zero in the wee hours, sounds like it went well,
and he'd like to come back next year and do it
again.
A: Yes, definitely!

Q: they liked the layout of the printed schedule sheets this
year, easy to read, panels on one side, video on the
other, split by day, easy to print at home, thanks!

Q: tabletop gaming, tournaments kept having people
move their games out of the way; could we get tables
that would be non-tournament only to keep people from
having to move?

Q: If we can make it clearer online how to volunteer and
how to staff, that would be cool.

Q: The video schedules were very clear, very easy to
read, thanks!

Q: The numbering of the video rooms was pretty
arbitrary; video main was also video 5; could we
put more of a sequence to the numbering?
Try to keep them more orderly next time, rather
than having video 1, video 5, etc.

Q: Thanks the asian film crew for not showing battle
royale!  Feels that fanime is becoming a younger
convention; with the programming in place, it's
good for where we are now, but as we get to a
younger audience, we're running out of things
to show these tweeners at night even though
they should be sleeping.

Q: Food is too expensive, make it cheaper!
A: All the food vendors were non-fanime; some were
convention center, others were outside, but the
convention center gateways all the food items
coming in.

Q: But the food is really expensive in the con!
A: Matt notes the Hilton food was cheaper than
the convention food, and an update was put in the
newsletter pointing people to the Hilton food line
on the first floor if you wanted more filling fare
for a more reasonable price.

Q: Could next year we put the same name in the
program guide as in the schedule?
A: We'll see what we can do within the space limitations
of the printed schedule.

Q: Also, could we mark which rooms have age
appropriate material at different times;
possibly a symbol on the video sheets for
age of material, or a 14-and-under safe
room?
A: Good idea, we'll see if we can get that information
included.

Q: Could we maybe have video rooms in the
hotels again like we did a few years
ago?

Q: Kudos on splitting the schedule from the
program guide; easier to get the updated
version when we get here.

Q: Could we have a back sheet to show new
items that weren't in the program guide?

Q: This place is very wheelchair friendly;
could we get a free or half-price entry
for the mandatory attendant she has with
her?
Q: Also, could there be more tables for her
to set her computer on to do work in the
concourse area?

Q: Splitting video on one side, programs on
the other was cool.  Running out of schedules
at the info desk was rough.  If we can list
what's going on at the info desks, that would
help too.

Q: Could we get more dub showings?  He doesn't
feel like reading the screen all the time.
A: He can email [email protected] to let them
know his preference for dubs.

Q: It's really loud at the Hilton panel rooms when
people are using the elevators; can we just keep the
doors closed, and mark them as 'come on in' so the
panels can still be heard inside?

Thanks everyone for coming!  See you next year!

Feedback session wraps up at 1754 hours Pacific Time.