This year's convention is terrible... (Ideas to make it better in years to come?

[Agent47]

After it was all said and done.. I'm agreeing that this k-con was terrible.. to the point where I may refer to it as fail-con for all of time.

Seriously.. from the numbers I was hearing, which are probably not quite accurate, this con had roughly 2,000-3,000 more people than last year.

How exactly did they expect to fit all those people in a hotel, when last year was crowded, and that was with a giant park outside, and a mall across the street? Seriously.

And while I never had any issues with the staff personally, I heard the hilton staff were quite nasty to some people.. calling con-goers freaks and whatnot.. plus it seemed like some of the k-con staff were being asses too.. like Sunday night, a friend and I were in the lobby, it was about 12:30am, with a few minors, and the mother(i.e. legal guardian; who had driven up from eugene that day) of someone there, and the cross-eyed k-con staff member told them all the minors HAD to leave.. even though there were atleast 4+ adults with them, one of which was the legal guardian of atleast one of them(not sure if any of them were sisters).

Long story short, the mother went to the Hilton staff and got confirmation that as long as the legal guardian is with them, and in control of the group, they can legally stay there(it was 12:30am, nobody was around, and and there was a total of about 8 of us, sitting by the staircase in the main lobby).

Oh, and lets know forgot about Monday, at around 3:30pm, there was a group of us, simply lined up against the wall outside, hanging out. We had 2 con staff members checking what we were doing, since the closing ceremony line was outside too. We indicated we were simply hanging out. One was like 'alright', and the other was like 'if you wanna get in line, it ends over there' and indicated the line ended on the wall, a bit closer to the main entrance to the lobby.

Within 10 minutes after the 2nd one, there was a douche, who came over and said we had to move because the ceremony line was outside, and making the sidewalk congested, and with us there it was too congested, so we had to move. Which was obviously incorrect, since we were all pushed up against the wall, and had little to no effect on the actual traffic of the sidewalk.

But in all seriousness.. if the contract isn't broken, and k-con 2010 is at the Hilton again, there's a very good chance I won't go next year. Or ever again until it's held either at the doubletree again, the rose garden, or the portland convention center. Seriously.. yes, cons are very hectic, but if you just choose hotels to hold them at, without consideration of immediate area, and you choose a place with staff that directly insult the con-goers.. that's just unprofessional.

If something doesn't change, it wouldn't surprise me if next year marks a record for being the first k-con with less attendees than the previous year.

But that's just my 2 cents.. I thought k-con 2008 was amazing, and if that was a year people were complaining about overcrowding, I got a bad year for my first, but I still loved it. And with that said.. this year was horrible. I feel sorry for anybody who's first con this was.

[Bresslol]

Hey I counted the people from con that were kicked out of the executive tower on the second night and uhh...48 people were kicked out for just about nothing. The hotel staff completely didn't care. There was a couple haveing s@$ on the dance floor at the mascarade ball and they didn't even do anything to syop it and I heard that the sakura con chair for next year left the con early because of the managements treatment of con members.

See, that's a good story. Tell it again.

Let me tell you one.

Once upon a time, Bressler (Sakura-Con's Programming Director aka the author of the post you are reading) and Stark (Sakura-Con's Chair) went to Kumoricon to have fun. They did. They had a blast.

But one day, a Monday to be precise, and 9/7/09 to be even further precise, they had to allocate money for things at their convention. They had to leave early in the morning to get to the budget meeting on time. They went and the budget meeting was good.

But the next day, Bressler went on the internet and saw people were spreading false rumors about why Sakura-Con's execs left early. He was saddened by this. He then decided to post on Kumoricon's fourms to inform people who did not know the facts the real reason they left Monday.

The moral of the story is: We wish we could have enjoyed Monday, but alas, we had our own business that took precedence. The three days we were at the con (fri/sat/sun) were a lot of fun and so much, that I am coming back and am considering staffing.

The end.

[gladimus]

would you want to walk 20 blocks in a giant costume? or take the max in it amongst non con-goers who want to touch it, or crowd you in.

I've ALWAYS ridden the max to kumoricon, and this NEVER happened once. People on the max aren't THAT bad. Sure there may be some weird guy talking to himself, but no one is going to touch you. You might hear some guy complaining about the 'freakish nerds' in the area but he's easy to ignore and the worst he can do is insult. If anyone tries to touch you or harm you in any way shape or form just hit the emergency button on the max and tell the train conductor you are being harassed. The offender will be removed. But this really never happens.
There's a reason why they made the con max-accessible in the first place. Because the max is actually a good way to get there. Sorry but that comment about the max sounds like an outright false excuse that might make people think trimet is a horrible form of transportation with disgusting people, but it's not. Even on non-kcon days I sometimes dress up and go to portland and not once has anyone bothered me.

[gladimus]

would you rather have the police enforcing this or the con staff?

Umm... actually I'm pretty sure this isn't an either/or situation. I noticed an extreme amount of police officers whose job seemed to be solely enforcing hotel rules and controlling cosplayers (which brings me to my second comment:)

"Some of the costumes us ladies wear while fine within the con could cause some uncomfortable leering or comments outside the con"
YES! Thank you for noting this. Whenever I was outside the convention for any amount of time at all I was cajoled by strange older men, often with a police officer nearby who would literally do nothing at all. And I was not someone wearing borderline lingerie, I was simply wearing a fairly modest cat-maid costume. But this made downtown, especially on or near the max or pioneer square, EXTREMELY uncomfortable. Sunday's gothic maid costume was just as bad if not worse. I would go as far as to say downtown is /not safe/ for female cosplayers, especially at night. Even without considering all the other downsides of the Hilton, I think this alone should force us to consider a new venue because I'll be honest: no matter how much I want to support K-con if me or one of my friends got raped at 1AM waiting for the MAX I would feel more than justified never attending Kcon again. And I think this is a very real possibility considering a huge portion of Kcon attendees are underage female cosplayers. Everybody should feel guilty if something like that happens simply because we didn't do anything to prevent it.

And I find it ironic that this is the first time I've heard so many complaints about sexual misconduct at Kcon when by far I felt more threatened and disturbed outside the convention than in it.

god i know how you feel. i was wearing a my little pony costume and people were looking at me and one was asking me if "is that a natural blue" in a super creepy tone. it was outright uncomfortable. and my boyfriend was right there with me!!

Those were not Police officers, that was hotel security. As for the leering go read the 10 CON-mandments http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=11105.0  

5 ) Thou shalt not be offended when locals whistle at the Felicia outfit. Thou chose to walk down Main Street (err SW Taylor st) in it.

This year that rule wont apply too well.. since the area where said offenders were harassing girls and making them feel uneasy was on the way to the max line. We didn't choose to walk there, we had to. Why? Because that's where they decided to put the con. In lovely downtown where creepy bums and really weird guys love to wander around and bother people. That's not our fault.

People aren't so much offended as they feel threatened, unsafe, uncomfortable, and uneasy about the location. Yeah you can blame them for walking at night in those costumes, but that's not their fault either. A lot of fun events HAPPEN at night, so why the heck would they want to leave early? Plus, some people had to park further away I'm sure, so they HAD to walk a little ways. Again, this is not their fault that the location is in such a... to be honest... gross part of town. Granted, it's not chinatown, but it's still a very creepy place to be.

Why do you think the guy from the show "Insomniac" came to downtown portland for one night? Because downtown Portland is f*****g creepy/crazy at night!

[pyronine]

And while I never had any issues with the staff personally, I heard the hilton staff were quite nasty to some people.. calling con-goers freaks and whatnot.. plus it seemed like some of the k-con staff were being asses too.. like Sunday night, a friend and I were in the lobby, it was about 12:30am, with a few minors, and the mother(i.e. legal guardian; who had driven up from eugene that day) of someone there, and the cross-eyed k-con staff member told them all the minors HAD to leave.. even though there were atleast 4+ adults with them, one of which was the legal guardian of atleast one of them(not sure if any of them were sisters).

Long story short, the mother went to the Hilton staff and got confirmation that as long as the legal guardian is with them, and in control of the group, they can legally stay there(it was 12:30am, nobody was around, and and there was a total of about 8 of us, sitting by the staircase in the main lobby).

I would like to apologize for him, he should have asked if a guardian was present, however the yoji's were told there was a curfew which is also stated in the con guide. Yoji's are told to use their judgment  in enforcing the rules. Most yojimbo's were exhausted by the time this had happened due to long shifts and lack of sleep. I personally worked from 7am - midnight. I know who you are talking about and he is actually a very nice person. he was just looking out for the safety of the minors.

Oh, and lets know forgot about Monday, at around 3:30pm, there was a group of us, simply lined up against the wall outside, hanging out. We had 2 con staff members checking what we were doing, since the closing ceremony line was outside too. We indicated we were simply hanging out. One was like 'alright', and the other was like 'if you wanna get in line, it ends over there' and indicated the line ended on the wall, a bit closer to the main entrance to the lobby.

Within 10 minutes after the 2nd one, there was a douche, who came over and said we had to move because the ceremony line was outside, and making the sidewalk congested, and with us there it was too congested, so we had to move. Which was obviously incorrect, since we were all pushed up against the wall, and had little to no effect on the actual traffic of the sidewalk.

Due to safety reasons, the sidewalk needs to be kept clear so people (con and non con) can use it safely without having to walk in the street. if everyone hangs out on the sidewalk it creates i giant fire and safety hazard. they do not know if you are in line or not, they should be asking if you are in line instead of assuming that you are. Again i am sorry.

[Shadow]

 
The general age (or more importantly, the maturity level) of the Kumoricon attendee seemed to drop disgustingly this year.

THIS.

I couldn't believe how some people were acting. The PDA got real old after awhile, and the tweenies yelling and being generally obnoxious was just ridiculous. We get it, it's a con. It's exciting. But for the love of God spare us. It's no wonder cosplayers/con attendees get a bad name.

Common sense: Not very common anymore.

[gladimus]

This is honestly the first time I've been debating if I want to go next year or not. It's sad, but I have some doubts about K-con if it will be at the Hilton again. Every other time I was always excited to go, because I had fun and I was treated very nicely by everyone, even hotel staff who were sometimes even taking pictures themselves, and my friend had a conversation with one about the anime she was from.
This hotel is not like that... The con-goers are nice as usual, the place was confusing though, like all cons at first... the only difference was that it kept changing and growing more confusing, and there were no signs to help, and the k-con staff weren't all too sure where things were a lot of the time. Plus there was conflict between hotel and k-con staff since they kept changing plans on them without really doing much to inform the others. The hotel staff made me feel unwelcome and unwanted, which isn't k-con's fault, but it is their fault for making a 2 year contract without knowing what the hotel would be like. Yeah, they only gave out 2 year contracts... So why did you take it?
Other hotels I never felt so judged, except by people on the outside who didn't know what was going on. But that's normal. When I feel judged and uneasy about myself inside a convention because of the very people who are supposed to be hosting us, something is terribly wrong.

As I've said many times before, just because they learned from their mistakes and plan next year better... They can spread out the panels and events and equal things out in both buildings, they can better prepare both the hotel and k-con staff, they can put up signs and organize a bit better... But it wont change the fact that the hotel is based on size vertically and has a smaller main floor perimeter, which will make it hard for people to get around regardless. It wont change the fact that there still might be more people going next year than this year, and that more people will be disappointed at being closed out early. It wont change the fact that downtown portland is unsafe at night, especially in that particular area, and that pioneer square is one of the favorite places for bums, perverts, religious nuts passing out fliers, and just plain weird people to gather. It wont change that there is nowhere to go if it rains, except indoors where it's cramped. It wont change that there are no wide open areas close by that are safe and fun and great to relax in, play games, and do photoshoots.

[Himura Kenshin]

 
The general age (or more importantly, the maturity level) of the Kumoricon attendee seemed to drop disgustingly this year.

THIS.

I couldn't believe how some people were acting. The PDA got real old after awhile, and the tweenies yelling and being generally obnoxious was just ridiculous. We get it, it's a con. It's exciting. But for the love of God spare us. It's no wonder cosplayers/con attendees get a bad name.

Common sense: Not very common anymore.

This.

Agreed.

Quoted for truth.

[insert another term]

I was only there on sunday, but I never noticed this.
Most of the people I saw or came into contact with were very respectful to me and each other.. in fact I was impressed, and very happy with that as my mother (even though I am 21) was reluctant to leave me at the convention, but from word of a hotel staff (on saturday night) she was told that the con attendees were very well behaved. O.o So maybe somehow I just missed all of the bad stuff people are talking about? It was my first convention though... but I thought it was awesome (having nothing to compare it to). I will definitely be going next year if I can get the money to go.

[Sugarlat]

Location in my opinion wasn't the best choice. Having everything spread out was nice but in different buildings was confusing. I was in the executive tower and I didn't even know that there were panels going on IN THE SAME BUILDING. It was really confusing. Last year I had tons of fun because everything was easy to find. I got lost a lot this year and the streets were kinda scary...o3o
Con-goers are nice but maturity of them has dropped a lot. There was this one guy that bothered me the entire time >> [/hewascheckingoutmygirlfriendandithinkhefollowedusalot]
Anyway, honestly I had more fun in my hotel room. >>;;
It was nice seeing everyone as much as I could but the layout was so confusing I spent most of my time in my hotel room and in the artist ally. I only went to one panel and visited the karaoke room once. I didn't even know that there was anything on the top floor o.o;;

[Chandra Nalaar]

Well, it certainly turned me off from ever attending a hotel-based convention again. But to prevent any further flame breakouts, I'm not saying anything more.

[pepito]

I was coming down the elevators from 23 around 3:00am and some attendees inside were worried about walking over to the exec tower with all the homeless people outside (they apparently had a bad experience the night before) I told them that I wouldn't mind walking them over to the exec tower - and I'm sure any of the other night Yoji's would have done the same.

Hopefully we can work out having Yoji's to escort people to max line or exec tower next year - I don't think we accounted for creepy people or the homeless giving our con goers a bad time but that is something we can hopefully work to improve next year.

[Kimiski]

The panels rooms should have been bigger as well, probably as big as the live events would have been good.
Trying to get into the hentai room was ridiculous, I heard from my friend who came early, they kicked half the people out because of fire codes. And then there was a line to get inside. Not only that, but why was there hentai schedule for only one night and in one room/ Usually at least one of the viewing rooms switch to hentai after midnight.

Besides room size issues, and the obvious things how horrible the hotel and hotel staff was, I still enjoyed the convention alot this year. I always love going to Kumoricon. The weather didnt help any with the crowding issues, no one could spill out into the parks while it was raining.

[@random]

The general age (or more importantly, the maturity level) of the Kumoricon attendee seemed to drop disgustingly this year.

THIS.

I couldn't believe how some people were acting. The PDA got real old after awhile, and the tweenies yelling and being generally obnoxious was just ridiculous. We get it, it's a con. It's exciting. But for the love of God spare us. It's no wonder cosplayers/con attendees get a bad name.

Common sense: Not very common anymore.

I was only there on sunday, but I never noticed this.
Most of the people I saw or came into contact with were very respectful to me and each other.. in fact I was impressed, and very happy with that as my mother (even though I am 21) was reluctant to leave me at the convention, but from word of a hotel staff (on saturday night) she was told that the con attendees were very well behaved. O.o So maybe somehow I just missed all of the bad stuff people are talking about? It was my first convention though... but I thought it was awesome (having nothing to compare it to). I will definitely be going next year if I can get the money to go.

I have little doubt that both these experiences are equally true, contradictory as that may seem.

Most of any group are good people - polite to, and considerate of, others. (Even the hotel staff.)
On one extreme end, some are so wonderful that you wish you could take them home with you. <3

^{(Like the Vampire Knight girl I mistook for grown-up Momiji, the tall grey-vested staffer guy, or the sax-playing guy
who made the lines so much more bearable... just for starters. And I bet everyone has their own list like this.)}

On the other, a few are jerks who don't think of others, only of what they themselves want or don't want. (>_<)#

The weight of the jerks gets magnified a lot by our perceptions: Rude behavior often gets labelled as okay when "our group" does it and horrible when "they" do it. A nice guy has stopped being a nice guy if he's mean for very little reason; at that particular moment he's being a jerk. But that's less true if he's mean for a logical reason that the offendees don't realize (or sometimes just don't want to see).

There really are some jerks, no question. And there really are some innocent victims. But a lot more stuff is just a misunderstanding between good people. Watch waaaay too much anime, and less American TV, and you might see it the same way. (^_~)

[Gatomon02]

Ok, I am going to speak my piece because I worked very hard over the months before con, and at con, to make it a great experience for everyone.  

First of all, I know many of us staff members appeared flustered, stressed, etc, and some of you may have taken something said/done as rude, inappropriate, etc.  Allow me to elaborate on the fine details.

-We had a decent sized calling for our Youjimbo staff.  However, it was not enough.  People were having to work double and triple shifts, with very little sustanance (though we did make rounds to get people as much as we could for food, water, etc.) and sleep.  I myself, a non-youjimbo staff member offered my services (as did many others) to get these people off the floor, and off to sleep, a full meal, and what not.  Yes, some people should have acted a lot kinder, but take into consideration the long hours these people had to put in.  Also realize that some of the con-goers and hotel staff (as well as some of our own) were getting snippish with people.  A few hours of this does wear you down.  I know all of you are aware of this.

-Our staff had the vast majority of line details, etc worked out before the con.  There will ALWAYS be last minute kinks; it's unavoidable.  Our staff TRIED to keep the lines under control, and keep the flow going accordingly, but the hotel staff continuously overrode those desicions and "reworked" the lines to a way they thought suitable.  And yes, I know that these "suitable ways" were far from neccessary or efficient.  To put it bluntly, the hotel staff were not prepared, and they panicked (opinion btw).

-When I first entered the hotel, I said right of the bat, "This place is architectually incorrect to channel this many people."  I will agree that this place is not made for this many people to be walking around.  This of course did not help the mass confusion and head-butting between our staff, and hotel staff.

-Let me remind you that, as we do not OWN the hotel, we are sadly bound by responsibility to obey some of the hotel's wishes.  Thus resulting in things like rationing the elevators (counting off seven people per car), and the shutting down of the escalators (which caused headaches and pains for some of our disabled con-goers and staff).  Do not think that we just bowed our heads and said "yes sir", "no sir".  Some of the decisions made were contested till the last breathe sort of the speak.  

If I have missed anything, I will come back later and speak some more on this first issue.  

Second thing: Contracts, Crowding

-Refer above to the architectually incorrect clause.

-This contract, that many of us are loathing right now (even some staff) was made so as to benefit the con in same way, shape, or form.  Let me boil this down into pros and cons.

Pros

We effectively have a home for 2 straight years.  This takes a HUGE burden off planning, finances, etc.  Meaning we are better able to learn from the past, and concrete the future.

Knowing that we will fill their rooms, rent their conference halls, etc means that we do have leverage from a business perspective.  We are indeed working with them to iron out our difference to make things better next year, but if we have to, we have that curve ball to throw at them.

Cons

Crowd control and flow will most likely be an issue again simply because of the building design.  I stress this, however: Do not be part of the problem, be part of the solution.  All of us who go to con, as staff or attendees as a whole have the voices we need to make change for the better.  If that means that a large group of us has a sit down chat with the manager, and/or con-chair and stresses discontent, then so be it.  Nothing will change if all you do is bicker and not act.

We house the con in Oregon/Washington.  It will rain.  I hate to say it, but get used to it.  There will be times where we HAVE to get people in lines outside.  It is everyone's job to come prepared for the weather (I say everyone because some of our own were complaining as well -_-*).

Those are not the only pros and cons, but some of the bigger ones I am noticing.

NEXT-People getting kicked out of rooms.

For one of a few reasons:
Underage (curfew, 18+ rooms, etc).  

Fire code (Which sadly I did believe was BS on many occasions).  The fire marshall was in the building, and if we did not stick to the strict guidlines they set down, we and the hotel could be fined, and that would really kill us for con next year.  Again, I did not like it either, but I wouldn't want to tango with a government official in this case.

Take note that some people could have been removed because they were being loud and/or disrespectful.

And for anyone who thought some of the rooms were too small, again, we rented everything we could.  We had to deligate rooms as best we could.  These rooms were not made to handle extremely large groups.  I think the most that hotel really ever sees are several hundred people job fairs.

If any of us "yelled" at you, it was not in an angry sense.  We were in a place with thousands of people talking, hooting, hollering, etc.  To be heard, we gotta yell.  Take note the vast majority of us DO NOT want to be placed in the black list group because a few people made the rest of us look bad.  If I hollered for people to move against the wall, not block stairs, etc, I made sure to say please and thank you.
 
Ok, I know this is not everything, but I really don't want to take an entire page to myself.  So let's summarize, call it good, and move on.

As a second...or third year staffer (seriously can't remember), I have gained a severe appreciation for the work that goes on before con, behind the scenes at con, and after con.  We do the best we can with what we have, which most often is not enough.  Like a job (which by the way we DO NOT get paid for) we sweat, bleed, and toil till we are exhausted and beat.  Threads like this break our hearts after all the hours and tears we have put into each and every con.  Many things going around are true; other false.  True or not, I cannot stress enough that people should be part of the solution, not the problem.  You can be a critic, but be constructive.  As we grow, we will need more help, we will need more effort, we will need more IDEAS.  Next time, instead of just spitting venom left and right, speak your concerns and problems, then offer a solution to that problem.  We are here, we are whatching, we are listening.  

I will admit we need your money to keep the con going, but we care not about the money save for the reason.  All of us on staff care about and sometimes love all of you who come to our con.  We cannot make everyone happy, but we have, and we will continue trying.  This is a promise that we all make year after year.  









    

[@random]

rationing the elevators (counting off seven people per car)

Loved and agreed with the entirety of your response. (^_^)

Out of curiosity, do you know by any chance how the figure of seven came about? If you took the biggest seven people I saw all weekend, they couldn't have broken 2000# by much (if at all). Let alone the 3000# the elevators were supposed to be rated for.

[reppy]

My guess is that the lb limit is for "normal use."  The con was hitting the elevators pretty hard.

[legoman60]

Just a thing to remember people, this topic is for constructive critisim of the con this year. Not for the "This year sucked im not coming back."

If you agree with someone you can do so without quoteing and saying "this", for that matter you can do so without even posting.

[Slash5150]

First off, for the poster talking about lewd acts occurring at the masquerade ball, the fact that you say “well yoji’s should have stopped it because I saw it” is the most ill-thought out post I have ever seen.  The fact that you saw it doesn’t mean a yoji is going to see it.  if you had a problem with it and felt it needed to be stopped, you should have gotten a yoji.  

I was kinda of freaked out about the number of homeless people congregating around the hilton. i think that all the benches in the back entrance was covered in homeless.....ness....thing-word-that-would-finish-this and they were a little rude about it. i know they are just trying to get some money, but it's a little annoying trying to get through fellow cospalyers, only to again try to get through homelesss people.

i know my boyfriend and i had the same issues we were freaked out actually. another issue we had was some religious guys handing out fliers and they wouldnt take no for an answer.

I had a problem with how the people in the gaming area seemed to hog all the systems. i got to play rockband twice, some weird fighting game where it was all girls (which were all very slow. and not cool besides the one with the gel thing. i kept yelling at my opponent saying THE GLOB WINS) and the computer for a while. i decided to leave at about 3 today because i was so tired of walking around the con with nothing to do

When you said people in gaming were hogging all the systems, essentially there was the quarter play effect in rule (I.E. Winner stays, loser switches out).  If you had wanted to play, all you had to do was ask, and if they wouldn’t let you play I.E. telling you to go away or whatever, INFORM STAFF.  Staff members cannot be behind every console and tell people to play, but instead, the players and attendees NEED to inform staff.  

I have to admit I had a bit issue with the sheer amount of out-of-control and just plain RUDE unaccompanied minors.  No offense to those in the under-18 crowd who know how to act like civil human beings,  but a lot of the younger crowd seemed to be doing absoutely EVERYTHING they could to give us all a bad name.  It got so frustrating that I found myself muttering "fricking Yellow Badges..." with disdain.

A few things witnessed:

- Young kids making out and exploring their sexuality on the sidewalks in front to the hotel.
- Young kids sprawled out on the sidewalk like beached whales.  My friend politely said, "excuse me, we're walking here..." and they rudely said "yeah, you DO that", did not care AT ALL that they were blocking the way on the already crowded sidewalks.
- Young kids screaming obscenities at other con-goers as well as people in public
- Young kids riding the elevators, pushing every button and snapping pictures of people whenever the doors opened on a floor.
- Young kids running around asking for hugs and dancing on people (when asked to stop, they did not)
- Young kids screaming about rape in public in front of non-convention goers.

Did anyone else feel like this year's con was over-run with out-of-control preteens with no consideration for others?  It was very frustrating.

First off, in response to this, there are tons of YOJI around, I’m sure it would have been easy to find one since whenever I turned, there were at least 2 yoji available.


Okay, with those being answered now, a few things.  When you guys say “why not do it at the convention center”  You are all missing a very big point.
Hilton – SEVERAL conference rooms, all having doors and full height walls.
Convention center, ONE GIANT AREA.  This would mean that every area would need to have its own sound setup to prevent one area from squashing another, as well as wall divisions needing to be built, and all that, requires money.  Also, Convention center space, compared to several rooms, is crap.

To those of you saying how you couldn’t get into an area because of this or that, I know that in gaming, we did have to control the number of people who were going to be coming in when we were running our tournaments.  But there was an exception to this.  If you had told us WHY you needed to be in there and it was legit, you could come in.  Telling us that you are the guardian or chaperone of minors involved in the tournament, and you could prove it, then you would be allowed in because its safer that way.  Just saying “I wanna watch” doesn’t work.  The same thing goes if you left a bag in the gaming room and you weren’t allowed in because of room count.  If you tell staff that you need to get your bag, then you should have been let in to get your bag.  The LAST THING staff want is to have to wonder “who’s bag is this” or anything like that.

Now for those who are whining about how you couldn’t go to places because they weren’t letting anyone in (applies mostly to the basement level floor, gaming/rounds/main events) the reason we were having to do that is because even though K-con is a convention, we still have to abide by public law as well as fire codes.  The gaming room was getting capped at 250 people to make sure that it wasn’t getting overly crowded as well as so we knew fire codes were going to be followed, at least for our area.  We actively had people counting people and making sure all codes were followed, tournament entries being allowed priority access and what not.

Now for the RnR part of this post.

The location for gaming along with the hotel and what not, IMO the gaming room, for what we had, was nicely set up.  Power along with locations proved to be an issue but the staff worked amazing with what we were given. My main gripe with location is the fact that CDMA phones (Verizon and Sprint) were gold while 3G (ATT and T-Mobile) were up S-Creek without a paddle.

I would like to note that I HATE BLUE SWAG BAGS now.  Gaming had SO MANY bags that were just left throughout con that were tossed into a giant trash bag.  And to give you all an idea on count, I’d estimate probably 50+ bags.

I thought Yojis were on point.  Whenever I was walking around (which was rare as I spent majority of my time helping all the gaming staff and what not and somehow managing to get tons of pics) I always was able to find yoji around the hotel.

Also, Staff Preservation, you guys are the freaking bomb, and that is some real talk yo!

Parking needs to be figured out better.  I would appreciate it a lot if kumoricon could work out a deal for parking and what not, whether it be for staff, non-staff, or both because I really wanted to come up Friday morning, but since parking would have been even more expensive, I was better off waiting for my parental units to deliver me to the hotel, so instead of being there at say 10AM I was there at 9PM.

I think the escalators being shutdown was actually safer because of all of the dressed and cosplay outfits that were going up and down the escalators.  

Also, all kumoricon and its staff are horrible people for building the Hilton and only putting four elevators in it (lulz)

I think everyone can admit that con 2009 had major problems because of the hotel and the unexpected problems that arose from fire codes to room sizes to interest and what not, and if that turns you off because of con being placed into a new building, more people having an interest in it and what not, then I’m sorry, but ultimately this is what I can say, Kumoricon staff is not paid, the only requirements are (from what I know) Is that you have to be over 18, and you have to be able to attend some of the meetings and be at con.  If you know ways you can help or want to help, then PLEASE JOIN STAFF.  The more staff the con has the better.  For those that say “If I join staff I can’t go to the con” then that is not true, the more staff there is the less each individual has to work.

The other personal RnR that I have is the whole thing with photo staff.  I mean cmon you guys, I was told that there were three people on photo staff, 4 if you include Jawni.  If someone comes up to you saying they want to join you and help out doing photos, don’t go and tell them “you’re full”.  Yeah there are 3 spots, but no one is being paid for this.  Its free work and free publicity, I severely doubt you are bound by some policy of 3 people max, also being told that you picked people without any like portfolio type proof made me a bit salty too.   If it was a misunderstanding on that part, then my apologies.

And 7/elevator was just an agreement between con and the Hilton.

[XFD]

words

Any guess as to what the viability would be on splitting the con into two parts next year; a <=15 oriented k-con and then a >=16 k-con? It would certainly maintain the cash flow needed to pay off the junk-debt of this Hilton, permit to hunt for a second place and then make the transition for the year after. The net traffic in one would be reduced considerably so the congestion would be moot.

[Slash5150]

words

Any guess as to what the viability would be on splitting the con into two parts next year; a <=15 oriented k-con and then a >=16 k-con? It would certainly maintain the cash flow needed to pay off the junk-debt of this Hilton, permit to hunt for a second place and then make the transition for the year after. The net traffic in one would be reduced considerably so the congestion would be moot.

The problem with that is that if it is in two places at one time, you'll be splitting your staff up even more, not to mention it brings in the question of what will go where like where will we put gaming, as well as having to figure out facilities and everything like that.

If its at two times, you have to figure out when, as well as staffers and what not as well as the time it would take to plan.  and Even then, its not a 16 and under thats the problem but it would evolve into 18 or under or 21 and under.

[Kagami]

I have to say, the con was mainly terrible due to hotel staff. Everyone I talked to that was part of the convention staff was so apologetic, but the hotel staff was rude, obnoxious, and even tried kicking me out of the con because I stood up for myself saying that if I paid hundreds of dollars to stay in their hotel, that the lobby should not be considered an 18+ event due to the fact that you do not need a badge to sit in the lobby. Every other KumoriCon I've been to, the hotel staff has been extremely nice and realized that fact. I have even stayed in the lobby all night once, and they didn't say a peep about it- even asking us if we were doing alright and if there were any problems with our rooms.

Now, I managed to run into all the nice people at the con. My mother on the other hand, literally was pushed into some of the not so nice ones. My mother was bumped into while she was in line for the elevator trying to get to her floor. I believe she was standing on the KumoriCon line to be considerate to those who have been waiting longer, due to the fact that the other people in the hotel got priority. Though, this girl said "Excuse me" in a really snotty tone, which normally wouldn't have put her off, but the girls friend purposely bumped into her saying "Excuse me, bitch!". This was not something that she liked to hear. And well, being my mother who is loud and always tries to get her way, she said. "Oh, I'm sorry, slut!" And those girls tried to pick a fight- and my mother(having no badge on), said that she would call security on them. And if normal hotel guests get priority over the elevator, who do you think would get priority over security?

I wouldn't exactly consider it terrible, due to the fact that everyone on the con staff was very helpful and very apologetic, but there were just a few things that set me off. There were an abundance of underage kids that were smoking(and although I am sixteen and I do smoke, it is technically legal for me to have a cigarette- just not carry them with me. Well, at least in Washington.), intoxicated, and shouting terrible things to people. That, and everyone was blocking the sidewalks. People do need to get by, and if you want to smoke, there is even three more sidewalks around the hotel! Crazy, huh?! You don't all need to crowd around one entrance! That's why there are multiple!

Oh- and I would like to point out to people that the ice/soda rooms on each floor ARE NOT MEANT FOR SEXING UP. They had a sign saying the service elevator wasn't for attendees? Yeah- please next year put one that says "Attendees must not feel each other up in this room." I was going for a soda, and did not like what I saw while people were "getting ice".

And about the homeless people everyone seemed to be afraid of...

I hang out with the homeless kids up in Seattle. They're all really nice, and for the most part, hungry. Although they are known for being dirty and drug addicts(for fairly obvious reasons), they are really nice. Last year, I ran into a bunch of them at Lloyd Center, who all seemed so excited to have us here. Although they were asking for money from the con, they were being respectful. I know that the majority of homeless people at the con did not try to get up in your face and try to get money from you. You just need to politely say 'no, I'm sorry' and walk away. They won't follow you and jump you in a back alley. They're people too, and they weren't always homeless- they know how it goes. And although I did hear a few rude remarks from the street kids here, those were not the ones around the convention asking for money. I'm assuming the ones outside the convention were as amazed by our costumes as the normal people are. And hell- I even know a lot of street kids in Seattle that are HUGE anime nerds! But do you really think they'd try to get the money to get into the cons instead of trying to get the money to, you know, eat?! I know a lot of people take money and shelter for granted, but homeless people are not people to be scared of because they can't afford your luxury. Think- if this recession hits you hard in the next month or so and you lose your home- it will be you asking for money.

[Slash5150]

I have to say, the con was mainly terrible due to hotel staff. Everyone I talked to that was part of the convention staff was so apologetic, but the hotel staff was rude, obnoxious, and even tried kicking me out of the con because I stood up for myself saying that if I paid hundreds of dollars to stay in their hotel, that the lobby should not be considered an 18+ event due to the fact that you do not need a badge to sit in the lobby. Every other KumoriCon I've been to, the hotel staff has been extremely nice and realized that fact. I have even stayed in the lobby all night once, and they didn't say a peep about it- even asking us if we were doing alright and if there were any problems with our rooms.

If you are talking about after curfew, Its not the fact that the lobby itself is 18 and over but its the entire convention, hotel and what not that has the curfew placed on itself for all congoers.  Now if you were told by hotel staff to leave, then the best thing to do is get some kind of yoji but even then, its 18 and over past midnight. 

I wouldn't exactly consider it terrible, due to the fact that everyone on the con staff was very helpful and very apologetic, but there were just a few things that set me off. There were an abundance of underage kids that were smoking(and although I am sixteen and I do smoke, it is technically legal for me to have a cigarette- just not carry them with me. Well, at least in Washington.), intoxicated, and shouting terrible things to people. That, and everyone was blocking the sidewalks. People do need to get by, and if you want to smoke, there is even three more sidewalks around the hotel! Crazy, huh?! You don't all need to crowd around one entrance! That's why there are multiple!.

Anything that happens OUTSIDE of the hotel, Con staff CANNOT help with.  Con staff has authority till you get to the public area of Portland.

Oh- and I would like to point out to people that the ice/soda rooms on each floor ARE NOT MEANT FOR SEXING UP. They had a sign saying the service elevator wasn't for attendees? Yeah- please next year put one that says "Attendees must not feel each other up in this room." I was going for a soda, and did not like what I saw while people were "getting ice".

Thats just gross, but umm...yeah.  Get a yoji?

[BloodyWhisker]

I just have one last thing to put for all the reveiws that I've skimmed through.

I agree that the hotel staff were a bit obnoxious, but maybe they really didn't know what they were up for. Maybe they thought it was just something small until they actually saw it. I know that one of the guardsmen were really kind to me, but there was only one, really. It's probably just the stress from all the people around being all happy/crazy/hyper/etc. Maybe next year they will be a little less chaotic since they knew what it was like this year, but we couldn't really know that for sure.
Just because of the staff and the people doing some disturbing things at the Con doesn't mean you should just bluntly stop going. I think that you should just stay out of the way, go to as many fun panels as you like, hang around the dealers room, photoshoots and parks... then that'd be all good even if it were the same hotel next year. It's really just that they didn't like how young we felt and acted, I guess. Most guards are like that at most places.

[Blazingsnowcone]

Posting this because well the bigger the post the higher likelihood changes will be made. I will try to offer constructive criticism  and in general my experience of the con.

Good Things:
personal thanks to two of the con-staff (I dont know your names so I'm going with what they were wearing)

Bondage-Guy I see you at alot of the cons in the NW thanks for running around and entertaining people in line
Guy with the fake smoking cigars- thank you for getting me water/entertaining and in general being an awesome guy
Thank you Registration Line-Length I arrived same time as last year and the line was a lot faster and I didn't end up spending 4 hours in line.
Thank you everyone that had a cool head/ just seemed that an amount of con-staff were at the stress levels that you usually see sunday night at 8 A.M on monday


Hotel staff: Honesty I didn't have any major problems with the hotel staff guess I was lucky

Lines: Cons always have those lines and there is never a guarantee that your going to get into a panel so you arrive early, I would like however a bit more cordination on line length and attempts to limit the length so you don't wait in line for an Hour just to be turned away with a hundred other people.

Stair Idea, Try to pass kinda an unofficial agreement/ that say if your on or under the 10th floor you walk down the stairs. Heck I think the reason I didn't have problems with hotel staff is because we just took the stairs everywhere.

Environment, these are things neither the con nor hotel can control but thought I would mention it.. In broad daylight( 1 PM) one block down from the con I walked by a homeless man picking his fingers with a decent sized knife (5-6 inches if I had to guess) as I walked by He jumped up shouting Gibberish at me with knife in hand... Peace-bonding on my sword or not that's not really an ideal situation for ANYONE let alone any of the large army of females in costume.

Swimsuit contest? what really happened there exactly ?  I was there and I left but the lady in there was about a 10 on the pissed off scale shutting down the panel we had waited for an hour for and Im not quite who broke the rule stalker-pony? the Naruto girls? and WHY was it a 13 event?

Dance. ok 1 AM  Sunday on the dance floor my girlfriend and I were dancing close grinding, I admit we might have been stretched the boundaries of taste a bit BUT it was Sunday night, the minors are supposed to be gone and not 5 minutes in dancing I get a tap on the shoulder and the order to "keep it appropriate". Ive danced the same at Sakuracon and last years Kumoricon and have never been told to keep it appropriate...

Delays: I was signed up for the brawl tournament and after waiting in the game room combination of Hot and Full for an hour after the tournament was supposed to start no games had yet been played we had to leave because we had to get in line for a different event.


Segregating the elevator line... No, that is wrong just flat out we paid for our hotel and we should be equal to other guests

Im still debating coming back, I probably will but I will not be staying in the hilton and I will make sure all females/Heck maybe even the males that I know will be coming with pepper spray .

[Kagami]

I wouldn't exactly consider it terrible, due to the fact that everyone on the con staff was very helpful and very apologetic, but there were just a few things that set me off. There were an abundance of underage kids that were smoking(and although I am sixteen and I do smoke, it is technically legal for me to have a cigarette- just not carry them with me. Well, at least in Washington.), intoxicated, and shouting terrible things to people. That, and everyone was blocking the sidewalks. People do need to get by, and if you want to smoke, there is even three more sidewalks around the hotel! Crazy, huh?! You don't all need to crowd around one entrance! That's why there are multiple!.

No- but what con staff can do is the next time this happens, request that hotel staff do something about it so that there aren't complaints against the con being there again, and they can't try to blame the con for blocking up the sidewalks. I heard the hotel staff yell about it...oh, maybe twice?

[gladimus]

Well, Gatamon02, I did post quite a few suggestions quite a few times in this thread. I havn't been tearing apart this con but I've been sharing my concerns over all the issues it had and I did give a large post of some things that could be done to make it better if it must be in the same building next year. I'm just hoping my ideas are helpful and heard. I would have been at the rant and rave but I was feeling sick, the fan in my costume head lost it's switch so it stopped working, so I sadly wasn't able to attend.  This is the best I can do now, sadly...

[Gatomon02]

rationing the elevators (counting off seven people per car)

Loved and agreed with the entirety of your response. (^_^)

Out of curiosity, do you know by any chance how the figure of seven came about? If you took the biggest seven people I saw all weekend, they couldn't have broken 2000# by much (if at all). Let alone the 3000# the elevators were supposed to be rated for.

This is what the Youji at the elevator were counting off.  They were taking into consideration people getting on at other floors, and costume sizes.

[PaladinCecil79]

I can understand a lot of these frustrations. It was unusual seeing lines having to be formed just to get to the elevators and I had never been to a con before where the lobby was that crowded.

I didn't have any problems with the hotel staff, but I did have a lot of frustration regarding pre-reg. I don't know if this has been discussed yet, but it's something I've been needing to get off my back.
I went into the second floor of the lobby ten minutes before pre-reg started and there were a few other people waiting for it as well. All of us were the first to show up and one or two con staff members who knew we were in line for pre-reg moved us to the first floor and told us to wait there. We waited there for about a half hour to 45 minutes and and it turned out that they moved us to the wrong place.
And by the time the staff found out where we were, a line had already started that spread to Vancouver and the staff member who moved us sent us to the back of the line and apologized 500 times (which obviously didn't make everything better), when she should've sent us to the front and explained to the registration staff what happened, since we were the first line and because of that, we should've been able to get our badges first. What made it even worse was when we got to the room where the registration took place, it wasn't too long a wait, but when we got into the room, the line was three times slower, even though we were two thirds of the way through and by the time we finally got our badges, it was almost dark out.

For next year, the staff is gonna need to work harder on registration lines so this doesn't happen again.

[oslapedo]

I agree about the posts on lack of maturity a few pages back.

You lost the game, good for you, just don't scream it at me.

[Gatomon02]

Well, Gatamon02, I did post quite a few suggestions quite a few times in this thread. I havn't been tearing apart this con but I've been sharing my concerns over all the issues it had and I did give a large post of some things that could be done to make it better if it must be in the same building next year. I'm just hoping my ideas are helpful and heard. I would have been at the rant and rave but I was feeling sick, the fan in my costume head lost it's switch so it stopped working, so I sadly wasn't able to attend.  This is the best I can do now, sadly...

I actually recommend to all of you to please go back through your posts where you have your ideas and CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.  Copy and paste to a word document and e-mail them to the con staff. 

I am glad to see that the fire has finally settled down.

[Meganekko]

@everyone with Hilton Staff complaints

Although K-con staff is going to tell them how outraged many people were by their bad experiences with Hilton employees it would help if you sent your complaints to the Hilton directly in concerns to their staff.

[murder_of_raven]

Those were not Police officers, that was hotel security. As for the leering go read the 10 CON-mandments http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=11105.0  

5 ) Thou shalt not be offended when locals whistle at the Felicia outfit. Thou chose to walk down Main Street (err SW Taylor st) in it.

Off the hotel premises at 1AM in a jacket that read "PDX Police" on it? Fairly sure that was a police officer. And yeah, I read the CON-mandments as suggesting you not be /offended/ not that you not feel physically threatened by men twice your size. And that is also suggesting you are wearing a promiscuous-looking costume, whereas I noted that I was wearing something extremely tame. This has absolutely nothing to do with me being insulted and everything to do with us needing to make sure the area around the Con is safe for us smaller con-goers.

I have noticed a lot of hating on homeless people but I'd like to say I only had experiences with mostly harmless homeless people. The people who really messed with me were all non-convention adult men, generally of the drunk variety.

And similar to the request for "anti-con" people to stop quoting people and typing "THAT" I'd really like it if "pro-con" people would stop regurgitating the "If you don't like it go to Rant & Rave and/or become a staffer." Anyone who has been on this thread has heard that at least once by now and it is totally unhelpful. Somebody previously noted that there were 750 people at the R&R which was the fire-martial limit, so obviously not everybody who was interested could have gone. And those numbers kind of hurt the implied "you people are lazy and not contributing to our convention anyway" argument. And anybody who does not live in PDX doesn't really have the option of being a staffer.

I actually recommend to all of you to please go back through your posts where you have your ideas and CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.  Copy and paste to a word document and e-mail them to the con staff. 

Is there a specific person/email address that we should send this to?

[Gatomon02]

Those were not Police officers, that was hotel security. As for the leering go read the 10 CON-mandments http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=11105.0  

5 ) Thou shalt not be offended when locals whistle at the Felicia outfit. Thou chose to walk down Main Street (err SW Taylor st) in it.

Off the hotel premises at 1AM in a jacket that read "PDX Police" on it? Fairly sure that was a police officer. And yeah, I read the CON-mandments as suggesting you not be /offended/ not that you not feel physically threatened by men twice your size. And that is also suggesting you are wearing a promiscuous-looking costume, whereas I noted that I was wearing something extremely tame. This has absolutely nothing to do with me being insulted and everything to do with us needing to make sure the area around the Con is safe for us smaller con-goers.

I have noticed a lot of hating on homeless people but I'd like to say I only had experiences with mostly harmless homeless people. The people who really messed with me were all non-convention adult men, generally of the drunk variety.

And similar to the request for "anti-con" people to stop quoting people and typing "THAT" I'd really like it if "pro-con" people would stop regurgitating the "If you don't like it go to Rant & Rave and/or become a staffer." Anyone who has been on this thread has heard that at least once by now and it is totally unhelpful. Somebody previously noted that there were 750 people at the R&R which was the fire-martial limit, so obviously not everybody who was interested could have gone. And those numbers kind of hurt the implied "you people are lazy and not contributing to our convention anyway" argument. And anybody who does not live in PDX doesn't really have the option of being a staffer.

I actually recommend to all of you to please go back through your posts where you have your ideas and CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.  Copy and paste to a word document and e-mail them to the con staff. 

Is there a specific person/email address that we should send this to?

I believe you should send them to operations@kumoricon.org.  As per above from an earlier post, send all hotel related complaints to the hotel.  This should do it http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/customersupport/feedback.do  BE SURE TO SPECIFY WHICH HILTON YOU ARE REFERRING TO.  That would be The Hilton at 921 SW 6th Ave in Portland, Oregon.

[Gatomon02]

Those were not Police officers, that was hotel security. As for the leering go read the 10 CON-mandments http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=11105.0  

5 ) Thou shalt not be offended when locals whistle at the Felicia outfit. Thou chose to walk down Main Street (err SW Taylor st) in it.

Off the hotel premises at 1AM in a jacket that read "PDX Police" on it? Fairly sure that was a police officer. And yeah, I read the CON-mandments as suggesting you not be /offended/ not that you not feel physically threatened by men twice your size. And that is also suggesting you are wearing a promiscuous-looking costume, whereas I noted that I was wearing something extremely tame. This has absolutely nothing to do with me being insulted and everything to do with us needing to make sure the area around the Con is safe for us smaller con-goers.

I have noticed a lot of hating on homeless people but I'd like to say I only had experiences with mostly harmless homeless people. The people who really messed with me were all non-convention adult men, generally of the drunk variety.

And similar to the request for "anti-con" people to stop quoting people and typing "THAT" I'd really like it if "pro-con" people would stop regurgitating the "If you don't like it go to Rant & Rave and/or become a staffer." Anyone who has been on this thread has heard that at least once by now and it is totally unhelpful. Somebody previously noted that there were 750 people at the R&R which was the fire-martial limit, so obviously not everybody who was interested could have gone. And those numbers kind of hurt the implied "you people are lazy and not contributing to our convention anyway" argument. And anybody who does not live in PDX doesn't really have the option of being a staffer.

I actually recommend to all of you to please go back through your posts where you have your ideas and CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.  Copy and paste to a word document and e-mail them to the con staff. 

Is there a specific person/email address that we should send this to?

You can send all your con related comments to operations@kumoricon.org I think is correct.  For hotel related comments, go to http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/customersupport/feedback.do  MAKE SURE YOU TELL THEM WHICH HILTON YOU ARE SPEAKING OF.  It's the Hilton at 921 SW 6th Ave in Portland, Oregon.

[Winfred]

And similar to the request for "anti-con" people to stop quoting people and typing "THAT" I'd really like it if "pro-con" people would stop regurgitating the "If you don't like it go to Rant & Rave and/or become a staffer." Anyone who has been on this thread has heard that at least once by now and it is totally unhelpful. Somebody previously noted that there were 750 people at the R&R which was the fire-martial limit, so obviously not everybody who was interested could have gone. And those numbers kind of hurt the implied "you people are lazy and not contributing to our convention anyway" argument.

For clarification:

Rant and Rave. They answered all questions. Even went over their scheduled time because of how many issues there were. That was with a very small amount of people in it too. Think what it would have been like should that room have been filled to the brim with all 750 max occupants.

[Sayda]

I'm not sure how well the Hilton would pay attention, if anything we should send letters to their corporate office, instead.

[kalagei]

Up above this post someone mentioned that one cannot be a staffer without living in Portland (it was copy pasta from a post copy pastaing another post ><. I wanted to point out that not only do we have staffers from Seattle, Medford, Grant's Pass, The Oregon Coast (these are just a few off the top of my head), but we also had a director from Seattle and one from Eugene. I just wanted to make this known.

Also, if you have any questions or comments about things like registration, yojimbo, infodesk, or volunteers; send an email to operations@kumoricon.org  

I'd love to hear from you guys and heck, if you wanna pull my personal messenger or email or something and chat at me I'm usually more than happy too. (That should all be in my profile).

[pyronine]

I have a request for every one. I think every subject has been covered by now.

SO CAN WE PLEASE STOP BASHING THE CON

instead try to think of ways to improve it for next year or by volunteering yo improve it

 THANK YOU

[Gatomon02]

FREE AT LAST!  FREE AT LAST!  THANK K-CON ALMIGHTY!  WE ARE FREE AT LAST!

[soundninja12]

All of the problems I had were with the hotel, staff (not our wonderful kumo staff) and the actual building.
The staff of the hotel was rude, and disrespectful. They thought for some strange reason that the normal hotel guests were more important than us. We paid too.
Another was that the building was just too hard to navigate. I had issues making it from point A to point B, and my timing (as always) would have been terrible without me getting lost.

My last thing is, my bag got stolen. I left the convention crying because in that bag was my Renge cosplay, wig, and a few chibi dolls. I put a lot of love in to those things, and it was not ok for whoever stole it to steal it. If it wasn't for my great friends (thanks Cloudy, Demony, Megan, Bri, Teddy, Ari, Konan, Mikki, Griff, Mini-man, Sahara, Coleen my roomies, and anyone I forgot) I would never want to come back.

I have another thing to add. The attendees were also on the rude side. I'd never been blown off by an attendee for a picture before. I was blown off when I just tried to talk with some people. I'm not saying that this years attendees were all mean, rude, and (as stated by others in earlier posts) immature, I'm saying that if you're gonna attend, do NOT be a butt head. It is not nice.

I will say that the ouran tea turned out amazing, for the reason that the person who managed it was amazing (cassi, just FYI, you're the best). I also met the maid squad manager, and she was really cool, I think we were just short on maids. For this reason, I plan on helping out next year whenever I can. I felt so worthless just standing around.

And I do not think we are bashing the con, we are simply getting out our anger. I do not think that the con was at fault AT ALL. I think that they simply were wrong about where it should have been held, that is it. I think that the con is amazing, and they can do better than the prisses at the Portland Hilton. I'm just sayin'

[kylite]

just gonna toss one little thing out here.

for all those who had issues with the staff and felt we could have done better .. Join Us.

help us do better. help us make the convention all it can be.

[murder_of_raven]

Rant and Rave. They answered all questions. Even went over their scheduled time because of how many issues there were. That was with a very small amount of people in it too. Think what it would have been like should that room have been filled to the brim with all 750 max occupants.

Oh well, I guess I was wrong on both accounts. My actual point was we had all heard that advice by now and it wasn't contributing to the discussion. Similar to this post:

I have a request for every one. I think every subject has been covered by now.

SO CAN WE PLEASE STOP BASHING THE CON

instead try to think of ways to improve it for next year or by volunteering yo improve it

 THANK YOU

Yes, please if you do not want to listen to us critiquing something that many of us believe was not up to standards, just stop reading this thread. It says that that's what we're doing in the title of the thread itself.

I think now is the absolute worst time for us to stop talking about it: a lot of people have either decided "the con was great and everybody else is crazy" or "it was awful and I'm not coming back next year". We need to start talking about how we can improve and what the staff should be focusing on.

Personally, I am still very upset that we will be in the Hilton again. I do not feel that it's conducive to our convention and the two actually important issues: overcrowded-ness and the general unsafeness of downtown after dark, have mostly been shrugged at by the staff as well as pretty much everyone else. Sure, there were a lot of "rambunctious teenagers" and "smokers clogging the sidewalk" but if something really bad were to happen next year, at this point I wouldn't be incredibly surprised. I agree that these are issues that are going to be hard to solve, so I feel that we should be talking about them right now.

[soundninja12]

just gonna toss one little thing out here.

for all those who had issues with the staff and felt we could have done better .. Join Us.

help us do better. help us make the convention all it can be.

I plan on at least joining the maid squad. I think you guys just seemed to be short handed.

[TanisNikana]

just gonna toss one little thing out here.

for all those who had issues with the staff and felt we could have done better .. Join Us.

help us do better. help us make the convention all it can be.

I would love to.

[Slash5150]

Rant and Rave. They answered all questions. Even went over their scheduled time because of how many issues there were. That was with a very small amount of people in it too. Think what it would have been like should that room have been filled to the brim with all 750 max occupants.

Oh well, I guess I was wrong on both accounts. My actual point was we had all heard that advice by now and it wasn't contributing to the discussion. Similar to this post:

I have a request for every one. I think every subject has been covered by now.

SO CAN WE PLEASE STOP BASHING THE CON

instead try to think of ways to improve it for next year or by volunteering yo improve it

 THANK YOU

Yes, please if you do not want to listen to us critiquing something that many of us believe was not up to standards, just stop reading this thread. It says that that's what we're doing in the title of the thread itself.

I think now is the absolute worst time for us to stop talking about it: a lot of people have either decided "the con was great and everybody else is crazy" or "it was awful and I'm not coming back next year". We need to start talking about how we can improve and what the staff should be focusing on.

Personally, I am still very upset that we will be in the Hilton again. I do not feel that it's conducive to our convention and the two actually important issues: overcrowded-ness and the general unsafeness of downtown after dark, have mostly been shrugged at by the staff as well as pretty much everyone else. Sure, there were a lot of "rambunctious teenagers" and "smokers clogging the sidewalk" but if something really bad were to happen next year, at this point I wouldn't be incredibly surprised. I agree that these are issues that are going to be hard to solve, so I feel that we should be talking about them right now.

Actually, part of me is glad it will be at the hilton again, mainly because we (staff) know where to fix the mistakes we made, at the same time, I'm horribly depressed its at the hilton again because of the size of rooms and everything. 

[pyronine]

Rant and Rave. They answered all questions. Even went over their scheduled time because of how many issues there were. That was with a very small amount of people in it too. Think what it would have been like should that room have been filled to the brim with all 750 max occupants.

Oh well, I guess I was wrong on both accounts. My actual point was we had all heard that advice by now and it wasn't contributing to the discussion. Similar to this post:

I have a request for every one. I think every subject has been covered by now.

SO CAN WE PLEASE STOP BASHING THE CON

instead try to think of ways to improve it for next year or by volunteering yo improve it

 THANK YOU

Yes, please if you do not want to listen to us critiquing something that many of us believe was not up to standards, just stop reading this thread. It says that that's what we're doing in the title of the thread itself.

I think now is the absolute worst time for us to stop talking about it: a lot of people have either decided "the con was great and everybody else is crazy" or "it was awful and I'm not coming back next year". We need to start talking about how we can improve and what the staff should be focusing on.

Personally, I am still very upset that we will be in the Hilton again. I do not feel that it's conducive to our convention and the two actually important issues: overcrowded-ness and the general unsafeness of downtown after dark, have mostly been shrugged at by the staff as well as pretty much everyone else. Sure, there were a lot of "rambunctious teenagers" and "smokers clogging the sidewalk" but if something really bad were to happen next year, at this point I wouldn't be incredibly surprised. I agree that these are issues that are going to be hard to solve, so I feel that we should be talking about them right now.

Actually, part of me is glad it will be at the hilton again, mainly because we (staff) know where to fix the mistakes we made, at the same time, I'm horribly depressed its at the hilton again because of the size of rooms and everything.  

I agree too, I am glad it will be there. I got the chance to chat with kelli ( i forget her title) but she basically is the go between for the hotel, its staff, and the con operations office. She told me this was a major learning experience and it can only get better next year. Now that the staff has survived the con they know what they need to improve on and fix, the same can be said for the con itself.  When you are born you dont know know how to walk right away you have to learn how to walk, the con is under 10 years old, it can walk but has not learned to run yet.

[soundninja12]

Rant and Rave. They answered all questions. Even went over their scheduled time because of how many issues there were. That was with a very small amount of people in it too. Think what it would have been like should that room have been filled to the brim with all 750 max occupants.

Oh well, I guess I was wrong on both accounts. My actual point was we had all heard that advice by now and it wasn't contributing to the discussion. Similar to this post:

I have a request for every one. I think every subject has been covered by now.

SO CAN WE PLEASE STOP BASHING THE CON

instead try to think of ways to improve it for next year or by volunteering yo improve it

 THANK YOU

Yes, please if you do not want to listen to us critiquing something that many of us believe was not up to standards, just stop reading this thread. It says that that's what we're doing in the title of the thread itself.

I think now is the absolute worst time for us to stop talking about it: a lot of people have either decided "the con was great and everybody else is crazy" or "it was awful and I'm not coming back next year". We need to start talking about how we can improve and what the staff should be focusing on.

Personally, I am still very upset that we will be in the Hilton again. I do not feel that it's conducive to our convention and the two actually important issues: overcrowded-ness and the general unsafeness of downtown after dark, have mostly been shrugged at by the staff as well as pretty much everyone else. Sure, there were a lot of "rambunctious teenagers" and "smokers clogging the sidewalk" but if something really bad were to happen next year, at this point I wouldn't be incredibly surprised. I agree that these are issues that are going to be hard to solve, so I feel that we should be talking about them right now.

Actually, part of me is glad it will be at the hilton again, mainly because we (staff) know where to fix the mistakes we made, at the same time, I'm horribly depressed its at the hilton again because of the size of rooms and everything. 

I'm not sure who's side I should take. One of the big issues I brought up was just the overall difficult-ness of moving about in it. My suggestions to make this easier:
- Pass out a map, and label everything, what floor they're on, and other things of that sort.
- Another is to have them turn on the friggen escalators, it was super hard to maneuver without them actually on.
- signs EVERYWHERE. There were not enough signs, I could not find anything.
- You should tell the Hilton to tell normal people that we're coming. I was flabbergasted when people were not warned pre-con.
- Staff should be positioned everywhere. If you can't find the karaoke room, they should be there to help.
On the same point, the Hilton staff should be informed of what we will be calling everything. They were already everywhere, they just had no clue what I was talking about when I said I was looking for panel room 2.

Another point:
The rooms WERE tiny, but this year we're pre warned. Added to that, you should tell the con goers that the executive tower is another building. I had no idea.

[Hazuza]

I'm not sure who's side I should take. One of the big issues I brought up was just the overall difficult-ness of moving about in it. My suggestions to make this easier:
- Pass out a map, and label everything, what floor they're on, and other things of that sort.  There were maps in the con book and in the schedule, and everything in the schedule was labelled. Whenever I needed one, since I lost mine, I just asked someone else that had a blue bag if I could see theirs. You could've probably also found another one lying somewhere, or up by the reg table.
- Another is to have them turn on the friggen escalators, it was super hard to maneuver without them actually on. They were turned off for safety reasons; people with huge dresses, weird shoes and such dragging on the floor could've easily been caught in escalators.
- signs EVERYWHERE. There were not enough signs, I could not find anything. Yeah, they would've been very helpful... Or more maps posted around on the walls.
- You should tell the Hilton to tell normal people that we're coming. I was flabbergasted when people were not warned pre-con.
- Staff should be positioned everywhere. If you can't find the karaoke room, they should be there to help.  There were plenty of staff/yoji/maids around to help, you just had to look for them. Remember that the staff is mostly volunteers (if not all) and they're pretty short-handed.
On the same point, the Hilton staff should be informed of what we will be calling everything. They were already everywhere, they just had no clue what I was talking about when I said I was looking for panel room 2.

Another point:
The rooms WERE tiny, but this year we're pre warned. Added to that, you should tell the con goers that the executive tower is another building. I had no idea. Don't the rooms have the dimensions on the hilton website? If not, you could've called ahead. And it's labelled in the maps that the executive tower was in another building. It says above the floormap of it, "Across 6th and Taylor from the Lobby", and it also shows those streets on the map.

[pyronine]

I'm not sure who's side I should take. One of the big issues I brought up was just the overall difficult-ness of moving about in it. My suggestions to make this easier:
- Pass out a map, and label everything, what floor they're on, and other things of that sort.
- Another is to have them turn on the friggen escalators, it was super hard to maneuver without them actually on.
- signs EVERYWHERE. There were not enough signs, I could not find anything.
- You should tell the Hilton to tell normal people that we're coming. I was flabbergasted when people were not warned pre-con.
- Staff should be positioned everywhere. If you can't find the karaoke room, they should be there to help.
On the same point, the Hilton staff should be informed of what we will be calling everything. They were already everywhere, they just had no clue what I was talking about when I said I was looking for panel room 2.

Another point:
The rooms WERE tiny, but this year we're pre warned. Added to that, you should tell the con goers that the executive tower is another building. I had no idea.

The maps were past out, it was on the second page of the small handout, and at the info booth
The escalators were turned off for crowd control, and liability reasons. you wouldnt want a cosplay outfit to get caught in it, would you?
Signs, I fully agree, and mentioned it to the K-con operations staff while at the con.
non-congoers  umm......no comment
Staff was everywhere, however it was not the job of the hotel staff to know where things were, the Yoji's and volunteers were everywhere, they had either a red sash or red jacket on.

As for the rooms, i stayed in the executive tower it was only $10 more a night. When you reserved your room you had the choice to choose which hotel to be in. I was on the 20th floor with an enormous room, a bath room half the size of the room, a large desk, a big 42" HDTV, and one hell of a view.

[pyronine]

You type too fast lol. you beat me to the punch lol