Post
by Slugger7 » Mon Dec 27, 2004 9:42 am
I would like to address a few things that I noticed while I was at Otakucon/Kunicon 2004 in Miami. Constructive critisims if you will.
First, and most important your staff needs to be polite at all times and under all circumstances. One Staff member had mistakenly thought that I had entered or exited from a door that was not to be used in such a manner. The sign that was posted clearly stated such, but the print was not bold/big enough to read at any great distance so I couldn't read it untill I got closer. Once I could read the sigh, I promptly turned around, and walked the other way. The staff member must have just caught me as I was walking away, and approached me.
The first words out of his mouth after were, "Did you read the sign?"
It sounded to me as though he was talking down to me, so I responded with a little attitude, "Yeah....."
His next question was in my opinion, priceless. "Did you just come through that door?"
"Um....No..." was my response. He promptly appoligized stating he had mistook me for someone else.
I understand that no matter what you do some people just won't follow directions, but that doesn't mean you should talk down to your customers.
Second, at least one staff member needs to be in charge of each room. If it is a video room, equipment should be left in room overnight if said room can be locked. The video room should also have at least one staff member present to operate the equipment. This should help the room stick to the schedule. It also helps to post outside the rooms what is playing and the time block it will be occupying which is usefull if the schedule has been changed. If it is a gaming room two or more staff members need to be present depending on the size of the room. One staff member is acceptable however a second should stop by every hour to give the other a break. For example, if you have four game rooms there should be a minimum of six staff members working the gaming area. Four staff members to monitor the room with two to give breaks to the other four. Tournament schedules should be posted outside the rooms as well.
Third, event hotels. I liked the hotel chosen for this convention. However, beware hotels that only have vallet parking. While this is nice, it adds to the cost to stay at the convention hotel, and may negitively affect how many people attend the convention.
Fourth, your staff members/gofers need to know what is going on. Your staff/gofers did not seem like they knew what was going on. It might help if you assemble everyone in a central area the day before to tell them what is happening and where. Also, you should have a room set aside as a comand center/break room that is out of sight and can be locked. This room can be used to brief the next shift on anything of inportance. It is inportant to schedule time in between each pannel to allow the voice actors a chance to sign autographs for the smaller events, and your staff time to prepare for the next event in that room. If you set aside a time slot for each voice actor to be signing autographs it would lessen the tendance for it to happen at the end of every pannel.
Fifth, your schedule. A column needs to be set aside for the dealers' room. This column needs to be clearly marked as "Dealers' Room" or something similar. That way if an event is going to happen in the dealers' room it can be in the schedule. The main events column needs to be kept together. Even if the room is just run off seating. Try not to schedule all the voice actors' panels for the same day.
Sixth, is your game room. The X-box can support four players per box. Not everyone is the same width and girth. Please, please, please make sure there is an isle for people to walk. While you did a good job providing an isle in Lafaye, you forgot that people like to sit further away than three feet from the screen, and others like to watch the games being played. If for some reason the room needed to be evacuated in a hurry, this could cause problems. Also, if you have more than one X-Box, it is a good idea to have at least three connected to a router for some massive multiplayer gaming. I'm not sure if this happened, but for the one I was playing at, somone had to bring their own cable and gain controll of another box.
The last thing I would like to address is registration. People pre-register to avoid long waits in line. That being said, pre-registration should end no less that fourteen days prior to the Con and more than one method should be available for pre-registration. NO EXCEPTIONS. This will give you time to prepare anything special and manage any difficulties. You did good with the number of methods available to preregister. I recomend that you make the form available as a web page rather than a PDF. Also, if you have a large number of pre-registered people break the line up into segments based on the first letter of their last name. That was a good thing when it happened, but it was a day too late.
Now for some things I liked, and would like to see at other conventions.
1 You had the small controllers for the X-Box, and you could use your own if you brought one.
2 You could bring and use your own network cable in order to hook up two independant X-Boxes.
3 A Battle Royal type game which involved rock-paper-scissors.
4 eight Halo 2 X-Box stations, or eight X-Box stations that ended up having Halo 2 being played
5 I don't know if it was intentional, but the ability to put your own games in a platform.
6 Funk was minimal. How did you do that?
7 Cold gaming rooms. Not cool, not luke warm, but cold. (was not present during any of the tournaments) I suspect you had air fresheners in there too.
8 A fair sized TTG/CCG room with demonstrations. If the are at the other cons, I keep missing them.
9 Large, flat screen TV's. All the same manufacturer, size and model.
10 While overpriced, food provided at the hotel specifically for the convention that was of good quality.[/b]
guess it shows how much of a newbie I am when it comes to the (anime) convention deal. I've done the tattoo convention circut and I never had a shortage of roomies there... my extreme lack of sleep among other things is begining to show its effect on me.... 
