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

[Wuntvor]

Suggestion #1 for ADULT content next year... BIGGER ROOMS.  I think we more or less have a good set of events, we just need the space to fit everyone in who wants to go.

The Hotel only has rooms so big, Jaki works really hard on the schedule to fit in as much stuff as she can. There are already panels and events that can easily fill live1+live2 so making some events bigger would put the others into smaller rooms.

Yeah, but I know of at least a few events which should have taken over the next-door rooms even if that meant we'd have to cut some programming.

Anime that Scared me for Life (Live Total)
Hentai (Should have taken over both of those rooms that were right next to each other across the street)
The Yaoi and Yuri panels each should have had similar space; if not Live Total
AMV Overflow and Off Hours AMV (adult AMV) should have had two viewing rooms combined.

I don't know if this would help much, but I found it strange that we had a Q&A with the VA's, a Meet the VA panel for both VA's, and an autograph session for each, and that they were each at different times.  In other words six separate panels.  Is there any reason that the meet the VA's and Autograph sessions couldn't have been combined?  I never actually saw Cynthia and Kirk together during the entire con, nor did I get a chance to see how they might have interacted with each other.  What is it con goes want to see when they have VA guests at a con?  INTERACTION ON STAGE!!  I attended both of Cynthia's panels, and she didn't have a clue as to what was supposed to be different about them.  She ended up repeating stuff she had already stated in the earlier panel, and was asked to perform the same things for the audience in both.  There was also almost nobody present at either panel and one coincided with Kirks autograph session, so everyone was down there in line instead of in her panel.  I really think that a Q&A with each VA, a Meet the VA's with both VA's, and a combined autograph session with all of the convention guests would have worked out better and left more open rooms available. Just make sure you don't arrange them all at the same time as the cosplay contest and the anime dating game.  Or other equally popular events.

[AllyKat]

Is there any reason that the meet the VA's and Autograph sessions couldn't have been combined?  I never actually saw Cynthia and Kirk together during the entire con, nor did I get a chance to see how they might have interacted with each other........She ended up repeating stuff she had already stated in the earlier panel, and was asked to perform the same things for the audience in both.... one coincided with Kirks autograph session, so everyone was down there in line instead of in her panel.  I really think that a Q&A with each VA, a Meet the VA's with both VA's, and a combined autograph session.

This is an excellent proposal that should be brought up at the meeting on October 25th, or perhaps more
poiniently to the new (or re-curring depending) head of Relations. This all depends on the VA's willingness to
work together on a panel and share their time. I do agree that one long "What's Up Seiyu/VA!?" Would benefit
the overall attendance and entertainment level of the VA's appearance, as long as it does not coincide with
some event equally as big. Perhaps that could be an option we present to the new Relations Coordinator:

1) 2-3 hour panel with BOTH or ALL (depending on what we get this year) VA's on Saturday...
and
1) 2 hour panel of Signing and Q & A with the VA's together again.

These'd have to be Looong panels due to the volume of content, but in the end I think people might go
for that and feel like they are getting more out of it.

Is this what you were proposing?

~Allykat

[Rathany]

Is there any reason that the meet the VA's and Autograph sessions couldn't have been combined?  I never actually saw Cynthia and Kirk together during the entire con, nor did I get a chance to see how they might have interacted with each other........She ended up repeating stuff she had already stated in the earlier panel, and was asked to perform the same things for the audience in both.... one coincided with Kirks autograph session, so everyone was down there in line instead of in her panel.  I really think that a Q&A with each VA, a Meet the VA's with both VA's, and a combined autograph session.

This is an excellent proposal that should be brought up at the meeting on October 25th, or perhaps more
poiniently to the new (or re-curring depending) head of Relations. This all depends on the VA's willingness to
work together on a panel and share their time. I do agree that one long "What's Up Seiyu/VA!?" Would benefit
the overall attendance and entertainment level of the VA's appearance, as long as it does not coincide with
some event equally as big. Perhaps that could be an option we present to the new Relations Coordinator:

1) 2-3 hour panel with BOTH or ALL (depending on what we get this year) VA's on Saturday...
and
1) 2 hour panel of Signing and Q & A with the VA's together again.

These'd have to be Looong panels due to the volume of content, but in the end I think people might go
for that and feel like they are getting more out of it.

Is this what you were proposing?

~Allykat

Guys, what the GoHs want to do in terms of panels is kind of up to them.  We can encourage certain types and things like that, but we can't dictate 'hey, do this long cooperative panel'. 

We can try for that, but, keep in mind some of these VAs have never even met.  They don't work in groups to do voices like Japanese VAs.  Some might be friends anyway, and some maybe not?  We did have at least two panels with two GoHs there this year.  Also, we may have panels set for one guest before another is confirmed.  Again, we can encourage this sort of thing, but, we cannot dictate.  Also, the logistics may be a bit harder than you realize. 

[Wuntvor]

This is an excellent proposal that should be brought up at the meeting on October 25th, or perhaps more
poiniently to the new (or re-curring depending) head of Relations. This all depends on the VA's willingness to
work together on a panel and share their time. I do agree that one long "What's Up Seiyu/VA!?" Would benefit
the overall attendance and entertainment level of the VA's appearance, as long as it does not coincide with
some event equally as big. Perhaps that could be an option we present to the new Relations Coordinator:

1) 2-3 hour panel with BOTH or ALL (depending on what we get this year) VA's on Saturday...
and
1) 2 hour panel of Signing and Q & A with the VA's together again.

These'd have to be Looong panels due to the volume of content, but in the end I think people might go
for that and feel like they are getting more out of it.

Is this what you were proposing?

~Allykat

My idea was that there would be a Q&A with each VA like there was this year, but there would then be a combined Meet the VA's Panel were the two (or more) VA's would be together and could compare how their training and experiences were different.  Actually it would probably work out better to have the Meet the VA's panel first and the Q&A panels later.  During the Meet the VA's panel audience participation would be lower, and the VA's would work off of each other.  During the Q&A panels the audience would be able to ask questions of their favorite VA about roles they portrayed, in a one on one style setting.  Then there could be an autograph session for all guests.  I am sure that you may have more items you want signed by one person than another, but still it makes more sense to hold them all together.  They can share special pens, you can get the con book signed by everyone at once, and you only have to stand in line for autographs one time!  When I went to the Star Trek convention with the Fab Four (Scottie, Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu) they had the signing together as a group.  They all appeared together in the same show, but still it worked well having the signing that way, instead of seperate signings for each of them.  They also had other actors from DS9 and Generations who were at the table as well.  Anyone see any reason you couldn't have Svetlana sign your manga, Kirk sign a DVD, and Cynthia sign a poster instead of having three seperate autograph sessions with each? 

[CassieR]

My idea was that there would be a Q&A with each VA like there was this year, but there would then be a combined Meet the VA's Panel were the two (or more) VA's would be together and could compare how their training and experiences were different.  Actually it would probably work out better to have the Meet the VA's panel first and the Q&A panels later.  During the Meet the VA's panel audience participation would be lower, and the VA's would work off of each other.  During the Q&A panels the audience would be able to ask questions of their favorite VA about roles they portrayed, in a one on one style setting.  Then there could be an autograph session for all guests.  I am sure that you may have more items you want signed by one person than another, but still it makes more sense to hold them all together.  They can share special pens, you can get the con book signed by everyone at once, and you only have to stand in line for autographs one time!  When I went to the Star Trek convention with the Fab Four (Scottie, Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu) they had the signing together as a group.  They all appeared together in the same show, but still it worked well having the signing that way, instead of seperate signings for each of them.  They also had other actors from DS9 and Generations who were at the table as well.  Anyone see any reason you couldn't have Svetlana sign your manga, Kirk sign a DVD, and Cynthia sign a poster instead of having three seperate autograph sessions with each? 

As Dawn said, it really depends on the guests. As they are our guests here, we do not force them into doing any panels just because we think it would be great.  We go with their schedules and what they want to talk about. There is also a potential of making the guests feel insulted or undervalued by making them do a panel with someone else, as if they weren't important enough for a panel.  We do make suggestions though, such as "Hey, so-and-so will be at the convention as well, and we know you worked together on this anime, so could you two maybe talk about the anime together?"

As for a group signing, the big problem there is that it would make a much longer line and many people would be frustrated that they had to stand in that line when all they wanted was one person's signature. And it can also be insulting to the guests if its obvious that most people in line are only here for one person, then the other guests are left feeling a lot less important.

In the end, it really depends year to year on what guests we have and what relationships they might have to other guests.

[Animeman73]

Hello everyone, this is Animeman73. Okay, while I'll not say Kumoricon was terrible, because it wasn't too bad in my personal opinion, I will admit there are some things that needed to be fixed. The elevators were definitely a disaster. But opening up the stairs so people could get to their floors who weren't too far up was a stoke of genius in my opinion. I thought that even without the makeshift wall that the live events were in terms of spacing was EPIC in it's awesomeness. While granted my Taekwondo schoolm and I had to do some improvising in terms of space for our demonstration it was overall well done. And part of why we'll probably be coming back.
Okay another issue I had was thew whole upstairs downstairs thing. I unde3rstand the escalators neded to be taken off line. When i was at Orycon30 at the Marriott last year there was a fiasco involving the escalators and a costume. But the way the upstiars annd downstairs were set up was sometimes like unto a maze, a really confusing maze. Could you guys mayhaps do something about that for next year please?
Another problem i had was the lines and the way they were set up, it was at times hard to tell where the linbes began and ended. Could you do something about that for next year as well?
Also VIPs weren't given front row seats for ending ceremonies but were for opening. Do you think you could change that round? And by the way as VIP coordinators go Jaz was EPIC in her awesomeness. And I will give you kudos for making the lines neat. AlthoughI had to ask around before learninbg thaat VIPs could go to the front of the lines for stuff such as say the dealers hall. Do you think you could put up a sign or two making that clear, it's only a suggestion.
Still all in all you did a pretty good job and I know you'll get these bugs fixed for next year. ANd Wuntvor, I did notice with her second panel that Cynthia Martinez's audience was rather small. I must admit to my shame that I didn't know who she was until I looked her up on wikpedia and the Anime News Network. What convinced me to go see her when I learned she was in Tactics. (Thank goodness for Ani-Monday on SyFy) And I have to admit I felt kind of sorry for her as well because she has a bubbly and enegetic personality that I liked a lot. Considering she has three kids you have to at least be energetic to keep up with them (But then again having a child yourself Wuntvor you probably know that). Anyway that's about all the complaints I have. I won't say that Kumoricon was terrible...but there is room for improvement. And I have faith you'll get the situation for next year under better control. That's why you guys at Kumoricon have got me for life (or at least as long as I can move).