Fanime 2008 Feedback thread.

[BrightHeart76]

Oh, and, whoever picked out the music being played in the convention hall, good job. It was great to randomly hear game music while wondering around. The Metroid Prime theme started playing at the same time the Super Metroid speed run started. XD

I wanted to kill myself after listening to same kind of music for the 10th hour. >.>

LOL.  My sister and I where outside of the Dealers Room when we both stoped dead in our tracks...Both of us commented "WTH?  Winnie the Pooh?"  Then it struck us "Oh, Kingdom Hearts".  The music was fun!

[Sucrose]

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: 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.

A hot water heater also works. That's what we bring to our hotel room for our Ramen.
Didn't those water jugs, placed around con, have a hot tab? Do those actually work? If so, maybe direct people to those.

Heck, if you've got a hotel room nearby just use the coffeemaker to heat the water. Easy-peasy.

[ButterflyBones]

I had an absolutely wonderful time at Fanime, though I admit I didn't do much except fangirl over An Cafe. X3 Thank you to all who put so much time and effort into everything. I wish I could come back next year but I unfortunately live across the country. XD

Pros:
1. An Cafe. Simple as that. Thank you to all of the people who made this possible. It was so exciting.  :D The concert and autograph session were simply marvelous.
2. As people have mentioned, the water stations! How excellent of an idea!
3. As much as I was annoyed by everything leading up to An Cafe's autograph session, they had it running smoothly when the time came, and for that I am eternally grateful considering I needed to catch a 12:30 flight. Thank you so much. <3
4. Haha, I absolutely adored the music playing throughout the convention center!
5. Though some staffers were quite rude to us in line for the concert, there were others who were so very nice and understanding. I'm sure we all appreciated that a lot.
6. Registration went fantastic for me. Very smooth and timely. 
I cannot add more general things to my pros list considering I did practically nothing except things related to An Cafe...
So here we go...
 
Cons:
1. Now, I do trust that this took a great deal of time and planning spanning over countless hours...but honestly, even if that is true, sometimes it was just an absolute mess. Especially the matter of tickets and lines. My dear friend and a ton of other people basically waited for 12+ hours for tickets, sometimes getting them and sometimes not. I know the quota thing was supposed to help, but I don't know if it did more harm than good.
2. The autograph session for An Cafe was simply poorly planned, at least at first. I had an early flight, so I arrived at the convention center at 7:30 in the morning to wait. And absolutely NO ONE seemed to know where or when the session would be. Seriously, my dad and I asked countless people and no one knew. That was mighty irritating. And then we could not form a line at the supposed place. The reason for this was basically "If you form a line, it'll look like a line." Pardon me, but... no shit. Of course it will. They just kept shuffling us around for reasons unknown to me. I'm sure they were trying to keep us safe or something, but it was absurd. And when we finally moved to the right place, it happened that people I am sure were not there at 7:30 were ahead of me. And that upset me on a personal level. I guess to solve that there should have always been a set place and lineup area for the session, as well as better communication, since for the longest time the staffers seemed to know very little dealing with the session.
3. The concert was great albeit a bit short. But my main problem was the staffers constantly screaming at us like we were retarded. The whole line thing was absurd. I am perfectly aware that we were supposed to line up around 2, but having us "disperse" only made us walk up and down the sidewalk waiting. How is that any safer? Honestly, I don't know how that could have been solved. But it annoyed us all, and a lot of the staff merely yelling at us instead of helping us was not pleasing. This concert was sort of a big deal, so they shouldn't have just assumed we wouldn't be dreadfully anxious.
4. Through no fault of Fanime or the staff, the crowd at the An Cafe concert was absolutely DREADFUL. The selfish, violent attitudes and the pushing and shoving and crowd surfing was horrible. I felt like I was going to faint on more than one occasion. For all of you who were actually civilized individuals, that comment is in no way directed at you. And if I happened to bump into someone, I truly truly apologize for it. I tried so hard to keep from hurting someone, but it was so difficult when we were all jostling each other like mad. 

I cannot add more than that, and a lot of the cons merely dealt with An Cafe...but I expect it was hell to plan this entire thing and keep things in order. So putting aside all of my complaints, I want to thank everyone who made such a thing possible and actually tried wholeheartedly to have everything run smoothly. It was a dream come true for me. :3 

[BobMakihara]

Fanime was generally a whole lot of awesome!!  My obligatory list:

Pros:
-Encores of Asian films.  I was able to catch some films because of this, awesome.  Also, the variety of films offered was great.
-Video game and anime music played throughout the con.  It really makes the place feel... special.
-Stage zero action, 24/7.  Video game time attacks, devil may cry action, random games for prizes, interspersed main events - the only thing i didn't see were live music acts.  Recruit some live video game/anime music, and I couldn't ask for a better setup on the courseway.
-Artist's Alley was incredible!!  This year, it was really the place to hang out! 
-Excellent guests of honor.  Keep it up!
-Anime fans over 30 panel - SO MUCH FUN, SO MANY MEMORIES!!  Must have again!!
-Massage company on site.  I love those guys.
-Food, more widely available at different times.  Bring the prices down a bit, and I have nothing to complain about.
-Registration organization - 100% improvement previous years!! 
-Incredibly varied and high quality cosplay!
-Awesome variety in the game room!
-A REAL video game dealer in the dealers room, with a wide selection and knowledgeable staff.  Systems and everything!!
-Plentiful water stations!

Cons:
-Some videos started late and/or early.  On sunday, there was one case when a video was cut off, right near the end (Sukiyaki western django was cut off to start I'm a cyborg).  Obviously, folks were not happy.  I'm not sure if the movie started late, or if the alloted time slot was too small.  From what I hear, things like this happened a bit too often.
-The dealer's room seemed to lack variety this time around.  That probably is a result of the market - dealer's gotta bring what they think will sell, after all.
-Console tourneys could use a bit more organization.  I can't speak for others, but the CvS2 tourney was really disorganized at the beginning.  I would suggest a separate tourney table/area, where the TV, system, controllers and game is secured at least an hour before the tourney starts.  That way, it gives participants a bit of time to practice.  If there is a clear sign designating what is happening in the tourney area, it would also attract participants that may have forgot they signed up.  We had to scrounge stuff together for CvS2, since everything was checked out... and the random passerby wouldn't be able to tell the tourney from a regular group of players.  I don't want to complain too much about a free tourney, and I was very pleased with the attitude of the gaming staff.  Just a suggestion.
- 9 dollars for nachos hurt my feelings.  Is that just standard for the convention center?

Great time guys.  Congrats to the fanime staff for another wonderful con, and I look forward to next year!!

[SOawesomeness]

Pros:
-Registration organization - 100% improvement previous years!! 

Cons:
- 9 dollars for nachos hurt my feelings.  Is that just standard for the convention center?

Yeah, food pricing is set by the convention center, not by Fanime... otherwise, we'd have cheaper food if we could. ):
Yay, Reg! :3

[astroboy]

Cons:
I blame Jason Ebner for high gasoline prices.
I also blame him for a lack of free parking around the con center.

Pros:
I thought the computer setup for registration was pretty neat.
Wireless net access throughout the entire length of the concourse area == hugely popular
All the water stations and tables and chairs made life convenient.

[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.

Registration has their staffers go to the department head for badge pickup instead of going to ConOps. I'm not sure if you can do it for your department, but it ensures that you will see your staffer at least once.

Other departments actually picked up their badges from a different location than ConOps this year for Thursday pick up (old FaniMaid location near the Marriott entrance on the second floor).  It's if you had to pick up badges during the weekend you went to ConOps.  Although yes, in the past we did have to go to ConOps no matter what day/time it was.

It's a lot easier for departments like registration to get away with picking up direct from their department head.  Things like verifying ID and any potential minor wavers could be an issue having other department heads deal with.  Although it would be nice for department heads to at least see their staff once.  Panels we had a meeting on Friday 2pm with everyone and all had to be there (sans if you spoke with the department head beforehand and she knew you wouldn't be able to make it until later).  But we also had a MUCH smaller staff to keep track of.

I dunno =/.  All I do know is if there are staff members in specific departments flaking out on actually doing their assigned duties then it needs to be addressed.  That's not cool for the rest of us who are working like we're supposed to.  I don't want to see the mistakes of a few ruining the reputation of the Fanime staff as a whole.

[SOawesomeness]

Pros:
I thought the computer setup for registration was pretty neat.

D: They kept on going offline or something, we had a lot of technical difficulties, though I think it's because we had really bad connectors/power strips. D: But it wasn't that bad though I hope next year we won't have to go through that...

[Sunara Ishi]

4. Through no fault of Fanime or the staff, the crowd at the An Cafe concert was absolutely DREADFUL. The selfish, violent attitudes and the pushing and shoving and crowd surfing was horrible. I felt like I was going to faint on more than one occasion. For all of you who were actually civilized individuals, that comment is in no way directed at you. And if I happened to bump into someone, I truly truly apologize for it. I tried so hard to keep from hurting someone, but it was so difficult when we were all jostling each other like mad. 

I don't know how many concerts you've been to but its always like that when you're in a mob near the stage. You have to push and shove back to keep your place. Though I admit this was worse than another band concert I went to a few years back. Some of the people in the crowd were rather out of hand: the body suffers and the people actually attacking others violently.
Maybe there should be something that lets people know "Stand near the stage at your own risk".

I recommend that if you're not ready to deal with that, move to one of the seats. If not for one of my friends, I would've just gone up to a balcony seat. Though I'm glad I didn't. It was painful but worth it.

Btw, are you the small girl that was waiting with us near Exhibit Hall 2? If so, I would've tried to protect you at the concert if you were near me. I don't like seeing smaller people getting tossed around like that. Just to let you know, I was the white girl, in the modified blue jean skirt, that was hanging out with the girl, in the red Vivian Westwood jacket, in our "not line."

[Sen]

Pros:
I thought the computer setup for registration was pretty neat.

D: They kept on going offline or something, we had a lot of technical difficulties, though I think it's because we had really bad connectors/power strips. D: But it wasn't that bad though I hope next year we won't have to go through that...

Really? The only time we had any major technical problems was on Friday at badge printing. Otherwise, everything else was pretty minor and that is bound to happen with 40+ laptops.

[Snakey]

Pros:
-The registration line was handled well from what I could see. Well, the pre-reg anyway. I also liked the computer registration for the on-site registrations.
-Artist Alley had an overwhelming amount of great talent
-Water stations and lots of them (I went OMG everytime I saw water available)
-An Cafe
-Autograph line on Sunday went smoothly for the most part
-Yay for programming and schedules!
-Swap meet
-Stage Zero was great this year
-Video game dealer was godsend.

Cons:
-An Cafe scheduled at the same time as the ball. I can deal with the fact that certain events are scheduled at the same time as the yaoi events, but it just seemed weird to me and more than one person in the concert line was bitching about it.
-Ridiculously long wait for Autograph/Concert tickets. Those who waited with me from the wee hours of Saturday know what I'm talking about. I know it isn't Fanime's fault...but does it really take 45 minutes after the scheduled time to open up a booth for tickets?
-It happens every year for one reason or another, but there is some wrong info on the schedules
-Lack of variety in the Dealer's Room. Personally I was sad about Yaoi Press not being there, but apart from that...I thought there was just a lot less things to buy this year.
-Confusion of where lines and autograph sessions were
-The fact that there was more than one instance of someone not knowing how to work a mac to watch anime.
-Concert could've been longer, but I liked it anyway.

[PyronIkari]

Too reiterate about concerts. All rock-ish concerts are like this, and always will be. If you're afraid of getting elbowed, someone surfing on top of you, a stray back hand to the face, or having 200 people jumping up and down and rocking out... stay near the back. This is what a concerts really about, feeling the music and being a part of the show. Not just watching a band play their music. Bands love this kind of energy, and it makes them enjoy the concert a lot more when the audience does go nuts, and shows that they are really into the music.

We used to have conversation about concert scars we've received at work. I nearly passed out when I went to see Ellegarden. I was rocking out too hard when I started to feel it I got elbowed in the face when I lowered my head. So I just walked out towards the back, rested a bit, downed some water... rushed back up to the stage and started rocking out some more. I got hit about 15 times in the face that concert, and that concert only had about 500 people or so? Compared to say... the Metallica concert I went to in SD which had about 10,000 people and I was only 15.

This is a concert, if you don't like it, then stay in the back... or don't attend.

[ManWithDoor]

2nd year at the Con, and enjoyed it thoroughly.  Many thanks go out to the Staff, volunteers, and Con-goers who came to the Twilight Knights workshops and panels.  Almost to a man (or woman) you were friendly, had good questions, and wanted to participate.  Especially those that were involved with the Katana or Dagger fighting workshops, I really have to give you credit.  You did better than I did my first few practices.  Thank you so much for making this a great experience for the Guild.  When we were doing out last debrief, we had our usual vote to see our interest in coming back next year.  It was unanimous in the affirmative.  All of you are welcome to practice with us anytime, and we look forward to next year's activities.

Pros:
Loved the 24/7 action on Stage Zero.  Whenever I was bored I could simply walk by and there was always something going on.
Amazing Staff.  I'm talking about the full-time, working their butts off, never get a moment of sleep Staff, not the other kinds.  Always helpful, especially when I needed to use the mic to make an announcement, had a question, or wanted to chat.
Good selection of animes and movies in the viewing rooms.  Didn't have much liberty to spend in the rooms, but was able to catch bits here and there.

Cons:
... don't really have anything major to complain about.  I had a great time.  Missed the B&W ball because one of my friends got injured (sprained ankle while running), so I heard second-hand that the ballroom was much too small.  When I had dance lessons there on Friday, it was crowded with just the lessons, not the crowds of people I saw in line for the dance.  Perhaps a bigger area next time would be in order?

[SOawesomeness]

Pros:
I thought the computer setup for registration was pretty neat.

D: They kept on going offline or something, we had a lot of technical difficulties, though I think it's because we had really bad connectors/power strips. D: But it wasn't that bad though I hope next year we won't have to go through that...

Really? The only time we had any major technical problems was on Friday at badge printing. Otherwise, everything else was pretty minor and that is bound to happen with 40+ laptops.

Yeah, almost every 10 minutes at least three or four would go off-line. We'd have to restart some of the computers or wait two minutes for it to be online again, it happened a lot. But yeah, not that many people complained about the laptops going off-line except for those who had to re-enter their information because it went off-line right after they finished typing in all their info... I just hope it won't happen as often next year. (:

[edendreams]

Pro: I loved seeing all the forum members and meeting lots of cool people. I thought over all things were great. I had a blast but sadly i didn't go to enough things. I also played my first yaoi bingo! XD IT WAS FUN
OH AND MAID CAFE WAS AWESOME! ^-^ I really though it improved from last year plus the location was very nice. so well done all

Con: sorry i felt the dealer's room really sucked. I was very disappointed with the selection and ended up just spending money on cosplay stuff for next year. I would have liked to see more unique stuff (and MORE DOUJINSHI!)
Double up... sad to say it was OK... I dunno i prefered the bingo.
also the swapmeet.... again the information wasn't getting passed around as to what the hell was going on or where to line up for it. >< Like last year it was disorganized

[Kaura117]

Pro: I loved seeing all the forum members and meeting lots of cool people. I thought over all things were great. I had a blast but sadly i didn't go to enough things. I also played my first yaoi bingo! XD IT WAS FUN
OH AND MAID CAFE WAS AWESOME! ^-^ I really though it improved from last year plus the location was very nice. so well done all

Con: sorry i felt the dealer's room really sucked. I was very disappointed with the selection and ended up just spending money on cosplay stuff for next year. I would have liked to see more unique stuff (and MORE DOUJINSHI!)
Double up... sad to say it was OK... I dunno i prefered the bingo.
also the swapmeet.... again the information wasn't getting passed around as to what the hell was going on or where to line up for it. >< Like last year it was disorganized

Actually, yes. There is a dire lack of a decent doujin culture east of the Pacific, and I, for one, would love to see this changed. I do recognize the primary barrier against it- copyright laws in this country Won't Ignore the doujin market, unfortunately- but... hrm. Fanime wouldn't happen to have a few tame lawyers to work out a loophole, would it?

[Sen]

Pro: I loved seeing all the forum members and meeting lots of cool people. I thought over all things were great. I had a blast but sadly i didn't go to enough things. I also played my first yaoi bingo! XD IT WAS FUN
OH AND MAID CAFE WAS AWESOME! ^-^ I really though it improved from last year plus the location was very nice. so well done all

Con: sorry i felt the dealer's room really sucked. I was very disappointed with the selection and ended up just spending money on cosplay stuff for next year. I would have liked to see more unique stuff (and MORE DOUJINSHI!)
Double up... sad to say it was OK... I dunno i prefered the bingo.
also the swapmeet.... again the information wasn't getting passed around as to what the hell was going on or where to line up for it. >< Like last year it was disorganized

Actually, yes. There is a dire lack of a decent doujin culture east of the Pacific, and I, for one, would love to see this changed. I do recognize the primary barrier against it- copyright laws in this country Won't Ignore the doujin market, unfortunately- but... hrm. Fanime wouldn't happen to have a few tame lawyers to work out a loophole, would it?

We did have that one doujinshi club from Japan. Nonetheless, I do agree that the dealer's room merchandise was somewhat lacking this year. All I can say at this point is that we'll try and work on it.

[Zee]

I figured I might try to be actually helpful with some Dealers Room feedback, so here are some of the things I'd love to see:

1. More doujinshi.  I only saw one stand with doujinshi this year.
2. More affordable clothes!  I liked the gothic lolita clothes and bought a kimono, but neither were cheap.  Fair enough, but how about some more affordable stuff too?  I really wanted some of those cute shirts and hoodies that one big stall was selling...unfortunately I'm not about to spend seventy dollars on a hoodie and thirty five on a t-shirt that's so thin you can practically see through it.  Even if it's Tokidoki.  I can buy those online for less and I know it.  Where's the love for the people on a budget?
3. More rare/obscure merchandise.  I keep looking for a One Piece pirate flag and not finding one.  It makes Zee a sad panda.  I also like the P.O.P. series, but most were selling for $60-$100.  You can get them online for about $45-$50.  (Seriously, what's up with these prices?  Cons used to be cheaper than online shopping, not more expensive.)
4. How about more giveaway stuff?  Free posters with purchase and such?
5. Where the heck were all the plushies this year?!  Did I just miss them?
6. I seem to remember there being a Gloomy Bear stand one year (or was that Sakura Con?).  I'd like that to come back, and I'd like to see some more vinyl toys like Bearbricks and such.  Has anyone poked Kid Robot about attending?
7. I'd love to see Kinokuniya attend.  They have all the best stuff, I swear...

I know you guys aren't in charge of which vendors sign up and what they charge, but if there's anything you can do to pass around the suggestions and maybe get more/other vendors interested and give them an idea of what we're looking for, maybe that would help. :3

[Kazuko]

Too reiterate about concerts. All rock-ish concerts are like this, and always will be. If you're afraid of getting elbowed, someone surfing on top of you, a stray back hand to the face, or having 200 people jumping up and down and rocking out... stay near the back. This is what a concerts really about, feeling the music and being a part of the show. Not just watching a band play their music. Bands love this kind of energy, and it makes them enjoy the concert a lot more when the audience does go nuts, and shows that they are really into the music.

We used to have conversation about concert scars we've received at work. I nearly passed out when I went to see Ellegarden. I was rocking out too hard when I started to feel it I got elbowed in the face when I lowered my head. So I just walked out towards the back, rested a bit, downed some water... rushed back up to the stage and started rocking out some more. I got hit about 15 times in the face that concert, and that concert only had about 500 people or so? Compared to say... the Metallica concert I went to in SD which had about 10,000 people and I was only 15.

This is a concert, if you don't like it, then stay in the back... or don't attend.

Mikey I live for that shiet you it!

LOL I got cut but a person who had shaniqua nails at the despiars ray show in 05 seriously who wears shanequa nails?

[M]

Yeah, almost every 10 minutes at least three or four would go off-line. We'd have to restart some of the computers or wait two minutes for it to be online again, it happened a lot. But yeah, not that many people complained about the laptops going off-line except for those who had to re-enter their information because it went off-line right after they finished typing in all their info... I just hope it won't happen as often next year. (:

Instead of having this on the forums, you should be communicating this directly to your department head.

In short: Please take it off of the forums.