Animarathon
Bowen-Thompson Student Union
Saturday, March 24, 2012 10:00am – Midnight

Their site is in a bit of a transition right now, so if there are any questions on the event, please leave a comment!

This year I want to start adding a selection of photos and highlight my galleries more from my traveling, so enjoy!

Click for more: GlassCityCon Photos

I couldn't help but laugh - these guys did a GREAT job on an unorthodox cosplay...

The hallway on Sunday - watching the people walking through.

Our table - showing off the new banner on the left.

These are so adorable - I bought one at JAFAX, and had to admire them again. Great quality!

This guy was showing her a dance step, and I loved the bright red against the sunny windows.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by, especially those who are our repeat “we have to find you every year” customers. My favorite moment was listening to someone trying to direct their friend by phone to their location to meet up: “We’re at DisjointedImages. The fun table!”

Our next convention is in Ohio – http://www.glasscitycon.com/ Please come see us!

Come see us for high quality buttons and our solitaire game MahJong House.

It was great seeing all the new faces, and getting great ideas for buttons for next year.

Can’t wait for 2012!

Our first stop is Animarathon.  It’s a one day con located on campus of Bowling Green State University.

Don’t let the short timeline fool you – they have a lot to offer in that one day:

Animarathon features multiple anime screening rooms, informational panels, video game competitions, dealers, artists,cosplay, and more! Admission is free and is open to the public.

You should stop by if you’re in the area.

http://photos.disjointedimages.com/Events/Youmacon-2010/

If you got your photo taken for a cosplay button, and would like to reorder, those will be up soon.

While overall we had a great time – lots of new customers, cosplay buttons, a great rave, and good sales – I do have some serious concerns / comments / suggestions that I hope will be seriously considered by staff for next year.

Let me preface everything by saying that I currently staff for one of the largest conventions and Artist Alley’s in North America.  While there are definite differences in how a convention is run depending on its size,  I want it known, that I am coming from the perspective of not only an attendee and artist, but someone who knows firsthand the logistics of registration and AA DH needs for a large scale convention.

That said – below are my observations and comments on this year’s convention.

Registration - WHY was there a 3+ hour line for Pre-Reg badge pickup?  Because there was a SINGLE staffer handing out the badges.  Furthermore, WHY did the check-in desk for AA not have the artist’s badges separated to hand out.  I declined to even bother getting my badge until Saturday because of this.

AA - I felt that the interior 2 rows of tables would have been better suited going along the wall along the second half of the alley down past the Ballroom.  Having four rows of tables in the small first half of the space was far too cramped given that the alley was also a major thoroughfare to get around the circle to the other events.  This led to a lot of problems of getting clogged when someone was stopped at both sides and someone else needed to get through.  Just not enough space to have both.

Additionally, when events for the main ballroom on that level lined up, it backed up around into the alley, blocking an entire line of tables.  Again, moving the center 2 rows would have allowed for somewhere for the line to be without interfering.

The lighting was very bad.  Once the sun had gone past the skylight, my table was in near darkness.  All they have are enough pot lights and underlights to keep you from tripping when walking through the hotel.  It obviously was not designed with the intention of having someone set up in those areas.  If we are there next year, I will have to invest in some standing studio lights (which I noticed one table luckily had brought and even needed DURING daylight hours).

Food - AWFUL handling of the food situation.  There WAS a food court, yes, but half of them closed at FOUR on both Friday and Saturday and did NOT EVEN OPEN on Sundays.  Did the hotel notify those vendors of the LARGE convention that would be there and suggest later hours?  Did staff suggest it?  Beyond the food court, a google search (thanks to entirely NO information in the programming guide of where to eat) showed that there were NO places to order delivery from.  The closest locations it came up with were for Canada….

The website explained there would be no con-suite based on hotel restrictions, but it did not have any listing of what WAS available either.  Not even a link to the RenCen website with a food directory.

Even staff was at a loss of where to eat, at one point I had security members come over and ask where I’d gotten my pizza from.  I kindly offered them the menu (it was a Pizzapapalis – and on a side note, that was a pain to deal with as the driver didn’t seem to deliver to the hotel often.  They also refused to bring it IN, as there is no where for them to park, so you have to meet them in the valet/motor lobby, which was so hard to find that the driver had left and had to be called back.) for which they were grateful.

Maps - Badly designed, unclear, and in no way could you figure out where you were and how to get where you were going.  That goes for both the guide and the maps the hotel had up.  There was never a “you are here” icon so you could sort out a direction.  Everything was poorly labeled in the guide, and there was constant confusion over what had or hadn’t been moved.  The alley itself was only shown in the first quarter of the circle, and not the second section, and whether that was because that was added after printing I’m not sure, but I felt some sort of insert could have been included then to assist with changes.

Layout - In general, the layout was very difficult to deal with.  There were no good open spaces for photos for more than a single cosplayer in the general hotel space.  There seemed to be no one in charge / available to make sure that traffic kept moving where it should.  I frequently had to put on my “staff voice” and tell people to please keep to the walls/outside area.  Sometime around 9 in the evening, hotel staff started trying to prevent you from accessing the lower levels, further constricting the space people could be in, and making the effective room we had (and part of the reason to be at this hotel) null.

The elevators (an admittedly difficult thing at ALL conventions) were nearly impossible to navigate.  For an artist with several boxes/carts of items that need to be taken up to the room, we couldn’t just cram on to the first elevator with an opening.  We had to wait for one at least half full – and that was a minimum of 30 minutes every time. For a hotel with 70 some floors, it’s ridiculous that 12 elevators should be tied up so long.

Beyond that, for those that could have taken the stairs, there WEREN’T any.  The escalators only served the first few levels, and those were far too narrow for more than a street-clothed person.  The stairwells were locked fire exits only, and the hotel enforced that by kicking out anyone who used them.  Now, I am not suggesting that any fire codes be violated, merely pointing out the lack of options the facility had for moving people from one location to another.

Trash - I’ve touched on this in previous posts – and again, a failing at this convention was a lack of suitable trash receptacles.  AA didn’t have a single trash can.  Folks had to wait for hotel staff to come through with one (which wasn’t frequent enough) or try and cram it in the bathroom garbage (which isn’t suited for smell inducing foodstuff to begin with).  In general I didn’t see any public garbage cans set out for the congoers to be able to dispose of their trash.  It’s amazing the hotel wasn’t more destroyed than it was by Sunday with litter.

That said – AA people, you really need to clean up after yourselves more.  There were signs still taped to the tablecloths and trash left underneath the tables.  You really couldn’t have taken a few minutes to dispose of it?  Or at least compact it and leave it on top to make it easier on staff to toss?  “It’s their job to clean” should be a benefit, not an excuse.

Deep breath… ok.  I think that covers everything.  Now, please don’t think that I’m saying Youma is doomed, and should just quit.  Or even that we HAVE to find another hotel for next year.  It can be made to work, I think.

I also fully intend to be one of the first to sign up and come back next year.  I love Youmacon, and want it to succeed, which is all the more reason to write this post, and send it to staff.  If these things aren’t shared, and corrected each year, then Youma WILL have problems eventually.  I’ve watched enough conventions fold for lesser reasons.

I have the benefit of sitting rather invisibly at my table in AA and overhearing all the passing conversations.  It is human nature that one will complain before praise, and I certainly overheard plenty of griping.  It is also a fact that many won’t actually complain to the people that could fix it, for whatever reason, but will gladly tell all of their friends.  I don’t want that.  I don’t want assumptions and one-time problems to become what’s considered “standard operation” for Youmacon.  I also don’t want everyone thinking Youma was perfect this year, and have everything glossed over, only for next year to see the problems compounded by an ever expanding attendee base.  Fix the things that come up right away, or else they only get worse.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who makes the convention happen every year.  It is HARD work, long hours, and all ENTIRELY VOLUNTEER, for those who don’t know better.  Staff – I will happily discuss anything in detail privately, if you’d like to email me.  I’m always willing to share the things I’ve learned, and know that I could not run a perfect convention, but if everyone can pool their knowledge, we can get damned close. 

While attendance was low – and Friday was skewed due to the free admission – I think with the right nurturing it could become a good alternate convention.  I’d like to see them branch out a bit more to stand out against Youmacon, rather than being two of the same.  Perhaps what Reactor was supposed to be?  I really enjoyed the first 2 years at Reactor (before it became frat-con) and was disappointed it didn’t continue as it was conceived.

I was particularly pleased with how much the staff wanted input from the Artist’s on how to change/improve for next year.  They recognized and admitted faults and were genuinely open to criticism and comments.

I do believe we’ll be keeping an eye out for next year’s dates and making plans to attend again.

For part 2  I’d like to go over some of the things that AA staff can do (or has done in the past that stuck with me) to really make the experience that much greater for the artists.

Registration and check-in – Let me register everything together – badge(s) and table(s).  Preferably there should be a package deal so I am not forced to register early for badges before knowing if I have a table.  Unfortunately I cannot go to nearly as many conventions if I’m not selling, and having to get locked into a badge ahead of time is a turnoff.

Check-in should be the day before if at all possible.  Otherwise, at least an hour or two before opening so I have time to settle and set up before it opens to the public.  I actually prefer assigned seating to first come.  There’s nothing worse than having to elbow someone out of the way, or make someone move after they’re set up because of an electrical outlet placement.  Get your tables laid out, and make sure everyone’s needs are accommodated.  Very few alley’s do not assign anymore, as it is more trouble to deal with fallout.  Be firm!  A layout has more benefit to everyone.

Layout, layout, layout – No matter how long or short the convention, eventually your butt starts to go numb and you start feeling claustrophobic.  Artists are there to be AT our table to sell our art, and if you make sure there is enough space between the table and the wall and a gap between every 2-3 tables for someone to get out for the occasional potty/water/food break it makes life so much better.  Believe it or not, this has been overlooked at some cons.

Speaking of…
Water/Food – Not all conventions have the luxury of staff to do so but man do I appreciate when someone is able to come by and offer to do a “food run”.  Bottles of water, the generic cheese pizza (ie a bunch were ordered and someone brings some by the AA).  At the very least – making it well known where the drinking fountains/closest food or snacks/restrooms are in relation to the Alley is awesome.

Advertising – Many folks have some sort of website these days, whether it’s a deviant art account, a full website setup, or just facebook/flickr/twitter.  Listing prominently on the convention site who is coming and how to find out about them before hand (or get in touch after) makes a really big difference.  It increases the odds for commissions (and allows for the potential of more commissions than you could do at the con), generally gets people interested in the AA, and gives an easy way to follow up if there’s any problems/praise afterwords.

Trash – No, don’t give me trash, give me a place to put it.  Easily accessible, frequently monitored/emptied, and enough to accommodate the number of people in AA and attendees passing through.

Attention – Come acknowledge me!  Please take a minute to come by and introduce yourself – odds are I’ve only talked to you online and sometimes not even that (most cons have just a form and never need to talk one on one with the DH) and I’d love if you stopped by, said hello, and made sure things are going well.  It shows you’re paying attention to the Alley, the people in it, and are truly open to feedback…

Feedback! -  Paper survey, online forum post, anonymous form – give me some way to give all my criticism and happy thoughts.