Messages

Panels:
Is it true that panels are only supposed to be 50 minutes, not the full 1 hour? If so, then please label panels that way in the guidebook, e.g. 3:00-3:50 pm instead of 3:00-4:00 pm. I think some panelists were unaware of the cutoff time and used up the entire hour, causing the next panel to start late due to the time needed for attendees to clear out and enter.

For the staff:
Do you share suggestions with the panelists that people write on the comment cards? I'm asking because I left criticism last year about the way a certain panel was run. The way they organized the panel was slightly unpleasant to the attendees, and the same exact thing happened again this year.

Panelists are told in the signup process and the check-in process about the time procedures. A staff member at the door or the back of the room holds up yellow and red signs to signal the end of the panel, though the timing of this seemed inconsistent, and didn't line up with the "start on the hour, end at :50" timing that panels were supposed to have.

As for the feedback, either my panels last year didn't get any feedback or it was not shared with me. No word yet this year on feedback. Do you have a way to contact the panelists more directly for feedback? I know that I give out my social media information so that people can find my Powerpoints after the show, and people tend to advertise their panels, and I know that at least I welcome feedback, so you might be able to find the panelists and contact them about it.

also, people checking badges are awful, i walked up with my badge in plain sight and he nearly grabbed me asking "BADGE?!?!" it was right in front of his face, maybe dont hire 90 year old staff members wtf.

Most of the facilities staff who were checking badges were great.  However, yes, there was ONE older gentleman who was an asshat.  Did the same thing, I'm holding my badge out in plain sight so he can see it easily, and he puts his hands on me.  I tell him very calmly, "Don't set your hands on me, brother" and he didn't know what to do except continue to look at my badge and move aside.  Everyone else was fine, and went as far as to complement me a couple times.

As for badge pick up, as was said, it really depended on how aware the person at the printer at your table was.  Overall I REALLY liked the self-service system and hope it comes back next year.  I'm sure if they keep it as it is and everyone is more familiar with how it will play out, then it'll be even smoother.

By any chance was this older gentleman in steampunk gear?

Nope, he was in the convention facilities stuff like most others.  Wasn't really a huge deal, but it was pretty damn unprofessional since I always wait specifically to give them a chance to verify my badge - not like I run through the gates.

Last year I had an issue with an older gentleman checking badges (one of the con center staff) who made an inappropriate comment to me as he was checking my badge. I told the con about it (thankfully I remembered to note the time and location of the incident at the time) and was told that appropriate action was taken against the employee. I hope it wasn't the same older gentleman. If you can remember the time and location of the incident, they may be able to locate him, since touching attendees is very much inappropriate.

Enkai, I feel like your response is much more sensible about not wanting to pay the prices than OP's. (Congrats on the baby, by the way! :D) Not wanting to spend the money because it isn't personally worth it to you and/or very difficult, but also only going there for shorter periods and to socialize outside or otherwise not expect content without paying the price makes a lot of sense, especially with how expensive 1-day badges were this year. (and really I don't think that "not having/wanting to spend the money" = "wanting it to be free" generally, so I'd guess that the person you are responding to is more reacting to OP's entitled attitude in sweeping terms rather than actually meaning that...but who knows)

A shopper's pass is a great idea, though it would be harder to enforce. If it looks different enough from other passes, it would be easy enough to recognize at checkpoints, though keeping shoppers out of other areas would require extra checkpoints. I suppose the bare minimum would be to have another checkpoint at the entrance to the hallway where the karaoke room is, and have a checkpoint at the gaming room, and to not allow shoppers in after a certain time to prevent them from attending the dance (and/or checking badges again at the dance...don't they do bag checks and such anyway to make sure no one's sneaking in drugs or other dangerous items? I haven't been to a dance in well over 10 years haha), since these are the only areas upstairs in the convention center other than the shopping areas. Though, it would create a longer backup and more lines at these areas, so it would be a tradeoff. Panel rooms, video rooms, and the like are located in different areas and those already checking at the door would be trained to not allow shoppers in.

Really, though, I'm mostly for lowering the cost of a 1-day badge. I'm not sure how much profit these make the con vs. weekend badges, but it seems like at least Monday can be made cheaper if nothing else, since the price was far too high.

It really depends on what you want out of the con, and what kinds of costumes you are doing.

I'm the type to also do a lot of costume changes (I reached my personal record of 4 in one day this year), and that can get really hectic. I usually reserve evenings for hanging out, karaoke, and easy costumes that I don't have to worry about. It can be a bit much, though, so do so many costume changes, especially if they're really intense costumes.

One thing you can do is reserve one day of the con to not cosplay. Choose a day with programming you want to see, without gatherings for your major series, and where you can walk around and be comfortable, if possible. You can also reserve a half day for this. If you can't stand to not cosplay, you can wear a comfortable and easy costume that doesn't attract tons of attention and walk around in that. This year I did my intense cosplays on Saturday and did a super easy and comfortable cosplay on Sunday and mostly spent the day doing one shoot, a gathering, and then hanging out and walking around con with friends (and then hitting up the hot tub, changing into another fairly easy costume, and hitting up the hotel bar in the evening with a different group of friends), and it was really nice and relaxing to not have to worry about wearing something uncomfortable, or changing multiple times, or running to get from place to place, like I was on Friday (panels) or Saturday (intense cosplays).

I tend to keep schedules because I'm often doing photoshoots, giving panels, attending gatherings, etc., and because I tend to be a pretty organized person to begin with, but that doesn't work for everyone and can often be more tiring. If you see something you really want to attend on the con schedule, be sure to block out that chunk of time where you don't have a photoshoot or a gathering or you wait until after to change, etc.

Really, you need to make choices with what you do with your time at con, and if you are happy doing tons of shoots and gatherings and costume changes, that's fantastic! If you aren't happy, you'll have to reduce the number of costumes or costume changes or shoots and gatherings and find a way to attend the events you want to attend.

Glad that you aren't meaning to come across as rude or aggressive as I read you as! Sorry about the misunderstanding :D

Agreed that there could easily be classism going on here, though it's hard to tell intent when people aren't coming out and stating things in mind of keeping politics out of the thread as much as possible. The problem shouldn't be taken lightly, and it's obviously a much bigger issue than just a Fanimecon issue that involves a lot of very delicate and complex economic and political issues. I feel like the underlying structural issues would need to be solved rather than just getting rid of the homeless presence for a single weekend by forcing people to go elsewhere, but that's outside the scope of the con and this thread.

I'm also really curious about the attendance numbers for this year, but this con doesn't really give out solid attendance numbers to compare it to. AA was super crowded Saturday afternoon, but otherwise, it seemed like there were fewer crowds in the convention center itself -- were there fewer people, was there better crowd control, or was there the same amount or more but they were mostly in the outdoor and otherwise unbadged areas?

I think there should be a balance between "ability for newcomers to check out the con" and "not giving too much free content to people who are ghosting," and I think the con might be right near finding that perfect balance. I can understand the video rooms being badged for legal reasons (needing to purchase a membership to watch licensed content, as opposed to it being a public screening anyone could wander into), but I do somewhat miss karaoke being open, even if I always buy a badge myself.

I didn't have any issues with the presence of homeless people besides the previously-expressed slight surprise at how close to the con itself some of them were this year, so I won't comment on that (again, I never felt unsafe, but I was also almost always walking with a group), and I'm not OP, but I did mention that the homelessness is a bigger structural issue than just something with Fanimecon, and I feel like other posters before me were dancing around that point with the comments about "not getting too political" (blahblahblah structural inequalities and poverty being the issue etc. etc.).

As for the bacon hotdog vendors...I have no problem with them there generally, it was just a mild annoyance that there were so goddamn many, to the point where it was hard to walk along that sidewalk at times, especially in large and delicate costumes, as already expressed. The marketing that was "a bit aggressive" was mostly referring to those who would continue to try to convince me I needed a hotdog even after saying "no thank you." Easily solved by just continuing to walk away (as I did), but still not entirely pleasant to have to deal with along with dodging the carts in cumbersome costumes and already feeling nauseous from the smell. At least I didn't have anyone actually stop their cart in front of me while I was walking this year (has happened in the past with some ice cream vendors...not a big deal still, but it was clearly not a stop because someone wanted an ice cream or because of crowds). Honestly, my complaint about the vendors was pretty mild overall, and I feel like your post is seriously escalating things to a level of aggression and pettiness that wasn't in this thread before.



Re: increased police presence, I didn't notice that, but I did notice a lot of sirens this year, possibly more than previous years. Was there an increase in medical emergencies or other issues, or was I just taking more notice, I wonder?

I find the full weekend price reasonable, especially if you pre-reg early. It hasn't gone up /that/ much in price for pre-reg in the past several years, even as much as the at-con prices have risen. I think that there should be the ability to transfer or refund a badge, especially since housing is tied to registration so it's a huge gamble for a lot of people, but if you know you're going early, the price is very reasonable.

What I don't find reasonable? One-day badge prices. A friend of mine was only able to go on Monday and paid almost as much as I did for my weekend badge for a half day of con. Monday in particular, when everyone is packing up and there's little in the way on content, shouldn't cost so much.

I enjoy the badged upper area of the concourse. It really helps with traffic flows and saves a lot of time. I say that if you want the con content, you gotta pay the con prices. Be thankful that the badge checkpoint is just to go upstairs (or to the video rooms downstairs) and not to enter the convention center at all if you are ghosting. :P

Again, not to get into the politics and economics of the issue (which is a much broader structural issue than just Fanimecon, obviously), I was surprised at how close to the convention center some of these people were. I saw some panhandlers on the side of the Marriott in the front where a lot of people walk to cross the street to access the Fairmont/park/park/food/etc. Thankfully I didn't come across anyone who was aggressive or rude or seemed dangerous, but I also pretty much also only walked at night with friends (and usually my biggest, toughest guy friend...just by chance, not by design, but still). I also didn't wander terribly far from the convention center at night this year, so I missed a lot of the problem, but I am small and female-bodied and am often sensitive to potentially dangerous situations. I'm not sure what the con itself can really do about this, but I agree with the suggestions of people who live in the area getting involved in local government. It's a delicate and difficult situation.

As for the bacon hot dog vendors...there were way too many this year. I understand that you gotta make money somehow, but it was getting hard to walk through that front area on the sidewalk where they were all congregating, especially in large or delicate cosplay where you may not want to have to walk around a bunch of obstacles covered in grease. Some of the vendors were also a bit aggressive in their marketing. (Never mind that the smell of those things makes me feel a bit nauseous, but that's a personal issue I suppose)

The convention was very well run and everything that I saw went smoothly (actual convention events).

I agree that this is one of the better-run Fanimes in a long time, at least at the con itself. Reg was super smooth, everything I saw seemed to run like clockwork. Pre-con organization can still use improvement, but the con itself was pretty good at this. Good crowd control, the badged upstairs area worked very well for the second year, etc.

Might as well.



Friday: Mink (Dragon Half); Utena Tenjou (Adolescence of Utena)
Saturday: Ultimecia (Final Fantasy VIII); Harle (Chrono Cross); Pearl [tuxedo variant] (Steven Universe); Utena again
Sunday: Lisa Lisa [red zoot suit variant] (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure); Lady Oscar (The Rose of Versailles)

I think a panel like this is potentially a great idea. I'm always happy to see more in the way of cosplay panels that tackle interesting topics.

As someone who also gives cosplay help panels, I would agree that 2 hours is a bit long. Pare down the content a bit, since you aren't going to be able to keep people's attention for that long. I've given 2-hour panels, and while some people stayed for the whole panel, it was a lot of people moving in and out of the panel as it went, and there tends to be a smaller turnout than with 1-hour (or even 90-minute) panels, probably because people are intimidated by the length. If you wanted to give two 1-hour panels and felt you had enough content for that, you'd have to find a way to split it up so that each panel is unique somehow and now just a continuation of the other panel. I'd say a 2-hour panel is better than a 2-part panel, but that's also up to panels scheduling and what there is time for.

The other issue with this is determining how to teach these things -- teaching color choice can be done (in my panels where I talk about color choice it's only one or two slides on how to make colors cohesive, so going into how to make colors cohesive /and/ work with your skintone could easily expand into more slides, if doing a Powerpoint), and teaching proportion can be done to a point, but a lot of this type of thing, at least I've found, takes experience and a bit of intuition to know what looks right. I suppose teaching about general guidelines of proportion and body type would be good for people who are new, but knowing what looks good on your particular body seems to take a bit of an eye that isn't really teachable in the same way. It's not impossible, but you'd have to be really careful in how you actually go about teaching these concepts. I would focus on fit in this case.

I give panels on fabric choice, and I have to say that covering types of fabrics can easily eat up a TON of time that you maybe shouldn't use in a panel like this. If you cover what types of fabrics are used for particular garments, I'd try to keep it as brief as possible, and focus on how to choose fabrics based on a cartoony vs realistic look. I've given 2-hour panels on just fabric choice, so believe me when I say that it can take up a TON of time.

Honestly, I have a panel that covers a lot of similar ground (but more in a "here's things you may not think of that would really help take your cosplay to the next level" way), and it's my least favorite panel to give, so if this is something you are passionate about, please, go ahead and do it far better than I can! Though, if you want or need a co-panelist or any sort of input on structuring the panel or content or anything like that, let me know.

Actually...probably the best Fanimecon I've ever had. I had a fantastic time. Sorry that yours was such a terrible experience. :[

Though, mine also had very little to do with the con itself, and mostly had to do with the social situations that the con enabled. I gave my panels on Friday, which was fine, but then the rest of the time I did little in the way of actually scheduled programming and more in the way of cosplay and socializing. Sadly I only got around to one karaoke song this year, but I didn't want to stay up too late. Lots of cosplay gatherings, shoots, and hanging out, for the most part, and it involved some great people and fandoms. :D

Broke my personal record and wore 4 cosplays in one day. That was a bit much, but in my defense, one could only be worn for a few hours because it's painful (Ultimecia), one is only somewhat more comfortable, and the wig on my "comfy" cosplay was bothering me after wearing heavy things on my head all day so I threw on the most comfortable cosplay I have.

Got asked by a stranger to step on her for a photo as Lady Oscar, and that was one of the highlights of my con tbh. Best photo request I've ever gotten.

My first JJBA cosplay went super well and I had a lot of fun rolling around con with Jojo friends. I had a great first experience with the fandom and can't wait to do more cosplays from the series.

I've always felt like this con can be a letdown in terms of programming/guests/etc., but the cosplay scene and the social scene make it really worth it to me, and that can easily make or break the con.

I called the helpline about this and they said it was a widespread issue and that they'll be sending out a corrected email in the next couple days.
The fan name that appears in the registration portal will be the one on your badge!

Cool, I'll keep an eye out for the corrected email :D Hopefully it's actually correct this time.

My boyfriend also had this issue, and he was able to fix it by taking the apostrophe out of his fan name.

Same as InsaneDavid -- I have no special characters, and this is something that seems to have happened to everyone because it's a system issue.

Good to know that it's just an email issue and not a system issue.

The different QR code thing is troubling, though -- I wonder if the con will be accepting either/or?

Weather is still looking good! They're predicting mostly mid to upper 70s and lower 80s on Sunday.

Though, this is just my luck -- I set my cosplay lineup, and it turns out that the coolest day of con is bikini armor day, and the warmest day of con is a zoot suit and an 18th century French military uniform. Oh well.

I got a confirmation email from the con about registration, and it told me that I needed to confirm that my fan name is correct before picking up my badge, and that I can change it in the online system. The fan name written in the email is horribly incorrect ("@@UDF1" is what they gave me, and I don't want to sound like some prisoner or android in a bad sci-fi film), but it is correct in the online system when I went to go change it.

Which should I trust, the online system, or the email I got? Should I email Reg to confirm? I don't want an incident like last year where they printed my real name twice instead of my fan name.

Hey Tommy! Glad to know that you're alive and nothing horribly tragic has happened to the karaoke staff :D (Well, besides a mysteriously missing forums account)

Are you doing song database requests this year? I really have more of a question than a request -- is the website up to date with what's in there, and if not, are you up to date with JJBA OPs? Really all I'm looking for is if you have Great Days. If there isn't enough time to add it, that's cool, since I can bring my own lyrics, but it would obviously be better if it were in the database so the lyrics can be projected, which is why I'm asking.

Thanks!

In my roughly decade and a half of attending this con, I can't remember a year that a contest was cancelled. I think they're probably just unusually late this year.

Worst-case scenario, if online signups never happen, it'll be at-con signups only. Which would be intense for a larger contest like this one (they use that method at SacAnime where it's usually much smaller), but I'd say that in the karaoke doomsday scenario of not hearing anything at all pre-con, showing up at the karaoke room right when it opens for check-in and warmups on Friday (or a little before, in case there's a line) would be the best course of action.

Still hoping for online signups to open soon, though, for all your sakes, and because I'm still waiting for this year's song request thread!

If you're still looking for a photographer, send me a PM. I should have some availability still depending on the day :D

After posting that the offers started pouring in, so I'm pretty booked, but thanks for the offer! :D



I can't believe con is only two and a half weeks out. Gotta finish my cosplay(s), get my older cosplays repaired where needed, and of course finish those panels.

I, uh, hope I didn't miss the signups or something... is the official thread really not here yet?

No announcements here, on the website, or on their Twitter. It is safe to say signups are not up yet, meaning that it's the officially sanctioned time to worry, at least according to my last post in this thread.

These usually start at the beginning of May(ish). If we get past the first week of May and there's no info, I'd start to worry, but you still have a couple of weeks.

Karaoke staff are probably busy with all sorts of other things, and I understand, but still, I hope the info goes up soon for those entering the contest!
(and that the database song request thread goes up soon for people like me who aren't entering the contest but have requests >:D)