What Do You Expect From A Anime Con

[ashfire]

Well after working as a staff member for Neko Con the staff forums gave prises and complaints about staff operations and how things can be made better for next year.
When you go into the forums for attendees you find someone who wanted the con to run 24 hours, why Japanese foods or snacks were not sold by vendors, why they couldn't do this or that, said they got yelled at by staffers, they didn't like the anime being shown, why there were so many retrictions about bags, backpacks, drinks and food and certain items in areas of the convention center and other things that couldn't be helped because of being in a new loaction and learning how to deal with them.
Some of the con staff answered the poster and other attendees put their two cents into the questions asked to explain why we had to do these things.
What are some of your feelings about what you want from a anime con to be satisfied about going?

[ClosetOtaku]

I spent a lot of this weekend at Anime USA here in VA. Comparing this to other cons I've been to -- Otakon, Katsucon, Animazement -- I'd say this one was pretty well run for its size. Anime USA will never attract big names like Otakon can, but it doesn't pretend to be more than it actually is (e.g. Katsucon) and definitely has more staff dedication and planning than others (e.g. Animazement).

What do I expect?

a. An organized, effective pre-registration and registration.
b. A venue with decent parking.
c. A well-designed schedule that the convention sticks to whenever possible.
d. A competent technical staff that helps get events (such as the AMV contest) off on time and without troubles. (Cue Otakon and Katsucon on this -- their tech staffs have more excuses as to why things don't work than I've ever seen. They should have gone to Anime USA and taken a lesson as to how this stuff should work.)
e. Coming through on big promises, or else announcing early that the promises aren't going to be fulfilled. (Last year, Otakon was to have had the first three eps of Fullmetal Alchemist play in their main hall -- much anticipated, well-attended, but after the first episode, they cut to another anime without explanation.)
f. Good panels. (Otakon gets the award for best panels I've seen thus far.)
g. Family-friendly events (and warnings when not-so-fam-friendly events, like Yaoi and Yuri panels, are to play, with appropriate age controls). How else are you going to grow the anime crowd if parents are alienated?

So, convention-goers have a right to be informed about your offerings and changes, and perhaps let in to know why things are the way they are. Sure, some convention centers prohibit outside food so they can gouge the attendees -- but you can't hold a convention in a parking lot, so you submit to authority, welcome to the real world. Convention attendees need to be reasonable about their expectations, but convention organizers need to be honest about why things are the way they are.

Hope that answers the question...

[mitsuki lover]

I have never been to any sort of con in my life so really don't know what to expect.
However if I did go to one I would expect the following:
1.An effciently run organization where everything is run on time and when there
is a problem it doesn't take too long to fix.
2.Clean and adequately large rooms for screenings,dealers,etc.
3.Staff that know the subject and can answer any question posed to them as well
as who are familiar with the lay out of the building.
4.Politeness from Staff.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

it annoys me when people have the most stupidest complaints such as "why cant we have those signs" and "it should run 24 hours" and " I didn't like this anime"

I say if you can't deal with it... then tough, dont go to an anime con