Forum - View topicFive Things They Never Tell You About Attending Conventions
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GhostStalkerSA
 Posts: 425 Location: NYC |
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The only cons I've been to are NYCC, PAX East, and Anime Boston, and I haven't paid for the first two in years, as I usually work them as Crew or Enforcer, respectively. Crew for 5 years, Enforcer for 2, and let me tell you, working those monster lines for long ass panels is usually a nightmare. People squatting the main stage theater two years ago at NYCC (that is, getting a seat in the room and sitting through panels until the one they actually want to see) when we had a Marvel panel right before a Walking Dead panel is the reason why we have to clear the room after every panel now and hand out wristbands in our queue hall to attend the panels in that room now. People who were waiting in the queue hall to get into the Walking Dead panel couldn't get in because the room was filled to capacity and people refused to leave. This past year, the wristbands worked pretty well, from what I was told (I usually work Artist Alley at NYCC, so my knowledge of this is secondhand).
Last year at NYCC was the most crowded I've ever seen it, especially since they expanded the badge cap to Javits' capacity. ReedPop, the convention organizers, reported an attendance of 160k+, larger than SDCC, but I think that's just counting badges sold or something. There were tons of people complaining that badges sold out immediately, I'm expecting something similar this year, as there was already a ton of backlash when badges went on sale this year, the 3 and 4 day badges selling out almost immediately, and the software having problems keeping up with the demand, shunting people off of the queue... When it takes me a full half hour working through crowds to get from the Crew check-in area at the Crystal Palace to my post at Artist Alley at Javits North, you know there's a problem with overcrowding there... At PAX East, I've done panel rooms this year as an Enforcer, and they have a rule that you can't start queuing up for a panel until the previous one scheduled in that room has already loaded in. Massachusetts fire codes are a helluva thing, and they're serious about enforcing them. Helps that we usually have queue rooms next to the panel rooms, but for overflow, we usually have to shunt them into the hallways. I remember there was confusion this previous con with people hearing that the GiantBomb panel (always a crowd favorite) had started queuing up even before League of Legends cosplay and developer panel in the same room had started to load in, so that led to a serious charlie foxtrot in that part of the BCEC, especially since they didn't have a queue room for that panel room (the largest panel room outside of the Main Theater, ~900 capacity) and were just using the hallway instead. They eventually got that bit sorted out by turning people away from the line who were there for GiantBomb until the League panel had started and telling them to come back, since that crowd was so huge. But we eventually got both panels loaded in when they were supposed to be without any major problems besides the miscommunication at the beginning. There was also the "Atheism in Video Gaming" panel that blew up unexpectedly amongst all of us Enforcers working that room, the second largest panel room after the one previously mentioned and the Main theater, ~600 capacity. That was probably because the speakers included Ken Levine and Chris Avellone. The line for that panel filled our queue room and needed our overflow line in the hall, and we even had to cap the line before we started loading that one. The Cards Against Humanity panel was similar, we wondered why it hadn't been placed in the larger panel room. Crowds were massive, had to cap the line, heard that there was a girl crying because she couldn't get in... Worked a couple of lines last year as a volunteer for Anime Boston, for the AMV Contest, for the Jam Project concert, for the Attack on Titan dub premiere... Those lines stretched for a long time, probably an hour or two at the least. I remember the AMV Contest and the Attack on Titan one had to have a second showing scheduled, the demand for them was so large... Speaking of GiantBomb, I will agree that most Q&As are awful, and GBs is a pretty blatant example. I've worked the mic at some Q&As, and there's usually only 1 or 2 good questions (or at least, humorous questions) in the entire set of 10 or so that they leave time to get through. At NYCC we at least try to screen questions, but we weren't told to do so at PAX East, dunno why. Bringing your own food and water is always a good idea, although I usually can get away with popping over to a Crew/Enforcer/volunteer area to grab a drink when I need it. Lines for picking up badges suck, I remember working that line my first year volunteering at NYCC in 2010, before most people got their badges mailed to them. The line for that stretched through the Crystal Palace area of the Javits Center, down along the walls of the parking pit, and then further down 34th Street, practically all the way down to 12th Ave. It was crazy. Nowadays, it seems to have calmed a lot, due to mailing them. The Will Call booth doesn't see as much action anymore, and that's a good thing. As for hotels, NYCC is local to me, so I just take the subway over to the Javits, but the walk from Herald Square or Penn Station to 11th Ave is a pretty long one, full of tourists slow walking in the area, terrible if you're in a hurry to make a shift. Sure, there's a bus down 34th if you're tired, but because of the usual state of traffic on those blocks and the frequency of buses, it's not much faster than walking. When I went to PAX East these past two years, I've wound up rooming with 6-8 people, all fellow Enforcers and people I know from NYCC or at least friends of friends. Two years ago, I was in a room paid for by a guy I know who works cons all over the country, though he's local to NYC. Over the 3 nights I stayed there, we had like 8 people in our room, with the king sized bed, a cot, an air mattress, and other people sleeping on the floor. I went from bed to floor to cot, and I think I was most comfortable on the floor, since I was sleeping 3 to the bed on the first night, which was way too crowded and hot, since I was sleeping in the middle (someone snoring didn't help), and the cot made me feel the metal bar underneath the mattress in the middle of my back. We had two women in our room beginning on the second day, and it was agreed to give them the bed. I'm glad that I was working the afternoon shift at PAX that year, let me sleep in a bit once our room cleared out a little. Also, the hotel was right across a skybridge from the BCEC, so it was an easy walk to get there. This year, I roomed with friends from NYCC who were all Enforcers as well, since the friend I previously roomed with had already filled up his hotel room, which this time was at the Westin, directly adjacent and attached to the BCEC. We wound up staying at the Omni Parker House instead, which has tiny ass rooms and is a 20 minute walk from the BCEC, and across some pretty chilly river bridges. Wound up with 5-7 people in our room that weekend, which was kinda manageable. Wound up sleeping in the walk-in closet for most of it, because I tried the bed again the first night and wound up next to another snorer. Was ok, but had to make sure not to hit my head on the safe in the closet, and I couldn't stretch out at all. Still, it was a pretty ok experience, didn't have anyone sleeping in the bathroom and I could stretch my legs while walking to the con and while doing my job there. Had a woman join our room for the last night we were there alongside her friend that I knew from NYCC, so we let them have the bed again. Honestly, walking to cons isn't bad exercise if there's a decent enough road system to use. I wanted to wait for a PAX shuttle bus on Sunday with the rest of the guys I was rooming with, but we saw that the crowd waiting for it was pretty big, and it didn't look like it was going to get there anytime soon, so we just walked it. Felt like 15-20 minutes, wasn't bad at all. We took a cab to the BCEC the first day, since we needed to pick up our Enforcer badges and shirts, fill out some paperwork, and make a meeting in the morning, so we were rushing over there. Had to take two of them, since there were 5 of us, and they wouldn't let us all pile into one cab. For Anime Boston last year, I stayed at my cousin's place in North Boston, which isn't a bad trip to Hynes by the T, Boston's mass transit system. Only problem was that the T shuts down before the con ends for the night, so I was stuck either taking a cab or walking back to his place. Wanted to save some money, so I chose the latter. Walked like 45 minutes back to his place, through Boston Common and getting turned around near the State House. Apparently, his roommate was amazed I did so, since the park is supposed to be dangerous at night, but I didn't see much. Also, I'd be a crappy New Yorker if I didn't know how to walk through an area like that by myself at night... For Anime Boston this year, my cousin was out of town, since his sister just had a kid and he was with his parents at her place north of Boston, and I didn't want to intrude on them. Decided at the last minute to go to AB, so I booked a hotel room pretty far out from Hynes, but relatively cheap, especially since I had some Hilton points to reduce the price. Love staying at a Doubletree, especially because of the chocolate chip cookies they give you at check-in. Wound up having a hotel room all to myself, which was great, though it was kinda far away. But it's right off of a T station by UMass Boston, and only 30 minutes by subway to Hynes, so it wasn't bad at all. Wow, this post got really long, sorry about that. Last edited by GhostStalkerSA on Thu May 28, 2015 3:43 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Videogamep
 Posts: 564 Location: CA |
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I think they switched companies after the system crashed during premier fan registration for this year. That whole thing was a nightmare. |
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WashuTakahashi
 Posts: 415 Location: Chicago, IL |
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I stayed in a King bedroom with 4 other people at Anime Central. We managed to get a roll-away bed, so that was 2 people on the king bed, 1 on the rollaway, 1 on some strange couch thing, and 1 on the floor. Though we were all rarely in the room at the same time, besides the hours of like 12:30am-7am, it was still way too many people for that tiny room. On the other hand, I've been in a room with 2 queen-sized beds and 4 people. That was perfectly fine and we had no issues. But that location also had the mirror/sink separate from the bathroom/shower, which was a blessing. So really, it depends a lot on the set-up. But if I could do Acen over again, I'd only have 3 people in that room.
If you can get your badge mailed DO. My first year at Acen I was will call, and that was a fantastic 3 hours in line. I've had my badge mailed ever since and it's literally the best thing ever. ALWAYS have essential money put aside in a separate location from your spending money. Going to be taking that cab ride? Have that set aside. Need to pay so and so for the room? Put it aside. Didn't bring food so you need to eat? Put it aside. Money that isn't set aside and remains in your wallet is likely to find its way out of your wallet when you go to the dealer's room. Try to walk the entire dealer's room/artist alley before buying anything. Chances are, more than one booth is selling that super-awesome must-have thing, and some booths will be cheaper than others. There are exceptions of course, like that figure you've been hunting for for ages and you know it won't be there for long. Don't wait until Sunday to buy things in the Dealers room. Sunday sales are a MYTH in the dealers room. Yeah, sometimes you can haggle down a few bucks, but nothing terrible significant. Artist alley, on the other hand, does tend to have Sunday deals. Make a list of things to pack, right down to that tiny, unnoticeable to anyone but you piece of your cosplay. Nothing sucks more than getting to a con and realizing you left a piece of your cosplay (or whatever else) behind. Try to have your day planned out ahead of time. Most conventions post their schedules at least a week prior to the con. A lot have apps for your phones to plan. Have an idea of panels you'd like to go to, signings you might want to wait in line for, and photoshoots you want to see/participate in. You don't need to worry too much about things overlapping at this point, just mark down anything interesting and the time and location. When that time rolls around and you're wondering what to do next, you'll have a cheat sheet to work with. |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2418 Location: Germany |
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About accepting oddities Hameyadea. I had to share a room and bunk beds for 24 hour shifts with a random section of about 8 other soldiers when we had to patrol the gates.
Things could get crazy and the entire thing would last for a week with every other day off. We survived it all just fine and we had mixed gender crews too with zero issues as it is very much possible for a man and a woman to just sleep in the same room. Pro tip: Get yourself some ear plugs (mine are for gun training) and find out what type of person you are. If i could sleep on cement and awake rested then a bathtub + blanket will do just fine. Everyone who thinks that is is cool to stay in line for 6 hours deserves it. Pack your own lunch too. |
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yamiangie
 Posts: 465 |
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I live on the other coast but it sounds like AX is freakishly more of a Professionally run con than say most anime conventions. They'd have to be for the size it's getting. Did they have room for that line to begin with? See that's going to be something they'll need to deal with because as the con grows they'll have less and less room to hold that line. NYCC has started a thing of handing out bracelets first come first service for their mega room. Most places don't have the space to hold a large line for that long. Which I guess is a bigger reason for why waiting on a line like that is stupid. |
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yotsubafanfan
 Posts: 653 |
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Here's some things I've learned over my con experiences from the last 7 years...
If you get bored at some point during the con and need to pass time maybe get out of your comfort zone and go to a panel you'd NEVER see yourself going to. You might have a blast! Like for instance, last year at E-ville con my twin sister and I were bored and needed something to do before we got to go to a panel our friend was hosting. So we went to the 18+ Yuri panel just to see what an 18+ panel was like. (My sister got her I.D only a couple of days prior to the event so this was our first time going to one, we knew what to expect but we just wanted to be able to say to our younger friends that we got to go to one.) And we had a BLAST! The guy hosting it was hysterical and just so passionate about the subject that it was hilarious (he also yelled a curse word out the door whenever someone came as to warn the kiddies that this isn't for them.) It was great! For a more pleasant experience with meeting voice actors and actresses, take some time before going to the con and make something for them. (Like a sketch of a character they play or a thank you letter, sometimes they travel pretty long distances to come to these events.) My sister has had a ton of luck with this in the past. Their faces always light up whenever they're given a drawing. (Heck a voice actress that was sick even did the voice of the character she drew voluntarily even after the volunteers told us not to ask her to do so because she was so grateful, and another put it on her website.) If you want to have a good experience with voice actors and other guests a little time can go a long way! If you know there's a foreign food store nearby then SAVE YOUR MONEY AND DON'T BUY THE OVER PRICED CANDY AT THE CONVENTION!!! My second year at E-ville con I ended up blowing a lot of money for a tiny amount of snacks when I could have gone to the foreign food store and have had a larger variety and a ton of snacks for HALF the price. (Also if there's a five and Below nearby they also sell Japanese snacks for a great price too.) Also BRING STUFF FROM HOME!!! If you have the series of an anime that the Voice actor/actress is in or a notebook with the entire cast of an anime they'e in the bring them for them to sign. I've done this with an Ouran High School notebook I got last year and between then and now I've got about half the cast's autographs! It saves you a ton of money and the value for it will go up the more autographs you have! |
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Wizduden64
Posts: 6 Location: Tennessee |
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About the hotel bit, one thing that I did for Anime Weekend Atlanta last year is to stay with my brother in town. Therefore you don't have to get a hotel room at all.
Anyway, for my past adventures with Dragon Con in Atlanta, airport shuttles and MARTA (the local transit system) have been critical to me getting to the convention. (Not to mention taxis. Don't forget to tip the taxi people too!) Thanks for the great article Zac! |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23762 |
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Definitely some sage advice there. I just attended Anime North in Toronto which caps its attendance at 15,000 and that is big enough for me. I can't even imagine what going to one of the monster cons must be like (although having gone to Toronto's FanExpo which is larger than AN gives me a bit of an idea, I guess).
I wonder about point 1, however, especially if you are young and don't have a bunch of funds at your disposal. I think the most you'd be staying in a hotel room would be for two or three nights. When you're young, you should probably go in with the idea that you're not gonna get a bunch of comfortable sleep during this period. For me, the sacrifice would be worth it to have extra cash to spend on merch. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2544 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Let me see which things I've related to...
One of my friends has always been the guy who handles the hotels, and we've always done 3-4 in one room. Luckily, we're all best friends & we all are able to get more than enough sleep. I remember going to Anime Boston last year, though, & getting an awesome suite, which definitely helped out. That being said, the second year I ever did Otakon we had the "great idea" of shoving about 8 people in one room... Man, was that a dumb idea. The con was still fun, but it was dumb as hell to stuff that many people at once.
Luckily, we've never been more than 2-3 blocks away from any of the conventions me & my friends have been to, so we've never had to do this, outside of the one-day trips to NYCC we did here & there (& will never do again, as Comic Con is way too crowded now).
That's the best & worst part of a Q&A panel. There's always the person who asks something stupid or tries to have an entire conversation with the guest/panelist/etc., taking away time from the other people who wanted to be involved.
It's kind of sad that this even has to be pointed out, as it just sounds like having a basic sense of common courtesy & decency. Too bad some people just don't care...
Yeah, my general rule of thumb is that, barring me really, really wanting to be there, I won't bother with anything that has an uber-long line to it. The only exception would be if I happen to make it to the line early & am willing to wait at that point, but it really depends on the panel. I will say that I've never had any luck getting into Daryl Surat's Anime's Craziest Deaths panel at Otakon, no matter how many times I've gotten in line for it. Maybe one day... |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7357 |
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This will be my... maybe 6th year at Otakon? I happen to live in Baltimore County, a five minute drive from the light rail station, so I just take that down (except on sundays, my mom gives me and my friends staying with me a ride because the light rail doesn't start until 11, but we'll still take it back). It has the advantage of being cheaper, but the disadvantage of me buying too much manga and carrying sometimes over 35 volumes with me for the day. On the plus side, I get to just dump them at home. And if a friend forgets something, well it's at my house so not a big deal.
I also don't have to pack anything (clothes, toiletries, various charging cords), it's all right here! And when we hang out on thursday before the con, I've got all my game systems right there, we can play or watch whatever. And my cat! I don't have to leave her for a whole weekend! She'll bug my friends when we're all awake, but she only likes to sleep with her human. And I have more money for buying things because I'm not paying for a hotel or parking (light rail is less than $15 for the whole weekend). But even if you don't have the advantage of living close by, there are still some things I suggest: 1) Bring your own food. At least a fair amount of snacks. It's nice to eat out too, but if it's a crowded con, all the nearby areas will take forever to get food at. 2) Bring water. If you need to buy water at a big con, sometimes there are sellers outside selling bottles for $1 (vs $4 inside the con building). I also like to refill mine at the water stations that are commonly in places like video, panel, and game rooms (the ones in the video rooms always tend to be full I find) 3) Take a break! If there's nothing you want to do at the moment, take a break and don't over-exert yourself! And yeah, if you take a break in a panel or video room, definitely sit in the back, it makes leaving less awkward. I've actually intended to go into panel rooms for a break and gotten into the panels before though. 4) Don't make your pack too heavy, it will wear on you during the day. At least a food bag will get lighter as it goes on, but now I only pack one water bottle (two at most) and refill it a lot. Other random things I've learned: -I like going to manga industry panels because they're typically not very crowded and may have freebies (unless I really want to go to something else, then I'll go to that). The anime ones are a lot more crowded and I don't much see the point as ANN will update what's announced that day anyway, I can check when I get home that day from the con and it's mostly videos. -Show up to panels you really really want to go to early. At least half an hour, just to be safe. The more you want to go, the earlier you should get there, especially at a bigger con like Otakon. I missed quite a few last year because it was just too overcrowded there. -Plans will fall through, go with the flow and see if there's anything else of slight interest. -I like the physical copies of the schedule (they used to give them out at Otakon, but now I'll just print them from their website). I highlight the things I'm interested in, that way if something is full, I can see if there's anything else I was interested in or if I should just go to the dealer's room or artist alley for a while. -Speaking of physical copies, I have a physical copy of my wish list. A lot of people have it on their phones, but do you honestly expect the battery to hold out all day if you're using the phone for other things (either for texting meet ups, or schedule look ups, etc)? Unless you have a backup battery, I like physical copies of everything. -Because I live in the county, I can stop at the back real quick before going down there and not have to worry about the ATMs emptying out in a circle around the con. So I try to withdraw what I think I'll need. Either way, I am still super excited for Otakon, despite the things happening in Baltimore City right now (I think/hope it'll calm down within two months) |
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spinja446
 Posts: 87 |
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Q & A' PANELS ARE THE WORST! So awkward and embarrassing.
Some people ask some of the most dumbest questions or you always encounter that one person that creates an awkward moment in front of hundreds of people where they are trying so hard to get their question out but end up stuttering all the way through it. I don't know if their just nervous or you'd think they have some sort of disability but man does it make me just want to leave the panel! Oh yea or you have that one person that blurts or screams out something random and stupid like they have Tourette's syndrome but you know they do it on purpose. Seriously, leave that rude stuff at home or for the internet and quit trying to troll in real life. Grow up people. I truly feel bad for the guest panelist sometimes and want to know what the hell do they think or what's going on in their mind in these type of situations Last edited by spinja446 on Thu May 28, 2015 5:08 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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xchampion
 Posts: 370 Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho |
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I have been to several Conventions but my favorite is Salt Lake Comic Con. It had over 130,000 attendances last year and it was huge, but they did it the right way.
1. They now mail out all the badges before the Con. They only have preregister at the Con if you did not buy the passes online beforehand. 2.Also during the Q&A they have a list of questions you cannot ask the guest. If you ask one of the questions that they have on the list they escort you out of the line and go to the next question. That way it does not waste time and and its embarrassing. After the first few times people started to get the hint. 3.They don't let people line up more than 15 minutes ahead of time. Unless its a big panel than they may start the line an hour ahead of time. Believe me its nice especially when we had Nathan Fillion of Firefly fame. At any other convention people would have been waiting hours in line to go to that panel. Of course they implemented all this at the last con because people would do the exact thing that Zac mentioned in the article at previous events. Its one of the best conventions around. I love it. |
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GhostStalkerSA
Posts: 425 Location: NYC |
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NYCC is way too crowded now, and there's really not much one can do about it. Javits is pretty much at capacity, ever since ReedPop basically raised the cap last year as much as it could, with a reported attendance of over 160k, according to them. It's gotten way too commercialized as well, with people just going to say that they have gone. Not much we can do about it, though. Complaints about the ticketing website have been legion these past two years as well... If I get hired again as Crew like I have for the past 5 years, I'll just have to suck it up and deal with trying to manage the crowds as best I can... Makes me glad I'm mostly in Artist Alley... |
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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If I ever find myself going to a convention one day, I'll try aiming for the smaller ones. Giant conventions can really be a hassle to navigate through.
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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Child (12 and under), Minor (13-17), and Adult. What's not acknowledged in the article, nor any article I have ever seen, is that there are different types of events, from a legality standpoint. Events like Sakura-Con, which is a 501c3 non-profit membership organization, do not sell "badges." You buy a 1-year membership to the organization. This is why badges are non-transferable, as well as why identity has to be verified before you can be given your badge. Furthermore, at least in Washington State, events are taxed differently based on if they have membership dues (as Sakura does) or if they sell "tickets". Others, which may not fall under the same laws and regulations, can do things differently. Personally, I would not feel safe at any event that did not check ID to verify that the person getting the badge was the person who had signed up for it. That being said, I do find the money issues in the article a tad on the offensive side, as they assume you are made of money. I don't know anyone who has the kind of money not only that a) they can set aside $500 for spending, but that b) they can waste an extra $300 on hotel. Nor do I know anyone who can afford "$20-30 per day" on a cab (nor who would be dumb enough to take a cab, I've never seen one that isn't shady). If I'm lucky, I can set aside about $100 total for all of my convention needs (for me, this is just spending and food, since my membership and hotel are provided by the convention). If I had to pay for my hotel room, that would maybe be another $100, since I'd be splitting with 3 other people. |
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