Mewcon?

[xkuroxhanax]

xD oh god. you know, i didnt actually get a single one the whole con. i was running around too much.

[nikkiolie]

they were really really good. You need to get one sometime.

[xkuroxhanax]

i shall, i shall.

[oslapedo]

Ok so a lot of people want the price to go down XD

What makes you say that?

[nikkiolie]

just a hunch

[DancingTofu]

They are! I have confirmation from Tanis.

Confirmation from Tanis isn't always definite confirmation, but with the awesome staff team we have put together, we definitely have more to come.

I don't foresee a price drop.  In order to drop our prices, we'd need to have much higher attendance.  Just make sure you pre-register; that's the best way to save money for the con.  That way, you don't have to actually hold onto money for registration as well, so the money you save up is purely con money.  Additionally, the hotel rate was lower than the Kumoricon staff rate was.  That's a lot of money saved.  Share a room with three other people and pre-register and you're paying just $85 or $90 if you're staying the night before AND the night after.  That's pretty great considering I spent $160 on Sakuracon 2008 and $170 on Kumoricon 2008, the latter of which I was staff for. (I should be getting $80 from a friend of mine for the room at some point, but I'm still waiting on that 4 months after the fact)

[nikkiolie]

Sad times.....I wish the price would drop. Well if it is so expensive due to the low number of people going then why was Akicon almost half the price of mewcon? It was it's first year.....I just don't get it =/

[Sayda]

There was also 1500 people at Akicon, though. Mewcon was very small. But Akicon was also a day longer then Mew. I don't know, 40$ seems like a ripoff to me. Especially since this year a lot of things that were supposed to happen, didn't. The fact that it's only a 2 day convention and nearly half the events never happened really doesn't appeal to me for it's price. What were we paying 40$ for? I guess I just expected it to be more organized and have more going on for that price.

[Kahlan4]

There was also 1500 people at Akicon, though. Mewcon was very small. But Akicon was also a day longer then Mew. I don't know, 40$ seems like a ripoff to me. Especially since this year a lot of things that were supposed to happen, didn't. The fact that it's only a 2 day convention and nearly half the events never happened really doesn't appeal to me for it's price. What were we paying 40$ for? I guess I just expected it to be more organized and have more going on for that price.

agreed

half the things we tried going to didn't get set up and we were confused and wondered what was going on. there wasn't a whole lot to do, so we ended up going to the mall for a few hours and hanging out in our room a lot. there was also a lot of just sitting around in the lobby. it's fun to hang out with people and such, but when you're paying that much for a con, i guess i'd expect there to be more to do to be worth the money. i understand that it's the first year and there are difficulties, but not that many difficulties... i have a lot more i could say, but i think it's probably been said already.

on a good note, a-key kyo rocked

[nikkiolie]

Yeah I could have done everything I did at the con without paying the price. I think it was poorly organized. Again I know it was the first year but these are things you can think about improving for the next year

[Deviant Spider]

Sad times.....I wish the price would drop. Well if it is so expensive due to the low number of people going then why was Akicon almost half the price of mewcon? It was it's first year.....I just don't get it =/

I totally agree with this. It seems like it would make more since to have a the cost be lower than Kumoricon's even. For these reasons.

MEW has to (unfortunatly) compeate with Kumoricon who has been running for years. Most of MEW's attendees were Kumoricon attendees as well. I think that if a "New" convention wanted to get more attention and compeate to win they should have a lower price.

Not only would that draw attention to the people with restricted income, but also to the people who are leery of a first year con in the first place.

I think attendance would have been much greater with more publisity and a lower con fee.

I could just hear people now saying things like "Im totally going to check out MEW! I can afford it with my Christmas money!"

Just a personal idea. I realize that as the first year of the con there is a HUGE risk of financial loss with low attendance, and I just have to wonder...was MEW so high priced because it thought it was going to fail? I guess my response to that is Publisity Publisity Publisity!

(Im not trying to be mean to any of the MEW staff as these decisions were in place probably from the beginning, just trying to communicate my observations and hopefully help in some way.

[nikkiolie]

If the prices were so high because they thought they might fail then I can understand that. I mean that is a rather big holiday that people typically spend with family or at parties so a lot of people might not be able to make it.

[Deviant Spider]

Its the only way it makes since to me, they did have some noteworthy guests to pay as well.

[nikkiolie]

Yeah that's true as well.

[makichan]

If the cost would have been a bit more reasonable my friends and I would have come. Since we were more concerned about Sakuracon, we found it more reasonable to put the money towards a three day con.
It just makes me wonder how many more people would have gone if the pass price was lower.

[oslapedo]

There was also 1500 people at Akicon, though. Mewcon was very small. But Akicon was also a day longer then Mew. I don't know, 40$ seems like a ripoff to me. Especially since this year a lot of things that were supposed to happen, didn't. The fact that it's only a 2 day convention and nearly half the events never happened really doesn't appeal to me for it's price. What were we paying 40$ for? I guess I just expected it to be more organized and have more going on for that price.

There were 1500 people at Akicon? I doubt there were even a few hundred at Mew! =,O

[nikkiolie]

If the cost would have been a bit more reasonable my friends and I would have come. Since we were more concerned about Sakuracon, we found it more reasonable to put the money towards a three day con.
It just makes me wonder how many more people would have gone if the pass price was lower.

That is true. Though I wanted to go to a con anyway, and I didn't want to go alone so I paid for some friends to go....so they didn't even have to pay

and does anyone know the head count of mewcon? I'm sure they said it during closing ceremonies....they always do.

[oslapedo]

Maybe they're trying to hide the actual figures from us...

[nikkiolie]

Maybe. I haven't seen or heard any of them

[Kahlan4]

another thing i just thought of is that mew was promoted as being a sci-fi/fantasy/anime con. seemed to me when we were there, everything was just anime. it would have been better/there would have been more to do if they stuck to also having the sci-fi and fantasy aspects there. attendance would probably also go up if they promoted it more as having all three parts and spread the word through each community. i mean, the other cons people go to who also attended mew are just anime/japanese culture, so mew would stand out more if they had something different like they originally promoted, right?

[nikkiolie]

Yeah it did seem like there was a lot more anime stuff than sci-fi or fantasy.....though I bet if there were more people then that would change

[Sayda]

There was also 1500 people at Akicon, though. Mewcon was very small. But Akicon was also a day longer then Mew. I don't know, 40$ seems like a ripoff to me. Especially since this year a lot of things that were supposed to happen, didn't. The fact that it's only a 2 day convention and nearly half the events never happened really doesn't appeal to me for it's price. What were we paying 40$ for? I guess I just expected it to be more organized and have more going on for that price.

There were 1500 people at Akicon? I doubt there were even a few hundred at Mew! =,O

Yeah man. Akicon was all around better advertised, though. I mean, it was also up in Everett, which is near Seattle. Seattle's a huge Cosplay community. However, Portland also holds a large group of Cosplayers, as well. I think if Mew was better advertised, and less expensive then they would have gotten a larger attendance.

[Darkerlight]

Pre-reg is the best way to keep a cheap price especially with most local bars and venues charging a lot during New Years for one night events not two day long events. The K-Con special last year was 20$ which is a lot cheaper then at the door price or the price of most any one night concerts or events on that day.  You could also become a panelist, volunteer, or staff since all three of those have various happy discounts for helping out the con If you've never been any of those its a good way to get your toes wet so to speak for a panel or voluteering at the next KCon after that -hint hint nudge nudge- since I'm sure 2010 Kcon will need just as much or more help as 2009.

On Akicon, it had 1248, a different type of venue in a different town and different backing... even then it was also a little known fact that they needed an enormous amount of attendees just to break even and took a huge risk, a number which MEW could not count on getting given the volatile time of year and since new 'unproven' businesses have to pay ahead of time a lot of our money couldn't spread out for things like Aki's TV commercial to repeat their technique. Perhaps this year and the next will be different in promos. Those sisters running Aki are very very brave and I give them great credit for winning at an enormous gamble but they are more of the exception then the rule for first years.

-edit-

MEW has to (unfortunatly) compeate with Kumoricon who has been running for years. Most of MEW's attendees were Kumoricon attendees as well. I think that if a "New" convention wanted to get more attention and compeate to win they should have a lower price.

Its true that this year's attendees were core Kcon attendees but it is cross genre and a new years celebration and if pulled off right won't need to compete with Kcon... It could even help to draw more people to KCon by reaching into the SF/F communities and introducing manga/anime to a different crowd.

[nikkiolie]

I'll make sure to pre-reg then ^_^

I'll try to do it as soon as I know I can go

[DancingTofu]

A lot of people keep mentioning organization.  Here's a thought to roll your mind around in: what would happen to out-of-con get-togethers if not for Nikkiolie and Oslapedo organizing them?  What would happen to Kumoricon's forums if Jeff suddenly was removed?  What would happen to the Slants if Simon got lost and never came back?  Chaos.  Even the most self-sufficient and intelligent components lose a lot of their functions when they don't have someone leading them.  MEW Con was supposed to have a Programming Director this year, and that fell through.  If you happen to lend your eyes toward my signature, you'll notice that MEW Con does have a Programming Director this year.  MEW Con has a Programming Director this year who intends to take his time and carefully organize so that, if he can't make it to the Con for whatever reason, someone else will be there to take his place.

For those of you who don't understand how this will drastically change how well the con is organized, know that the Programming Director acts as a signal more than anything.  Like a traffic signal at a busy intersection, the Programming Director provides a final and conclusive direction for the subdepartments of Programming.  I can't make the price of the con lower, and it's not my job to find more attendees, but I'll do everything I can to make sure the con runs smoothly.  I intend to fully implement elements of communication, fluid process, and quality appeal to make every con experience a good con experience.

Furthermore, please share feedback with the MEW Con team at [ http://www.mewcon.com/forum/index.php ]. 

[nikkiolie]

Having a program directory would help out a lot. I'm glad to hear that there will be one next year

[oslapedo]

Yay for future organization! Good luck Tofu =D

[nikkiolie]

Best of luck. Also feel free to ask us for suggestions

[Deviant Spider]

@ Tofu

I fully understand that sometimes things happen. We (the convention goers) never had a clue that you had such important positions vacant for the convention, so we could only reply on what we witnessed at the convention itself. Baised off of my observations, yes, the organization was lacking.

BUT I dont blame anyone for it. I can assume that being a new convention there are LOTS of buggs to work out and rules to set and all kinds of stuff. I admire the fact that the convention even ran when it was missing so many key players! Congrats for pulling it off!

By working at a convention from the ground up you get to see all the little details that go into making it perfect. You get a chance to understand and grow with opinions and new ideas.  You get to see those problem areas and know how to fix them the next year (or at least formulate ideas on how to fix them) I almost feel like complaining about the organization of MEW this year is pointless. There is nothing I can complain about that most of MEW's staff probably isnt allready thinking. And as long as you all are thinking "Next year will be better!" it will be.

I wish I could say "sure ill be staff next year!" because I really do want this convention to succeed, (especially the SciFi part of it!) but with a baby on the way I just cant make that commitment yet.

[nikkiolie]

Yeah I had no clue that there was no one working programming. That really would have helped out a lot if there was someone there.

With all that known now. I will try to bring as many friends as possible next year.

[RemSaverem]

This is a great opportunity to mention the value of redundancy in staffing. That is to say, every major player in an organization should have at least one "understudy". Someone who knows everything about the position and is ready to pinch-hit at a moment's notice. At the very least an Assistant who, even if they aren't in the know about every detail, knows precisely where to go to find the information and how to operationalize the information if they are needed as a pinch-hitter. Thankfully we haven't needed this within Creation Station for the most part, but we started planning along those lines after Kumoricon 2005 given that I was hospitalized with asthma a couple days before the con. I made it but we realized that if I hadn't, not everyone would have had all the info they needed to do everything. Now we make sure our yahoo group has a lot of transparency and redundancy in planning!

[nikkiolie]

yeah that is a very good idea. Always have backups.

[Deviant Spider]

Its a good Idea but even Kumoricon has issues with this. NO. 1 issue with convention backups= NEED MORE STAFF Lol.

I repeat need more staff need more staff need more staff. 

I know that we have many positions still open in our convention let alone a newly forming one. Imagine trying to staff a new convention from the ground up...I dont think their first concern this year was understudys or assistants, I think it was more "Lets get the ball rolling!"

[melchizedek]

Yeah, in an ideal world no director drops out, and the assistant is fully preped to take place.

[nikkiolie]

I think all cons have an issue with not enough staff.....at least that is the way that it seems to me. I though mewcon had enough staff for the amount of people that were there

[melchizedek]

Yeah, there were not a ton of attendies so gobs of staff were not really needed.  I kinda liked that for the most part I couldn't tell who was a yoji

[nikkiolie]

I think staff should mix in with the attendees. It makes them seem more like people than authority figures.....though I can see that as a problem too.

[Deviant Spider]

I would be heartbroken if  Kumoricon said "Staff must wear staff shirts" and I couldnt cosplay. I think thats why they dont do it, its an Anime con! People want to cosplay!

*Although when im really tired I just throw on a staff shirt and run around not bothering with cosplay*

[nikkiolie]

Yeah I wouldn't be a staff if I had to wear a staff shirt.

I enjoy cosplay way too much. Plus I just kind of want to screw around at cons, not do work

I presume you meant to type shirt, not a certain 4-letter word that leaves out one of the letters in that word, so I just fixed that for you, since I don't consider "shirt" to be an expletive. [/Tofu]

[TanisNikana]

40% of the people at MEW were staff.

[nikkiolie]

Yeah that is more than enough. Now only if all cons had that many staff XD

[Darkerlight]

Lol. Actually, at MOST 20% of people were staff considering MEW's staff was about 40 people (most of whom were security) and there were I believe 200+ people...  its small but its not so small as to have THAT much staff percentage wise.

-edit-
If only all con had that many staff in places other than security... I love the security team of KCon, Sakura, and MEW but I wish that we had that number in other departments for all over the convention.

[nikkiolie]

I'll ask this one more time, does anyone have an actually number of the people that were there? I mean we have an estimate but I kinda want to know the exact number.

[DancingTofu]

No.  The book-keeping wasn't thorough enough to track that figure.  However, my sister, who spent most of her time working registration, estimated around 200.  We didn't even get the badges numbered, so the best anyone can come up with is a ballpark figure.  However, based on the number of accounts registered on the MEW Forums, compared with the ratio of Kumoricon Forum accounts to actual attendance, I'd estimate around 350 people attended the convention between staff and attendees.  It's not a definite figure; it's only real supporting detail is one ratio.

I think that verbal advertising will be important to MEW 2009's success.  Since our audience is largely literary, we'll probably be producing Bookmarks again.  If you're looking to build MEW, talk to me, Admin, Verdant Hero, Akio Legend, Lady Savant, or Kitsune about getting some bookmarks, then just hang out in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Manga sections of Powell's, Borders, or Barnes and Noble and just chat with people about the con, then give them a bookmark.  A sample conversation might go like such.

"So are you a fan of [genre]?"
"Yeah."
"Have you heard about MEW Con?"
"No, what's that?"
"It's a convention held in the Portland/Vancouver area on New Year's with open gaming, live concerts, exhibitors, panels, dances, and all other neat things.  It's kind of like Kumoricon and Sakuracon if you've heard of those, but smaller, with more inclusion of Sci-Fi and Fantasy."
"Sounds cool, maybe I'll check it out."
"Actually, I've got some bookmarks for the con.  How about I give you one.  It's got the website, date, location, and details on the back, and if you're not interested in the con, it's still a free bookmark."
"Okay, thanks!"
"See you there!"

[nikkiolie]

yeah that would be a good idea. It's too bad that no one tracked figures though ;_;

[kylite]

well....yojimbo are required to wear the red Haori and not carry prop weapons so the security has to be clever with their cosplays.

[nikkiolie]

Well that is no fun, but I guess it does make it a challenge.

[Teepet]

well....yojimbo are required to wear the red Haori and not carry prop weapons so the security has to be clever with their cosplays.

That was a requirement? I just thought we did it because they were cool-looking!  And because some of the yoji didn't have staff badges.

[nikkiolie]

has the staff already started thinking about things they will do next year? Someone should mention at a meeting that there should be a tv to watch the ball drop XD

[melchizedek]

well....yojimbo are required to wear the red Haori and not carry prop weapons so the security has to be clever with their cosplays.

You can be a wandering samurai without a sword?