Convention poll

[sempai]

I run a convention. I am just wanting some info. This is a follow up because my cosplay director posted a poll on cosplay.com. Surprise cosplay is a big thing for conventions. What do you think is important for conventions.

[Godai-AK]

Dealer's room.

I go to a con to do a lot of things, but the biggest is probably spend money.

[denice25]

i'll go for dealers room..

[Vexx]

They're all important... but yeah, a crappy dealer room can sour the whole thing. Right up behind those is the cosplay level and the informational panels though....

[sempai]

Ok so I have to ask. Is it that it needs to be a big dealers room or a well stocked one. Cause I really can not handle a huge dealers room. I make my event more about having fun and partying. So I wonder what kind of loss I will have from only having 20 dealer tables. This is a practice on honing my event in tough economic times.

Truthfully I can not control the quality of cosplayers.

[Haruyan]

I spend most of my time in the dealer's room, but I don't think it would be a complete con without some cosplays and interesting panels.

I think a well stocked dealer's room is better than a big one, I've been to of small/local cons and it gets a lot better when there's plenty to see and buy, instead of just having a lot of dealers with the same stuff over and over.

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by Vexx

They're all important... but yeah, a crappy dealer room can sour the whole thing. Right up behind those is the cosplay level and the informational panels though....

Yup. Where else can I get a photo of myself holding Eruruu's tail, then get a life sized Eruruu wallscroll to commorate the occassion? (Don't look at me like that. I didn't know it was going to be life-sized when I bought it. It's not like I bought the To Heart bedsheets or anything.)

[Shadow Kira01]

If you mean convention as in cosplay convention, then it is best that you have a mix of everything. Simply, all the listed factors are important.

[sempai]

Well its an anime convention. Not a cosplay specific convention. This all started from a discussion about how I felt some people are turned off by anime conventions focusing too much on cosplay. I know people like it. I have done it. But I am afraid the focus of anime is being lost. And this year our budget is tight. So we were discussing nixing the guests and getting some other things that would be entertaining.

Of course this is from a convention that plans on water balloon fights,Japanese snack panel, Sake Tasting Panel and Drunken Karaoke. But I thought bringing in a museum display of Samurai Armor would be better than some voice actor. Or even seeing if we could get the Speed Racer car that is going around to Car shows.

But in taste we would like to know what people really want. It would be impossible to hold a con without cosplay. And since dealers give discounts to con staff... yeah I don't think we would NOT have a dealer room. I just went to a con with 10,000 attendees and it felt like a Geek Flea market. I am looking for FUN. How to maximize FUN. Give people what they want with in reason. I am hoping this will give me some insight.

[Vexx]

Actually, some of your ideas are fantastic to add life to a convention. Frankly the "fabulous guest" part is often over-rated. It'd be hard not to have a costume contest or a cosplay dance I guess.

I like the sake tasting panel idea (you might talk to sakeone) but it often gets ruled out because of the '21+' age problem. Depends on your adult attendence numbers. Finding people who have taiyaki/takoyaki and other japanese street food vendor stalls would be fun. If you have a local asian import store, they might be interested in having a snack/food/etc booth.

[sempai]

Well food becomes an issue to a point. I have to go through the hotel to get food. And I know they would not let anyone serve non pre-packaged food. The snack panel is just pre-package. I am paying the hotel to serve Sake.

I think there are a lot of 18+ anime fans that have stopped going to conventions because there is too much focus on being family friendly. While we do have events for all ages I have separate events for the 18+ community. Hentai and Yaoi viewings. Hentai Costume contest, Sake tasting panel and drunken Karaoke. All we do is check ID's at the door. Now I may only get 10-20 people to any of these events. But as an adult I feel that there should be some specifics.

Actually we are adding a 18+ speed dating event this year. Previously we tried a teen speed dating panel. But some jerks started a trend of auctioning dates. Which we had to close down. So now we are only trying to do Adults.

[Hs Vi Germania]

Last weekend I was at one of the most famous conventions in Germany.
The "Leipziger Büchermesse" would not be possible without Cosplayers (btw they can visit the event for free )

Link: http://www.leipziger-buchmesse.de/

[Yushi]

I'll be going to a convention next month, and I'm most looking forward to seeing all the awesome cosplays~! X3 (I'll be cosplaying too, hehe)
The nice thing about conventions is that, you know that everyone has the same interest (anime) as you. So it is very easy to make friends. And when you are in a costume, you become so much more outgoing XD

[Telmah]

Like everyone else said, everything is important and again the guests are probably the least important thing. Contacing vendors and what not is a huge amount of work. Your ideas seem solid.

I'd highly suggest you set up a forum and use it to gauge interest--also helps spread word of mouth. At least at the relatively local con I go to every year, they really push to have alot of panels of all types from how to make AMVS, to video games, to things I wouldn't have thought like flower arranging school coming in to talk to us. I assist a friend that runs a "Name that Tune" panel with anime music. He said that alot of panels cancel at the last minute though, so it would be a good idea to have subs ready.

I think whatever you end up doing, some people will love it, some will hate it, so you should just do what you like more or less. After all, you are the one putting all the work into it.

[sempai]

Thanks Telmah,

We have a strong event. Last year we had a questionnaire attendees had to fill out and so many people responded to the why are you here with "Because its (insert con name here)" you would be amazed at how that makes me feel. Over the last four years we have had pretty solid events.

But you know it never hurts to stay ahead of the curve. I would like to thank everyone participating in this discussion.

[Nosauz]

For any niche hobby such as anime dealer room is the key, unlike some hobbies that offer tournaments as the main attraction, the dealer room is important on getting merchandise out, with good dealers, and a bustling dealer room add a great amount of overall grandness of the conn.

[Kikyo_Cat]

everything..

lol I love hanging out with people but love buying stuff :\
everything puts the convention together.. x3 I love conventions!!

[Haruyan]

Most cosplay in conventions comes from the guests themselves, so that's not really something you can control. Having a small contest might increase the chances of people bringing (good) cosplay.

About two years ago, we had to cancel the cosplay contest and a lot of cosplayers were bummed about it because they went specifically for that. And it was a shame, because many of the cosplays were contest worthy.

Having a special guest isn't always so special. Some people just go for the guest and don't like anime at all (unless that was what you were aiming for...?)

I think all panels should be fun too, nobody wants to see an information panel if it's gonna sound like you're back at school This is just my own experience in cons.

[Fome]

Band is the only thing I go for. Too many wierdos stalking my friends, and last time even my little brother.