Forum - View topicKunicon or Animazement?
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aburame
 Posts: 5 Location: SC |
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This is for all my Southeast con-goers...
Animazement and Kunicon overlap this year, one in NC and one in GA, and I'm somewhere in the middle trying to decide where to go. I've never been to either of 'em... Can anyone give me some advice on which one to pick? |
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echocharlie
Posts: 55 |
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I'd go to Animazement. They have a much longer track record, and a history of bringing out great Japanese Guests. Kunicon just had it's first convention in Miami Beach (formerly called Otakucon) to mixed reviews. The word from attendees is that it was horrible. The organizers claim to have gotten over 5000 people, but pictures and opinions presented in this review claim that they're outright lying. Kevin Lillard's report is more objective and paints a good picture. I have some concerns over the business model Kunicon is using. They're running many events over the US, but it's all coordinated from a central office by a handful of people. They fill out the rest of the staff from the local untrained population. It could work, but it would be a huge undertaking to work this way for even a single remote event. They have 3 events planned in 2005 already, and from what I've heard they're planning one every month. Even Wizard World doesn't run 'em that frequently... |
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echocharlie
Posts: 55 |
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Here is another review I found:
http://www.animefurystudios.com/kunirptintro.htm Interestingly, the ones that were positive about the convention were all affiliated with them in some way. The writer of this review claimed to be objective, but they were also staff at the convention. |
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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I would definitely go to Animazement. They used to be quite the impressive convention, with a great guest list, great organization... and most of all, they have the experience that all of the Kunicon conventions are sorely lacking.
Based just on reports from OtakuCon, I'm not sure that Kunicon will be making too many people happy this year. By trying to use anime conventions as a "business," it really takes out a big part of what makes cons successful-- dedication and passion. They're going in cold, they don't have the drive to even go and staff their own conventions. |
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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I disagree. What makes anime cons successful is a well-organized program and excellent logistics. If you can pull that off, I don't care what your business model is. And I daresay it's a lot easier to pull off when your business model is, well, a business. Anime con attendees are by and in large willing to put up with quite a lot of things that would not fly in the Real World, in good part because anime con attendees frequently have low expectations of cons to begin with. I'm in no way defending OtakuCon/KuniKon, but also don't want to dismiss the concept of a professionally-run con outright. |
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Sword of Whedon
Posts: 683 |
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You obviously haven't been to very many "professional" cons. They're devoid of interesting or challenging content, and the people running them are also devoid of passion or knowlegable staff.
When you sacrifice the dream for the cash, the quality is the first to die. |
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CorneredAngel
Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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Passion and professionalism are completely different things. As an attendee, I don't care how big an anime fan a con staffer is; I just want him/her to do their job in a fast and efficient manner. There is nothing out there that says a convention filled with interesting and challenging content *can't* be organized by a full-timer; in fact, wouldn't it be more likely that a staff that could devote a hundred percent of their time to the event, instead of having to also worry about work or classes, would be able to organize and run a much better con? Obviously, a familiarity with the market you're serving is something that needs to be there, but when you get down to the operational level, whether a staffer is a fan or not is irrelevant. In fact, take a look at the OtakuCon reports again - people are by and in large *not* complaining about their programming, but rather, about various operational factors. Putting on an event for the first time is always an extremely difficult experience. Had OtakuCon been run by a volunteer committee, it's very likely the problems would only have been worse. I work for a conference production company. I think it's safe to say that nobody in the company has a "passion" for the topics of our conferences. But we learn about the subjects of the conferences, and figure out what the market wants. Why? Well, because you know, a bonus in the high four figures, based on company revenue, is the single best way of making sure we give our attendees what they need. |
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beelzebozo
 Posts: 308 Location: Aurora, Colorado |
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I'd go to Animazement. I'm pretty leary of Kunicon, even if my shop will probably be a dealer at the Denver event because there just aren't any other local conventions at that time.
http://blueneon.xidus.net/kcore/otakucon.html http://risingsun.net/gallery/otakucon/ And as far as running a convention as a business, well, if you want a convention to get to any real size, you'll need to be professional. Your personal preferences may not be what the fans want. If you want it to succeed, you'll be working with more than just fans, you have to work with hotels, equipment rental, and entertainment companies. And they definitely expect you as the organizer to be professional. However, if all you are trying to do is earn a buck, it's going to show. |
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thebaron
Posts: 149 |
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Actually the biggest thing about good staffers is their collective willingness to miss most of the FUN while "you" attend the events during the weekend even if they are huge anime fans. Kunicon had the issue of too little staff and trying to boost their attendence numbers to competitive in the anime con world. It could have been a good event, but don't promote your future cons if they are not in the locate area to much.
As a long time staffer and have attended a few professional cons in the past, they were disappointing after a few years (Creation Cons are a great example). It became more of pushing the dealers room and a few small guests just to bait the fans to come. |
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moadib
 Posts: 7 Location: A far off and sunny place |
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Hi this is Manny "Moadib" Camacho, I am the convention chairman for Kunicon events.
I noticed the conversation on this board. and I wanted to clarify a few items. first before I get into that...Animazement is an amazing event and is very nice - if you are in that area you should not miss it...^^ Now, as for Kunicon. and the Miami event. I hope most of you can decide for yourselves that the opinions for both Maboroshi from Risingsun.net and Blueneon (Tom Morris) are not the most objective or realistic views of a convention. and are very biased...with that said... Miami did have problems, it was our first event. We learned a great deal, and we are the stronger for it. I probably am glad we made all if not most of our mistakes that time around. because we have taken steps to correct them all. No event is perfect, we all have steps to take to learn to become great. I can only thank those volunteers that worked their brains out - as baron said, and I agree...there is a certain respect that must be given to those volunteers that miss out on the fun to make a convention work. and I had a small group of that type of volunteer in miami. I can only say for those of you in the Atlanta area, we will have St. Louis under our belts by the time you role around, and we will have all of our kinks worked out for that event. we may have some minor unforeseen problems in St. Louis, as any con. but nothing major, nothing that affects the attendees. By the time Miami roles around again, we will have had many conventions done and cleared. And that means our "$hit" will be together long before than. I only hope that the agendas pushed by 2 of the loudest malcontented voices (which they never mentioned not getting their desired paid jobs with us...did they) not deter you from having a great time with us. Miami had problems. However, a great many people had lots of fun. I only hope to bring that fun to the next cities without the quarks. ...by the way, Baron, are you the same baron from Animenation.com? just curious... thanks ^^ Manny Camacho [email protected] |
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thebaron
Posts: 149 |
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Yes, that is a common username I try to use on a lot of sites. Personally, I think running more than one con even in different regions is not a great idea, but it's not been done to such a large attempt that Kunicon is going to try. There are enough cons in the US to cover all, but the most further reaches of the country. Another thing is that you just added a line item on the budget that most fan cons don't have: a paycheck to your staff, which redirects funds from other areas of the con. Might prove us wrong.... |
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Aromatic Grass
 Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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I'm going to Animazement 2005 this year, so I guess I'd recommend it over the other one. I haven't heard of Kunicon, so I can't say anything about it, but I know Animazement is supposedly a really good convention to go to (it's my first time going to Animazement though).
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moadib
Posts: 7 Location: A far off and sunny place |
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Animazement is an excellent event. If that is the area you are in you should definitely give it a try. if you are in the Atlanta area, thats where we will be. If you haven't heard yet, you should visit our forums, or the www.pianoSquall.com forums, or the www.cosplay.com forums in regards to our St. Louis event. we had a blast, the con went very well. If for no better reason you should come to check us out for yourself, not because someone thinks we are bad because we're a company.
keep in mind that many conventions in this country are companies, they just run one event a year. But if your in the NC area, Animazement is great, they have an excellent guest list set up and a great set of events. ^^ M |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Yeah, but unfortunately I've already met some of the guests they're having this year at other conventions. I guess that's the way conventions work. |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Who had fun at Animazement '05 last weekend? My personal favorite was the showing of the Naruto movie. My group sat in the viewing room for about 10 hours from Bleach to Elfen Lied.
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