Messages

If you think you can help out, GR's an open department like all others. ;D

Considering I am out of state, I very much doubt that I would be of any use in helping out getting better guests to come to the con as the option for out-of-towners is to work volunteer time at the convention because staff members must attend staff meetings, unless I am reading the volunteer/staff application FAQ incorrectly. Even if there is another option, the implied problems that it sounds like you and your department ran into this years would have not been avoided by having a few more people anyway, since many of the reasons are about the timing of the con or the individual choices of the potential guests themselves.

[Pro's]

Pro's:
- The Masq department is amazing. Everyone working there is nothing short of wonderful people who try to be understanding and supportive as possible. I heard a rumor that this is Marissa's last year and I hope that the department manages to stay together instead of falling apart like the rest of the con seems to have done. You guys were the one shining light of this terrible year.

- I had a run in with an absolutely wonderful Rover. There were several of us in costumes with prop weapons who had gotten stopped in the convention center for photos. When there was a lull, a Rover came over, politely asked if we'd had our props peace bonded and when we said no, but we know it's on the 2nd floor Marriott side and we're on our way there, she said thank you, told us to enjoy our con and walked away. I was so happy to be treated like the well-behaved adult I was and not the wildly flailing child that security always fears every cosplayer to be that I would have asked her for her name so that I could recommend her to train others if we hadn't gotten stuck for more pictures as she was leaving. As soon as it calmed down, we all made our way over and got our props taken care of. Again, thank you for treating me like an adult.


Cons:

- Female Con Staffer working the farthest Pre-Reg kiosk to the right on Friday at 10:32 am : This girl single-handedly nearly started a riot in the line. Yes, we all are aware that the power going out was not Fanime's fault, that the computers being fried made a bad situation worse and it was general chaos of Thursday. The staff were stressed, the attendees were tired and grumpy from the 5+ hours already spent in line but we were all just trying to work through it together. However, I lose all forms of understanding when one of the staff suddenly jumps up from her position checking people in, yelling, "A Doctor Who cosplayer!" and runs from the station to go take a picture, without the other staff members behind her even bothering to stop her or take her position to continue checking people in. The ONLY reason I can't give you her name is because another staffer would not let me go through the door she bolted out of and she had not returned by the time I & my other friends in line had (FINALLY) gotten our badges. It was, quite frankly, insulting and set an extremely poor tone that the con simply never was able to recover from.

- Guests : Please, PLEASE tell me that some major parties fell through because that is the only way I can somehow justify how terrible the guests this year were. The music guests were extraordinarily disappointing; little known artists who did not have many songs released even in Japan. I was also disappointed that the other guests were mostly people who had already been to Fanime multiple times. The real frustration was how LATE everything was announced. I understand that the staff can't very well be like, "Everyone we wanted couldn't/wouldn't come so we're trying to get anyone we can" but if this WAS the planned Guest List, then I will probably not be returning to Fanime. Guests aren't everything but they certainly are SOMETHING and with the other problems the con is having, poor Guests just don't balance out the plane and hotel costs.

- The Male Staffer Running (?) Photoshoots on Sunday Morning : At the Hetalia photo shoot, there was some confusion about when it was supposed to start; some people thought 11, some people thought 11:30 but the result was that there was a huge unorganized crowd around 11:15 trying to figure out what was going on. A staff member, understandably, asked the group to move back against the wall so that we'd be out of the way as much as possible. Then the photographers started taking pictures because we were all grouping together to get out of the way, so a few of us tried to at least get people to kneel if they were in front. A Gathering Staff member came bolting through the photos to corner two of us who were asking a few people to kneel to demand if we were in charge. When we said no, he then demanded, and I do mean DEMANDED, why the photoshoot was starting early since it was supposed to be at 11:30. We said we had no idea, we weren't in charge, but we can tell people to stop taking photos if that's what he wants us to do. He then mumbled something about having to check with con staff and disappeared. Maybe I didn't read the gathering rules close enough, but if it's really THAT big of a deal if photographers start taking photos early, I think then that staff needs to have an official policy about it. I don't appreciate being confronted about an issue that the said staff member doesn't even know how to handle in the first place.

I know that it was stated that if we change our preferred craftsmanship slot, we lose our place in line. Does that count for if we change ANY of our preferred choices or just if we change our first choice?

While I normally would give any giant con the benefit of the doubt in announcing guests because of the time negotiating terms and signing contracts, especially with foreign guests, this is getting a little extreme. To only have one US voice actor as a guest when it's less than 30 days out is not only a bit worrisome, but it makes it extremely difficult to plan anything for the con ahead of time.

I know this gets asked every year but I couldn't find it anywhere; what are the stage dimensions?

Hey, I have a question about light cues... we need the lights to go down (and stay down) at a specific part, about 4-5 seconds before the audio ends.  This is very important, would that be a problem? Or can the crew do that?

Speaking from experience, the answer is yes and no. The lighting is done by union workers from the theater and are not Fanime staff. Er go, their level of concern for the show being perfect is only so much. You certainly can give them lighting cues (we needed the lights dropped down as low as possible as well), but they don't do lighting cues during the rehearsal, so you won't know if it's going to work until it actually happens during the show. We had the time and a very obvious audio cue to drop our lights that we gave to the staff but during the acutal show, something happened and we had a black out for about two seconds till it changed to an entire red wash that still made us completely visible.

So my suggestion is that go ahead and try for it, but DEFINITELY have a back-up plan in mind if it doesn't work.

As far as time, I think I'll edit that a little bit. You can have the entire 2.5 minutes for your music, but we are seriously going to limit setup time. If you can't get everything set up and off the stage in 30 seconds in rehearsal, we have a big issue. It's not fair for me to give a simple skit 2.5 minutes (because they get on and off the stage quickly), but a big backdrop / prop skit is getting more like 5-6 minnutes.

If our set-up is getting close to the 30 sec line and has the possibility of going over 5-10 seconds or so, can we compensate for it by shortening our skit time from the 2.5 minutes to balance it out?

So if we do plan on having simple props, as long as we can tear them down and get them out in 5 minutes or under, is it safe to assume that we'll be okay?

So for the new time rule, if we want the music to start when we're on stage, do we have to build in that silence to the beginning of our music or are the tech people still going to start it when they see us ready?

I would like to put in another vote for Kalafina. I would quite possibly camp out to just get the chance to see them.

There was some talking that there might be some suites available at the Hilton; any word on this yet? Even if they aren't at a discounted rate, are all the suites taken for staff?

Thanks!

I would also be highly interested if any of the suites in the Hilton are going to be available, if there is a way to possibly find out in advance of the hotel registration goes up.

Marissa, have do we know for sure which side of the stage we're entering and exiting from?

Marissa, can you tell us how the rehearsal on Sunday is going to work? Is it going to be numerically? What if we have someone who can only be there for a short period of time due to circumstances?

Wow, it even opened early! I was able to submit mine just now!

Question about craftsmanship judging! Just double-checking that it's like last year where we do not have to wear the costumes to the judging, merely bring them and all of our documentation.

Unless they ha some poor techie working through the night on this, it would have been nice if they would have at least told us we could go to bed. >/ Some explanation at all would be nice. I hope it doesn't just RANDOMLY go up now because that would be REALLY unfair. I have things I HAVE to do today, I can't sit by the computer. TTnTT

LoL, I think it was late last year too. *sits back and just hits refresh every so often*

Are we still allowed two stage ninjas?

I desperately want the entrance to be on the *opposite* side this year, but we will see -_- we had quite a few issues with the line control and that awful hallway. We need to go to the theater and see all the changes, so I won't have a response for this untill much closer to the convention.

Aaahhhh I totally understand. Just let us know when you know then. ^.^ Thank you!