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NEWS: Otakon Attendance Numbers 23,000 on Day 1




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Aresef



Joined: 22 Jun 2005
Posts: 915
Location: MD
PostPosted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:52 am Reply with quote
I am unsurprised. The BCC feels much more crowded than last year. It does my heart good to see thousands of others in the yellow JAM Project shirts. MOTTO MOTTO!
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MisterEd



Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Posts: 97
PostPosted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:53 am Reply with quote
Yeah, it really did seem more crowded! I bet it'll cap out at about 25,000. It's really easy to get lost with all those people, but I'm not worried about that, because I'm in a big blue Doraemon costume, and can be easily spotted in a crowd.
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dragonclaw21974



Joined: 25 Sep 2006
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:32 pm Reply with quote
The news item's 23000 doesn't match what Otakon has posted on their own website. Here is the posted news item from their page


Quote:
OTAKON© 2008 Preliminary Attendance Numbers

As of 6:30pm Friday, Otakon is pleased to confirm a headcount of 19,989 members from picked up pre-registration and at-con registration. We will continue to monitor additional pre-registration pick-ups and purchased memberships through Saturday and Sunday. For reference, Otakon 2007 welcomed 22,852 members.


That's a pretty large discreptancy. I wonder which one is right.
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Aresef



Joined: 22 Jun 2005
Posts: 915
Location: MD
PostPosted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 5:35 pm Reply with quote
The lower number was from 6:30 PM yesterday. The higher number was by the end of Friday, according to Otakon's press head (I'm reporting for my podcast). I think we might hit 30 before the weekend is out.
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dragonclaw21974



Joined: 25 Sep 2006
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 10:42 pm Reply with quote
Aresef wrote:
The lower number was from 6:30 PM yesterday. The higher number was by the end of Friday, according to Otakon's press head (I'm reporting for my podcast). I think we might hit 30 before the weekend is out.


Ok, thanks for clarifying. The ANN news post says as of 6:30 pm Friday also. That's why it's confusing.
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fighterholic



Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 9193
PostPosted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 11:55 pm Reply with quote
Wow, the con is on a roll for attendance this year! Hope you guys are having fun.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14888
PostPosted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 5:19 am Reply with quote
Aresef wrote:
The lower number was from 6:30 PM yesterday. The higher number was by the end of Friday, according to Otakon's press head (I'm reporting for my podcast). I think we might hit 30 before the weekend is out.


Doubt it. Otakon has never reached 25k; that's why it hasn't used but rather discarded the 25k cap (IIRC, the cap is for fire safety reason). On the contrary, Otakon has plateaued around 24k the last few years, with growth slowing to 1% increase the last couple of years.

Not that it's a bad thing. Too crowded is no good. 24k-25k is just about the right number for the Baltimore Convention Center.
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Teriyaki Terrier



Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
PostPosted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:41 am Reply with quote
For a convention, that does sound like a large number though. But what is most important is that people are safely enjoying themselves.

Hope those who are attending are enjoying themselves.
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bglassbrook



Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 1243
Location: Gaithersburg, MD
PostPosted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 11:27 pm Reply with quote
Teriyaki Terrier wrote:
Hope those who are attending are enjoying themselves.

It was fun, though personally there were only a few brief moments when the convention center felt more packed than prior years (but sudden bottlenecks tend to do that.) Hats off to the folks in reg though, we only had 8,900-9k for Thursday pre-reg pickup, which leaves two whole lots of folks processed Friday.

Hopefully they will soon provide the update link to the official final count ... animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-08-10/otakon-2008-attendance.
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