+

[ScarletRhapsody]

Okay, the high school / undergraduate volunteer and community service work side of me is speaking...

Can't afford the badge? Volunteer! Friends can't afford the badge? Volunteer! It takes plenty of man power to run an event. $20 might seem like the difference between having lunch or not for a college student, but if you still like con-going and are on a student budget, there's always the volunteer / staff option. Besides, it's fun to volunteer with a group of friends too.

Trust me, you get a better appreciation for cons when you're behind the scenes.

/ two cents

[Vash_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Hazel Chaz

Oh, hanging out with your friends at your own place or party is fine. But crashing someone else's event is not cool. It's not just a coincidence that all those friends were on campus that day.

And being broke does not mean you have a right to attend every event.

We weren't crashing anything.


And look, this isn't a place to be bashing people. That means everyone. This is basically a thread to express what we thought about the con. Not what we think about the people for not buying a pass.

Let's face it, people will not always do what you want. So chill. We get what you are saying...but do you understand our side at all?

Anyways, I'm done. Now break it up guys.

[Eurobeat King]

Originally Posted by ScarletRhapsody

The HUH?
+ May not have a lot of time to upload photos / report. I still have NDK to take care of and New York Anime Fest this weekend.

more like The WHAT?!

you were at NDK and i didn't see you all weekend? how was that possible?

When I make these feedback threads, sometimes they do get out-of-hand with off-topic posts, and drama. Such is the case with this one. I will ask that everyone please stop the drama. If someone posts something negative about the con, try to respect their opinion since it is their opinion about the experience they had at the con. Thanks.

[daoutlaw]

Originally Posted by Eurobeat King

more like The WHAT?!

you were at NDK and i didn't see you all weekend? how was that possible?

It's actually my NDK report she's taking care of. She's the webmaster, after all.

[Eurobeat King]

Originally Posted by daoutlaw

It's actually my NDK report she's taking care of. She's the webmaster, after all.

oh i see.. cometothinkofit, did i see YOU all weekend as well? it's a small con, but easy to miss people..

[daoutlaw]

Originally Posted by Eurobeat King

oh i see.. cometothinkofit, did i see YOU all weekend as well? it's a small con, but easy to miss people..

http://www.cosplay.com/photo/2270250/
^ sure did see me, chief.

and yeah, it really is easy to miss/lose people there *which surprised the hell out of me*

[Eurobeat King]

Originally Posted by daoutlaw

http://www.cosplay.com/photo/2270250/
^ sure did see me, chief.

and yeah, it really is easy to miss/lose people there *which surprised the hell out of me*

oh, yeah.. i gotcha. Thanks!

I'm done posting here, but again to everyone, cool with the drama. Thanks.

[AM Chair]

As a fellow chair, I agree with Chaz's concerns. Ghosting has been a growing problem for the smaller events in the last 5 years. Gotta find a happy medium somewhere. People want the small intimate con feel, but if they want superior entertainment, revenue must be raised just as surely as you have to pay to get into whatever KISS FM is putting on. J-rock bands are demanding at least $1000 for the weekend as well hotel rooms off the con, and lately, some VA guests are picking up on the "appearance fee" scheme (where once they came for the shear networking to make connections in the industry and going to cons was an investment).
When you go to these events, appreciate that whatever you experience costs something. A hotel room, a fee to appear, stuff like that. If we don't make the numbers to cover cost, hotels and whomever we owe have little understanding or patience. It's business.

In our esteemed partners case, holding Mikomicon on campus exacts a high rental fee of student building and common areas, so the memberships were high in the past to cover that. This year it was a case of using volume (high numbers of people paying a low price) to cover those costs and ghosting hurts the event in that regard.

Cons are always about hanging out with your friends, along with a little something extra to share while you're there. Small events provide time and space you'd never get at the larger ones. I think we've reached critical mass in California with the shear number of cons we can all attend. People now have no fewer than 7 events to choose from up and down the state, a huge increase from the first two since 1992. You can't go to them all these days, but the ones you DO go to, please support them financially if you can. Perhaps a "donations" can in the hang out open zone would work. Kinda like public radio; you listen to it and they need public support now and then.

Con organizers despise having to chase people around checking for badges. It's bad PR. But if a solution could be found so that those wishing to hang out could support the event in some small way, it would be wonderful if not abused. It's a great con for the area and it offers a unique experience. Mikomicon reminds me of those school fairs I used to experience in Japan. I hope it will continue for as long as we have.

[Hazel Chaz]

Originally Posted by AM Chair

People now have no fewer than 7 events to choose from up and down the state, a huge increase from the first two since 1992.

More than that...

January: 1,2. Anime Los Angeles, Sac-Anime.
February: 3. Animation On Display/AOD.
April: 4. Anime Conji (new, in San Diego). We'll ignore the new Anaheim Comic Con that Wizard World is starting up.
May: 5. FanimeCon
July: 6. Anime Expo (and we'll gloss over Comic-Con in San Diego)
September: 7,8. Sac-Anime (they do two a year), MikomiCon
October: 9,10. Ani-Magic, Yaoi-Con
November: 11. Pacific Media Expo

Also over in Arizona and Nevada, which are "local" for a lot of Californians:

May: 12. Phoenix Comicon
June: 13. Anime Kaigi (new, in Flagstaff)
September: 14. Anime Vegas
October: 15. Saboten-Con (Phoenix)

We'll gloss over Fannatikufest (March) in St. George, Utah, which is only "local" for the Victorville-to-Vegas crowd.

Plus there are two or three "Animeland" convention-like things, that I haven't checked out yet and haven't seen any conreports on -- Animeland Tucon (Tucson), Animeland Vegas, and so forth.

And, as Sarah mentioned earlier, there are a lot of Cosplay gatherings organized and announced right here on Cosplay.com. That's a big increase just in the last five years, people meeting other people and coordinating things online and doing picnics and Little Tokyo get-togethers and the like, all over the state (as well as across the country). So people who want something free to attend have plenty of choices too.

[Eurobeat King]

Let's just stick to the subject about what this topic is about, and that's just how those who went to MikomiCon post about their thoughts on the con.

This thread isn't about other cons, just this one con, MikomiCon.

Thanks.

[FiveRings]

I never said people don't have to pay for covention content. My feedback (this is a feedback thread after all) regarding Mikomicon is that they had nothing worth paying for.

I suggested Vensy and Vash_Fanatic come to Mikomicon because I would be there photographing and I could shoot them while I was there. They arrived and asked me if there was anything worth paying for and I said no. They had already missed both band performances and from what I had seen, there wasn't anything else to see. I suggested they get a badge if they wanted to see the masquerade, but they didn't care to see it. I don't know what other people's reasons for not paying were. But that was me actively looking for something to do in between shoots.

Hazel_Chaz, how many people did you get at your potluck picnic? 50+? That was free and that was done in one forum thread. But it demonstrates that people DO have a lot of choice now which means you can't just throw up a website and expect people to pay. If Mikomicon's forums weren't working, that's on them. I just checked and saw new posts dated last week which shows me it's working for some people. Their main site right now says to provide feedback on cosplay.com, not their own forums. So either way, Mikomicon owes a lot to cosplay.com.

@Super No 1, you're right, I'm just 1 photographer and my presence won't affect ALA. That doesn't mean I have to give them my money though.

@Hazel_Chaz, your first two replies didn't even apply to me, but insinuating that my friends are somehow bad people for not paying for an event that didn't offer them anything, seemed rude to me. Would you have asked people to leave your picnic if they didn't bring something?

I'm not trying to stir up drama and I haven't attacked anybody, but that's my honest feedback for Mikomicon and it can be summed up in one line: Give attendees a reason to pay and they will.

[Eurobeat King]

I know more drama will come from the last post, so rather than delete it, to prevent more drama from happening, i'm going to close this thread and make another one, so that people can give their feedback about MikomiCon. Hopefully that thread will have less-drama..