You're excited for the convention, the day has finally come, you spent all morning preparing yourself to go and have a great time. What you never expected was the chaos that was about to break loose.
You're tired from walking up and down flights of stairs and stressed because no one knows where to direct you, you've gone where they told you, and you are greeted by being told to go somewhere else. The crowd is closing around you, your prop is at risk for being damaged, and when you, like many others, are desperately trying to just get out of the building, you hear someone bellowing behind you in a booming commanding voice to move, to keep going, to get out of the way... But you can't... You are moving as fast as you can, but the people in front of you are in the very same situation as you, and there is no way to control it. Desperately, you try your best to manuever, but it's not good enough. The shouts and demands of the security officers are still just as loud and threatening as before. When you are brought to a stop by the people around you, you begin to panic. The voices are still shouting at you to move, you're holding your prop close to you for dear life in fear of something being damaged, and you just want out. You feel shoving, people around you trying their best to move as well, and you notice the hotel staff have no regard or sympathy for any of this. They chaotically direct you and the crowd somewhere loudly, without explanation as to why, and you hope maybe, just maybe this is the way out, that you're finally free... Until you realize they are leading you to something irrelevant to what you want. You turn around as best you can to confront the staff and inform them that you're not in the right place, you want to get out. But before you can get a word in they give you a look that makes you feel afraid and uneasy, like you're doing something wrong, and they demand you move. When you finally explain, they let you go the correct way, but this is no the end. Once again, you are stuck in the crowd, and when you finally endure the grueling experience and escape the building, you are trapped out in the rain. Once again, your precious costume is threatened, but at least you can breathe. At least no one is shouting at you, and at least you can cool off from the hot temperatures of cramped bodies. Or so you thought... Someone asks to take a picture of you, you're on the sidewalk, not blocking doorways, and you blissfully agree, glad to be noticed now that there is no crowd to block your way. You strike a pose, and just as the person is about to take a picture, a hotel officer demands that you move, he steps between you and the one taking the picture, he pushes you away as you try to gather your things to move. By this time, there will be no picture taken. You move out of the small bit of shelter as the hotel staff had demanded, and you look for anywhere to rest. You sit on the side of some stairs, out of the way of people passing though, stairs that hardly anyone is using, and you try to stay dry and relax. Just as you settle... Another dreaded staff demands you move. By now.. You have nowhere. You don't want to get trapped inside, you don't want to leave the convention, but you have nowhere to go...
This was the unpleasant experience I had, and other people has similar experiences as well. This was how Kumoricon started, and this was the only time it ever was like this. My beloved Kumoricon, that event I look forward to every year, was suddenly tainted.
Here is my review for Kumoricon of 2009.
Kumoricon Staff-
The kumoricon staff did much better than the hotel staff, at least. I commend them for trying their best, and I understand some of you might have been frustrated and confused just like everyone else. I hope the staff next year are better prepared and better informed though, there were a lot of k-con staff members who didn't know what was going on or where to go.
6/10
Hotel Staff-
Pushy, rude, sometimes even insulting, and unhelpful. They are one of the main reasons so much chaos happened, they closed off locations, directed masses of people in the wrong directions, and shouted rudely as if we were all animals being commanded around. We are not sheep, we are people, and most of us are old enough and mature enough to listen to simple directions. We aren't dumb, we don't need to be shouted at to understand things. And we don't need rolling eyes, invasive attitudes, and we should not have to feel like freaks in an event that's supposed to bring everyone together openly and freely. The day after the chaos, some of the hotel staff became too nice. It was obvious they were forced to, they clearly wanted nothing to do with us. All other conventions, hotel staff typically are helpful and don't get in the way, they tend to what they need to and leave the convention mostly to the kumoricon staff. They step in only when hotel rules and regulations are broken, or when someone is lost. The hilton hotel staff had terrible customer service and treated everyone like children or a herd of animals.
2/10
Location-
Location, Location, Location... This hotel is placed in the downtown area of portland, smashed between towering buildings with small sidewalks. To get anywhere with open free space, you have to walk a while in the rain, or risk getting lost. And once you get there, there are strange and creepy people waiting for you. They beg for change, invade your space, try to touch your things, smell of alcohol and smoke and maybe even excruciating body odor. The sidewalks were easily cramped, it was hard not to step out in the road to get around people, and there were smokers out there as well making it difficult to breathe.
2/10
Hotel-
Terrible staff was one thing, but the hotel design itself was not the right type for a convention. The perimeter was smaller than most places we'd been too, and inside was full of stairs and elevators that were right in the middle of everything, rather than off to the side like most other places kumoricon was held. This took up hall space and made it more difficult to get around. The con was held in 2 buildings, but the other building felt insignificant. Not much was happening there at all.
Food venues-
The basic food places were ok, Subway, McDonalds, VooDoo... But those places aren't exactly the healthiest, except for subway which was packed and running out of bread types. If you wanted to walk a while you could get to the Pioneer Place foodcourt, but again, it's a little ways to walk in full costume when it's raining.
5/10
Dealer's room-
Congratulations! For once I wasn't feeling crowded in the dealer's room! It was hard for many people to find, though, so that will knock down points. But other than that it was handled well! No crowding, lots of space, easy to get from one place to the other, and the venues weren't bad either. Some were a little expensive, but that's a given at conventions. There were some very nice artists there too! Though, on the last day, I didn't see very many deals, which is supposed to be a con tradition. What's happening to the deals, anyways? It's not just kumoricon, but recently a lot of conventions have had a lot venues that wont drop the price at all on the last day. Don't you guys want to sell anything? No one's gonna buy a manga for 11-12 dollars when another venue has them for 5. Smarten up, please...
7/10
Organization-
This was terrible. The maps weren't too clear, the locations of panels weren't made clear, there were no signs except for the viewing rooms and pre-registration area. But there were no directional signs to the ballroom, the registration line itself, the panels, the dealers room, or anything. Lines got mixed up, people were directed to the wrong areas, locations were opened and closed off without warning so that once you got used to going one way, suddenly it wasn't available.. And panels and events were running late and even missed because of this. Too much was crammed in one building so there were too many people crowding one place while the other building was barely utilized. I walked into the executive tower, and saw hardly anyone in there. More needed to be split between the 2 places.
Too many people got lost and stressed, and missed their panels.
2/10
Crowd Control-
As stated earlier, we were treated more like cattle than people. Previous years usually it just took one person shouting to get everyone's attention (That guy is awesome, by the way) and then calm directions are issued. But this year, it was shouting and unclear directions with no explanations. It was full of stress, confusion, and chaos. Shouting at people to move wont help.
3/10
Entertainment-
There really wasn't much to do other than the main events. And this is very sad... A lot of the good panels from previous years were either not present or were early in the morning so I wound up missing them.
Workshops need to be spread out more, they were all crammed in before 1, at least the really interesting ones.
The showing rooms were ok, there wasn't much anime that peaked my interest, but later at night they started playing better anime. The rooms were a bit small though, bigger rooms would have been nicer, and the walls were a little thin.
Panels often ran late or not at all, which was a big bummer, even though many panels didn't look too appealing in the first place anyways.
People enjoy playing games every year, but this year there was nowhere to play them. Glomp Circle, Red Rover, Tag.. None of this could really be enjoyable at this location.
The gaming room was confusing to get to, and it was rather small, so it was hard to play games without waiting a while. There was a good selection of games though.
Overall, the entertainment level of this con was far below expectations this year. I've never left a con before 8, but I found myself leaving around 5 or 6 because I found nothing to do and I had no desires to be cramped in a building to get away from rain.
4/10
Fellow con-goers-
As always, all the lovely otaku were carefree, fun, and open, and very polite. I was never glomped out of nowhere, people would approach and ask for a hug or open their arms for one. There were a few eccentric people but it wasn't too over the top. I didn't meet any party poopers like years before, such as people who might insult you for asking for a hug (yes, this once happened to a friend of mine, she wanted to hug someone and they said no in a very rude way and insulted her) Everyone was well behaved and carefree, which is how it should be. I would have enjoyed being with them more if only there was more space to do it.
9/10
As a whole-
Nice con-goers and costumes seemed to be some of the only ups here. The hotel and its staff were terrible, the location was horrid and uncomfortable and the people in the area were overwhelming. Previously there might have been a bum here and there, but this year they were everywhere! Downtown is not a place for a convention, and neither is a hotel with little space and horrible staff.
More panels and workshops need to happen and be spread out for a more interesting day. There are countless blocks of time with literally nothing interesting to do!
A different location, better planning, and more activities next year would be great. But I know for sure it will take a lot to make up for this horrible experience. Kumoricon staff, you have a lot of work ahead of you if you want to impress us and make it up. Remember, the con-goers make the con, and when they aren't happy, there's no point to it. Please, next year, make it worth the money, I beg of you...
