Forum - View topicNEWS: 22,302 at Otakon 2006
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lillink
Posts: 8 |
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Otakon can't move out of Baltimore, the topic is brought up every year, with the same answer that it won't move. Basically what happened is that the city of Baltimore bought the rights to the convention so that they gain a large amount of money from the convention as it is one of their largest revenue boosters. Also, I think that the convention center itself was changed specifically for the convention with "asian" theming on the ceilings and such.
Personally, I'd like to see the convention eventually move up to Philadelphia seeing as there are many more hotels in Philadelphia and the convention center is around 3 times the size of Baltimore's allowing for more people to come. Also, Otakorp who runs Otakon is located in the suburbs of Philadelphia (according to their phone number and such). I'm hoping that eventually it'll get moved up because Philadelphia is just as central as Baltimore is on the east coast, but Philadelphia offers more hotels, and a much larger convention center allowing the convention to grow. |
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necrosis
Posts: 6 |
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lillink
Posts: 8 |
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Ya, the first paragraph that I wrote is not made up and or false... go to one of the panels where they talk about the next Otakon on the last day or just talk to some of the people that know about the con. Baltimore OWNS Otakon. Period. And if you want the con to thrive and grow, it's going to need to move out of Baltimore, but where else would it go? Virginia? Deleware? New Jersey? The only logical place that's still central and would be able to accomidate more people is Philadelphia, no matter how much you don't like that fact. Go look on the Otakon website, their phone number to call is one from the suburbs of Philadelphia, therefore I think that if they had to move, this would be the most logical choice. Well, that's just my two cents.
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Yoda117
Posts: 406 |
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From a personal perspective Philadelphia is a good choice should Otakon choose to expand and contend with the changes in anime fandom.
That said, realistically Philadelphia is not a good choice for several reasons, one of the biggest is cost. The rules are a bit different for throwing events in the city, and the costs passed onto the end-user (ie; us) would negate the advantages that the additional space affords. Coupled with other cost increases, it's just not a worthwhile option from my vantage point. Perhaps if a smarter administration wins the next mayoral race, but not with the group currently in there (or has anyone in the area noticed the lack of groups using the Convention Center and going to other venues?). The number used for the con has been in the Philly area code for as long as I remember... even before the 215/610 split, and that was almost a decade ago. It means nothing to this discussion. As someone who did a lot of work when the convention first opened up, and still gets to hear my old work when played in the convention center, I have a very guarded opinion on moving Otakon to a place where they couldn't even spell the name of the city properly (those who've been in the convention center before last year know what I'm talking about) |
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Shinobi X
 Posts: 42 Location: Sacramento, CA |
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I wish I was there...but I don't know where they do it...
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Jifty
Posts: 35 Location: Frostburg, MD |
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I wasn't aware that Baltimore owned Otakon. I know they have a vested interest in keeping it in B'more (Otakon brings in around $20 million each year), and local politics has been affected by it. there's been discussion on adding a convention hotel, which would add more rooms for guests and more space for panels and screenings. Anime is shaping Baltimore politics.
One other place people were talking about is the Washington Convention Center. I'd prefer it stay where it is, as I only have a 15 minute drive up Rt. 295 to get there. Personally, I don't care if it doesn't grow by much I think it's a good sized crowd as is. Who cares if Otakon isn't the biggest. If demand is becomes an issue, then Otakorp will be willing to have two per year or something. That, or some other Con will start up in D.C. or Philly to pick up the slack. |
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Cassandra
 Posts: 1356 Location: Birdsboro, PA |
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Baltimore does NOT OWN Otakon. The staff has looked at venues outside of Baltimore to move to and, so far, none of them have everything the Inner Harbor does. (Close hotels, close/cheap places to eat, the layout of the convention center, etc.) I don't know where you heard that Baltimore OWNED Otakon but that is incorrect.
IIRC, Philadelphia is no good because of two things: 1. The layout of the convention center is no good. Big pillars in the middle of the rooms and the like. 2. Everything is run by unions which hikes up the costs. Yes, Otakorp looked at DC but decided not to move there. ~Rachael Carothers Otakon staff - Correspondence Department |
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akicafe
Posts: 4 Location: Columbus, Ohio |
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Yeah, Baltimore doesn't own Otakon, if anything Otakorp, the nonprofit behind Otakon, owns it.
People are also forgetting that part of the large distance in attendance figures between anime expo and otakon is due to the fact that Anime Expo sells single-day passes, and runs for four days, whereas otakon only sells 3-day passes. I'm sure that if Otakon sold single day or dealers-only passes their attendance figures would be boosted by four to five figures easiley. With the addition of utilizing the mariner arena as well as other venues, Otakon was able to increase their cap by 3,000 this last year, with full usage of other facilities outside of the BCC (such as anime expo, which uses surrounding hotel space as well) Otakon could be well set for over 30,000 attendees. For those of you that noticed as well this year, there is a new hotel being constructed between the BCC and the stadium, this Hilton will be open in time for Otakon 2008 and will add a significantly large block of available rooms to the area. |
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PatrickD
Posts: 95 Location: California |
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If you want to compare Apples and Oranges (or AXpos and Otanges), keep in mind that the numbers AX reports are counting all WARM BODIES with a badge. Otakon's numbers only count paid attendees.
However, in order to better compare numbers, let's look at AX's paid attendance. AX had 40,647 people, but they had 32,930 paid attendees. (Yes, that means they had 7,717 other attendees like staff, guests, press, and dealers. Math is fun.) Now, if we break down that 32,930, just 16,291 "adults" paid for the full membership (4 days). Nearly 12,000 paid for single day. (The rest are 2-day or child memberships.) If AX dropped everything but the full membership or Otakon added back the single-day memberships, their attendance numbers might be a bit more comparable. However, at this time they are not...but once you factor in all the other variables, their numbers are not as far apart as they may seem at first glance. ...and I'm going to be sure to point this out in my year-end "Ten Largest Anime Conventions of 2006" article on AnimeCons.com. |
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1572 |
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Baltimore does what it can to encourage Otakon to stay where it is. They've got a good working relationship with the city and the local bussinesses and most of the hotels. It brings in a lot of revenue for the city so it only makes sense that they would want to encourage the con to stay.
NONE of that imples or in any way signifies ownership. Just because Baltimore likes having Otakon around doesn't mean they control it. Otakorp is in charge of the con, and if they decided to move tommorow, there's not a thing Baltimore could do to stop them. Every year people spread rumors that the con is moving, but it seems perfectly reasonable to leave it where it is for at least a little while longer. Honestly, it sounds to me like a lot of the people who are constantly hoping it'll move are more interested in a change of scenery than what might be best for the con. They're doing just fine in thier current digs, for now. |
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rkenshin21
 Posts: 32 Location: N.C. |
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I also wanted to add a Springhill Suites by marriot is opening close by as well. The sign for it said opening Fall 2006 so that will be avaliable for the con too. |
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jvowles
Otakon Representative
 Posts: 219 Location: Maryland |
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The entire above statement is patently untrue, as any cursory glance at our webpage's FAQ could tell you. Taken as a whole, I have to wonder whether the person in question has ever *been* to Otakon; he or she certainly hasn't paid much attention to what we've had to say on the matter. Otakon is a service mark of Otakorp, Inc., which is a nonprofit. The City of Baltimore holds no stake in the corporation or the convention, though of course it's in the city's best interests to keep a large convention in town. The Philadelphia Convention Center is simply not well-suited to our needs; the DC Convention Center has more promise, but is currently too expensive (and has other challenges). Baltimore has gone out of its way to ensure that we find it a comfortable home. We have excellent relationships with our facilities and all the local hotels. Oh, and all our phone numbers reach cel phones; we don't have a corporate HQ or permanent land line. -Jim Vowles President, Otakorp, Inc. Chairman, Otakon 2006 |
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The Xenos
 Posts: 1519 Location: Boston |
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I like Baltimore and its convention center. I've liked Otakon. Yet this year seemed a bit too over crowded and mismanaged. Maybe it was just my experience as a Hellsing fan and the events I went to or checked out, but over crowding, scheduling missteps, and inability by staff to manage those crowds seems to be a major problem.
Both the autograph signing (which was actually sketches for about 50 people) and Q&A after were poorly advertised, scheduled, and crowd managed. Plus a number of more normal panels seemed jam packed and you had to line up an hour or more in adbanced. I am seriously considering skipping it next year as it is quite an effort and cost to get down there. As it was I was temped to skip this year due to friends who normally go with me being busy with other things. Though when I heard Hellsing creator Hirano being there, I had to go. Though I still enjoyed parts despite the organization of a few events. I enjoyed the artist's alley. A friend had a booth there and I helped out. Also I loved the atmosphere and the other artits there too. I've been going to Otakon for a few years. It seems to be trying to get too big and try to attract too many people with too many huge guests. Of course, I think also the fandom is growing and more people just go to cons in general. I do understand the people running the con have a tough job. You can't quite turn people away, but at the same time I just feel Otakon has gotten too big. Still, I wish you the best of luck in figuring out these problems. |
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jvowles
Otakon Representative
Posts: 219 Location: Maryland |
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It's odd, because to us it felt like this year was far LESS crowded and congested than last year. A lot of members have reported that to us as well. I suppose it's a matter of perspective, and if you got screwed over on the main things you wanted to see, of course it's going to color your perceptions. We had a lot of last-minute schedule changes, and they *were* posted in front of every room -- every room sign was accurate, and the revised schedule was posted at the info desk, as always. As for the Hirano thing, he sprung the sketches on us at the last minute, and while that's something we *couldn't* plan for, the scheduling of the signings against the other stuff in the Camden lobby was something we should have planned for better. Frankly the demand for autographs has been increasing steadily for the last few years and we will probably make some significant changes next year. |
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jvowles
Otakon Representative
Posts: 219 Location: Maryland |
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Our rates did not go up ten dollars; they went up five dollars -- the cost of a milkshake or a jumbo mocha-frappa-wossname. It wound up being a bigger jump for some people, though, because we went with a single pre-reg rate of $50, and eliminated group discounts (a perennial source of frustration and abuse). The reasons for that were explained pretty exhaustively at the time, and while they were not popular, they were necessary. (A great number of people were getting more than $15 in combined discounts, which was simply unsustainable.) But the hotel costs have gone up across the board -- which hit us every bit as hard as it hit our members, and it WAS a big problem for many. There's not much we can do about it, considering that most of our hotels have no incentive to give us ANY discount, considering that they've sold out every year.
I have to take issue with the idea that we've "written off" any problems. On the contrary, we've wrestled with them for years, and staff visibility is something that we've looked at every year. There is certainly no consensus among those who complain about lack of visibility, and no clear solution to the problem. At a certain point the discussion was nothing more than people saying "you should be more visible!" and "you should wear brightly colored shirts" -- and many of the most vocal advocates have also been pushing for black t-shirts to sell to members. The point had been made. I was actually an advocate of vests, which are visible at distance, can be worn all weekend without getting ripe, and don't cost all that much. Since we'd need to buy several hundred of them, that matters. But the reality is that our voting membership is made up of our staff, and our staff prefers the black shirts by an overwhelming majority. They have voted consistently to keep the existing shirts -- though we may modify the design a bit to increase the visibility of the word "STAFF" on the front (it's HUGE on the back). |
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