Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - The Con That Failed
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OtakuKitten
 Posts: 72 |
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This isn't a tail about a failure so much as a rough start. I attended the first Ikkicon in Austin and though it was lots of fun an (I'm guessing) had a rather large attendance the event was squeezed into a very small hotel.
Artists Alley was basically every hallway and caused bottle necking around the heavy trafficked tables but the part that always makes me laugh when thinking about it was the Masquerade. Bless the people running the event they did the best they can. Held in the biggest room they could get the Masquerade was pretty much only attended by photographers and whoever the contestants themselves could work in. There wasn't a stage that I can remember just a lack of chairs at the front of the room and when the contestant was finished the walked around the room and out of the door. Before hand we were squeezed into a break room with soda machines and such and I think that might have made the staff a little upset but I got to really know my fellow cosplayers while waiting. I'm not sure if they ever handed out awards or announced anything after the event because I got tired of sitting outside the room. Instead I wandered around the con some more and watched some things in the viewing room. From what I have heard Ikkicon moved shortly after that and has been amazing. I have always wanted to go back but I don't live in the area anymore so it's going to take a bit longer for me to check it out. Was anyone else there? Do they remember getting yelled at for blocking the driveway of the hotel by making it a makeshift photo studio? |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6867 Location: Kazune City |
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Now, if you want a well-run, high-quality small/mid-size anime con, make your way to Anime NebrasKon in Omaha, NE on the first weekend of November. (Bias disclaimer: I organize the viewing rooms, run various panels, and do miscellaneous other staff duties.) We started as a 1-day club/campus event in 2004, then expanded to running 3 days (but not 24 hours) at the same college union for the next 4 years before finally moving to a not terribly large hotel in 2009, where we've been ever since. Part of our success has come from not banking on risky expensive "pizazz" to draw attendees, but rather from developing solid programming (185+ events last year), a welcoming atmosphere, and an organization that minimizes delays and frustrations as much as possible. And I'd like to think it also comes from good ol' Midwestern values such as humility, integrity, and sacrifice. In fact, the common thread to these convention failures seems to be the absence of those values, like arrogance -- expecting huge turnouts in early years, and believing that the event is doing guests/vendors a favor by allowing them to participate, rather than the other way around. Dishonesty to or indifference to the concerns of vendors, facilities, and attendees is another frequent failing. Reminds me of Nan Desu Kon '08... pretty well-run event overall, but I was annoyed by the attitude reflected in the con signage, like telling people to "get a life" rather than play video games all night, or telling people to put written suggestions in the "large white bins" (better known as trash cans) by the doors. |
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Sandstar
Posts: 196 |
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I went to Sakuracon in, I think, 2008. I spent 3 hours in the registration line, and got halfway through. All I wanted to do was go to the dealers room, and spend money. But the stupid idiots who ran the con insisted on entering everyone's name and informationinto an access database right on the spot. Naturally, the computers crashed, cause Access isn't designed for that, but who cares! So, I left the line, took the 200 dollars I was going to spend in the dealers room, and vowed never to go back. And I haven't.
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1746 |
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In a word, MangaGamer. 
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Supermutant
 Posts: 376 |
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My stuff is little in comparison to those mention in article and other posts.
Wizard World Philly 2003: Not really anime but got mention this one. You have a dealers room that probably had as much bootleg dvds as much as real ones. I mean someone was playing star wars and selling it on dvd several years before lucas ever did. From what I hear took them another a year or two change this. Dealers room was mixed with autograph and was pretty big to confusing. Anime Next 2005: Almost thought I was going to get thrown out because a cop said my roll along suitcase wasn't allowed. Anime Next 2006-2011: 2006 I almost got thrown out by rude staff who I proved wrong that the bad I was carrying wasn't to big. I was really mad at them. Why through 2011 is because most of the problems with AN have been bag related really. Seems to depend on who running the door and what there feel is a bag to big or if they care about it at all. Which much be crazy for any dealer worring about stealing. One of these years just get it over and say in program or something what kinda bags are allowed. Anime Next 2009-2011: I have to give credit they are trying to fix this every year but room and changing of rooms. Last year added a app so you can get updates. Room sizes have been problem but as said trying to fix it. AN 2011: Last years lines for autographs, dealers room, artist ally, and other events were so mis handled it was stupid. Lines were mixed and if you were in line for one thing you were sol on mext one in the same spot for autographs. AN 2008: The con had grown so big part of it was held in the basement/garage area. Not kidding as the autographs (including for the two main death note voice actors) was down there. They had put carpet down but you still see the parking lines under them in spots. Not something I went to but I heard this week on WTFIWWY about not a anime con. Where they went to a con where the hotel rooms had drugs and blood in it. There was a drive by on sunday. |
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Brakus
Posts: 130 Location: Virginia |
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The Friday AMV dance is TJ's domain. I think since I joined VAT staff in 2008, we've had 1 dance in the VAT, and that is on Friday night. I believe the one year it didn't happen (2006, IIRC), there was a problem with the displaying of the videos - and that was the same year that there wasn't an "official" dance on Saturday night at the site. It was held off site that year. I don't think it did well since so few people knew where to go, and we had a whole ton of people attending the Saturday AMV dance. It seemed that particular year, AWA staff seemed to be a lot more on edge than usual. Thankfully, that has turned around for the better for the most part. |
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Brakus
Posts: 130 Location: Virginia |
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Oh, we still get a lot of people. Just not as many as the main one on Saturday. Since we don't do an AMV dance on Saturdays anymore, I think it works out fine. And although I've been on VAT staff since 2008, I've been going since 2003, and the AMV dance has always been the better of the two dances at AWA.
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midnightshinigami
 Posts: 25 |
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I do staff at AnimeNext and I helped with the lines for both dealers room and autographs in 2011, so bets are you saw me lol. But yeah, those were a mess. Too much stuff crowded in. Tandokucon was the worst I've ever attended. That's all I need to say about that. |
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Asterisk-CGY
 Posts: 398 |
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I've been attending AX as a volunteer for the last at least 6, 7 years since high school, when I realized a bit of work got me a free ticket. I would say AX 07, whichever one that was in Long Beach CC physically sucked the most. Place is just too small.
AX has its share of horror stories among its staff, easy one being the current ex-ceo. Then there's a laundry list of BS that I've heard here and there from my one friend that works AX pretty much every year. AX10 I believe was the one year they had to BS their numbers too to look bigger than they supposedly were. '11 ran a ton smoother, but only as smooth as AX can get these days. I believe AX is still suppose to be a non-profit, but its size is just getting kinda unwieldy. Lots of old fogeys jamming up the process. |
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Supermutant
Posts: 376 |
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I know AN tries to fix the problems every year but last lines was step back. Just to even make the point I was in the line for artist ally on day one. Just going to look around because they were also starting dealers room line as they were letting people in AA I ended up staying in line. I ended up first in line for dealers room. Autograph I mention was where I ended up being in line for one then couldn't get another autograph because line. I was in the other long line. I forget to mention I know I idea was mention was starting lines a half hour before and not hours. That would save so much when it comes to lines. Don't get me wrong Anime Next has been great con over years but not perfect. Not as bad as some others but I have had problems. Even best cons are never perfect. Last edited by Supermutant on Sun Mar 11, 2012 8:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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PMDR
Posts: 140 |
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True story: Anime Weekend Atlanta's name was chosen by a vote between that name or Dai Baka Con. AWA won by a slight margin.
The deal with AWA 2000 -or AWA 5- wasn't that something failed. It was a deliberate and planned change to let "Aaaargh!" (the internal techops team name for the costume contest) change into an event run by and for the cosplayers, just doing their skits or posing or whatever. What ended up happening was that nobody wanted to see skits only, including the people who were supposed to want to be in these skits. The event imploded on itself like an overly inflated ego in a room full of sharp objects. The con's perspective was that the event should sink or swim on its own merits. Ultimately the event was unable to sustain the level of interest it needed to swim. Tragic. The lack of compassion is entirely related to the mess at AWA 4's cosplay event where the skits involved spray paint on the stage and made the event run on for about six hours. By AWA 5, there were plenty of staff people who wanted the event to die. All of this crap was 12 years ago and makes me feel as old as I am. Thanks. So I think my point here is that something things that can be perceived as failures by an observer may in fact be things that are going according to somebody's plan that the observer knows nothing about. If Expo had actual gear problems, that may be one thing. That stuff happens for all sorts of reasons. But the AWA "problem" mentioned with it in almost the same breath wasn't a problem. It was an event given a chance exactly according to plan. And by the way, the article glosses over the Florida method, which is when con staff decide they don't like an idea and go set up their own cons. And then those people have a falling out and setup another one. Florida seems to be the place where you don't have road rage or complaint letters; you just start a con every time. Most of them probably fail with hardly a whimper. OK Florida, take offense at my words and do the Florida thing and start a con! |
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PseudoFiction
Posts: 94 |
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The last Ikasucon in Cincy was my first con, though the trip to Ft. Wayne doens't seem worth it considering the big summer cons and Ohayocon in January.
" - most anime con attendees, even ones with prosperous careers, are ninja warriors of frugality, the kinds of people who carpool and Priceline their way to events where they pile into hotel rooms in fives and tens, all in order to pay as little as possible - so they can spend as much in the dealer's room as possible, of course!" Given that the vast majority of cons are volunteer staffed and amateur programmed, spending a ton of money just to hang out and meet new people is a dumb idea. Fun shouldn't be expensive. |
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Hagaren_Otaku726
Posts: 137 |
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I've been going to AX since 2006, so that's where most of my experiences come from...
I agree. If I remember properly, this was the con where we referred to the convention center staff as "yellow jackets". Also, I heard later that AX '07 had some GoH relations issues, but back then, I was a silly teenage fangirl and didn't pay much attention to that stuff. I waited (both days) in the infamous SOS Brigade autograph line. I think the only saving grace of that line were the other attendees around me, and one particular AX staffer who was seriously doing his best to figure out what was going on. Also felt bad for savage genius, getting stuck in a small hotel conference room, with few attendees showing up due to lack of publicity. Extremely enjoyable concert though. I should note though, that Halko Momoi's Monday concert saved AX in general for me. I went in with no idea who this was and feeling pretty down, definitely came out a fan. She's not perfect, and her music isn't for everyone, but her energy and the general love she has for her fans really made her concert memorable to me. (And bringing manzo to sing "My Pace Daioh" from Genshiken was a genius move, he's awesome.) I probably wouldn't have gone back to AX, if not for her. I had a much better experience at AX 2010, but it had its share of autograph issues, particularly the Yui Horie/Eri Kitamura lines... I think they didn't plan enough for the inevitable lines for popular seiyuu like these two. I'm not sure what con logistics envisioned, but I definitely think they should have expected attendees to line up 3-4+ hours early for these girls, which they didn't. Highlight of that line was Vic Mignogna running by and entertaining us a bit. From what I saw, AX 2011 improved tremendously. ...This may or may not have been because I didn't go for any of the "big name" autographs this past year, but for Matsumoto Izumi and Onyx Kobayashi though. |
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Gwydion
 Posts: 155 |
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I was wondering how long it would be before ACen's "LineCon" got brought up - thankfully I missed that year for some reason, but man did I feel bad for everyone that went.
One of the worst con related incidents for my sis and I was at Ohayocon '07. We had managed to get into the Artist Alley for the first time, but when we got the convention, they told us that they had made a mistake and that there wasn't enough space in the AA. We ended up getting put in a hallway along with several other artists and The Spoony Bards, not far from the Dealer's Room. All in all, it ended up working out rather well for us, and the staff were extremely polite and did everything to accommodate us as best they could, but upon first getting to the con, the LAST thing you want to hear is, "There's no room for you in the AA, and we're not sure what we're going to do with you yet." At ACen '09, I believe, we had purchased electricity for our AA table - we can't run a table without it - but it wasn't working for some reason for several hours first thing on Friday. Luckily the staff was aware of the problem and did everything they could to get it sorted out with the convention ASAP, so while it was a stressful few hours, once it was taken care of, everything ran very smoothly. I did go to C-kon in South Bend, IN the two years it existed ('02-'03), but sadly I don't have any interesting stories for why it may have failed aside from knowing someone who knew a guy on staff that said they had money issues. There have been a few other issues I've had with staff over the years - usually before the con due to lack of communication or some such thing - but overall I've been pretty lucky, I think. I don't really have a true "horror story", and I'm really hoping it stays that way! |
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Asterisk-CGY
Posts: 398 |
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From what little I've heard AX'11 really cleaned up stuff that went wrong in '10. '10 actually saw a huge exodus of experienced staff members due to an internal dispute, which is why that same year you had AM2 show up in Anaheim that same year on the same weekend. 11 ran a lot smoother in comparison. |
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