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[Hazel Chaz]

Apologies to everyone, I was late getting on Cosplay.com this year. I'll catch up as quickly as I can.

Originally Posted by E. R. Laurell

... I was a bit disappointed with the events Doki Doki Maid cafe put on.

I went up with a group of friends to the 18th floor on Friday to try to attend their maid cafe event, and it turned out that the staffers there had no idea where the maids were, and everyone waiting in line was turned away and told that there was no event for the night...

This concerns us greatly, and I believe Alec is addressing this.

Originally Posted by E. R. Laurell

... I've been to other maid cafes at conventions, where they have scheduled sessions so you know exactly when you'll be able to get in ...

The scheduling system sounds like something we should consider. I'll highlight this for Alec's attention.

Originally Posted by Enkai

The karaoke room! The last time I was at ALA was 2 years ago, and I don't remember that awesome software that lists all the people in line. That was very useful, and the staff was all very helpful.

That's new since your last time. It's very nice, isn't it? Cathy got the recommendation from a professional KJ we know, and jumped on it.

Originally Posted by Enkai

My husband was excited by the addition of the pachinko machines in the gaming room (mostly since, due to the language barrier, he couldn't figure it out when we went to Japan back in November)

Some years we have them, some years we don't. There's a guy who brings them and he doesn't make it to the con every year.

Originally Posted by Enkai

Are the AMV categories self-selected, because 3/5 of the "drama" videos really should have been in action. Just because it's not mindless beating people up all the time does NOT mean that it's not an action theme.

I'll call this to the attention of the Events Division head.

[Hazel Chaz]

Originally Posted by Amethyst Nat

-Con Suite is awesome for free snacks, and better yet, free breakfast!! It was a little cramped though and it's good they have rules for it, though maybe they could get a bigger room net year? Speaking of food, there needs to be more food options at the con as the restaraunts in the lobby are expensive and not everyone can venture out more then a few blocks out of the hotel, especially at night.

There's no bigger room available on that floor, but we'll look into it.

There was a restaurant guide in your program book. We can't offer more food options ourselves, the hotel only has the places it has, so what's left is off-site. Some places deliver, and sometimes people gather up a huge group to go walking down the street together. Another option, incidentally, would be to take a taxi.

Originally Posted by Amethyst Nat

-A lot of panels sounded fun, shame I only got to go to a couple of them. I guess the fact that they often start off schedule is good for those who are late, but tends to get disorganized.

We do try to start things on time; the only part we really have a great deal of control over is cutting people off when they run late. I was late to two of the things I was on, for example! We'll try to do better next time.

Originally Posted by DarkCloudInc

I wasn't aware of the free photoshoot only until I had read this thread. Perhaps more signs?

The Photo Studio had signs up, but you may not have seen them. We might want to put a sign out on the pool deck about it. I'll pass that on to our Signs department.

Originally Posted by tsubomii

I had a horrible experience this weekend, from almost being assaulted by the security guards to getting laughed at by the staff when I was crying, trying to get a refund for my badge since it was being taken away. Keep in mind that I'm a 4'11" girl, I really don't pose much of a threat. It makes me sad because I worked hard on my cosplay stuff and buying the badges and it was all for nothing.
Yeah.. this was my first time at ALA and my last, but this was just my experience. I'm glad everyone else had fun though.

I hope nothing like this ever happens to me again, I'm so scarred. But I would like an apology from the staff for treating me the way that they did..

This concerns me greatly. Would you please contact me directly? I can be reached here, or as Hazelchaz on Skype, AIM, and Yahoo messaging systems.

[Hazel Chaz]

Originally Posted by iaShakezula

The Music area seem to get only a few audience , I wonder if there was a way to use the hotel monitor in the hallway to show who was playing in there.People are very visual, if they see an image of the band then it will get their attention.

I'm also wondering if we can have a "Now playing -- Next concert will be" set of signs. I'll suggest that to our Publications Division.

Originally Posted by CodeShogun

Actually, there's Homestuck drawing event on late Friday night. I was there but we got move to much bigger room when it got bit crowded. It was pretty fun event with everyone just talking and chilling.

Originally Posted by Seismogenic

Gah! I would have been so down to go to that!
I wonder, then, since informal things like this apparently just pop up, if it'd be beneficial to have some sort of physical message board in the con space for announcing impromptu gatherings.

Well, we put it in the program book, in the pocket program, on the grid we put on the walls, and the signs for the rooms. Not sure how "impromptu" this one was!

[Hazel Chaz]

Originally Posted by shadowbuster44

... I just come to ALA to cosplay, see friends, and I don't get a badge cause I don't really go into the places that need them.

Dude, WE'RE ALL THERE TO SEE OUR FRIENDS. That's why we're renting the hotel. The reason all of them are there is because the convention is there. It's not just a coincidence.

If you decide that being a part of the convention isn't worth it, then meet your friends at some other place or on some other day. There's 52 weeks until next year's convention, you have plenty of time to find them.

Decide if it's worth it to support the convention, or do something else with your time and money. Don't freeload off of our efforts by scamming your way around our badge-checkers.

Originally Posted by ScarletRhapsody

Leading up to the con, ALA has made posts on Facebook about checking badges at all times. This doesn't surprise me though. However, it was still easy to sneak into badged areas. I didn't really see this enforced until Saturday morning / early afternoon. Even then, it was from the door from the Marriott lobby to the deck. I even caught eye of a tourist or two chillaxing by the pool.

What I'm trying to say is, if you keep saying you plan to check badges at the pool deck, follow through with it. Don't say one thing on Facebook and not completely follow through during con time.

We do the best we can to cover the badge-checking, without getting too annoying about it; and it's difficult as the crowds increase. We do our best. Next year we'll ask the hotel to help us with more of their security.

We also were trying to be accommodating of the occasional bewildered tourist who was just trying to get out to the pool.

Follow-through is certainly something we care about. And not just with the badge-checking, and people promising to be on staff. We had some people offer to do several panels, and then backed out at the last minute when we asked them to do one or two of the ones they offered. This is something I'm going to ask our appropriate departments to try to tighten up.

Originally Posted by Kresnik

My biggest gripe though is the badge situation. I don't mind that there are so many restricted areas now. It's to be expected. However, I don't see the justification for the $50 price tag. I hate to compare ALA to anything, but Expo, a far larger convention, has a very similar price tag (at least before the spikes)... What I do feel, though, is that there should be different kinds of badges offered for different people at different prices.

Wasn't Anime Expo $75 at the door last summer? And I doubt it'll go lower this year.

We do offer different badges at different prices, specifically we offer a one-day badge for $35. We also offer a pre-registration discount -- it's cheapest the earlier you sign up. There's a limit to how much we can cut costs, because we do have a lot of things that need to be paid for -- and with our membership cap (you'll recall we announced a cap in 2011 and 2012 too, but this is the first year we actually had to shut down Registration) that means the more we give away in discounts, the less money we can spend on making the convention wonderful.

If, however, you find it is too expensive for you to attend and have a good time, you might find your time and energy is better spent elsewhere, rather than pay money you don't feel you can afford.

Originally Posted by ScarletRhapsody

I'll keep this short, but I really think the ALA

website needs something like this:

http://2013.arisia.org/PartyHostingGuide

Arisia's policy refers to open room parties, and closed parties. Anime Los Angeles does not have much if any in the way of open room parties. So far I think what our Operations crew is doing is fine, we just need them to do a little more patrolling and coordinating with the hotel especially regarding people being noisy on the upper floors, and any kind of smoking inside the hotel.

Originally Posted by hippiewriter

Some signs stating that hallways outside hotel rooms are quiet areas at night would help, or maybe it would help if there were some staff members assigned to checking the halls periodically and shooing drunken people partying in their halls back into their hotel rooms. There's nothing wrong with room parties, but it's not cool to have a party going on in the hall outside other people's rooms in the early hours of the morning when some people need to sleep.

If people are noisy in the halls on the 2nd floor or above, please see if you can let our Ops people know.

The first floor is designated as the "noisy" floor -- if it's a problem, please come down to Ops and we'll give you earplugs.

Originally Posted by scree

i didn't notice anyone being drunk or too terribly outrageous but some people were being really obnoxious like the navi on Thursday night that wouldn't be quite for like 2 hours in the lobby, or the guys that decided to start fake fighting and wrestling in the middle of the hallway (ballroom level) on Saturday night. there were other instances like this but nothing i could not just ignore and walk by.

While I'm pleased that they chose to be noisy in the lobby instead of in front of the hotel rooms, I'm not so happy about people blocking traffic. If you see that again, alerting our Ops team may help.

Originally Posted by haaku1234

... Also! On the issue of drunk people--the only room booze are allowed in is the Rum Party (at least, from my understanding), but con can't keep people who are ALREADY drunk from going anywhere. Just like you can't really keep a drunk person from walking down the street unless they're causing chaos and bothering people.

That's actually not quite correct, the "Rum Party" is actually a no-alcohol pirate event. But you're correct in that people who legally are allowed to drink can, in fact, drink in this hotel.

Originally Posted by Saturn Neko

... Thinking about it, it was too cramped, I had a elaborate costume and i had to switch out because moving around was getting annoying.
I love the small welcoming feeling of cons

We are very concerned about the crowding. Too many people in the space also means it's harder to be consistent about badge-checking, to catch people bringing big weapons into the place, pickpockets and thieves take advantage of us -- We really need to have fewer people.

Originally Posted by NekoMimi16

Venue: WAAAAAAAAAAY too crowded. I understand that once a con has a hotel/space that they like and who likes them they don't want to move, but there's little space to walk. I had to constantly ask people to move because they were having gatherings at the elevator lobby, on the escalator platforms, on the staircases, and in front of doors in general.

The crowds, the crowds. We need fewer people or a bigger space. We can't have a bigger space before 2016, so we'll have to deal with it.

Originally Posted by Enkai

I heard somewhere that ALA is in a contract with the LAX Marriott till 2014 or 2015 (I think it was facebook when ALA announced that the Marriott was booked to capacity). If that is the case, maybe registration should be capped a little lower. It was really crowded this year, and it did affect the overall enjoyment of the con.

I agree.

Originally Posted by Enkai

... We were on the ground floor this year, which was a mixed blessing. Not having to deal with elevators was nice, but people really need to learn how to be quiet in the halls at 3AM when people are trying to sleep.

The first floor is the "noisy floor." When you reserve your room, send an e-mail to our "hotel2014 at animelosangeles.org" address and ask to be put on a quieter floor. There are a smaller number of rooms on 1 than on 2 through 5, so we like to just set them aside for people who can sleep through the rowdiness.

Or stop by Ops and we'll give you earplugs.

Originally Posted by Amethyst Nat

-, I guess there did seem to be more people this year. They did a good job of organizing the pool area so it wouldn't be swamped this year, but my problem was the lobby was very crowded and so were the elevators. I don't agree that ALA should move though, I really like the marriot location. Maybe if they open more spaces for the con?

We've already got all the space. There's no more space to open up.

[Hazel Chaz]

Originally Posted by haaku1234

A few years back, ALA would make an announcement at the dance--which started much earlier--around 10 that all minors had to go back to their room because of the Curfew. But, I noticed they stopped this and instead just started the dance later.

This is something I'll mention to our Events Division head.

Originally Posted by OniCourseMusha

Believe it or not. I volunteered to both have a Ballroom dance lesson workshop and panel mostly as a guide to formal ball at other anime conventions because of Starlight Ball. The dance lesson was all on me. But I am not officially part of Starlight Ball, just a guy who loves to help people learn how to dance and prepare for the formal dance. I might think about applying to staff mainly as long I can organize the dance lessons and assisting attendees. I was happy that I can set the dance lesson before the Starlight Ball. I will do it again next year!

Thank you for introducing us to the basic steps!

To explain our procedure: you are volunteering to take charge of one or more Program items, which goes through our program and panel submission system. You don't need to be on staff to teach dancing. (And since typically staff put in 12 or more hours during the con, I don't think you want to do THAT much teaching!)

Originally Posted by OniCourseMusha

Also can anyone advertise the Starlight Ball a lot more on into the main website and put the dress code rule? I've seen couple of people lined up being too curious that they failed to research that the event is a dress code event. I had to tell few people who lined up that they most likely can't get in depending on staff. Plus it builds more people who aren't dressed up for the event to show up. I understand towards the end of the ball dress code check is pretty laid back and the event is dying but people who dressed up feels like they've been cheated when they see few more people inside aren't properly dressed.

Originally Posted by vgc

I felt bad for feeling this way, but I did feel cheated when I saw people without formal attire inside the formal towards the end of it. I dragged my dress onto an airplane and took the time to put it on just because of this event. I agree that it should be on the front page of the website.

I agree that the dress code shouldn't come as a surprise. The first thing we should do is emphasize that it's a Formal Dance. Lynn and I dressed up and came in for a song or two, and we wore our best "Kristi Smart" vests...

Originally Posted by OniCourseMusha

So, I checked out Regency Dance after 2 years. What's the big deal about that event at the end of the con? I couldn't get into it and it has never change when I last went 2 years ago. My Ballroom Dance Lesson and Cosplay Ballroom/Social dancing 101 made more sense.

The Regency Dance is a little thing we do so that there's SOMETHING going on at the very end of the convention, while everything else is being packed up and loaded out. We don't expect everyone to enjoy every event at the convention, but the people who do participate in it seem to enjoy themselves.

I could easily see other "easy to do in an empty room" program items being considered. Hmmm, maybe I'll pass that on.

[Hazel Chaz]

Originally Posted by Enkai

The hubby and I were confused at how the hall cosplay awards were given. We were wearing our Nobunaga and Nouhime costumes (avatar), and one of the judges gave my husband one of the big shiny rosettes for his costume. The hubby and I both agreed that honestly, I probably should have been the one to get that ...

I apologize for the oversight. The Hall Costume Award system is, by its very nature, somewhat random, and often the ribbons go to the bigger shinier more obvious accomplishments. I will bring this to the attention of the team.

Did the judge spend much time talking to the two of you about what you did, or was it more of a "stop and give away an award and keep on moving" kind of thing?

Originally Posted by LKD

My only complaint was the masquerade. Me and my friends aren't entering it again. We weren't upset with the judging when it happened but the anger came after she had multiple staff and judges come up saying that they wanted to give more and other awards to her but couldn't because they could only give them to beginners or something along those lines since they all said different things.

The fact that they would keep coming to apologize is ridiculous. Obviously something is wrong with the system with one person apologizing, but staff after staff is just bullshit.

What's this? I would be very interested in the specific particulars. I've heard this rumor going around, but I haven't been able to match it up with any names. Would you please ask your friend to PM me directly? I can be reached here, of course, or as "hazelchaz" via Skype, AIM, and Yahoo messenger.

The only thing I can think of that matches up to "...only give them to beginners" sounds like a confusion about the Division system -- Novice, Journeyman, Open Division. But I'd be very interested to get your friend's name and hear her direct testimony.

Originally Posted by Amethyst Nat

-I always enjoy the cosplay repair room and those helping out and the variety of materials available. But one thing I have noticed every year is that they don't have detangler. Also my friend claimed they were not helpful to her.

The suggestion of detangler -- good idea, I'll pass that on.

"Not helpful" -- please ask her to PM me the specifics. She can reach me here, or as Hazelchaz on Skype, AIM, or Yahoo messenger.

[Hazel Chaz]

Originally Posted by scree

... couldnt buy my badge on thursday night. this is a minor complaint but i really wish i could have bought my badge then but meh.

We've had at-con reg open on Thursday some years. This year we had a new situation with the hotel and weren't even sure when we'd be able to set up, so we didn't want to add the complication of dealing with cash sales too. I will see if there's any way we can bring that back next year.

Originally Posted by Saturn Neko

I went on day zero and absolutely loved it! was bummed that we didn't get the guide on that day, would have been nice to plan things on Thursday to be fully ready for Friday.

You picked up your badge at 7:43 pm. The program books were still being stuffed into goodie bags, about an hour or so later they had the bags out and you could pick one up. The pocket program (map + schedule) had been misplaced and didn't appear on the floor until Saturday.

That being said, one of the things we do is we print a giant blow-up of the schedule grid and post it on the wall at the west end of the foyer (just past the restrooms, Information Volunteers & Operations, and the Chairman's couch) so you can get a jump on seeing what's when. Although it's possible that it wasn't up on the wall quite that early!

[Hazel Chaz]

Originally Posted by Access

I talked about this with my group and one thing we all agreed on would be to give artists the larger downstairs area and put the dealers in the smaller upstairs area (even if that means fewer dealers or smaller booths). None of us had much interest in the dealers hall, it seemed like pretty much the same subset of dealers from other larger cons, or past cons, perhaps some more unique/exclusive dealers would change that though.

Some of us did spend a good amount of time in artists alley (commissions, etc.) The artists' alley room seemed kinda small, and their space was limited, a larger room could accommodate more artists given that artists alley fills up very quickly.

Originally Posted by hippiewriter

Overall, the con was pretty good this year. I was stuck working in the Artist Alley for most of the con, but I still had a pretty good time. I met a lot of cool people and profits were okay. I do wish that we had more space in the AA, though. 3 feet of space is really cramped. If the tables were 8 feet instead and we could have 4 feet of space that would be a little better, but the ideal situation would be for us to have a bigger room, or maybe even split the AA into two rooms if need be to give us the space for full tables.

Originally Posted by scree

... Dealers hall was meh like 3-4 different sword shops and a few anime paraphernalia shops i typically dont buy much from the dealers hall but i was less likely to buy anything from the shops provided.

Originally Posted by chireiyu

The dealer's hall felt extremely small to me. For the amount of people that go to ALA I was expecting it to be a bit... bigger? Nothing there really caught my eye. Though I didn't really have anything in mind, I was hoping to find one or two items that would make me go "oh! I never thought of wanting it but I know I need it in my life!"

It's always hard to strike the right balance. Bigger tables and 25% fewer artists? With the number of artists trying to get in, that would not go over well. Eliminate the dealers room (or cut it in half) and give AA more space? Eliminate AA (or cut it in half) and give Dealers more space? Each year we try to see if there's a better arrangement to how we use our rooms, and each year we have to make compromises to fit it all in.

The last time I checked, our Dealers Room is proportionally smaller than other conventions, and our Artists' Alley is larger. (That is, while we're 10% the size of Anime Expo in terms of "warm bodies," our Dealers Room is less than 10% their size while our Artists' Alley is more than 10% their size.) We are constrained by the space we have, and we have a contract through 2015 so we can't change things too much before then. We certainly are looking at finding a larger venue for the 2016 convention but it's far too early to announce anything about that.

We try to have a good variety of dealers in the room. We're looking at picking which dealers we let in, instead of a strict first-come-first-serve approach, to increase the variety.

Originally Posted by chireiyu

The only thing I purchased was a plushie which I now know is just an arpakasso knockoff... so I feel quite ripped off since I could've gotten a legit one for the same price or cheaper had I waited 7 months...

As far as knockoffs, if you spot that please call it to the attention of the Dealers Room staff. Dealers who flout our no-bootlegs rule can be thrown out, or not invited back, but only if we know about it. (We have a dealer or two that are in that category based on their behavior this year.)

Originally Posted by livengood

Also I would like to notate a couple issues I saw with the dealers hall.
1. A guy was able to get into the dealers hall with a loaded composite bow. [...]

2. A dealer falsely accused a con attendant and friend of mine of shoplifting. [...]

I personally would recommend giving attendants a way to complain about exhibitors who are acting out of line or in the worse case, doing something illegal(and yes, this does happen and it has caused ill effect on other dealers because of it)

Originally Posted by Access

If it is who I think it is, this guy (and his helpers) are known for this and should probably not be invited back. They act the same way at SDCC and some of the other cons, they are paranoid and keep accusing people from stealing from the booth, when in reality it is just that, people carrying around items that they purchased elsewhere.

We do have a way to do this, you go to the Dealers Control Table which I believe is at the back of the room. Or you go out front to Ops if it's a safety issue.

If you want to send something in via e-mail, please send your notes to dealers2013 (at) animelosangeles.org .

[Eurobeat King]

Hazel Chaz: You have so much reading and replying to go through, I just wanted to commend you on taking all that time to provide answers to everyone who's replied so-far. Please keep it up! I can't believe a week's already gone by since the con..

[Hazel Chaz]

Originally Posted by Eurobeat King

Hazel Chaz: You have so much reading and replying to go through, I just wanted to commend you on taking all that time to provide answers to everyone who's replied so-far. Please keep it up! I can't believe a week's already gone by since the con..

You're quite welcome. I was distracted this year, because our Artist and Fan Guests of Honor wanted to go to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm (respectively) the day after the convention. It threw off my whole post-con schedule.

That's my story, anyway...

And look, only 52 weeks to go to next year!

[DarkCloudInc]

I forgot to post this in my original post, but...

Is there any other way onto the pool deck because there was a huge choking point by the pool where everyone was held up. Perhaps have staff regulating traffic at peak times?

I think there were times where people saw a cosplayer and tried to ask for a photograph at the bottom of the stairs and that held up the crowd, too.

[Seismogenic]

Originally Posted by Hazel Chaz

Well, we put it in the program book, in the pocket program, on the grid we put on the walls, and the signs for the rooms. Not sure how "impromptu" this one was!

I went back through the program, and I see this only now. Apologies for my poor reading comprehension, and for making criticisms based on my own errors!

It would still be really neat to have a more guided drawing panel, though, but I suppose that would have to be a topic submitted by a member, right?

[Hazel Chaz]

Originally Posted by DarkCloudInc

I forgot to post this in my original post, but...

Is there any other way onto the pool deck because there was a huge choking point by the pool where everyone was held up. Perhaps have staff regulating traffic at peak times?

We will be fine-tuning how we handle this. It was our first time attempting this, and we've learned many things.

Originally Posted by Seismogenic

I went back through the program, and I see this only now. Apologies for my poor reading comprehension, and for making criticisms based on my own errors!

It would still be really neat to have a more guided drawing panel, though, but I suppose that would have to be a topic submitted by a member, right?

Well, if someone wants to propose a program item where the point is to teach some drawing skills, they are certainly welcome to do so.

The "late night art jam" tradition goes back many decades, and was not invented by us; it's probably been around since as long as there have been artists gathering together esp. to draw in each others' sketchbooks.

[DarkCloudInc]

Originally Posted by TheCapt1701

AA takes up all of Meridian (the ballroom on the lobby level). There are no other meeting rooms on that floor. Unless you are referring to the JW restaurant (the high-end steak place) that was rarely, if ever, open during the weekend. However that is not a place that is available for convention use.

There's a room that as you head towards artist alley, you see a piano in that room. I was wondering if there was something going on in that room.

Originally Posted by Freight

I don't think so. The only places for them to park on site would be either in the back alley or blocking part of the parking or ways in and out of them.

Perhaps in front of the hotel where there is a drive way. There is enough room for two way traffic and seeing as how they max out on parking in the hotel structure very quickly, the space goes unused through the day especially in the night. Another potential spot would be to sacrifice two spots maybe even three spots of where the taxis are at.

[Seismogenic]

Originally Posted by Hazel Chaz

The "late night art jam" tradition goes back many decades, and was not invented by us; it's probably been around since as long as there have been artists gathering together esp. to draw in each others' sketchbooks.

Aaagh, that sounds really really great! I'm all the more disappointed that my failtastic program reading caused me to miss it. Next year. Next year!