I'm glad to hear that a lot of people enjoyed Mewcon, even though it sounds like the turnout was low. I hope they have enough funds to pull through until the next year. I remember the first year of Kumoricon in Eugene. We didn't get more than a few hundred people, so in many ways it was more like an extended party than a full on con. There were so many things that went wrong, but fortunately, a lot that went right! I still can't believe we survived and that it turned into what it is now.
Some things that were lucky for us that first year:
A dirt cheap hotel rate, because the hotel was going to go out of business literally a week or two after our con.
An AMAZING Kumoricon staff of 20-30 that worked themselves to the bone before and during the con, most working/preparing 48 hours straight during the con.
Being the first con in Oregon, so for a bunch of people that came, it was their first con ever, and we didn't have to compare ourselves to the monstrously larger and more-entertaining Sakuracon.
Some things that didn't work so well:
Only a dozen vendors could come, similar to Mewcon
Having it in november: Mewcon may have similarly discovered that getting people to attend a con in winter is difficult!
missing a LOT of stuff to do: you guys have it so lucky you can get a rock band to play at the con, among other things!
no money for real equipment: a friend of a friend loaned us a real DDR machine, and we got some basic sound equipment for a dance, and just about everything else we borrowed/begged for from friends!
I cried several times at nights before the con because I thought I was going to lose all my savings because noone would show up. Thankfully, we made enough money to break even and fund a bit of the next convention, mostly because we borrowed so much from friends or the university. For most staffers, it was their first time doing anything con-related. We sort of made everything up from scratch, based on what we'd seen as attendees to other cons. I'm sure if a lot of you went to Kumoricon's first year, you might have been unhappy attending that as well! Our solution was that if people were unhappy about the lack of stuff to do, we begged and pleaded with them to become staff for next year's con!
I think it's unfortunate for Mewcon that Kumoricon has already been established in Portland for so many years. It can lead to some unfair assumptions as to what it will be like. Because we moved Kumoricon from Eugene to Portland after the first year, we were able to shrug off any negative image we may have acquired of being a too-small con. Many people attending kumoricon the second year didn't even realize that there was one in Eugene the year before! Hopefully Mewcon's first year will have strengthened the bonds of the people who attended, and hopefully many will consider becoming staff next year, and next year's Mewcon will have a large and strong team. The most important thing for a convention (besides having enough money to rent a location) is maintaining a strong team of staff. Everything else you can reconsider. New Years may not have been the best of dates. Maybe consider changing the name (too close to Mucus!) :-) Seek out new methods of advertising.
I wish all the best to the Mewcon team for 2009, and if any of you feel it wasn't up to snuff compared to Kumoricon, just remember how far Kumoricon had to grow to get where it is today. And if you aren't staffing or volunteering your time, why not consider it? (this goes for staffing Kumoricon too of course :-))
Happy new year, everybody!
-Peter
