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« on: May 30, 2012, 03:38:28 PM »
Organizing my feedback by topic in alpha order:
Autographs
I spent all of my Saturday and most of my Sunday in line for this so much of my feedback will be on this subject.
Having the signings at the Fairmont for the most part worked out. Because the line was in the Regency ballroom it didn’t get as congested as it did the past 2 years thus it didn’t create fire code issues. The big drawback was that it was separate from the rest of the con. It was also pointed out earlier that the projector in Regency was on and the big screen was down, but nothing was airing. I don’t know if it this was done because something was supposed to be shown to those waiting in line or what, but staffing fell through. The projector was on and the screen was down for the entire time for both days. I’m not saying that something should have been shown but maybe at least turn the projector off? It was helpful though that the water coolers in the room were stocked. However I did hear that one of the restrooms nearby opposite the stairs and escalator were locked.
I was surprised to see that this year signings were only on Saturday and Sunday and not also on Monday as they were the past 2 years. I am making a big assumption that this was tied to being able to reserve the 2 ballrooms at the Fairmont from Thursday-Sunday only because that was where swap meet and the lines for the signings and the signings themselves took place. If it can be done next year, can the signings go back to being on Monday as well? There are some benefits to this:
-Less con-goers, which usually means shorter lines unless it is a major guest (IIRC LM.C from 2010 still had a massive line on Monday as it was their only signing).
-Spaces out the signings, especially if the guest is an artist who is also sketching. It would have affected the artist guests, all of whom were at Closing Ceremonies.
This ties into the scheduling, especially for the artists. Not enough time was given for all of them especially when all of them were doing sketches. Yokota did have a 2 hour window for one signing but Koyama and Asamiya otherwise each had an hour allocated each time for both days. The Yokota signing on Saturday was actually cut short because he had an interview to do at 2! Because of the time and effort they were putting into their sketches, those who were at the head of the line got the best quality ones when the guests were able to put in the time and effort and weren’t rushed. As time went on they had to be hurried up by staff and eventually the autograph-only people would get pulled out of line and sent ahead, leaving everyone else who wanted a sketch waiting. When the hour was up it was tough luck and some people who had been waiting for hours in line got nothing whereas people who had not been in there for as long or were late at least were able to walk away with an autograph. For the Yokota signing on Saturday those of us who missed out were put on a priority list for Sunday and moved to the head of the line on that day. I heard that it didn’t happen for Asamiya and am not sure if it happened for Koyama. So some miscommunication happened here. I talked to my fellow fans in line about why not have the artist just do a quick monochrome sketch for everyone so the process will go faster and maybe they will get through everyone in line instead of it taking 15 minutes for 3 people. However I’m not sure how feasible it would be to ask the guest to do this before the signing starts. On the first day Koyama initially took some requests but then switched to doing a specific drawing of Chuck from PSG that he then would personalize for each person so everyone got something different. He did this on the second day as well.
The only autographs I didn’t get were Aizawa (her line was quite long and I prioritized Asamiya over her) and Chiba (no interest). Each of them only signed on Saturday as they left the following day. I support the idea of passing around a list if the artist is taking requests in order to filter out anything non-relevant. This was done on the second day for Yokota’s signing.
I know that the staff handling the signings on both days tried their best and had to deal with both the guests and people waiting in line for hours. They also had to work with the guests’ schedules and any conflicts that came up that may have prevented them from staying longer. On the second day Asamiya actually stayed beyond his allotted time, which was greatly appreciated. Scheduling too impacted what staff could and couldn’t do, but the apparent lack of anticipation of things going much longer than expected and having to deal with things on the fly each and every time this happened could have been alleviated. Please keep in mind for next year especially for the artists guests to attempt to space out their signings and give them more cushion time (maybe 2 hours minimum or not have anything occurring for them right after) because the nature of their signings is different from the other guests. If Monday is available again, try to schedule things in the morning if possible because people will show up for the signing. Given the experiences noted above I hope that this years’ experience will translate into and lessons learned and improvements for next year.
Con shirts
As someone said in another thread art is subjective, so this is purely my own preference. I wish that the same artist who did the mascot characters for the program book and badges had also worked on the shirts. If they actually did, I didn’t notice this. I was all psyched up to buy my first con shirt when I saw the design, thought about it, and changed my mind. I like the number 12 as a player number, but didn’t like the front design. Sorry.
Dealers' hall
Did all of my shopping on Monday. Was there a reason why it was open til 8 on Friday but only til 7 Saturday and Sunday.
Food
Not as big of an issue for me because I didn’t starve and packed water, snacks, and had half a footlong for lunch and the other half for dinner Saturday and Sunday. However it would be helpful to those who may not know that there’s a McDonald’s a few blocks away or a Subway around the corner to have a list of local restaurants and markets within 3-4 blocks where they can get food and drinks and save more money for everything else. Such a list could be at the Info Desk and provided upon request. Even a food truck parked out front for a few hours would help out a lot, but I don’t recall seeing any in the downtown area so maybe there’s a reason why.
Guests
It was mentioned earlier in the thread that someone would like to see more domestic VAs. Personally I would love to see all Japanese VAs so I’m not sure how you could balance both sides of the fandom.
Personally I don’t mind some of the same guests repeating each year (I think I’ve gotten used to the regulars), because this adds a degree of stability to the con year in and year out. E.g. Yamaga has been a guest since like forever and now hosts the Yamaga Party and even extended an invite to a tea party for people who attended his signing. I’ve seen Yokota for the past couple years and know what to expect when he shows up in terms of sketches, so for next year I need to watch something that he worked on other than Macross F. However variety of course is also good. Major props to GR in particular for landing Asamiya. He may not be familiar to many folks because 2 of the works that he is known for are older series (Silent Mobius, Nadesico), but for me he falls into the category of “I don’t think they’ll ever come to a con unless it’s a big one like AX or something.” I was really surprised to see him on the guest list and was also lucky enough to get 2 sketches from him. Good job as well on getting Koyama.
No comments on Aizawa, Chiba, or Vincent. The lack of musical guests this year was not that big of an issue for me.
Masquerade
I was expecting Ric Meyers as usual, but Tadao Tomomatsu did an awesome job hosting. The event continues to be one of the highlights of the con for me.
Pocket schedule
A big help since it saved having to pull out the program each time, and it was in color. I don't have a smartphone so lack of an online schedule didn't impact me as much.
Reg
I decided to pick up my badge on Day 1 instead of Day 0 this year and was told that if I had been there at 4 on Thursday I might have gotten my badge despite the blackout. If I had gone I would have arrived closer to 5 so maybe it was good thing that I didn't show up on Thursday. However I did get to spend 3 hours in line on Friday, which overall was tolerable and I had no problems other than the wait and being on my feet for that long.
I don’t know how feasible this would be to implement or if it has been previously suggested but I’m throwing it out there, so please just bear with me. My impression is that one of the key reasons for in-person reg is to verify the identity of the badge holder. It has also been mentioned multiple times that people would be willing to pay more to get mailed their badges. For an extra $10 to cover priority shipping and processing I say hell yes since it beats 2-3 hours of being in line. If there is a way to verify identity electronically without someone needing to stand in line to show their ID to staff all the better, such as by sending them a verification code to their cell phone or email, similar to e-banking. They could then resubmit the code securely by logging into the Fanimecon website to verify identity. The badge is then mailed out via priority mail requiring both a signature for delivery and a proof of delivery. You now have proof that the badge didn’t get lost and it was delivered.
Staff
Overall my interactions with staff were positive. I want to give a shout out to the dealer hall staff who helped me on Monday determine that Anime-Link was not in the hall although he was actually down on the list. Unfortunately I can’t recall their names. The first person referred to a list which did list Anime-Link but his spot was taken by JS Anime. He then suggested that I ask the head of dealers room and he confirmed that Anime-Link had withdrawn at the last minute. Autograph line staff could have used a lot more organization and help (see above).
Swap meet
I went on Friday. From a buyer’s perspective I thought it went well. However whereas the Regency ballroom at the Fairmont was like a circus, the smaller Regency II was much quieter and when I set foot in there about a third of them had already left. This would have impacted the sellers in that room more because most of the foot traffic passed through Regency, from which didn't look like any of the sellers had left.
If a mod can please relocate this to Big Event Showcase, that would be appreciated!
