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. 

Not long after we came back from our honeymoon, it was time to get everything together for Youmacon. It was a great weekend, lots of our fan/customers coming by to see the new designs, and a few new people too. I got to draw a squirrel, a goat with a monocle, a wolf, and will forever be haunted by the epic man nipples. (You had to be there…)

We had an even greater response to the current release of the game, which made me float with happiness. Thank you to everyone who tried, commented, and (yay!) bought a copy!

As Chris mentioned, the next release will be Linux, and shortly after that we will start putting out some of the expanded rewards and tiles.

I am also oh so excited to announce that I have been accepted on staff for ACEN. I will be assisting with both the website and Artist’s Alley. This delights me to no end; as many of you know, I am a people pleaser, and to be part of the workings the make ACEN what it is for so many just really makes me smile.

Of course, this doesn’t give me any slack on keeping you guys entertained with more humorous buttons each year, and fret not, as I am hard at work with quite a few new designs.

Please look for us next at Animarathon in Ohio.