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NEWS: Otakon 2007 dates announced




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matthewlow



Joined: 04 Feb 2004
Posts: 147
Location: San Ramon, California
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 3:30 am Reply with quote
Having Otakon before San Diego ComicCon is going to be interesting.

What this does do is give us AX, then Origins, then a week off, then Otakon and SDCC in a row... x_x

At least there's no conflict with GenCon Indy.
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Deltakiral



Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 3338
Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK)
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:01 am Reply with quote
matthewlow wrote:
Having Otakon before San Diego ComicCon is going to be interesting.

What this does do is give us AX, then Origins, then a week off, then Otakon and SDCC in a row... x_x

At least there's no conflict with GenCon Indy.


That is going to be like a super crazed week for the staff here. I know that there were already many people who wanted better spacing inbetween Cons, because the month of July is going to be a very busy one now.
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Proman



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 947
Location: USA
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:50 pm Reply with quote
I was there when the announcement was made. I wonder if they are going to raise the attendance cap next year or stay at 25,000. I think long lines are a bigger problem than the lack of space.
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The Xenos



Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 1519
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:36 pm Reply with quote
They bettter keep that cap on. Hell, shrink it. The crowds and showings this year were out of control. The scheduling, communication, and crowd control was a mess. I have pretty much decided to not come back next year unless something is done.
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Nabeshin



Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 94
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:30 pm Reply with quote
The Xenos wrote:
They bettter keep that cap on. Hell, shrink it. The crowds and showings this year were out of control. The scheduling, communication, and crowd control was a mess. I have pretty much decided to not come back next year unless something is done.


I vow never to go back until they get their department heads in line, and their con volunteer help from assaulting guests, press, and con-goers. Evil or Very Mad
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Proman



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 947
Location: USA
PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:33 am Reply with quote
The Xenos wrote:
They bettter keep that cap on. Hell, shrink it. The crowds and showings this year were out of control. The scheduling, communication, and crowd control was a mess. I have pretty much decided to not come back next year unless something is done.

I don't know, I didn't think that big crowds were that big of a problem.

By the way, to anyone who stood in Registration line early on Friday morning, I was the guy with a ducktape Wink .
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Yoda117



Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 406
PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 1:17 pm Reply with quote
Nabeshin wrote:


I vow never to go back until they get their department heads in line, and their con volunteer help from assaulting guests, press, and con-goers. Evil or Very Mad


Yeah, good luck with that one.

a con is akin to semi-organized chaos, but I do truly think that the larger cons need to start taking a step back to their roots and looking how some of the highly successful "small cons" (AUSA, AMA, etc.) are handling things. AUSA is one of my favorite examples here because they really do have a contingency plan for nearly everything.

If the hotel disappeared overnight... alternate site
Guest gets sick... alternate list of guests

Having that mentality in regards to COOP (Continuity of Operations) is what makes the good cons, great.

But that's just my opinion.
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist


Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 598
PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:52 pm Reply with quote
Proman wrote:
I don't know, I didn't think that big crowds were that big of a problem.


I didn't think the crowds were a problem until Saturday after the dealer's room closed at 6pm. Suddenly every panel was packed and an aggitated super-long line of 4chan fans sprawled through the hallway... yeesh! It was like nobody went to the concerts or the maquerade.

Also the AMVs were ridiculously crowded both times.

I think it would've been OK, they just need to double the Staff.
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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1566
PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:08 am Reply with quote
Nabeshin wrote:
The Xenos wrote:
They bettter keep that cap on. Hell, shrink it. The crowds and showings this year were out of control. The scheduling, communication, and crowd control was a mess. I have pretty much decided to not come back next year unless something is done.


I vow never to go back until they get their department heads in line, and their con volunteer help from assaulting guests, press, and con-goers. Evil or Very Mad


Wait, when were the con staff assaulting people? That's a pretty serious charge.

As for the scheduling chaos, from what some friends of the staffers told me, that seems to have had more to do with management/shceduling issues than crowd size. At least the crowds WITHIN the con.

Also keep in mind that the baseball games made this one of the Inner Harbor's most crowded weekends ever. Something like 80,000 people running around in the Inner Harbor and BCC after the games let out. It led to a lot of strain for the staff, making sure no one got in who wasn't supposed to and there were no fights or conflicts.

I've been to five Otakons so far, and they're usually very well run, especially considering the insane number of people there. I consider this year's con to be an anomoly rather than the rule. And the staff have been far less intrusive and more polite, in my experiance anyway, than at other cons I've been to with less people (*coughcoughanimebostoncoughcough*)

The con's grown by 8,000 attendees in just three years. There's bound to be some chaos. I'm guessing next year the cap will remain the same as it was. I think Otakon's reached the point where it has to choose between growing larger and remaining in a city that it has a good relationship with. At least for the next year, they've chosen the latter.
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