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NEWS: Exclusive: Ohayocon Convention Reveals New Senior Leadership Team




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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18458
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 10:28 am Reply with quote
Interesting relocation choice, since the Dayton facility is only about 1/3 of the size of the Columbus CC. (But I haven't been to Ohayocon in several years, so maybe they weren't using all the space anyway?) But this facility is newly-remodeled, and it's almost an hour less driving time for me to get to, so I may consider checking it out next year.
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2312
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 4:29 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
Interesting relocation choice, since the Dayton facility is only about 1/3 of the size of the Columbus CC. (But I haven't been to Ohayocon in several years, so maybe they weren't using all the space anyway?)

I think it's fair to assume that Ohayocon had been looking at their internal numbers and made the judgement call that Columbus was no longer viable.
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Takkun4343



Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Posts: 1579
Location: Englewood, Ohio
PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 6:17 pm Reply with quote
And so Ohayocon moves closer to where I am. The question is, will I actually go this time?
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Samsam9985



Joined: 13 Nov 2024
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 8:16 pm Reply with quote
I tried to not let the politics of the convention skew my perception of ohayocon. However i have no faith in the current state of affairs or that the new named leadership is anything more than puppetheads to the regime that caused all the strife in the first place.

Also to address the other elephant in the article, the relocation alone is enough to make me not attend the convention. Its actually an hour closer to me but Ohayocon in Columbus has been my "home" since 2012. But the Dayton location is a dud. There are no hotels nearby and there are limited food options where as Columbus had a full food court and several nearby food chains and local restaurants that could accommodate the influx of business.
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Theodore Relic



Joined: 21 Aug 2017
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 8:45 pm Reply with quote
I went earlier this year after not going for maybe 11 years (I used to go frequently in the 00s, sometimes with my nieces and nephews), and let's just say it felt like a hollow shell of what it had been. One of my nieces, who is now 30, absolutely refused to go because of what was going on. And with the move to Dayton, since I live in Columbus and the Convention Center is just a 20-minute bus ride away, I won't be going back.
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 11:46 pm Reply with quote
Samsam9985 wrote:
There are no hotels nearby and there are limited food options where as Columbus had a full food court and several nearby food chains and local restaurants that could accommodate the influx of business.

These are legitimate reasons not to go, but the first half of your post made it sound like your mind was made up even if they stayed.

When talking with people who work within the industry, there really wasn't a clearly defined "good guy" in the whole incident. Ohayocon's senior leadership wasn't spectacular, but the people who eventually became COVEN were factually wrong at nearly every point in the process, and the protests to support COVEN resulted in brigading and harassment tactics that broke rules and laws. The concern in the longer term is that the antis will harass other cons in the area as well, which could result in all of those cons being either crippled or dead.

All because one man threw a fit over being wrong.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 14, 2024 10:07 am Reply with quote
Joe Mello wrote:
Key wrote:
Interesting relocation choice, since the Dayton facility is only about 1/3 of the size of the Columbus CC. (But I haven't been to Ohayocon in several years, so maybe they weren't using all the space anyway?)

I think it's fair to assume that Ohayocon had been looking at their internal numbers and made the judgement call that Columbus was no longer viable.


It's quite possible. The local convention I used to go to had moved to a bigger location in another city because it was on track to be too big for the venue. After a couple of years at the bigger location, they switched back because the attendance numbers didn't continue that growth.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18458
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Thu Nov 14, 2024 1:16 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
It's quite possible. The local convention I used to go to had moved to a bigger location in another city because it was on track to be too big for the venue. After a couple of years at the bigger location, they switched back because the attendance numbers didn't continue that growth.

Not quite the same situation here, as the convention had been held at the Hyatt Regency attached to the Columbus CC (and at least partially used the CC itself many years) since 2004. If the convention had shrunk or wasn't continuing to grow, they could have just scaled back the space they were using.

And I do agree with other posters that the biggest advantages of the CCC for convention-hosting purposes are all the close/linked hotels and the in-house food court. If the Dayton location doesn't have those advantages then that leaves me more concerned. (A sizable convention I attended last month in Madison, WI partly overcame the on-site food service weakness by inviting in several food trucks, but that could be less feasible for a winter convention.)
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Alec D



Joined: 16 Nov 2024
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Sat Nov 16, 2024 3:13 am Reply with quote
It's kinda sad to see a local event go through some rough events. Man Ohio convention scene has had drama.

Looks like volunteers with leadership roles had differences with the actual ownership which spilled public when the volunteers decided to make a post on the initial web page trying to accuse "union busting" when it was just unhappiness behind the scenes.

But changing a logo when you don't own an event just makes the ownership look like they allowed folks to feel like they had more power than they actually did which shows some of the mismanagement steps. Hopefully the volunteers who separated and made their own event focus on their thing and move on and let this event try to pick up the pieces fairly. Ohayocon was always For Profit until they tried to start exploring a Not For Profit space.. and it looks like their attempt for exploring that is done after suffering losses their last event. And it looks like that volunteer network is kind of defunct after their successful "boycott". It just looks bad for both sides.. and I hope they just both move on and find successes in their endeavors.
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PandAnime



Joined: 25 Nov 2024
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2024 11:42 pm Reply with quote
I haven't been since. Lots to learn about what not to do here.
A con like Anime Detour should take notes.
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