Kumoricon Location Idea

[The_Panda]

I'm a pure-blood resident of Eugene, OR. I've lived here all my life, and have gone to K-con for two years, going on third.

Obviously, after this year is done, we're moving somewhere else. But where? There was speculation of moving to a convention hall or something.

While that's a nice idea, I don't know if we will have enough (even factoring in all the newcomers) to really fill all that in, and I'm not sure i would want to. Putting it in a hotel again would be nice, as long as it was big enough.

Well...is there any possibility we could put it inside the Eugene Hilton? I'm pretty sure it's got the capacity, the staff are infinitely friendly easier, (It's Eugene, they see people like us all the time.) and for a lot of people who farther down in the state, and the people who come up from California, this would make their trip just a bit easier.

Any ideas on this?

[Cyprus]

I personally like it being in Portland & would welcome a convention center move...more opportunity to expand & grow.

[Trumby]

According to the Hilton website (I assume you're talking about this hotel), that hotel only has 30,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel we were in last year has 66,000 square feet of meeting space between both towers.

[kylite]

my personal vote would have to be either the vancouver hilton or the doubletree at lloyd. I loved those 2 more then any other. plus they both ahve huge parks to help absorb the attendees

[Cyprus]

I never had a chance to go to the con at the doubletree...but I hear that it was way better there.

[Hazuza]

Lloyd doubletree is nice, considering the max line and the mall are right by. And it's nice to keep in our home state

_{Can someone remind me where the dealer's room was in Vancouver? *-*; *mindblank*}

[Washougal_Otaku]

I never had a chance to go to the con at the doubletree...but I hear that it was way better there.

I don't know if I'd say way better, but it did have its advantages over the Vancouver location.

[Rathany]

Going back to Eugene would radically change this convention on every level.  The Eugene Hilton has less than half the space of the Downtown Hilton.  We'd have to cap at 1.5 - 2k attendees.  We'd also lose a painful amount of staff.

We have been trying to do side events, including a yearly one at Eugene's Asian Celebration.  After three years we are still not exactly swimming in local staff to help the event, provide more content to the event or stuff like that.  After three years, this was the first year that people even had a good number of people in our room who were interested in Japanese pop culture. 

Moving the main convention back to Eugene will not happen.  If people want us to run events down there, try helping us grow our presence there.  While the staff we pick up at the Eugene meetings and events are awesome, they are very, very few.  If we had a strong base there, more events there become possible. 

The 2010 hotel is set.  Allykat is currently hard at work on 2011 options.   

[DeathNotePanda]

I second the comment about the Vancouver Hilton and the Double Tree Hotel ^^ I personally loved both of those hotels as well and would love to go back =D

[reppy]

I liked both of those locations as well.  The Vancouver Hilton especially, since it's only like a 20 minute drive. ^_^;  But .. the bums were kind of scary. 

[The_Panda]

Whoo, apparently my research was WAY off kilter. Sorry about that. But to support another idea, I would LOVE to do it again at Doubletree. Vancouver is too far for me, and a lot of my friends. Yes, the park was, by far, the best part about it. But what would need to happen to get a mini-event in Eugene? More volunteers?

[The_Geek]

I'll just put a vote out for anything central to southern Oregon. Because car time is something I like to limit. 

[cloud-9]

my vote is for doubletree. i hate downtown. sorry but i have had some BAD exp there.

[Kimiski]

Lloyd doubletree is nice, considering the max line and the mall are right by. And it's nice to keep in our home state

_{Can someone remind me where the dealer's room was in Vancouver? *-*; *mindblank*}

The dealers room was in the parking garage, down a sloping hill. I remember it well, cause it was freaking hot, then I had to go out walk down the sidewalk, around the building, and down a cement hill leading into the parking garage which was icky in my cosplay xD

My personal voye would be for doubletree as well if we're still unable to move to someplace like the Oregon Convention Center. It might be smaller in comparison to some places, but that park right across the street allows people to flood there too. And its right by the mall

[Rathany]

Whoo, apparently my research was WAY off kilter. Sorry about that. But to support another idea, I would LOVE to do it again at Doubletree. Vancouver is too far for me, and a lot of my friends. Yes, the park was, by far, the best part about it. But what would need to happen to get a mini-event in Eugene? More volunteers?

What we'd need is what we were asking for again and again earlier in the year, for someone to help us coordinate a venue.  Mini-cons tend to be on school campuses because we can get free space if we sponsered by a club at the college.  This makes us doing a mini-even financially feasible.  Right now, we can't put on one before Kcon, it's too late in the year for us to add another event. 

We cannot approach schools directly.  We NEED to get in via a club.  We had lots of people 'voting' to do it here or do it there, but, no one got us the info we needed to do it anywhere.  Does Lane County CC have an anime club? OSU?  Who runs it?  How do we contact that person? 

Also, you only needed to pay the three bucks to get into Eugene Asian Celebration to have attended our mini-event there.  If local peeps wants to help us next year by helping provide more content, that would be awesome.  We did have some local support this year, which was great.  The more we have, the more we can do. 

[Rathany]

I'll just put a vote out for anything central to southern Oregon. Because car time is something I like to limit. 

Only the greater Portland area has the venues and the resources to support and event like Kumoricon.  The vast majority of our attendees live in Portland/VaWa/Hillsboro/Beaverton/etc. 

If you want more events in Oregon, help us do them.  I feel like I have typed this until my fingers are hoarse.  Even joining staff to help the main convention takes pressure off us directors and lets us do more.  The more competent, helpful staff we have the more Kcon can do during the year and at con.  If you help spread the word to make the dance a success? That helps us.  You show up to our meetings so you learn up on how the con works? That helps us.  There are tons of ways to help us

Don't know the best way for you to help?  Come to a meeting and talk to us.  We will find ways for you to help serve the umbrella girl help Kumoricon.

[Lin]

Personally loved the Red Lion at Jantzen Beach since it was near a mall, right on the water, and had hotels right around it of similar sizes but I know it is too dinky now... Tear!

[cloud-9]

 is there an age limit to helping staff? i would lovvvee to help but i think i would be considdered to young

[Negima]

I'd love to go back to the Double Tree again.  I have good memories of that hotel.  I'd also like to try the Vancouver Hotel since I couldn't go that year and the place looked really cool.

I vote against the Red Lion due to how they treated us.  I still remember one staff member saying it felt like Darth Vader (the hotel) saying, "I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it again."

[Kimiski]

I'd love to go back to the Double Tree again.  I have good memories of that hotel.  I'd also like to try the Vancouver Hotel since I couldn't go that year and the place looked really cool.

I vote against the Red Lion due to how they treated us.  I still remember one staff member saying it felt like Darth Vader (the hotel) saying, "I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it again."

I'm not a big fan of the Red Lion either. It had a pretty view outside and all, but omg... the panel rooms I remember going into were freaking small, not cosplayer friendly. I had to kill everyone to get in then out just a short time later for a photo shoot. And I remember the hallway was packed and for whatever reason if it was just then or what, but the hallway where the sun glares in was not air conditioned... ugh Dx Also thankfully I was inside when it came to lining up for events... those poor people outside in the sun.

[Cyprus]

I still think we should see how the Hilton does this year now that they know what to expect. Plus, more precautions to prevent last years mess are being taken. Personally, I love Hilton hotels & have always had nothing but great experiences there...so I believe whole-heartedly they can & will do better now that they are taking steps to be more prepared.

[AllyKat]

When Looking at options for a location for our MAIN EVENT (aka K-con) Remember:

Must hold a MINIMUM of 4,500 people (Minimum because I refuse to make this convention lose
loving and valuable attendees because of space!) But also must be a comfortable or easy to
breathe in fit.

Must have a MINIMUM of 40,000 sqft of Meeting Space. As far as I can figure, this is the absolute
lowest we can have our convention in. With that amount of space we can realistically have a
dealers hall of 60-100 10x10 booths, a main events hall that seats 1,000 including a stage, and
enough smaller rooms to allow for Panels, workshops and status quo activities. Anything above
that number increases the quality of space management. About 60,000 sqft is where we start
getting comfortable, at least enough to increase registration.

Side Note: Yes, the downtown hilton boasts 66k sqft. However, its layout and safety
protocols require us to look at it in terms of everything except for the Ballroom level, bringing
it's total closer to 45k sqft. We do this to imagine that capactiy cannot include whats on the
ballroom level because, logistically, we can't max out all levels and that level at any given time
without breaking fire codes. Its inherent design flaw, but none-the-less important to remember.

Location MUST be central to the Portland metropolitan area. There is no way around this. Our
bread and butter are the students and young adults of the most populous area in Oregon. This
fact cannout be altered unless you could convince the majority of the city of Eugene that they
should all buy tickets to K-con, change our geographical layout and show that Eugene is where
our Attendees are. Then it might seem worth it. But unless it's easy for 3/4 of our attendees to
make it to the location, anything distance will be a hinderance, not a help.

_________________

I consider everything when I look at the hotels, and I have to play devils advocate on things I like,
and bolster things I don't. So dont be surprised if I shoot down every Idea people come up with on
the forums. I like to hear your reasons, and I like to see if you can come up with arguments to counter
my qualms that I haven't thought of yet. I may be me, but I'm not everyone else also, so I need
your thoughts like a cactus needs a storm!

Sorry I didn't respond to this sooner... GameStorm was fun and also kept me thinking of other things,
not the forums.

~Allykat

[kylite]

One mention I will give in regards to the locaiton is not only the square footage for events and the like but the parks/areas around the hotel as well. I know with the doubletree we were over capacity but with the park it made it bearable

[Rathany]

One mention I will give in regards to the locaiton is not only the square footage for events and the like but the parks/areas around the hotel as well. I know with the doubletree we were over capacity but with the park it made it bearable

If it rains again the parks wont be used.  We cannot rely on the parks. 

[AllyKat]

That only works if the weather is good. Do not bank on an outdoor area that isnt
covered or has coverings. Historically the days surrounding labor day at any given
year since 1969 (September 1st - 7th) show about a 30-35% chance of rain, and
a higher chance of cold cloudy weather in the mid 40s.

You have to hope you can get the sun, but plan for the snow storm.

~Allykat

[Kimiski]

I still think we should see how the Hilton does this year now that they know what to expect. Plus, more precautions to prevent last years mess are being taken. Personally, I love Hilton hotels & have always had nothing but great experiences there...so I believe whole-heartedly they can & will do better now that they are taking steps to be more prepared.

Just PLEASE someone decide to run the escalators this year!! T___T I know they were supposedly turned off for safety reasons so cosplays don't get stuck in them at all, but you have to pick your cosplays up to move up and down stairs anyway, and going up and down and up and down especially when you have seven pounds worth of armor on your shoulders plus a cape hanging off it, plus going up and down other stairs cause you can't make it to an elevator really hits your body hard! My legs had about had it. I can see them being off for when the lines to the main events go up and down them cause otherwise it would take everyone forever to get in but gah please run them during regular con time!

One mention I will give in regards to the locaiton is not only the square footage for events and the like but the parks/areas around the hotel as well. I know with the doubletree we were over capacity but with the park it made it bearable

If it rains again the parks wont be used.  We cannot rely on the parks. 

And Parks are still a good thing to have, just in case it IS sunny. Did anyone else notice how more packed it was in the con hotel this year because people didn't have the parks to spill out into because of the weather?

[Hazuza]

One mention I will give in regards to the locaiton is not only the square footage for events and the like but the parks/areas around the hotel as well. I know with the doubletree we were over capacity but with the park it made it bearable

If it rains again the parks wont be used.  We cannot rely on the parks. 

However, in the case of the Doubletree for example, we can rely on closeby malls. I couldn't find a lot of cool people all con, and later found they spent most of their time over at Lloyd |:

I know Pioneer Place was sort of closeby the Hilton last year, but speaking from experience, it was not worth the trek in the rain :c

[Rathany]

is there an age limit to helping staff? i would lovvvee to help but i think i would be considdered to young

Well, you can help Kcon at any age, but you need to be 16 to officially be staff.  I do not think there is an age minimum on volunteers.  But, the more people know about the con, how it works, etc, the better things tend to go for all of us. 

[AllyKat]

I think we are running into a semantics circle here.

Circle 1: Outdoor/Non-Con Space
99% of your options have some form of Mall, Park or a combo of both nearby. This is just the way
cities build their sites, they want you central to the action. And they want ease of access to be
a draw. None of the options in the Portland Metro area have a problem on this. Even Downtown
Hilton is close enough to a park and a mall that, if the weather permited, it would be a fun place to
hang... heck there is a movie theater and a Sanrio store RIGHT THERE! ^_^ But you are always going
to have the trouble of weather permissions. We can't fight this battle, we can only prepare for
worst case scenario. So while all of you pray to the deities regarding the perciptation, I'll be banking on
a flood with a tornado warning and a power outage. That way if the aliens crash land at the water
front, we have something to do besides listen to people whine about how a great Photo-op was ruined
because the cops wouldn't turn off their lights and sirens.

Circle 2: THE DOWNTOWN HILTON
It gets caps because I say it gets caps. We know the space is limited. It's the fact of the matter. Also, running circles around the whos whats whens and whys of the hotel without reseraching first, gets you nowhere. I may have not typed the answers out 20 times, but there is a Hotel Youtube video run by the amazing Dawn Hewitt (our lady relations director of peace) and there are about 5 or 6, maybe more, threads with discussions on the escalator issue and why we HAVE to have them off.

Honestly... 45% the convention wants them on... 45% want them off and 10% couldn't care either way
or didn't know it was an issue. We are just going to have to deal with the fact that safety and the flow of traffic require a different plan then some people want. What can you do?

Enjoy the convention as it is I suppose.

~Allykat

[Kimiski]

is there an age limit to helping staff? i would lovvvee to help but i think i would be considdered to young

I've been thinking of being staff too for a while now, but I could never make the meetings. No license.

[Hazuza]

we have something to do besides listen to people whine about how a great Photo-op was ruined
because the cops wouldn't turn off their lights and sirens.

That actually might be pretty neet.
_{the lights for pics, not the whining of course. xD}

[Animeman73]

I just want the hotel to be somewhere in Portland so I can have access to Kumoricon. Whatever you decide as long as it's on a bus or a MAX route I'll not complain.

[kai-chan]

Convention center or what ever its called in portland. I dont care for the Hilton due to last year (they were rude).

How about PSU? they have an anime club (according to their website)
http://www.anime.pdx.edu/index.php?s=contact

and contact is

anime@pdx.edu

[Rathany]

The Oregon Convention Center has been discussed at length.  Long story short, we can't afford it.

I do not think we could run Kumoricon at PSU.  We would be too broken up among too many buildings.  Logistical nightmare. 

[oslapedo]

If we can't afford the OCC now and we have to cap attendence, how will we ever?

[Saberchan]

I know I'm only one person, but moving K-con to Eugene, etc would make it extremely difficult for me to attend. I live near Seattle, but have family in Portland, which makes the convention location perfect! (I can visit them and go the con at the same time and possibly bring my niece along for a day! xD )

[Negima]

If we can't afford the OCC now and we have to cap attendence, how will we ever?

I'm guessing the capped attendence will only last for the Hilton due to its size.  After this year they might move the convention to somewhere else that's larger and remove the cap as well.

Again, that's just speculation.

[Rathany]

I know I'm only one person, but moving K-con to Eugene, etc would make it extremely difficult for me to attend. I live near Seattle, but have family in Portland, which makes the convention location perfect! (I can visit them and go the con at the same time and possibly bring my niece along for a day! xD )

Eugene just is not feasible for Kcon.  Though, as I mentioned, we've been growing a side event down there. 

(And if someone from Lane CC ever gets in contact with us and is all 'Hey, we has an anime club.  Want to come down with all your shiny toys and have a mini-event with us?'  Then more cool things might happen.  Just not this year, it's too close too con for us to plan more side-events. )

[princessmoon]

I see that OCC is mentioned and is beyond Kcon's budget. What about the Portland Expo Center? I was just browsing Convention facilities in Portland, OR and don't recall anyone mentioning the Expo...

I just wanted to throw that out there.

--wish one could just search with the given parameters and get a result...nope, that would be too easy :3

[Negima]

I see that OCC is mentioned and is beyond Kcon's budget. What about the Portland Expo Center? I was just browsing Convention facilities in Portland, OR and don't recall anyone mentioning the Expo...

I just wanted to throw that out there.

--wish one could just search with the given parameters and get a result...nope, that would be too easy :3

Um, is there a hotel nearby?
I took a quick peek at the website and map but couldn't find one.

[AllyKat]

Hotels are all on the other side of the freeway, the problems I see with expo (yes I sneakily look at it too! YAY) are that the spaces are GINORMOUS!

As in... you have rooms of gigantic proportions... and no lil spaces...

Thats only a problem until we come up with a way to partition it. But if you can think of cheap, feasible ways to partition what is esentially an airplane hanger sized space into little spaces for multiple events with sound and video equipment... I would love this information so I can start putting that into a proposal packet for future reference. My brain is only a single thought machine, and I love the idea of other people getting creative and collaborative and helping me get new ideas for the convention.

The hotel issue is, a slight problem. Any hotel on the max line is a safe bet, the others would have to work out a shuttle situation that could accomodate 1,000's of people a day...

But it's an interesting idea!

~Allykat

[Konan-ChanX3]

Since Expo has such large spaces, if we did move it there, we could always divide the space in halves, even quarters if need be right?

[JeffT]

Since Expo has such large spaces, if we did move it there, we could always divide the space in halves, even quarters if need be right?

But how? How would this be sound-proofed? Would we design walkways, panel rooms, and so on? How much would this dividing equipment cost? Would these intricate designs comply with fire code, and what would we need to do to prove this?

[Konan-ChanX3]

I dunno, it was just an idea I had.

[cloud-9]

ill be 13 for this years con. If theres a position i can fill to help out please let me know and ill help out ASAP! XDD

[kylite]

Minimum age for staff is 16 but not sure regarding volunteers.

[SadisticVampire]

It's a great thought you have, but I think keeping it in Portland is the best choice. It's a big city, there's plenty of places to go and be, and there is just about everything there. I can see if they move to a bigger space, but moving to a completely different city... I don't think that's the greatest idea. For myself, I know that I wouldn't be able to go anymore because of driving costs and the cost to rent a hotel to even stay down there. Of course I'm probably moving soon, so it might be easier to make it down there. Overall, I'm just now sure on changing the city.

[snowshoedtiger]

I'm not going to repeat what has already been said but, add to it.
My first con was the 2007 Kumoricon in Vancouver and I was sick as a dog. I loved it so much that I went again the next 2 years and am going this year as a staffer.
Vancouver was great, we had a large park near by, Saturday market, food vendors and relatively safe surroundings.
The next year was at the double tree which was pretty awesome, once again we had not only one but several parks nearby, a mall (which was great) and a fairly safe surrounding (not as nice as the last in my opinion)
Last year was in Portland. We had parks that were a bit of a walk away, a mall that I found no one from the con at and the surrounding area was less than stellar. I was kind of afraid to wander more than 4 blocks away from the main event. 
Even though last year was my least favorite year, I'm coming back, hoping it will be a better event this con. Eugene is a nice place, I've been there quite a few times but, I don't think we have enough people there to support the event. So I vote for Vancouver because, even though as I said I was rather sick, I enjoyed myself a lot.

[luvan1me]

o.o i would love it if it was in the doubletree. just cuz it was the first con i was interested in going to (but couldn't cuz of parents lol) and i heard that it was nicer compared to last year's (which was my first con lol) and i didn't like it AT ALL! it was too crowded, i had to walk up the stairs to get to the karaoke!!! AND the elevators were STUFFED! ugghz! @.@

all in all i vote for the double tree hotel! (just cuz my friends told me it was nicer there and "roomier")

but just outta curiousity? has anyone thought about doing it in the rose quarter? i mean i've seen conventions done in there? i mean it's relaly nice. and they have ton of room too <.< just putting that out there >.<

[Negima]

o.o i would love it if it was in the doubletree. just cuz it was the first con i was interested in going to (but couldn't cuz of parents lol) and i heard that it was nicer compared to last year's (which was my first con lol) and i didn't like it AT ALL! it was too crowded, i had to walk up the stairs to get to the karaoke!!! AND the elevators were STUFFED! ugghz! @.@

all in all i vote for the double tree hotel! (just cuz my friends told me it was nicer there and "roomier")

but just outta curiousity? has anyone thought about doing it in the rose quarter? i mean i've seen conventions done in there? i mean it's relaly nice. and they have ton of room too <.< just putting that out there >.<

I'm pretty sure the Rose Quarter is too big for us, not to mention there isn't a connecting hotel.
KCon is at a weird stage with its attendence.  We're too big for small hotels and too small for big convention sites and unfortunately there isn't a convenient, easy-to-reach hotel in the area that fits us perfectly.