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Post by ladykay on Mar 18, 2012 20:00:47 GMT -5
What did you like/not like about the entire event?
What should be done, brought back, or never seen again for 2013?
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Post by ladykay on Mar 18, 2012 22:36:39 GMT -5
You do not have to read the following, it's just my observations and ideas for 2013 kawa kon. Kinda long winded and excessivly early but I really wanted to make sure I covered everything I could before I forgot it!
Event:
First off, this was my first ever convention of anything, yay! This being said I was naturally confused anyway, the event schedule both lessened and added to that confussion. On paper it looked beautiful, very easy to read and understand. However, and I hate to say it, it seemed like events were thrown into the air and left where they landed.*
In next years convention I'd really like to see a little more organization and room placement consideration.
*(Ex: I'd have liked to see the themed (zombie survival!) events performed in the same room, and on the same day. Another event I went to was the Japanese Ghost Story Telling, I enjoyed this but in the booklet (which thank you so much for providing!) it seemed more like the horrors were going to be acted out - mega confusing but no biggie - sadly though right on the other side of the dividing wall a party was going on which kind of ruined the spooky setting)
Themes:
Loved the variety of themes and cultures since I'm new, but I did notice that the "anime" part of what was clearly meant to be an "Anime Convention" didn't shine as brightly as some of the other stuff.
I'd love to see the variety continued for next year, but with more anime tie-ins to keep the flow going.
Staff:
I enjoyed all of the events I was able to attend, the panelists made everything entertaining and informative in their own ways. The hard work from everyone behind the scenes really showed (just needed a pinch more organization)
As for security, THANK YOU SO MUCH! There was a clear and honest effort to stay out of the way, all while being easily found. (A tiny glitch popped up before the Masquerade, the whole hall thing seemed a little excessive. I also think that goes back to the whole organization thing though, a few signs or having the event in one of the downstairs rooms would have helped, at least then the commitment to the job thing would have been more understandable) They proved their skill Sunday after a bit of mischief, to those who caused it you know who you are and you totally suck.
Other:
I really would have liked to have seen more post-panel information passed out though, understandably not everyone can afford a website or buisnesscard, but a slip of paper to more info to help researching it later on would have been appreciated. (Thank you to all who did have the buisness cards or gave out websites during the panel! I wasn't able to attend everything though and would have loved a table set up that had all this info on it, if there was such a table and I missed it-OOPS!)
Venders! Yay shopping!!! It's downstairs! Where's the elevator?!?! ...What elevator? Haha, no really where is it? Ok yeah I have perfectly functioning legs, but not everyone does, and money likes to move. PLEASE next year find a different location for the vendors, those stairs were a real pain. (Again, if there was an easier way to get there and I missed it - OOPS!)
I don't know about everyone else, but I got pretty famished. There were only 2 vendors selling yummies (which were japanese, and too overpriced to get more than just a "try-it"), and who would want to waste valuable time walking to Mcdonalds? 2013, food please, DRINKS GOD YES! And please something that someone with a minimum wage paycheck can afford (like me!) Forgive me if I missed anything obvious, I was lost and confused!
Keeping with the above observation, I was a little confused on the "teas", which you had to pay $5 to get into, so I never got to experience it. I think a better idea would have been to hold themed "brunches" (I'm not a tea person, please don't hold it against me!). I also liked the idea of the bento demonstration (which I missed...) and I was kind of sad that there was a limit to who could make one, I would have enjoyed something that everyone could do and enjoy (even if you had to pay extra for it).
Again, going back to the observation above, I know there was a price cut for people who payed for the whole weekend, I'd like to see a sort of ultimate pass that would allow people into the extra events without having to pay for it at registration separately. (One lump price ahead of time!)
I was expecting more hands on events (which looking back, I think I missed most of them...oops). The competitions that I did see were fun, a little more activity would have been great (woah, not the jock kind, scary huh..) and in a perfect world with perfect weather we would all do this outside of course and get some fresh air.
I did notice the few events with age restrictions, if it could happen I think the other spectrum of the generation should be looked at more closely, the competitions I saw didn't seem to have age levels which put the younger people at a slight disadvantage. Or perhaps there could be panels for specific age groups, rife with lots of laughs, noise, and glitter to catering to those small bundles of attention deff....oh shiney.....glitter........so sparkly...........
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Post by supergeekgirl on Mar 19, 2012 14:43:55 GMT -5
I was happy to read your commentary! This is the first really great commentary on the con I've read this year.
I agree on the theme rooms, and that was going to be the plan for next year if the themes caught on... but they didn't, so either we have to be something like a "little ASTL" to make the most people happy or just forget about the con altogether. The tracks were too confusing for most people and disappointed too many. It was our attempt to be something other than an anime con, to set ourselves apart from other cons in St. Louis since we thought there were too many.
I like that sort of "multipass" idea. Might use that. We're also going to cut out one of the "pay" events next year. As for the ones there were... the Host Party has always been paid, mostly to limit the number of attendees so that it feels private and also because we buy the food for it from the hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel disappointed us this year in that area, so that event will probably become just a themed evening tea free to all attendees. The tea ceremony is the same way, and it costs us quite a bit of money to put on. We can't afford to give tea ceremony for everyone, so we sell tickets. Maybe we can do free tickets next year. Don't know yet. We'll look at our budget. The bento thing... that was a panelist coming in to run it. She requested such a limited number because she had to pre-buy the stuff for it and wasn't sure how many would actually pay her back for the very, very expensive supplies. We were a bit afraid she wouldn't even sell the 8 tickets she had. We know now that people are willing to pay for the chance to take home a bento kit, so we can probably open it for more. The doll tea was a brunch. I can probably tell them it should be called a brunch next year so everyone knows why it costs extra.
We were trying something new with the tracks, and they seemed to work at the con, but the post-con feedback has told a different story. Apparently, everyone actually DESPISED the tracks. They are entirely my fault. I went to Dragon*Con for the first time this year and got inspired. This must have been the bad sort of inspiration.
Anyway, we were also trying a bit to be... not an anime con. There are already two other anime cons here in St. Louis, and we were just sort of the low guys on the totem poll, the little con you went to just because it as there. We wanted to become something else, but everyone liked us the way we were. We just applied our usual Kawa Kon logic (fun event = theming + tons of sweets) to subjects other than anime and pushed the anime programming aside a bit. Darn us for trying something new and looking like idiots for it. :/
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Post by candybkins on Mar 20, 2012 1:22:37 GMT -5
I have some good and some bad things to say...but MAINLY good.
1. The dealers room was AMAZING 2. The Venue was GREAT for pictures. 3. The change up was pretty interesting. I feel that maybe more anime stuff should be added to the next con, but I did likw how you changed it up. 4. Things were a little too smashed together, I liekd how there were so many things to do, but at the same time there were a lot of things that I couldnt go to that I wanted to due to the crampedness. 5. The staff were great and were really staff ya know, they paid attention to whatr they needed to and were lax with things that needed to be relaxed upon. 6. I loved the idea of the two typed of balls. 7. The locations of things was a little confusing, and I believe that there should have been some signs pointing to things. 8. I didnt get to go to many things as it was but the things that I did go to I mostly liked. 9. The only thing I didnt liek abotu some panels was that they were more of just talking when they seemed liek they would be more interactive and fun. 10. I had a great time, even though I was very sick and in pain afterwards lol.
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